The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God, Part 8D

The Great White Throne Judgment: When All Israel Shall Be Saved-That God May Be All In All

[Study Aired October 12, 2025]

Here is how we concluded our last study:

“We will pause this study at this point and we will see exactly when “all Israel [after the flesh] shall be saved”. No, I am not saying I will give you a date. What I am saying is that the scriptures do give us the exact time line in which “the fulness of the Gentiles comes in and all Israel shall be saved”.

Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

“We will cover that timeline in our next study.” (End Quote)

Continuing our study on the overview of the plan of God, the scriptures revealing exactly when all physical Israel will be saved are in Ezekiel 16. We will read just the most pertinent verses:

Eze 16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

This 16^th chapter of Ezekiel is addressed to Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, and after the split in the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, and Samaria became the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Nevertheless, Jerusalem was originally the capital of  the united kingdom of all twelve tribes, and this is what the Lord has to say to His physical nation about the results of their sins and when they will all be reconciled to Him:

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

Eze 16:20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them [your false doctrines] to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

Eze 16:33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

Isaiah 2:1-5 and Micah 4:1-7 speak of “the last days.”

Isa 2:2  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

Mic 4:1  But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

Our Babylonian upbringing teaches us that these “last days” refers to the time of peace which the earth will experience during the thousand-year reign of Christ. Isaiah 11 speaks of this same time of peace when the beasts of the earth will all be subdued and at peace with each other:

Isa 11:6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shallbe full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Peter informs us that this present time is “the last days” when all of this is taking place within those in whom “judgment is first beginning” (1Pe 4:17):

Act 2:16  But this [giving of the holy spirit] is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19  And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass [“in the last days”], that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

When will this phrase “the last days” be applicable to physical “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children” (Gal 4:25-26)? When will physical Israel be judged for all of her sins? When are these “last days” of Isaiah 2, Micah 4 and Ezekiel 16 applicable to physical “Judah and Jerusalem?” Let’s read when the scriptures tell us this will happen so we will know exactly when “all Israel [which is in bondage with her children] shall be saved.”  This is the Lord’s own words in answer to the question of when Israel which has rejected her own Savior will be saved:

Eze 16:37  Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
Eze 16:38  And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
Eze 16:39  And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
Eze 16:40  They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.
Eze 16:41  And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.
Eze 16:42  So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

This is all verified in much fewer words in Revelation 17:

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.

Ezekiel does not give us an exact date, but he does give us the exact timeline of when “all Israel shall be saved” and reconciled to God. This is exactly “when” that will happen:

Eze 16:53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
Eze 16:54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.
Eze 16:55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

When do these verses here in Ezekiel 16 tell us that Jerusalem and Samaria are “returned to their former estate?” The scriptural answer to that question is… “When Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate.” It is only in the lake of fire, which begins doing its purifying work, that ‘Sodom and her daughters will return to their former estate.’ It is only after the “little season” of rebellion which follows the thousand-year reign of Christ and His elect with a rod of iron over the kingdoms of this earth that Sodom and “all Israel shall be saved.”

Where is the phrase ‘a thousand years’ in any of these prophecies concerning Israel and Jerusalem? Of course the answer is that it is not there. Rather, here is what we are told takes place during that symbolic “thousand years.”

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.

This is the outcome of and the very purpose for that thousand-year reign:

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. [The nations in the four quarters of the earth]

The death of the spiritual “old man’, the rebellious carnal mind, is the outcome, the ‘telos’ and the final product, of the lake of fire which will follow the thousand-year reign and the last great day. The last great day signifies the “little season” of rebellion which follows the thousand years and precipitates the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death.

This now is the product of the lake of fire as it is revealed to us in Isaiah 30:

Isa 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction [“saved, yet so as by fire”, (1Co 3:16)], yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
Isa 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Isa 30:22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

“Eyes that see [and] ears [that] hear” are both the fruit of the repentance and obedience which are the result of the lake of fire which follows the thousand-year reign, signified by the feast of tabernacles, and the last great day, signifying the “little season” of rebellion and destruction which immediately follows the thousand-year reign. Repentance and obedience do not precede rebellion against ‘the camp of the saints.’ Repentance and obedience always follow the judgment which we bequeath to ourselves as the fruit of our rebellious carnal minds. Still many Christians believe that the prophecy of Isaiah 30 refers to the thousand-year reign.

Continuing in Isaiah 30:

Isa 30:23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
Isa 30:24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
Isa 30:25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall [Rev 20:7-9].
Isa 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
Isa 30:27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
Isa 30:28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
Isa 30:29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
Isa 30:30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
Isa 30:31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian [The great whore] be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
Isa 30:32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
Isa 30:33 For Tophet [Also called ‘Gehenna’ and ‘the lake of fire’] is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. [vs 25 and Rev 20:7-9]

The words of this prophecy have a pre-thousand year and a post-thousand year application where Christ is at war with His enemies. They have no application to that time when the Lord is ruling the kingdoms of this world with a rod of iron. Don’t allow words like “rain… ground… earth… cattle… oxen… and pastures” lead you to believe that these words have no spiritual application to the time of our present judgment or to the great white throne/lake of fire/second death judgment. “The invisible things of God are understood by the things that are made” (Rom 1:20). “Tophet” signifies “the [spiritual] lake of fire”, and the “wood” that kindles the flames of Tophet signifies the rebellious carnal minds of mankind. “The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone” signifies His fiery Word. “Fire and much wood” is just as much a spiritual term signifying the destruction of all flesh, as the “rain… the ground… the earth… the cattle… the oxen… and the pastures” which are the spiritual fruit of that “fire and much wood”. The spiritual flames of spiritual Tophet signify the Word of God coming out of the mouths of God’s elect as Isaiah informs us:

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil [These are “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Rev 14:4), whose functions in the plan of God are symbolized by all of these holy days.]

These words summarize the “one event” of judgment which all men of all time must experience, “every man in his own order.”

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

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

“Every man… shall be saved… by fire”. That is what we have just read. The fire that saves those who must be condemned to the lake of fire, is the very same fire, the same fiery words of God, which save God’s elect at this time:

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.

The apostle Peter plainly tells us:

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:17 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?

We have already answered Peter’s rhetorical question. Death and the grave, and all that are in them, are cast into the lake of fire to face the same fiery trials of 1 Peter 4:12, but in resurrected spiritual bodies. Judgment “begins at the house of God”, but our judgment is just that. It is the beginning of the judgment of all men in the great white throne judgment/ lake of fire/ second death:

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

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [All who were not in the first resurrection, (Rev 20:6)] was cast into the lake of fire [“second death”, Those who are in the second group who die to their carnal mind after those who are the first to do so, (1Co 15:31, Gal 2:20)].

This all serves to demonstrate that many of the prophecies we have been told refer to the time of the thousand-year reign of Christ and His elect over the kingdoms of this world, are found to be much more applicable to the kingdom of God within us at this time, and to the time when we will, as the lake of fire, show all men of all time the same mercy which we have been given by our Lord. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance” does not prove that God’s calling of physical Israel requires that physical Israel must rule the nations of this world during the thousand-year reign. All the promises to Abraham have been spiritually supplanted by “the Israel of God” which places no value on physical pedigree:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the [true spiritual] Jews [Rom 2:28-29].
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.

As we have seen, the gifts and calling of physical Israel will be fulfilled “when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in and when Sodom… and Samaria return to their former estate” (Eze 16:55, Rom 11:25-26).

Eze 16:55  When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26  And so [then shall] all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

Now notice a principle which is revealed in the verses which immediately follow the declaration that “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”:

Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Rom 11:30 For as ye [Gentile Romans – Rom 1:13] 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.

Being “a ‘Jew’… being ‘Israel’… being ‘Abraham’s seed’ has now become a matter of having a spiritual relationship with God through Christ and that relationship is no longer tethered nor attached to a physical pedigree. Let’s read what the holy spirit says on this matter once  more:

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.

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

Gal 4:28  Now we [Gentile Galatians], brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

So it will be spiritual Jews, spiritual Israelites, repentant sinners taken from every nation on earth who will be used by God to show mercy to the physical Israelites through whose unbelief we have believed and have been shown mercy. The truth is that Romans 11:30-31 is addressed to Gentile Romans who “have obtained mercy through their [physical Israel’s]  unbelief.”

Rom 1:13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

It will be through us, through spiritual Israel, that the “all in all” goal of the plan of God for all men will be accomplished, even as all of the holy days of the three seasons of the year are also being fulfilled in and through “Christ and Christ in [us]” (Col 1:27):

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 [which is] in the saints,
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world [G165: ‘aion’, age], but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

“The church which is His body [is], the fulness of Him that fills all in all.” It is a rare person who is even given to understand that this is so, because Christ’s “inheritance [is] in the saints”. (Eph 1:18)

It is even fewer who realize that this “all in all” is also typified for us outside of the seven festivals of the three seasons of the year. The goal of the plan of God, God being all in all, is outside the scope of this earthly vessel of clay. Therefore it is represented, not in a day which follows seven sevens of weeks, but in a year which follows seven sevens of years which we are given in the Old Testament law of the year of the jubilee:

Lev 25:9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
Lev 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

You will notice that the trumpet of the jubilee is sounded on the day of atonement, the day when the scapegoat was offered for the iniquities of Israel. We will stop here for today, and next week we will see what was to take place in the year of the jubilee, and we will find, as we have already pointed out, that even this goal of the plan of God for all men is accomplished through “the church which is His body… the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”.

[Click here to go to the next chapter.]

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Rev 22:16-21 If Any Man Add to or Take Away, Part 1

 [Study Aired August 17, 2025]

Rev 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Rev 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Introduction

It is by divine design that this book of the revelation of Jesus Christ opens with the instructions to “keep the things which are written therein…” closes with the same message, “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

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 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Both emphasize the imminent and present nature of this prophecy. It was never intended to be taken only as a dispensational prophecy. This book of the revelation of Jesus Christ is just Matthew 24 with many more details provided. It was always meant to be understood that “this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled” in every generation which ‘reads and understands’ the need for “keeping the things written therein.”

Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

“Who reads, let him understand” tells us that the Word of God is to be understood only by a ‘few’…

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

…How very few believe we are intended to keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book? Here is what Christ says in answer to that question:

Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luk 17:29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

Very few were on that ark. Then one verse later He also adds this admonition:

Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

Finally, knowing that mankind would claim they were “saving the world for Christ” He asks this sobering question of us:

Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Having emphasized the ‘is, was, and will be’ nature of the Lord’s words, we must be very careful to avoid the spirit of Hymenaeus and Philetus who taught that since God’s words are to be understood spiritually that therefore “the resurrection is past already” because we are ‘crucified with Christ daily and are raised up with Christ in newness of His life:

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Does the fact that we are spiritually given “the earnest of our inheritance” in the form  of a promise mean that that is all there is to that promise? Absolutely Not!!! The promise of a spiritual inheritance is not actual inheritance. It is merely a foretaste of what is to come:

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

The gift of the holy spirit is but the foretaste, the “promise” of becoming priests and kings to rule over the kingdoms of this world for one thousand years with Christ, before judging angels in the lake of fire. We are in this age hoping for that “until the redemption of the purchased possession” at “the first resurrection”:

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 [“the earnest”] of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body [“the redemption of the purchased possession”].

Does that sound like “the resurrection is past already”??? I think not! That sounds more like we have been given the holy spirit of promise of a yet to come “first resurrection” which we are told will take place just before the beginning of that promised thousand-year reign. Our salvation hinges upon our faith and our hope in that promise:

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 Paul prefaces the lies of Hymenaeus and Philetus with this admonition:

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17  And their word [words of profane and vain babblings] 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 [everything is spiritual and present]; and overthrow the faith of some.
2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

If “the resurrection is past already” and our “earnest of the spirit” is all there will ever be and is already here, then there is no future “first resurrection” at the beginning of a thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ over the nations of this world. Yes, indeed, the “thousand years” merely “signifies” the time of the reign of Christ and His Christ with that thinking, but it actually signifies the time of their reigning over “the kingdoms of this world.” It does not signify the downpayment, “the earnest” of that kingdom which is within us in “this present time”. If that is what the promise of a thousand years of reigning with Christ meant then this statement by Paul is meaningless:

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. [At that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”]

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them [the saints of “this present time”, (Rom 8:18)], and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands [during “this present time”, (Rom 8:18)]; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
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.

If “the resurrection is past already, then there is no restraining of Satan in the abussos for a thousand years. If “the resurrection is past already”, then there is no rebellion of the nations in the four quarters of the earth, no “encompassing about” of the camp of the saints, no fire coming down from God out of heaven which destroys the nations in the four quarters of the earth. If there is no fire which comes down from God out of heaven after the rebellion of the nations against “the camp of the saints” then “the nations in the four quarters of the earth” are never destroyed and flesh and blood babies continue to be produced and death will never be destroyed. What actually happens?

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.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

There is a great white throne judgment, and it takes place immediately after Satan’s rebellion is put down by the destruction of the nations in the four quarters of the earth. None of this 20^th chapter of Revelation will ever take place according to the false, “the resurrection is past already” doctrine of Hymenaeus and Philetus, known today as ‘the doctrine of amillennialism’.

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life [judgment is now on those whose names are in the book of life, 1Pe 4:17]: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [Anyone who was not given a part in the blessed and holy first resurrection] was cast into the lake of fire.

Fortunately for all of us, Hymenaeus and Philetus are false prophets and the crucifixion and resurrection with Christ, and our being seated with Him in the heavens is all in earnest form only at this time, and “the redemption of the purchased possession” is still the “hope of our salvation” which is yet to come.

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.

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

Is it really true that the person who keeps the things written in this prophecy is blessed? If that is so, then just how much of what is written in this prophecy must be kept? Are the conditions afflicting the seven churches of chapters two and three, part of our blessed experience? Only two of the seven are not reprimanded and admonished for very serious sins. Nevertheless we are told:

Rev 2:29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto [all] the churches.

Are all seven addresses for each of us, or are the kind words for the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia the only words for you and me? Do the first four horses of the first four seals have any personal application for each of us? The first is the white horse who comes conquering and to conquer. The second is the red horse which takes peace from the earth causing its inhabitants to kill one another. The third is the black horse, which makes the oil and the wine in short supply. Do the souls under the altar of the fifth seal or the great earthquake of the sixth seal play any part in our lives? We are told that everything that happened in the Old Testament “happened to them… for our admonition”. That includes all of Job’s tribulations:

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

When we deny that we are to keep any part of the things written therein, we are doing nothing less than “contending with the Almighty.” When we deny any qualification of scripture, we are contending with God. In other words, if we deny that “He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death”, then we are contending with God.

Today’s verses have a very stern warning concerning this Truth.

Rev 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

What does “I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches” mean? We have seen that Christ’s angel is His own body. His ‘angel’ is all those who in every generation since His resurrection “have the testimony of Jesus Christ”, and that ‘testimony’ declares that these things are “in the churches”, just as chapters 2-3 demonstrate. This entire revelation of Jesus Christ is addressed “to the seven churches”, which is just Bible-speak for all churches of all time.

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

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him [Christ’s angel]. 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. [1Co 14:3]

Christ, the Father’s anointed, has sent His Christ, His anointed, as His angel to testify these things in the churches. In this prophecy, John is the figure of all of us, if we are indeed his “fellowservants and of his brothers who have the testimony of Jesus.”

Luk 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

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

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

Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

One of “these things” is a Truth which is very little understood by even those who profess to know Christ. That Truth is the fact that while Christ was indeed conceived in the womb of His mother Mary by the holy spirit, He was still, by virtue of being “made of a woman, made under the law”, at the same time both “the root and the offspring of David.”

In the natural realm it is not possible to be both the ‘root’ and the ‘offspring’ of anyone, yet Christ claims to be both the root of David, as well as the offspring of King David. He goes even further by claiming to be both the first and the last, the beginning and the end. This seems to be contrary to all that Babylon teaches, simply because, in effect, it is saying that Christ creates the evil as well as the good. How can that possibly be? Here is the answer to that question for all who are given to accept it:

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

Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and [I] create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

The beginning and end of what? The first and the last of what? Here is that of which Christ is both the first and last, the beginning and the end.

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.

Is the first Adam really ‘of Christ’? What do the scriptures say?

Luk 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Are both the first and the last Adam really sons of God? How is that possible? The Biblical answer to that question is, yes, Christ is both the first and the last, and both are “in Him.”

Speaking to pagan Athenians, Paul makes this revealing statement:

Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Act 17:29 Forasmuch then as we [including these Pagan Athenians] are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.

Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Christ is truly “the beginning and the end, the first and the last”.

At the end of this verse, Christ informs us that He is also “the bright and morning star.” The bright and morning star is the reward which is promised to all overcomers. What greater gift can be given? Christ gives us Himself, just as His Father gave His spirit to Christ.

Rev 22:16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

All things Christ has are ours. “Only in the throne” is His Father greater than Christ.

Gen 41:40  Thou [Joseph] shalt be over my [Pharaoh’s] house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.

Christ in turn is greater than we are in Him, and we too, are given to rule all ‘Egypt’ within us simply because we are being given “the Bright and Morning Star”!

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star.

Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

“The bride” and “him that hears” and “he that is athirst” are all one and the same, who are all granted to “take of the water of life freely” in this present time. All men of all time will come to God through the mercy they will receive from Christ’s bride.

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

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

All men of all time will be made to know God “by the church… the bride, the Lamb’s wife… the mother of all living.”  It is “by the church” that the manifold wisdom of God is being revealed to all men, both in this age and in the eons to come.

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar [The doors to the holy place and the door to the holy of holies] in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Rev 21:12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

Rev 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments [in this present time], that they may have right [G1849: ‘exousia’, power, authority] to the tree of life [Be “the first to trust in Christ and be given to give life to others, (Eph 1:11-12)], and may enter in through the gates into the city.

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam developed into a living soul. The last Adam a life giving spirit.(ACV)

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

The Lord’s bride is “the first” to trust in him. She is now poised too as “a life giving spirit” (1Co 15:45) to “bring forth much fruit” (Joh 12:24, Joh 15:2-8) and become “the mother of all living” (Gen 3:20).

“All men… by the church” means all men will come to Christ through those who are granted to enter through the gates of that city and become “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” The gates, the pearls, the angels, and the holy city New Jerusalem, are, one and all, symbols of the same great spiritual revelation of Jerusalem above, those who are to be His bride, “the holy Jerusalem.” It is given to us, if we are granted to be that virgin bride, to be the channel through which God will save all men. Here is what it means to be “a pillar in the temple of our God.” Here is what it means to be “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

Exo 26:30 And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.
Exo 26:31 And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:
Exo 26:32 And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver.
Exo 26:33 And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.
Exo 26:34 And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.
Exo 26:35 And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.
Exo 26:36 And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.
Exo 26:37 And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

To be “made a pillar in the temple of my God” is to be made the very instrument through which all men will be brought to God.

That “eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ” is this revelation of Jesus Christ within “all men… each in his own order” (1Co 15:23).

Now let all those who would be those pillars, gates, pearls, and angels, through whom all men of all time will be brought to Christ; take careful note of how this revelation of Jesus Christ closes with this solemn warning:

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

We will pause our study at this point and consider the consequences of this stern warning in our next study.

Matthew 5:1–26 The Sermon on the Mount

[Study Aired March 24, 2025]

Introduction

Today’s study focuses on the sermon that Jesus gave to His disciples after going to meet them on a mountain. The initial part of the sermon focuses on our reward. We need to know what the Lord has in store for us as we come to Him. The reward is what motivates us to pursue the path that Jesus treaded while here on earth. 

Heb 12:2  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Later He shows us that He came to fulfill the law. As we go through the study, we shall come to understand what Jesus means by coming to fulfill the law. 

The Beatitudes

Mat 5:1  And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 
Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 
Mat 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

The multitudes represent those who are not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. That is why the Lord left the multitude to meet the disciples on a mountain, which signifies the house of the Lord or the assembly of the Lord’s elect. It is in the mist of our assembly that we hear the voice of the Lord speaking to us about our inheritance. 

Isa 2:2  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
Isa 2:3  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

The kingdom of heaven or God refers to God’s rule and authority over His people’s lives and their world. In an age to come, it will embrace the whole of the people of the earth. In the Bible, “poor in spirit” refers to those who recognize their complete dependence on God, acknowledging their spiritual bankruptcy and seeking His mercy and grace, rather than relying on self-righteousness or material possessions. It is those who are seeking for the Lord’s grace and mercy who are recipients of the kingdom in heaven which is now manifested within the Lord’s elect. In the fullness of time, the kingdom shall be externally obvious for everyone to see, as the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. 

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.

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. 

Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

The mourners here refer to the Lord’s elect who are learning obedience by the things they are suffering in this life. They are those who mourn in Zion as they are spiritually clothed with sackcloth in this age.  

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isa 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ in His life here on earth suffered, and His victory has made Him a symbol of them who mourn in Zion as we groan in this age, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling. 

2Co 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
2Co 5:2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 
2Co 5:3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 
2Co 5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

It is we who groan that shall be comforted by the Lord in the fullness of time.

Isa 40:1  Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 
Isa 40:2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. 

Mat 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 

The question is, “Who are the meek?” The word “meek” means non-resistant. That means able to endure. It is those who embrace whatever is thrown at them in this life as part of the Lord’s wonderful plan of salvation, who are the meek and are therefore destined to reign with Christ over the kingdoms of this world in an age to come. 

Isa 30:15  For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, 
Isa 30:16 and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore, you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. (ESV)

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.

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 

To understand this statement, let’s look at the word “righteousness” from the word of the Lord. Righteousness is not attained but imputed. With the exception of our Lord Jesus Christ, no human being has been able to live righteously. 

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 
Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Abraham was the first man to be imputed the righteousness of God. If righteousness is therefore given, then, all we can do is to desire it. That means hungering and thirsting for it. It is those who in this life desire to be clothed with the Lord’s righteousness who will be recipients of it.   

Rom 4:1  What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 
Rom 4:2  For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 
Rom 4:3  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Rom 4:4  Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 
Rom 4:5  But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 
Rom 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 

Mat 5:7  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 

The merciful are those who actively show kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, particularly towards those in need or who have wronged them. We, the Lord’s elect, are required to show mercy to others as a result of the mercy that the Lord has shown to us. 

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. 

Mat 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 

The pure in heart represent individuals who are sincere, honest, and free from deceit, with a single-minded devotion to God. We may be honest and sincere, but if our mind is polluted with the false doctrines of the great harlot, Babylon, it is impossible to see God as He is, in this life.

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself (gets rid of false doctrines in His heavens), even as he is pure. 

Mat 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 

Those who bring the wonderful message of God’s peace to the world are peacemakers. We, the Lord’s elect, are the ones whose feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We are therefore the true sons of God.

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are those who are being judged in this age by the Lord. It is in the hearts and minds of these people that the Lord is establishing His kingdom in this age. In an age to come, this kingdom shall be outward for all to see. 

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 
1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 

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. 

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

The Lord’s four sore judgments involve the sword, the famine, the noisome beast and the pestilence. 

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

Men reviling us and persecuting us involves the use of the word sword in a negative context. It refers to words that are spoken which destroy us. It refers to the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary. These negative words spoken is one of the tools that the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

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.   

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

These persecutions we go through are part of the judgment of our old man or flesh resulting in us learning righteousness, which will qualify us to receive the joy that is set before us, even as Jesus did, and is sitting at the right hand of God. 

Salt and Light

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 

Here the elect are described as being the salt of the earth. There is a story in 2 Kings chapter 2 which makes it easier to understand our role as salt of the earth.

2Ki 2:19  Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” 
2Ki 2:20  He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 
2Ki 2:21  Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the LORD, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” 
2Ki 2:22 So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke. (ESV)

This story shows us that the waters of this world make the land unfruitful. As we are aware, our bodies represent the land that is unfruitful because of the water we take in. This water is the wisdom and traditions of this world which pollute our hearts and minds, making us unfruitful. Elisha throwing salt into the water to heal it such that it does not result in death or miscarriage symbolizes that, as the salt of the earth, our role as the Lord’s elect is to bring forth the truth of the word of the Lord to those who request our assistance as they realize the unfruitfulness of the water they imbibe. That is when we indeed become the salt of the earth. However, when we are given to false doctrines, it means we have lost our savour as the salt of the earth and we are good for nothing.    

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  

Again, as the Lord’s elect, we are the light of the world. This implies that our role as the Lord’s elect involves bringing light or the truth of the word of the Lord to the people of this world. As indicated in verse 15, our role currently is giving light to those who are in the house of faith. In the fullness of time, our light will shine before men as we bring all humanity to Christ. That is when they will glorify our Father which is in heaven. 

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.  

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 
Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 
Mat 5:19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 
Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

To fulfill the law and the prophets means to fill up what is incomplete in the law. It does not mean that Jesus Christ came to keep the law in the letter. As we are aware, Jesus broke the law of Moses by healing a man and telling him to “take up [his] bed and walk… on the sabbath day.” Thus, Jesus’ coming is to show us what is incomplete regarding the law of Moses and how He comes to fill up what is lacking in the law and the prophets.  

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.

In verse 18, the Lord tells us that we all live/have lived at a certain point in our lives by every word of the Law. In the final analysis, the Law exposed our inability to obey. This is to let us know that our inability to obey the Law must be exposed before we are given to know the Law of the Spirit of Life which sets us free from the Law of Sin and Death. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 
Rom 8:3  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 
Rom 8:4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

In verse 20, the Lord is saying that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. The righteousness which comes from obeying the Law of the Spirit of Life is far higher than the Law of Sin and Death. 

Rom 8:10  But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. 

Anger

Mat 5:21  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 
Mat 5:22  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 
Mat 5:23  So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 
Mat 5:24  leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 
Mat 5:25  Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 
Mat 5:26  Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. 

In these verses, we see Jesus as the reformer of the Law. Jesus challenges the traditional understanding of the law of Moses as He gives guidance to how we can overcome the flesh. Particularly, the Lord is showing us that anger, which leads to all kinds of unrighteousness, must be addressed in our lives. It is through the Lord’s judgment of our old man or flesh that our anger are subdued by the Lord. 

1Pe 4:1  Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 
1Pe 4:2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 

In verses 23 to 26, the Lord shows us that our reconciliation with a brother is more pleasing in the sight of the Lord than our gifts and offerings to Him.   

Mat 18:15  “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 
Mat 18:16  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 
Mat 18:17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 

It is in the togetherness of the brethren that the Lord’s anointing dwells as He commands His blessings upon us. 

Psa 133:1  A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 
Psa 133:2  It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! 
Psa 133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. 

Amen!!

Matthew 4:1-25 Jesus’ Temptation and the Beginning of His Ministry

[Study Aired March 17, 2025]

Introduction

Today’s study is about the temptation that Jesus went through before the start of His ministry. It also includes the teaching work he undertook, the places he preached, and the subject he preached. The chapter concludes with His calling of disciples, Peter and Andrew, James and John and the miracles He wrought in the lives of the people and the resulting crowd that His ministry attracted.

The Temptation of Jesus

Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 
Mat 4:2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 

Jesus being led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil indicates that the temptation by the devil we go through in this life is part of the grand design of the Lord. If we are to become overcomers, then it means that we need to have victory over the devil who operates through our flesh. The fact that Jesus had to go to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil implies that the devil operates best in an environment where there is the absence of the truth of the word of the Lord. It also means that our victory over the devil is through knowing the truth of the word of the Lord. As we are aware, Jesus is the word of the Lord, and therefore there was no way that Jesus could have been defeated by the devil.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.    

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (the word of God). 

The number forty represents our trials. Jesus fasting for forty days and forty nights is to show us that we must deny ourselves or die daily if we are to overcome the onslaught of the devil. 

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 

Jesus feeling hungry after the fast is to show us that it is our point of weakness which serves as the pedestal for the devil to attack us. However, it is in our point of weakness that we are made strong. 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

The question that comes to mind is that “Should we fast even as our Lord Jesus fasted?” To answer this question, I will refer to part of what Brother Mike posted on the website about fasting.

The last time chronologically that fasting is mentioned in the New Testament is in Acts 27. Paul is in the process of being delivered to Caesar, and the Lord has brought Paul and all on the ship with him to death’s door. All “276 souls,” have endured being tormented by the perception of being hopelessly lost at sea in the mist of a terrible storm:

Act 27:19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
Act 27:20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

How many days?

Act 27:33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
Act 27:34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
Act 27:35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
Act 27:36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
Act 27:37 And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.

Under such dire circumstances, why would Paul tell these people to “be of good cheer?”

Act 27:22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
Act 27:23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
Act 27:24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
Act 27:25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

“All hope that we should be saved had been taken away.” All on board were fasting. I seriously doubt that their reason was ‘to be seen of men.’ Their very hope of life was taken away. They were ‘afflicting their souls’ and denying their flesh. To these lost souls, their “bridegroom had been taken away from them.” Just as with the disciples of Christ, the outward circumstances seemed to be clear. Three and one half years of casting out demons, healing the sick and feeding thousands were all for nothing. Where was their Savior right now? “All hope that we should be saved was taken away.” This is the time to afflict one’s soul:

Luk 5:35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

We might think that Paul’s faith was not being tried through all of this. How little do we understand the pulls of the flesh upon the Son of God Himself:

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

It seemed at that moment, even to our Savior Himself, that His ‘bridegroom had been taken away.’ Would the apostle Paul have had more faith than our Lord? No, Paul was given the assurance by the angel because he needed that assurance to stand up under the circumstances that seemed to all 276 people on board that ship, that “all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.” This is the experience not just of our Lord. Neither is this experience just for His apostles, like the apostle Paul. This experience of having “all hope that we should be saved… taken away” is common to all of God’s elect. It is a time for “afflicting our souls.” But let us never forget this Truth:

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

The Words of Christ concerning ‘fasting’ and ‘afflicting your soul’ are as spiritual as any words of scripture. So what, in the final analysis, is the fast that God wants of us all? How would He have us to spiritually ‘afflict our souls?’ How spiritually should we ‘deny ourselves… and die daily’ to the things of the flesh?

Isa 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Isa 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

There it is. “This is the fast that I have chosen…” This is the fast that God really wants. This is “a day for a man to afflict his soul.” This is the ‘fast’ that God would prefer for either David or for us. And what is this spiritual fasting and affliction of the soul?

“... This is the fast that I have chosen. To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke! … To deal bread to the hungry… bring the poor that are cast out into your house… when you see the naked, you cover him… and hide not yourself from your own flesh.”

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

Here in verse 3 the devil is called the tempter. This name refers to the role the devil plays in tempting us to sin against the Lord. In Isaiah 54:16, the devil also plays the role of blowing the coals in the fire. That is to say that he is the one whom the Lord uses to judge us as we can see from the story of Job.

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

This temptation of Jesus Christ is parallel to the temptation in the garden of Eden. In the case of Adam and Eve, they failed woefully because they did not do what the Lord told them to do – that is, they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden.  

Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

In the case of Jesus Christ, His victory was in focusing on what God has commanded. His response to the devil that man shall not eat by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God means that our focus should be on fulfilling every word of the Lord. This temptation of Jesus by the devil highlights the lust of the flesh – turning stones to bread to satisfy the flesh. Spiritually, turning stones to bread is seeing the Lord’s people (stones) as opportunity to physical riches. The churches of this world have emphasized the Levitical priesthood, which is of the Law of Moses, to enrich themselves at the expense of the Lord’s children.

1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 

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,

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?

Mat 4:5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 
Mat 4:6  And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 
Mat 4:7  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 

This temptation has to do with the pride of life. The desire to have people come to worship, minister to us and attracting attention to ourselves by what we do is a temptation that has plagued many of the Lord’s people. Here the devil quoted the scripture to substantiate his request for the Lord to yield to this temptation. In response, the Lord also quoted the scripture to counter the devil. In this instance, if Jesus leapt without God’s word, He would be tempting God.  The churches of this world is filled with many who are tempting God by their advertisement about crusades and church services that promised the people of their miraculous healing and financial breakthrough. Their motive pertains to the pride of life. Initially, at the beginning of the church, the disciples performed signs and wonders to attest to the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus. However, over time the Lord cut back on signs and wonders. Statements made by Paul in leaving Trophimus in Miletus sick, and telling Timothy to drink wine which would help alleviate his stomach troubles are all to show us that serving the Lord is not about signs and wonders. Of course, the Lord raising us from the dead and making us His sons and daughters is the greatest miracle that can happen to us.

2Ti 4:20  Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.

1Ti 5:23  Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.      

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. 

This temptation pertains to the lust of the eyes. That is, what we see and want. What the Lord is demonstrating to us is that we should focus on serving the Lord alone and not to be distracted by the glamor of leadership in this world which has the footprint of the devil. As the Lord told us, our kingdom does not belong to this world.  

Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 

As indicated earlier, the temptation of Jesus is similar to what happened to Adam and Eve. The temptation consists of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life as shown in the following:

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. 

The angels coming to minister to Christ is the same as our brothers and sisters who come to minister to us at our point of need.

Heb 1:13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Jesus Begins His Ministry

Mat 4:12  Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; 
Mat 4:13  And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 

The arrest of John the Baptist initiated the ministry of Jesus because it signaled the end of John’s role as the forerunner and the beginning of Jesus’ own public ministry. John the Baptist said concerning Christ “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The arrest of John commenced the fading light of his ministry and the simultaneous rise of the Lord Jesus Christ, our daystar.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease. 
Joh 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 

Galilee was the boyhood home of Jesus Christ. It was historically known among the Jews as “Galilee of the Gentiles.” Galilee had such a mixed population that Solomon could award unashamedly to Hiram, king of Tyre, twenty of its cities in payment for timber from Lebanon.

1Ki 9:11  (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 

After conquest by the king of Assyria, Galilee was repopulated by a colony of heathen immigrants. For this reason many Jews despised the Galileans. Nazareth was part of Galilee. No wonder Nathaniel asked contemptuously, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” All the disciples of Jesus, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, came from Galilee. It was in Cana of Galilee that He performed His first miracle. Capernaum in Galilee became the headquarters of His ministry. 

2Ki 15:29  In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. 

2Ki 17:24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. 

Mat 4:14  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 
Mat 4:15  The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 
Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 
Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  

It was when we were in darkness that Jesus came into our lives to give us hope. The first step in our deliverance is repentance from sin. That is why Jesus reiterated the message of John the Baptist about repentance from our sins because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This process of establishing the kingdom of heaven within starts with repentance from sin. It is through repentance that times of refreshing come to us from the presence of the Lord. 

Act 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

Mat 4:18  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 
Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 
Mat 4:20  And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 
Mat 4:21  And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 
Mat 4:22  And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. 

Here Jesus called the first four of the disciples to become His followers – Peter, Andrew, James and John. The fact that they were four suggests that the whole of the Lord’s elect are chosen through the same means. In other words, we were minding our own business when Jesus came on the scene and caused us to follow Him. Although our conversion may seem like something that happened on the spur of the moment, we know that we were marked for salvation even before the foundation of the world.

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.  

Here in these verses, we are shown our role as the Lord’s elect in this age. In following our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall become fishers of men, just as Peter and Andrew were casting their net into the sea when the Lord called them to become fishers of men. The fact that they were two (Peter and Andrew) suggests that as witnesses of Christ, we are called to become fishers of men. The calling of the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, came at a time when they were mending their nets. Our call is also to mend the nets. That means to correct the wrong doctrines and emphasize the truth which is able to set us free. This is because the church system has fallen away in apostasy, and our role is to speak the truth (mend the net) irrespective of the opposition. As we can see, it was because of the truth that John found himself at the isle of Patmos.

Rev 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

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

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

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. 

It is worth noting that Jesus’ ministry drew a significant following because of the miracles that He performed. He, however, did not commit Himself to them because He knew what was in man. 

Joh 2:23  Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 
Joh 2:24  But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 
Joh 2:25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. 

To the great multitude that followed Jesus, He spoke in parables because it is not given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. 

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Thanks be to the Lord for opening our eyes to see and our ears to hear the mysteries of the kingdom. Amen!

Dan 11:5-16 Be ye not troubled – Part 2

[Study Aired May 16, 2024]

Dan 11:1  Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.
Dan 11:2  And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
Dan 11:3  And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 
Dan 11:4  And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.

This section of chapter 11 reminds us that historically both the Persian Empire and the Greek empire tried to destroy the Jewish people, who typify the Israel of God (Gal 6:16, Rom 2:28-29). These attempts at trying to destroy the physical nation of Israel typify for God’s elect the reality of the powers and principalities against which we wrestle in our heavens as God’s children, and how the devil constantly wants to sift us like wheat, but by God’s power we are kept spiritually alive through Christ.

It is by the words of eternal life that contain exceedingly great and precious promises that we are sanctified and washed and given increase from our Father as we grow (1Co 3:7) and become persuaded (Rom 8:38) that we are in fact more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Eph 6:12, Luk 22:31, Rom 8:37).

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

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.

The Persian Empire tried to wipe out the Jewish people during the reign of Xerxes, through the plot of Haman (as shown in the Book of Esther).
The Greek Empire tried to wipe out the Jewish people during the reign of Antiochus IV, when he attempted to kill every Jew who did not renounce their commitment to God and embrace Greek culture. (Study Guide for Daniel 11 by David Guzik (blueletterbible.org))

The mighty king that rises up in Daniel 11:3-4 is Alexander the great and he is another type of the self-willed man of perdition that has war in his heart, and opposes Christ (Mat 25:40). The spiritual lesson God is showing us via these evil rulers is that we will have many spiritual battles, much tribulation (Act 14:22) in our own heavens, and it will only be through Christ that we will conquer any and all empires that dominate our heavens at first (2Co 4:15).

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

Alexander’s kingdom would not endure and would be divided after his death. There were no descendants who succeeded him, and after his death there were four generals that controlled the Greek Empire, but none of them “according to his will.” This reminds us of the vanity of flesh that cannot inherit the kingdom, as we look at all the conquests of Alexander the great come to nought as others would come in and rule his empire and not in a manner that would have been desirable to him. This is a very parallel situation to king Solomon (Dan 11:3, Ecc 2:17-18). 

Dan 11:3  And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.

Ecc 2:17  Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 
Ecc 2:18  Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

The next prophecies focus on two of the four inheritors of Alexander’s realm and the dynasties they established. Historically there were four inheritors of Alexander’s realm, however only two are focused on because they were continually fighting over the Promised Land because of its location between the northern and southern kings. 

Those struggles and wars over the promised land typify for us what we read in Romans 7:19-25. These verses in Romans chapter 7 become central to our thinking whenever we read of wars or power struggles in history, where we learn that not every battle is won “but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Pro 24:16), however in the end the war will be won against all the powers and principalities with which we war, through Christ, if that is God’s will for us (Rom 8:37, 1Sa 17:47).

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

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.

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

Dan 11:5  And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion. 

Below are some historical facts surrounding this fifth verse which demonstrate how God controls who He puts in places of rulership in order to direct the course of history according to the counsel of His own will (Dan 4:17, Eph 1:11). It’s in our former conversation of Ephesians 2:1-3 that the basest of men take residence in our hearts and war ensues as a result, symbolized by the king of the South and the king of the North.

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

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. 

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:

History

The king of the South shall become strong: One of the four inheritors of the empire of the mighty kingwould become stronger and greater than the others.
He shall gain power over him and have dominion: This was fulfilled in Ptolemy I of Egypt, who exerted his control over the Holy Land. Soon after the division of Alexander’s Empire, the Ptolemies dominated this region.
Ptolemy I had a prince named Seleucus, who rose to power and took dominion over the region of Syria. He became more powerful than his former Egyptian ruler. The Seleucids are identified with the Kings of the North, and the Ptolemies were the Kings of the South.
The dynasties of the Seleucids and the Ptolemies fought for some 130 years. The stronger of the two always held dominion over the Holy Land.(Study Guide for Daniel 11 by David Guzik (blueletterbible.org))

Dan 11:6  And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.

According to the historical account, “the end of years they shall join themselves together” took 130 years of warring between these two dynasties. What transpired to make this happen is “the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement.“

Below are some historical facts that can help us understand what physically unfolded, and then we can look more closely at what this represents for us spiritually, the natural preceding the spiritual (1Co 15:46). What is very evident is that every part of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar that represents the corrupt history of humanity had vast schisms and weaknesses, each being a little different than the former but all corrupt and divided in the final analysis (Mar 3:24-25). 

Mar 3:24  And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Mar 3:25  And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

When reading the history of this verse of Daniel it brings to mind this verse, which pertains especially to the end of the ages prior to Christ’s return, but it also has an application for these days we’re reading of as well (2Ti 3:1-4).

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 
2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

History

They shall join forces: Joined by a marriage, the kings of the North and South would be allies for a while, but the arrangement would not last.
The daughter of the king of the South shall go to the king of the North to make an agreement: This was fulfilled in the marriage between Antiochus II (of the Seleucids) and Berenice (daughter of Ptolemy II). There was peace for a time because of this marriage, but it was upset when Ptolemy II died.
Shall not retain the power of her authority: Once Ptolemy II died, Antiochus II put away Berenice and took back his former wife, Laodice.
Neither he nor his authority shall stand: Laodice didn’t trust her husband Antiochus II; so she had him poisoned.

iii. She shall be given up, with those who brought her: After the murder of Antiochus II, Laodice had Berenice, her infant son, and her attendants killed.
After this reign of terror, Laodice set her son (Seleucus II) on the throne of the Syrian dominion. (Study Guide for Daniel 11 by David Guzik (blueletterbible.org))

Dan 11:7  But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail: 
Dan 11:8  And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north. 
Dan 11:9  So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.

The king of the South represents our fleshly life without the judgment of God that comes from the north, and in fact in this story the South dominates the North and takes vengeance for past offenses, which ends up just continuing the cycle of violence. The lesson for God’s people is to love our enemies, resist not evil, and forgive those who have trespassed against us or the unsettled dynasties will continue to rule in our heavens (Mat 5:44, Mat 5:39, Mat 6:14-15). Below is the historical confirmation of more wars and rumors of wars that are perpetuated in Satan’s kingdom as a result of Christ not being present in the hearts of mankind. 

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;

Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses [cycle of violence will continue in our heavens].

History

Who shall come with an army: The angel told Daniel that a branch of her rootswould come from the South and prevail over the kings of the North.
Deal with them and prevail: This was fulfilled in the person of Ptolemy III, who was the brother of Berenice (the branch of her roots). Avenging the murder of his sister, Ptolemy III invaded Syria and humbled Seleucus II.
He shall continue more years than the king of the North: Ptolemy III lived four years past Seleucus II. (Study Guide for Daniel 11 by David Guzik (blueletterbible.org)

Dan 11:10  But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress.

The irony in this section of scripture is that the Holy Land is being taken back through war, and as we read the historical account of the battle, it was deemed to be furious. These actions typify for us how in our appointed time we violently took the kingdom by force, even as Babylon still does to this day even while saying, “Lord, Lord” but not doing the things He commands (Mat 11:12-15, Luk 6:46).

Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Mat 11:13  For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 
Mat 11:14  And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
Mat 11:15  He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

History

His sons shall stir up strife: The sons of the kings of the North would continue the battle. One of the sons would conquer the Holy Land (overwhelm and pass through) which stood as a buffer between the kings of the South and the kings of the North.
Assemble a multitude of great forces: This was fulfilled in Seleucus III and Antiochus III, the two sons of Seleucus II. Both were successful generals, but Seleucus III ruled only a short time and was succeeded by his brother.
In a furious battle, Antiochus III took back the Holy Land from the dominion of the Ptolemies. (Study Guide for Daniel 11 by David Guzik (blueletterbible.org))

Dan 11:11  And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand. 
Dan 11:12  And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.

As these wars progress in the book of Daniel, it would be beneficial to answer the question of where all these wars are coming from (Jas 4:1-7), and how are they being instigated from God’s perspective (1Sa 16:14, Eph 1:11), and what the spiritual lesson is for God’s elect today, and eventually all the world. 

Jas 4:1  From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Jas 4:2  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 
Jas 4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 
Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 
Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

This battle of the South against the North goes in favor of the Southern empire who was “moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand.“

This overcoming of a great multitude and then after that “when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands” represents the power God gives us even while in Babylon to overcome very physical addictions and bad behaviors. However, as this verse concludes “but he shall not be strengthened by it” telling us that these physical victories of the empire from the South are more akin to what the disciples were so excited over when they realized that they had been given dominion over evil spirits outwardly that were now subject to them (Luk 10:17). Not having the holy spirit within them yet, Christ turned their attention to what would truly strengthen them; that being to have the spirit of God within them to gain dominion over the powers and principalities within themselves against which they would wrestle in this life (Luk 10:18-20). Christ was speaking of things as though they were not (Rom 4:17) when He told His disciples to rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven, which is synonymous with being sealed with the holy spirit of promise (Eph 1:13-14).

Luk 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 
Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

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.

History

The king of the South shall be moved with rage: The angel told Daniel that the king of the South would attack and meet a great multitudeof soldiers from the king of the North. The king of the North would lose in battle and his multitude would be defeated.
He will not prevail: This was fulfilled when Antiochus III was defeated at the battle of Raphia. Because of that loss he was forced to give back dominion over the Holy Land to Ptolemy IV. (Study Guide for Daniel 11 by David Guzik (blueletterbible.org))

Dan 11:13  For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. 
Dan 11:14  And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. 
Dan 11:15  So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. 
Dan 11:16  But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. 

I can’t guarantee that every part of the historical commentary throughout this study is one hundred percent accurate, but what I can say confidently is that the spiritual lessons we can take from all these battles and power struggles which have unfolded for our spiritual learning today are profitable to us in instructing us in His righteousness (2Ti 3:15-17).

2Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

This last section we will look at for this study represents for us how evil men will wax worse and worse, “the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches” (2Ti 3:13). Whether the time period for these events is happening as the historians suggest does not mean there is not an aorist, is, was and will be manner in which we can understand what we are reading, always applying what we read primarily inwardly, in the present ‘is’ manner, as this is the only place where the scriptures we are reading can become relevant for our dying daily sojourn in the Lord (Rev 1:3).

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

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.

These verses (Mat 24:12-14, Mat 10:21-23, 2Ti 3:1) correspond with the historical events that were taking place at this time in history. “And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall“, and we are reminded of Christ’s words to “be you not troubled” (Mat 24:5-8), as all these things must happen inwardly in our own heavens, but the end is not yet.

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 10:23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. [from battle to battle, glory to glory (2Co 3:18)]

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows [from battle to battle, glory to glory (2Co 3:18)].

History

The king of the North… shall certainly come at the end of some years with a great army: The angel told Daniel that the northern dynasty would answer back and defeat the king of the South in an extended siege. This victory would give the king of the North dominion over the Glorious Land.

“The land of ornaments — that is, Judea, which, lying betwixt these two potent princes, was perpetually afflicted, as corn is ground asunder lying betwixt two heavy millstones.” (Trapp)
No one shall stand against him: This was fulfilled when Antiochus III invaded Egypt again, gaining final control over the armies of Ptolemy V and over the Holy Land.

Many shall rise up against the king of the South: Jews living in the Holy Land helped Antiochus III defeat the king of the South. This was because the Jewish people resented the rule of the Egyptian Ptolemies (violent men of your people shall exalt themselves in fulfillment of the vision).

He who comes against him shall do according to his own will… with destruction in his power: The Jewish people of the Glorious Landinitially welcomed Antiochus III as a liberator from Egyptian rule. Their decision to support Antiochus III proved unwise when he turned destruction upon the Glorious Land and its people. (Study Guide for Daniel 11 by David Guzik (blueletterbible.org))

Next week, Lord willing, we will continue to break down more verses and possibly conclude with chapter eleven to bring us to a very hope-filled last chapter in the book of Daniel.

Numbers 34:1-29  The Borders of the Land of Canaan

[Study Aired January 1, 2024]

Introduction

Our study for today highlights the boundaries of the land of Canaan that the Lord has given to the Israelites for inheritance. The chapter also focuses on the leaders the Lord has chosen to help apportion the land to the people of Israel. This land, with its boundaries, which the Lord has given to the people of Israel as an inheritance, is where they would be free to worship the Lord as their king, rest from their labors and enjoy the produce of the land.  It signifies the kingdom of the Lord within us which shall become outside (to be seen) when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.

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.

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.

In this chapter we are reviewing, the Lord gave the boundaries, or the limitations of the land, He was going to give to the people of Israel. These boundaries are given based on the assumption that the people of Israel had defeated the occupants of the land which signifies our flesh. It is when our flesh has started its journey of death that the kingdom of the Lord becomes established within us. In other words, as our old man or flesh dies, our new man after the image of Christ gains ascendency resulting in the establishment of the kingdom of the Lord within. 

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

As we are aware, the death of our old man or flesh is made possible through the fiery trials we endure which teach us righteousness. This is exemplified by the war the Israelites waged to dispossess the people of the land. Our fiery trials symbolize the war with the flesh the Lord is waging on our behalf.

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

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

As we go through the study for today, we shall come to understand the limitations of the kingdom of the Lord within us and its characteristics. 

Mar 4:30  And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? 
Mar 4:31  It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: 
Mar 4:32  But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.

These verses show us what the kingdom of the Lord within and without are like. Being a grain of mustard seed, which is less than all kinds of seed, signifies the kingdom of God within us which is not visible to the world. In the fullness of time when this kingdom grows and becomes outward, that is, the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, it will be seen by all and will encompass all the people of the world – both good and evil.

In another perspective, the land of Canaan to be divided among the people of Israel represents the reward we shall receive if we overcome. In other words, it represents the joy that is set before us as we walk as strangers in this world.

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.

With all these in mind, let’s now take a look at the boundaries of this kingdom of God:

Num 34:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 34:2  Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:)

These verses show us how the Lord speaks those things which are not as though they were. The Israelites had not yet come to the land of Canaan to begin the conquest of the people living in the land and yet the Lord had given command to Moses regarding the boundaries of their inheritance. 

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

As indicated in the introduction session, the land is where we are to live to worship the Lord as our king and therefore represents the kingdom of the Lord. In these verses therefore, the Lord was showing us the limitations of the kingdom of the Lord which is first within us. Paul in his letter to the Romans, defines the kingdom of God. 

Rom 14:17  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
Rom 14:18  For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Rom 14:19  Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

The rendition of these verses in the Message makes it clearer.

Rom 14:17-19 God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you. So, let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. (The Message)

We can see clearly that the kingdom of God has to do with what God does with us to make us righteous. We know from His words that becoming righteous is through the judgment of our old man or the flesh. As we learn righteousness, we automatically have peace with God and man as the Holy Spirit fills us with joy. 

The Southern Boundaries

Num 34:3  Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: 
Num 34:4  And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon: 
Num 34:5  And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea.

The south is always the route to the sea of flesh. In verse 3, the southern border starts from the wilderness of Zin along the coast of Edom toward the salt sea, which is usually referred to as the dead sea. The word “Zin” means flat. Edom means red which is the color of the earth. The Edomites are the descendants of Esau, the elder brother of Jacob and therefore can be regarded as part of the flesh of the people of Israel. The salt, or the dead, sea signifies the spiritually dead state of humanity. What we are being told spiritually is that even though the kingdom of God is within us, we can easily drift (flat plain, not mountainous) towards the flesh (Edom). The end result is that we become spiritually dead (the salt sea). 

In verses 4 and 5, the eastern part of the southern border which starts at the salt sea goes up to Akrabbim (Scorpion pass), continues on to Zin and ends up at Kadesh Barnea (holy). After Kadesh, the southern border stretches to Hazar Addar (Enclosure of glory) and then to Azmon (Strong). At this point it turns to the river of Egypt and ends up at the sea.

This implies that we are given power to tread on scorpions (Akrabbim) and over the powers of the enemy to become holy (Kadesh) as the kingdom of God within us is being built. That is when we see the glory of the Lord and become stronger in Him. However, there is always the tendency to drift easily to false doctrines (river of Egypt) which gradually cause us to become like the people of the world (sea).

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. 

Mat 16:6  Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mat 16:7  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
Mat 16:8  Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
Mat 16:9  Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Mat 16:10  Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 
Mat 16:11  How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 
Mat 16:12  Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

The Western and the Northen Boundaries

Num 34:6  And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border.
Num 34:7  And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor:
Num 34:8  From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad:
Num 34:9  And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazarenan: this shall be your north border.

The western boundary is the coast of the Great Sea. In other words, the kingdom of God within us operates within the confines of the flesh. This means that if we do not pay attention to the truth of the Lord’s words, we shall easily be influenced by the flesh. 

Heb 2:1  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 
Heb 2:2  For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 
Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Heb 2:4  God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

The northern border stretches from the great sea through Mount Hor (mountain or part of) to the entrance of Hamath which means fortress. Proceeding from there, the northern border continues to Zedad (mountain side), passes through Ziphron (fragrance) and ends up at Hazar Enan (village of fountain). This signifies that although the kingdom of God within is bounded by the flesh, it is the Lord’s fragrance or presence which keeps us like a fortress, just as the mountains surround Jerusalem. This is made possible as the Lord upholds all things through His words (village of fountain). 

Psa 125:1  A Song of degrees. They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever.
Psa 125:2  As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even forever.
Psa 125:3  For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

The Eastern Boundary

Num 34:10  And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham:
Num 34:11  And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward: 
Num 34:12  And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.

The eastern border starts from Hazer Enan (village of fountain) and goes to Shepham (Bare spot) and then to Riblah (Fertility) which was on the eastern side of Ain (spring). The implication here is that as we feed on the truth of the word of the Lord (Hazer Enan and Ain), all the fallow grounds or bare spots (Shepham) within us become fertile (Riblah) and produce a hundredfold of fruit.

Mat 13:23  As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The border continues to the shoulder of the sea of Chinnereth (Harps) on the eastern side and stretches down to the river Jordan (descender or the river that rushes down) which empties into the salt sea or the Dead Sea. This signifies that as His elect, we are the first to be chosen among the sea of flesh or humanity to worship the Lord in truth and in spirit as we play harps before the Lord. Later, in an age to come, the truth of the word of the Lord (river Jordan) shall rush down to all humanity who are spiritually dead, signified by the emptying of river Jordan into the Dead Sea. What this means is that in this age, the kingdom of God within is only given to the elect. That is the boundary of the kingdom of God in this age. 

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. 
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 
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.

The Land to be Divided as Inheritance

Num 34:13  And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe: 
Num 34:14  For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance:
Num 34:15  The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.

In verse 13, the land was to be divided among the families for an inheritance by lot. The lot here signifies that everything we do to possess our inheritance is the work of the Lord. All we have to do is to believe that He is able to drag us to the finish line!!

Pro 16:33  The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

Joh 6:28  Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

In verses 14 and 15, we are told that the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were not to be given inheritance among the people of Israel in the land of Canaan since they had received their inheritance already on the east side of the river Jordan in the land of Gilead and Bashan. As indicated in a previous study about the settlement of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh on the east side of the land of Canaan, these tribes represent our brothers and sisters in Babylon who want their reward now in this life. As a result, they have received their reward already. They are never going to share in our inheritance.

Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Mat 6:5  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

The Names of the Leaders of the Various Tribes in Israel

Num 34:16  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 34:17  These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Num 34:18  And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance.

These verses show us that from every tribe and kindred of every nation, the Lord is picking His elect to be saviors of the world in assisting the whole humanity, represented by the people of Israel, to obtain their inheritance in Christ in the fullness of time. These leaders are the elect of every generation representing the one hundred and forty-four thousand chosen from the twelve tribes of Israel.

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 7:5  Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:6  Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 
Rev 7:7  Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 
Rev 7:8  Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. 

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 names of the twelve leaders from every tribe show us what it takes to become His elect. The first two names of the leaders mentioned are Eleazer and Joshua. Eleazer means ‘God is helper’ and that of Joshua means ‘Jehovah saved.’ This implies that the salvation of the Lord is His work. Of our ownselves, we can do nothing. It is the Lord who is able to save us because He comes to help us obtain the standard He requires. He starts the work and finishes it. 

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Num 34:19  And the names of the men are these: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 
Num 34:20  And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 
Num 34:21  Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon.
Num 34:22  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli. 
Num 34:23  The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod.
Num 34:24  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 

The name Caleb means ‘dog’ and Shemuel means ‘His name is El’ (God). Elidad signifies ‘my God has loved’ and Bukki means ‘wasteful.’ The next two names are Hanniel (Favored of God) and Kemuel (Raised of God). We were called and chosen by the Lord’s grace and not because we had anything to offer. We were like dogs (the meaning of Caleb) just like the woman of Canaan in the sight of the Lord, but He (Shemuel) showed mercy to us. 

Mat 15:25  Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 
Mat 15:26  But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. 
Mat 15:27  And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. 

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

Even though we were wasteful (Bukki) just like the prodigal son, the Lord loved us (Elidad). We therefore received favor in His sight (Hanniel) as He raised us up (Kemuel) to sit with Him in heavenly places.

Luk 15:11  And he said, A certain man had two sons: 
Luk 15:12  And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
Luk 15:13  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 
Luk 15:14  And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
Luk 15:15  And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
Luk 15:16  And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 
Luk 15:17  And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 
Luk 15:18  I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 
Luk 15:19  And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 
Luk 15:20  And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luk 15:21  And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 
Luk 15:22  But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 
Luk 15:23  And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 
Luk 15:24  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Num 34:25  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 
Num 34:26  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 
Num 34:27  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. 
Num 34:28  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. 
Num 34:29  These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan. 

The final four leaders of the various tribes of the people of Israel were as follows: Elizaphan (God is treasure); Paltiel (Deliverance of God); Ahihud (Brother of Majesty) and Pedahel (Ransomed by God). These names signify that through the deliverance of the Lord (Paltiel), we are ransomed by God (Pedahel) to have God as our treasure (Elizaphan) as we become His brothers (Ahihud). 

Heb 2:10  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Heb 2:12  Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.

May the Lord continue to establish His kingdom within us as we see the day approaching. Amen!! 

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – Part 2

[Study Aired March 20, 2023]

In the first part of this topic that was presented last week, it was established that Abraham’s seed and the land are the two prerequisites of achieving God’s purpose. The purpose of God as revealed in His encounter with Abraham is to have a people who express Him, and through them all the families of the earth will be blessed. The seed here physically represents Isaac. However, spiritually, Isaac represents Jesus whose coming is to cause a people to express God’s image and His dominion. This people (a great nation) will later become a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Unfortunately, Abraham did not have a seed and had to believe the Lord even though physically, it was impossible for him to have a seed.

Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 
Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 
Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 
Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 
Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 
Rom 4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Rom 4:24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

The second requirement for fulfilling God’s purpose is the land. The land is a place for God’s people to live, a place where God’s enemies would be defeated, a place where God will have a habitation and a place where God will build His kingdom. Looking at it from one perspective, the land is our body. In another perspective, the land represents Christ. As the scriptures say, in Him we live, move, and have our being. It is in Christ that we can defeat our enemies and build the kingdom. We can therefore see that both the seed and the land represent Christ!! This is to let us know that everything in this life revolves around Christ, and without Him, nothing flourishes!! That is why Christ coming to us is crucial!!

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 

Every kingdom has a territorial domain, and in the case of the elect, our bodies (hearts and minds) are supposed to be the dwelling place of Christ or His throne where His kingdom dwells. Christ has to come and establish His kingdom within us first before the kingdom becomes visible later in another age. Unfortunately, the beast is already occupying the throne of Christ within us when we were born. This was the same with Abraham. When he went to Canaan, the land was fully occupied by Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, etc. That’s why David said the following:

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

It took a long time for Abraham to have a seed and for the seed to multiply enough to be able to possess the land – more than four hundred years. In other words, it took a long time for Isaac to be born and for the twelve sons of Jacob to multiply enough to leave Egypt and to possess the land.

Gen 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Gen 15:14  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

This shows the Lord’s patience in dealing with us before we are capable of dealing with the beast to establish the Lord’s kingdom within. We, His elect, must also learn to be patient in dealing with the Lord, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our family and the people of the world.

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 
Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 
Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 
Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

In today’s study, we will continue to take a look at Abraham’s life that was written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

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. 

Abraham’s Life of Faith – Learning to Walk by Faith

When God came to Abraham and made a promise to him, he was seventy-five years old. It was not until he was a hundred years old that Isaac, the seed, was born. From the time of the promise to the birth of Isaac was therefore a period of twenty-five years!! All of us would have given up on God’s promise, but God was able to sustain Abraham to walk by faith as follows:

Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 

Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 
Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 
Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 
Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 
Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 
Rom 4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Rom 4:24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 

This is to show us that it takes time for God’s promises to come to fruition. This is demonstrated clearly by the parable of a man traveling into a far country who delivered his goods to his servants and took a long time to come back for reckoning.  Thus, it is necessary for us to learn to walk by faith if we are to receive the reward as our father Abraham did. For without faith, it is impossible to please God. In the case of Abraham, the scriptures say that, against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and became the father of many nations. Against all the odds, we must still believe that the Lord will intervene in our circumstance!! Even this belief is not our work. It is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ that operates within us according to His measure.

The Two Women: Hagar and Sarah – Representing the Physical and the Spiritual Experience of the Elect

Sarah was the legitimate wife of Abraham while Hagar was the concubine. The prolonged delay in the birth of Isaac made Abraham fall into the temptation of depending on his own strength to have a child called Ishmael with Hagar, a handmaid of Sarah. However, Ishmael was rejected by God as the seed. This is to make us understand that in this relation with God, it is what God has promised that counts. Our efforts are useless in fulfilling God’s purpose.  We do not choose to serve the Lord. It is God that chooses us. As the scriptures clearly state, it is not of him that will or of him that runs but of God that shows mercy.

Gen 16:1 Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 
Gen 16:2  And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 
Gen 16:3  And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 
Gen 16:4  And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
Gen 16:5  And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. 

Sarah represents the church of the elect, or Jerusalem which is above, while Hagar symbolizes the physical churches of this world (Babylon) or Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children. As we indicated earlier, we start our walk as carnal and therefore we are more attracted to Hagar, since we can see the immediate result in signs and wonders which seemingly makes Jerusalem, which is in bondage, more productive than the New Jerusalem whose husband is Christ. However, in the fullness of time, the bride of Christ, the church of the firstborn, shall have more children than Jerusalem which is.

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 
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. 

Famine in the land – A famine of hearing the word of God

Gen 12:9  And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
Gen 12:10  And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

When we start our journey in Christ, we experience famine as Abraham went through famine when he started his journey with the Lord. This famine is not the lack of food or water, but of hearing the words of the Lord as shown in the scriptures below:

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 
Amo 8:12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 
Amo 8:13  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

As verse 12 of Amos 8 indicates, the result of famine causes us to wander from sea to sea. This means we get hooked to all kinds of false doctrines that originate from the sea of flesh, thinking we are spiritually being fed.  As a result, we end up being more carnal or worldly, as we continue to faint or thirst for the word of God. This was what happened to Abraham when he came to Egypt as a result of famine and lied about his wife being his sister.  In other words, absence of the word makes us carnal, and, in this situation, we cannot please God. We have all been in this situation before, and it is this absence of the word of God that sets in motion our exit from Babylon.

Abraham as a friend of the Lord – The Lord wants to relate to us as a friend.

Abraham’s encounter with the Lord when He visited him in the heat of the day in the plains of Mamre, was a friendly visit. The conversation centered around Sarah and the Lord’s promise of Sarah having a child at the time of life. What was most significant was the fact that when the Lord was leaving, He said that He could not hide what He wanted to do from Abraham. This is what defines friendship – the openness in dealing with one another, and that was what the Lord did. In this relationship with the Lord, He wants us as friends and not servants, as servants do not know the mind of their master.  However, we are privileged to know the mind of Christ.

Gen 18:1  And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
Gen 18:2  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 
Gen 18:3  And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 
Gen 18:9  And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 
Gen 18:10  And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 
Gen 18:11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
Gen 18:12  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
Gen 18:13  And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 
Gen 18:14  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 
Gen 18:15  Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. 
Gen 18:16  And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 
Gen 18:17  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 
Gen 18:18  Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 

Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 

In this conversation with Abraham, the Lord assured him that at the time of life, Sarah will give birth to a son. There are two instances in the Bible that the phrase “time of life” has been used, and it is all related to the birth of a son. Spiritually, it signifies the time in our lives that the new man (Christ) is born within us, and the old man continues its journey of death.

2Ki 4:16  And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
2Ki 4:17  And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

Abraham Praying for Sodom – the need to intercede for our brothers and sisters.

Gen 18:17  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 

Gen 18:20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 
Gen 18:21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 
Gen 18:22  And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 
Gen 18:23  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 
Gen 18:24  Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 
Gen 18:26  And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

Gen 18:32  And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. 

Abraham requesting the Lord not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if He were to find a certain number of righteous men was to show us the need to intercede on behalf of the elect. Actually, Abraham had Lot in mind as a righteous man living among a wicked generation. He was not praying for Sodom. On a positive note, Lot here represents the elect. 

2Pe 2:6  And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
2Pe 2:7  And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 
2Pe 2:8  (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 

Abraham’s intercession was based on divine revelation. Our intercession for the brethren must also be based on the Lord’s revelation. We must all have the burden of praying for the Lord’s elect just like Paul. What the Lord has revealed to us to guide our intercession for our brothers and sisters are His words. The following example shows us what we need to pray for: 

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

All our physical needs are encapsulated in these spiritual blessings that we need to pray for. 

Abraham Praying for Abimelech – The “Shameful” Intercession

Gen 20:1  And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 
Gen 20:2  And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 
Gen 20:3  But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. 
Gen 20:4  But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 
Gen 20:5  Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
Gen 20:6  And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 
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. 

These verses of scripture reveal to us that after several years of walking with the Lord, Abraham was still struggling with the flesh. Even though the process of putting to death the old man has started, he was still overcome by the flesh due to fear of insecurity – being put to death because of Sarah. We, also are going through the same thing as Abraham as the evil one buffets us with all kinds of ailments and circumstances that brings us to our wits’ ends. However, just as Abraham was delivered from Abimelech, we shall also be delivered!! What is insightful here is the fact that in spite of Abraham’s apparent failure, the Lord told Abimelech to ask Abraham to pray for him as the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech. In fact the Lord told Abimelech that Abraham was His prophet!! The Lord sees the end from the beginning in spite of our apparent failures!! On many occasions when we have failed, we are unable to pray even though no one knows our sins. We can just imagine how difficult it was for Abraham to pray for Abimelech’s family to be fruitful and be preserved. However, Abraham had not seen the fulfillment of his prayer for the Lord to give Sarah a seed. 

Gen 20:17  So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

The lesson we are to learn from this episode of Abraham is that when we intercede for others, we must forget about our failures and circumstances and believe the Lord will answer our prayers. We must not think that because the Lord has not answered our prayers regarding a particular need, the Lord will not answer our prayer for a brother or sister in a similar situation. We need to learn not to pray according to only our victory. It is easy to pray when we are victorious over the flesh, but we should believe in the Lord that He hears us even in our failures!! Interceding for others does not depend upon our condition. It depends upon our standing with the Lord. That is, it depends on who we are – the prophet of God!!

The Birth of Isaac – the Coming of Christ within us

Gen 21:1  And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 
Gen 21:2  For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 
Gen 21:3  And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 
Gen 21:4  And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 
Gen 21:5  And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 
Gen 21:6  And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 
Gen 21:7  And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. 

As indicated earlier, Isaac typifies Christ. The birth of Isaac therefore signifies the coming of Christ within us to build His kingdom within us (great nation) and in the fullness of time, this kingdom will be outward as the Lord will use us to bless the whole earth. As we are aware, when the Lord comes into our lives, He starts to deal with all that offends through the judgment of our old man. This coming of Christ is the birth of the new man within us as our old man is dealt with by the Lord.

Joh 2:13  And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 
Joh 2:14  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 
Joh 2:15  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
Joh 2:16  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 
Joh 2:17  And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

The goal of Abraham’s calling was to bring forth a seed (Christ). The birth of Isaac was based on a promise. If we are called and chosen, then we also have the promise of Christ coming to our temples to build His kingdom within us. This is the promise we have:

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 
Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
Mal 3:4  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. 

Here in Malachi 3:4, we are told that it is when Christ comes that Judah and Jerusalem will offer a pleasant offering to the Lord. It is when Christ comes that we can offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to Him. The period of Christ coming into our lives is the time of life – that is, the giving of eternal life to us. This eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ.

Joh 17:2  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 
Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 

May the Lord help us to continue to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to Him until that day!! Amen!!

2Ki 14:19-29  “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”

[Study Aired December 22, 2022]

2Ki 14:19  Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.
2Ki 14:20  And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.
2Ki 14:21  And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.
2Ki 14:22  He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.
2Ki 14:23  In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.
2Ki 14:24  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2Ki 14:25  He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.
2Ki 14:26  For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.
2Ki 14:27  And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
2Ki 14:28  Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 
2Ki 14:29  And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

The LORD has a controversy (Jer 25:31) with the nations within us, and all the nations of the world without, that will not be resolved until all flesh is destroyed.

Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy^H7379 with the nations, he will plead^{H8199 = judge} with all flesh; he will give them [all flesh] that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. [Heb 4:12] 

That destruction of flesh is the good news of the gospel that we naturally cannot receive, as God seeks an occasion against all flesh that cannot inherit the kingdom of God, a kingdom that will be received, each man in his order by putting off the flesh (1Co 15:22-24).

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

For God’s elect that occasion is happening right now with judgment upon us that causes us to come to worship our Father in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:23) as a result of the gift of the grace through faith given to us (Eph 2:8) so we can go on to perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32).

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

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

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

I mention all this because of the opening verse of the study which discusses the “conspiracy^H7195 against him in Jerusalem” (2Ki 14:19), him being king Amaziah who represents our flesh which cannot inherit the kingdom of God. God conspires against our flesh, and that is the controversy the world has been blinded to not see unfolding. The unfolding started from the creation of Adam as the marred vessel that was created to be destroyed and made anew in the Potter’s hand (Jer 18:4, Jer 22:29, Joh 10:28-29). 

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

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

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

For further evidence of what the carnal fleshly mind in Adam thinks of himself, we see where Amaziah flees to avoid judgment which is in a place that means ‘invincible’, Lachish^H3923, as opposed to humbly going to the mount from whence comes our help, where we are judged and acknowledge that there is no good thing within us, and that we constantly need Christ’s hand in our life to guide us (Psa 121:1-2, Joh 6:44, Luk 18:19, Rom 8:14).

2Ki 14:19  Now they made a conspiracy^{H7195=treason} against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish^H3923; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.

H3923  lâkı̂ysh  Lachish = “invincible”(BDB)

1) a city lying south of Jerusalem on the borders of Simeon and which belonged to the Amorites until conquered by Joshua and allotted to Judah

Psa 121:1  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 
Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

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

Luk 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

2Ki 14:19  Now they made a conspiracyH7195 against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish^H3923; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 

All the forces of the world around us are for our sakes (2Co 4:15), and because God is able to work all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11), we can now understand how it is possible that these verses below that use the phrase “all things” apply to each one of us individually who know, “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 8:28). 

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

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: 

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.

“All things” become the reality of our existence “on that day” (Joh 14:20) as we grow in our conviction of what God can do in the body of Christ which is the temple of God (Rom 8:36-39, Rom 8:9, 1Co 3:16) . “All things” includes the death of our old man, the losing of our life which we initially think is invincible (Lachish^H3923) only to find out later that we must lose that life (Rom 6:11) in order to become a new creation that is formed in Christ (Mat 10:39). 

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.

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

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

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

2Ki 14:20  And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

The old man, typified by Amaziah, is buried in Jerusalem below and brought to that place of rest by horses, strong beasts of the earth which remind us that like king David and Amaziah, they are going to their graves with their beastly nature still intact to be buried “with his fathers in the city of David“. The dead are still burying the dead to this day, and each life, as with all the kings of old, represents stages of the old and new man that by God’s mercy we come to see within ourselves today (Act 2:29-33). Not to belabor the point, but we are told that David is not just dead, but “dead and buried“, meaning he is in the earth, earth, earth of Jeremiah 22:29 yet to spiritually hear the voice of the Lord in the second resurrection (Joh 5:28-29, first resurrection separated by the thousand year reign of the saints, Rev 20:5-6).

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Act 2:30  Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 
Act 2:31  He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 
Act 2:32  This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 
Act 2:33  Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

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.

Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
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.

2Ki 14:21  And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 
2Ki 14:22  He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. 

In 2 Kings 15:1-6 we learn what this son of Amaziah, whose name was Azariah, was up to, as he reigned for [52] years “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.” Those actions brought God’s wrath upon him, “And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several [separate] house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.”

2Ki 15:1  In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign. 
2Ki 15:2  Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. 
2Ki 15:3  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; 
2Ki 15:4  Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.
2Ki 15:5  And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.
2Ki 15:6  And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

Two things to note:  Jeroboam king of Israel was in his 27th year of reigning when Azariah began to reign, telling us that this king Azariah was going to witness [2] the judgment of the Lord completely [7] in his life and not overcome: “he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several [separate] house.” The “several house” represents how sin separates us from the body of Christ, which is what happened to the life of king Azariah whose son ended up being “over the house, judging the people of the land” of Judah. 

The life of Azariah produced bad fruit. represented by his building of Elath^H359 that he restored to Judah. “He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.” Based on all that we read about the life of Azariah and what he ended up doing to the nation of Judah, it’s clear that this 16 year old king was not fit to reign and only used his rulership as an occasion for his flesh (Gal 5:13). Starting to rule at 16 in the negative use of that number reveals that although God’s judgment was upon him, [1] his flesh, represented by the number [6], remained leprous and of no use to those around him from whom he was separated because of his natural condition of leprosy that represented his spiritually corrupt heart. As always we are reminded that this is written for our admonition to remind us that unless we are washed by the blood of Christ, which takes away our sinful condition represented by leprosy, we would remain in the bondage that the whole world is in (Joh 8:36, 1Jn 5:19).

H359‘êylôth / ‘êylath   BDB Definition:
Elath or Eloth = “grove of lofty trees”
1) a port on the north-east arm of the Red Sea
Part of Speech: noun proper locative
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H352

Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 

1Jn 5:19  And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. [sinful leprous flesh]

2Ki 14:23  In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. 
2Ki 14:24  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2Ki 14:25  He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.

Now God’s word shifts back to Amaziah the father of Azariah to remind us of where these generational sins of Azariah are coming from, and what exactly set the stage for his heart to be as wicked as it was. What must be done to correct this spirit is also given to us in the numbers mentioned in verse 23: “the fifteenth year of Amaziah” and “forty and one years“, both numbers pointing to grace [5], which in the case with Amaziah’s life was greasy grace and not accompanied with life changing correction from the Lord. Just to be clear it is “Jeroboam the son of Joash“ the king of Israel who begins to reign in Samaria for forty-one years, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord by following the sinful ways of “Jeroboam the son of Nebat“. That comparative was made to remind us that grace is not grace when it is accompanied with a lascivious spirit that says ‘let us sin that grace may abound’ (Rom 6:1). 

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

All of these events remind God’s elect that it is only for the sake of our election (1Jn 2:20, Rom 11:5), but for the grace of God go we, as those generational sins are cut off as we become the generation that is judged by God and as such can live out the rest of our lives in obedience to our Lord, which is what that judgment will continue to produce (Exo 34:7, Rom 5:12, Mat 24:34, 1Pe 4:1-2, Tit 2:11-12).

1Jn 2:20  But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

Rom 11:5  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Exo 34:7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Rom 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 
1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. [1Jn 2:15-17]

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
Tit 2:12  Teaching^G3811 us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth^G3811, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

G3811 paideuō pahee-dyoo’-o

From G3816; to train up a child, that is, educate, or (by implication) discipline (by punishment): – chasten (-ise), instruct, learn, teach.

Total KJV occurrences: 13

What flesh naturally does is restore evil and not tear it down, and that is exactly what God causes us to do symbolized by these words, “He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel“, leaving us to say in our carnal reasoning why Lord, why are you causing me to err and restoring sin in my life, causing me to err (Rom 9:20, Isa 63:17).

Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

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.

God reveals this life-long struggle of flesh against spirit and spirit against flesh (Gal 5:16-17, Rom 7:19-23) through the prophets who typify the patience and faith of the saints which is needed to overcome and endure unto the end of this life, in which we are told we will scarcely be saved (Jas 4:12, Rev 14:12, 1Pe 4:17-18).

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

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

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?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 

Jonah was such a prophet who had to endure patiently as we read “which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher” and his life is symbolic of the life-long struggle we have with sinful flesh that needs to go through much tribulation (Act 14:22) in order to end up in Nineveh as a true witness of God (Jon 2:10, Jon 2:3). 

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

Jon 2:10  And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

Jon 3:3  So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.

Even still, the end of the book does not leave us with a clear understanding of what was going to happen to Jonah. What we are being instructed by those actions is to not take anything for granted (1Co 10:12), and also to be encouraged that you have been apprehended by the Lord (Php 3:11-13) (symbolized by Jonah in the great fish), and we are to continually be brought back to remembrance that it is only because of the judgment in our ‘earth, earth, earth’ that we can overcome and have boldness at this time (Jer 22:29, 1Jn 4:17) symbolized by Jonah’s three days in the great fish, which symbolizes Christ’s three days in the heart of our earth (Mat 12:40), where we are being judged today and brought to perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32).

Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 
Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 

Jer 22:29  O [1] earth, [2] earth, [3] earth, hear the word of the LORD.

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. 

Mat 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

2Ki 14:26  For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. 
2Ki 14:27  And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

In the positive sense of being restored, we are brought back to the point of how all things are for our sakes and how God knows all the conditions on the face of the earth and the heart and intention of every human who has ever lived, because He is working it all according to the counsel of His own sovereign will. The “LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel” means just that, he knows the heart of man that it is deceitful and desperately wicked, making us “very bitter“. It takes the life of Christ within us who is our “helper” (Mat 20:28, Christ in us makes us helpers of each other’s joy, 2Co 1:24) to take away the bitterness that would naturally just grow and overtake us except for the gifted grace-through-faith process to whichGod’s elect have been blessed to be called (Eph 2:8).

Mat 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

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

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

All men will be saved, all the world, symbolized by Israel, “And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven“. Not physically saved indefinitely “by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash” (Gen 6:3), but yes, preserved for God’s purpose of ultimately reserving the rest of humanity to be judged in the great white throne judgment. One of the main reasons God physically preserves humanity from total annihilation prior to the thousand-year reign of the saints is to reveal the natural saving of humanity before the spiritual, and to leave a witness of how God seeks an occasion against flesh and blood that cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Mat 24:22, Rom 1:20). So the elect will save the world from total physical destruction at first and then save all of Israel, which symbolizes the whole world, from spiritual destruction in the lake of fire “the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven” (1Co 15:22, Rev 20:11).

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

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

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

2Ki 14:28  Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 
2Ki 14:29  And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

It all sounds just sounds like great progress, Jeroboam warred and recovered Damascus^H1834 [“silent is the sackcloth weaver”] and Hamath^H2574 [“fortress”], but we know this represents the preservation of the flesh which is happening to the glory of God, knowing that overall arching principle in God’s word that states “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” which cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Gen 6:3).

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.

In the end, “Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.” He is no different than David and all the other kings good and bad who have come and gone, in that none of their flesh will inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50). However, they will serve us in their unbelief and give us great hope of what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has been setting out to do all along from the foundation of the world (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11, 1Co 15:22).

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

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. 

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: [Gen 6:3] and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die [Gen 6:3], even so in Christ shall all be made alive. [1Jn 2:2, 1Ti 4:10] 

[Study Aired October 9, 2022]

Jer 51:1  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;
Jer 51:2  And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
Jer 51:3  Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
Jer 51:4  Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.
Jer 51:5  For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
Jer 51:6  Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
Jer 51:7  Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
Jer 51:8  Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
Jer 51:9  We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
Jer 51:10  The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
Jer 51:11  Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.
Jer 51:12  Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.
Jer 51:13  O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
Jer 51:14  The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
Jer 51:15  He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
Jer 51:16  When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

Here’s the New Testament version of the message of this 51^st chapter of Jeremiah:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven [“A destroying wind”], 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. [The habitation of every false doctrine].
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 [the holy men of every religion] are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
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 same spirit identified within the church of Laodicea:  (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 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,

The fall of Babylon is said to be “sudden” in Jeremiah 51:8. The words used to convey this thought in Revelation 18 is “in one day” in verse Rev 18:8, and “in one hour” in these verses:

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 18:17  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 18:19  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.

Jer 51:1  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;

Verse 1 tells us that “the Lord… will raise up… a destroying wind… against them that… rise up against me”, and those who do so are identified as “Babylon”, a type of ‘Mystery Babylon’. As we have seen in earlier studies, all men are in covenant with God via the Noahic covenant, and we are told that Mystery Babylon rides on a beast which is defined as “all nations… and the kings of the earth”. They have all committed spiritual fornication with this “great whore that sits upon many waters”, which waters are defined as “many… peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues”:

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

Unlike the judgments of ancient Israel, Judah, by physical Babylon, and even physical Babylon, by the kings of the Medes and Persians, those whom the Lord sends to destroy Mystery Babylon are not identified as any particular nation, and yet we are plainly told that John is being shown “the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters” (Rev 17:1).

The Lord revealed to us that this great whore is none other than His own unfaithful wife… spiritual “Judah and Jerusalem”:

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.

Every word of the revelation of Jesus Christ is based upon revelations found in the Old Testament, which reveals that this “great whore” is no one else than the Lord’s unfaithful wife:

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

The death of His saints is the same phraseology used to describe Mystery 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.

Christ Himself identifies Mystery Babylon with this statement:

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 [“Mystery Babylon the Great”], 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!

Just as Adam and Eve had a relationship with Christ before they became “the seed of… the serpent” by being obedient to the words of the serpent and by disobeying the words of the Lord commanding them not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so were Judah and Jerusalem in a marriage covenant with the Lord before they also became a great whore by breaking covenant with their husband, Christ, when they forsook the Lord and became a seed of evildoers, provoking the Lord to anger:

Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Jer 51:2  And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
Jer 51:3  Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
Jer 51:4  Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.

When the Lord says the time of judgment has come, He brings it to pass. He can do that because the very hearts of all men are in His hand:

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.

The Lord is calling His elect to come out of this great harlot system which He is judging. Physical Israel, and all physical religions, are all ‘risen up against the Lord’, and He is in the process of judging them all. However, His judgments must “first… begin at the house of God”, the spiritual seed of Abraham, His very elect:

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

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?

‘Them that obey not the gospel of God’ are “all nations and the kings of the earth” who are all guilty of committing fornication with the ‘great whore’.

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 [false, greedy ministers] are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

If this harlot sits upon “all nations… and kings of the earth”, who then does the Lord use to accomplish the judging of this great harlot system? When Jerusalem forsook the Lord and became this harlot, the Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar, the king of physical Babylon, to judge His people. When the time was accomplished for Babylon to be judged, the Lord sent Cyrus, the king of the Medes and Persians to judge and destroy Babylon. The king of Greece is sent to judge Persia, and Rome is sent to judge the heirs of heirs of Alexander’s Greek empire. This is all revealed in Daniel’s revelation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s disturbing dream which Nebuchadnezzar could not remember. The significance of the symbols of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream with a head of gold, arms and shoulders of silver, a belly and thighs of brass and the legs of iron and the feet and toes part of iron and part of clay, identify how the Lord used each succeeding nation to judge its predecessor.

Let’s carefully notice the reason the holy spirit gives for giving this dream to King Nebuchadnezzar:

Dan 2:30  But as for me [Daniel], this secret [Hebrew H7328: raz, mystery] is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.

Here is Strong’s definition of this Hebrew word, ‘raz’:

H7328
רָז
râz
rawz
(Chaldee); from an unused root probably meaning to attenuate, that is, (figuratively) hide; a mystery: – secret.

“But for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king” means the Lord gave this dream to Nebuchadnezzar and those who make the interpretation of the Lord’s word to us:

Rev 19:9  And he [“one of the seven angels which had the seven vials”] saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God [Rev 22:6].
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.

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:

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of all the nations which would rule this world was given to him “for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king” of the kingdom of our old man, as the book of Revelation twice reveals:

Rev 22:6  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true [Rev 19:9]: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Rev 22:10  And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

What the spirit is telling us in…

Dan 2:30  But as for me [Daniel], this secret [Hebrew H7328: raz, mystery] is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.

…It takes Christ in His Christ to show us the thoughts of our old man and make known the interpretation of all the types, shadows and symbols He uses to reveal Himself and His mind to “the king” – to you and to me.

The great whore of Revelation 17 is called “Mystery Babylon the Great”:

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.

This woman is “the great whore… [and] in the spirit [she is] in… the wilderness”. This “great whore” is a harlot because she is the Lord’s unfaithful, apostate wife. Like Jezebel, the queen of Israel, she is much more attached to the mind and customs of this world than she is to the people who are faithful to the Lord. Like Jezebel this great harlot system is seeking to destroy any who are faithful to the Lord and His doctrines, as the very next verse reveals:

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.

Just as it was in the days of Jezebel, when she was seeking to destroy Elijah and all the prophets of the Lord, the Lord still has a remnant who are coming out of this great harlot and are willing to die daily with their Lord. It is only those who come out of the Lord’s apostate harlot wife, who will be given to become his spotless virgin wife, the true “Israel of God”:

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

2Pe 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GWV)

Only the faithful “are counted for the seed”:

Rom 9:6  Now it is not as though God’s word has failed. Clearly, not everyone descended from Israel is part of Israel
Rom 9:7  or a descendant of Abraham. However, as Scripture says, “Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.”
Rom 9:8  This means that children born by natural descent from Abraham are not necessarily God’s children. Instead, children born by the promise are considered Abraham’s descendants. (GWV)

It is “children born by the promise” who are the spiritual subject of our next verse:

Jer 51:5  For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

The Lord’s own people are those who first reject Him and who will be the first to be judged in this present time. The Lord’s very elect are no better or worse than any other men of themselves. They are simply those who He has elected to be His:

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth)

That is the only reason any of us come out of apostate Jerusalem, “Mystery Babylon the Great”. Those who are granted “according to election” to ‘come out of her’ will be the first to be judged in this present time and to be reunited with their True Husband, Christ:

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 [“a remnant”], and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. [“Make known the interpretation to the king…”, Dan 2:30]

Jer 51:6  Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.

The Lord’s admonition to us is to “Come out of her, my people”:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

The only difference between Jeremiah 51:6 and Revelation 18:4-6 is that Revelation 18 gives us more details of the Lord’s vengeance which He will render unto her. We receive double according to our works. Revelation chapters 17 and 18 are just a broad scale recapping of chapters 15-16, which go into much greater detail of “the seven last plagues” which the Lord’s “vengeance [and] His recompense” entails for our personal, inward, self-righteous rebellion against Him and His doctrines.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev 15:5  And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
Rev 15:6  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
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 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.

Jeremiah 51 typically complements the words of Revelation and reminds us that Babylon is nothing more than an instrument in the Lord’s hand. Jeremiah helps us to see how a sovereign God uses Babylon as His cup. It is He who gives this great harlot the commission to pour out her spiritual fornications upon all nations and the kings of the earth.

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.

Jer 51:7  Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
Jer 51:8  Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
Jer 51:9  We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

“We would have healed Babylon”, but the Lord has no intention of doing so. Our natural inclination is to want to preserve the kingdom of our old man. Ishmael, as “the son of the bondwoman”, Hagar, typifies the kingdom of our flesh, but our flesh is also a physical descendant of Abraham, and even Abraham was very reluctant to part with his own flesh:

Gen 17:15  And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
Gen 17:16  And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Gen 17:18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

We are all, by nature loathe to deny our own flesh. The Lord simply assured Abraham that Ishmael would indeed “multiply exceedingly… and… make him a great nation”. Ishmael is indeed a great nation which “persecuted Him that was born after the spirit” and the Lord told Abraham that His covenant would only be with the son who was “born after the spirit”, and the Lord insisted that “the son of the bondwoman shall not be made heir with the son of the freewoman”:

Gal 4:25  For this Agar [Hagar] is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
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.
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.

As surely as Sarah and Abraham had nothing to do with the miraculous birth of their son Isaac, in like manner, we have absolutely nothing to do with our own election:

Jer 51:10  The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

We are the Lord’s spiritual ‘Zion’ which He has chosen as His dwelling place:

Psa 9:11  Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

Zion and Jerusalem are used interchangeably in scripture because Mount Zion is within Jerusalem. Therefore, it is no contradiction when we read:

Psa 135:21  Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

The Lord does not dwell in physical Jerusalem. He dwells in “Jerusalem above which is the mother of us all”.

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

The word ‘above’ is not a geographic word as it is used here. It is a spiritual word which is “as high above our thoughts as the heavens are above the earth”:

Isa 55:9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

“Jerusalem above” is the mind of Christ and His thoughts within His elect in which He even now dwells.

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Jer 51:11  Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.
Jer 51:12  Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.

All our efforts to spiritually hold onto Ishmael and Esau are to no avail when “the Lord raises up a destroying wind against all of her lies within us (Jer 51:1). When His time to destroy Mystery Babylon comes, He will destroy her and all she stands for within us and dispensationally when He decides it is time.

Jeremiah 51:12 is the natural reaction of our flesh. Like Joseph’s brothers, we just naturally believe we can thwart the Lord’s words and keep them from coming to pass:

Gen 37:18  And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
Gen 37:19  And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
Gen 37:20  Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

Mat 21:37  But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
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.
Mat 21:39  And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

Jer 51:13  O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

Mystery Babylon also “dwells upon many waters”:

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:

These same “many waters” upon which this great whore sits, are also revealed in verse three to be the same as “a scarlet coloured beast”:

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.

Both symbols (the ‘many waters’ and ‘a scarlet colored beast’) are clarified as representing the flesh of all men:

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.

Jeremiah and the book of Daniel both tell us that the Medes and Persians were the Lord’s hand to accomplish the destruction of physical Babylon, but neither Daniel nor the book of Revelation, name any one nation as the Lord’s instrument for bringing about the destruction of Mystery Babylon. Because all men are under the Noahic covenant, Mystery Babylon is therefore the symbol for all the religions which have been given to rule over “all nations… and the kings of the earth” (Rev 18:3). Instead of any particular nation, we are told that all flesh, the very beast itself, and the very waters on which the great whore sits, will be the instrument of the Lord’s judgment upon Mystery Babylon. The scarlet-colored beast and the waters upon which Mystery Babylon sits and dominates the whole world are both symbolized by the ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s image in Daniel 2 and by the ten horns on the beast upon which the great whore also sits, which will revolt against her and destroy her:

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.
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.
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.

The Lord makes no excuses for His part in the destruction of Mystery Babylon within and without. This is the only reason the ten horns do what they do:

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

Jeremiah gives us the very same message in these words:

Jer 51:14  The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee [Babylon] with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
Jer 51:15  He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
Jer 51:16  When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

All of this is the Lord’s judgment of Babylon, and the Lord tells us that He uses the ten horns on the beast and the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image to effect His judgment upon Mystery Babylon.

The negative application of the number ten signifies Adamic flesh in its full bloom and at its zenith. Here is the study on the number ten: The Significance of the Number Ten

The timing given in Daniel 2 reveals that Daniel 2 includes the time of the judging of Mystery Babylon:

Dan 2:41  And whereas thou sawest the feet and [ten] toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
Dan 2:42  And as the [ten] 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 [ten] 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.

These verses verify the revelation that all flesh will rebel against the religions of this world and will be used of the Lord to judge Mystery Babylon:

Jer 51:1  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;
Jer 51:2  And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

I will conclude with the words with which the Lord told us to petition our heavenly Father “When [we] pray” (Mat 6:7):

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Jer 49:1-10 I Will Bring Again the Captivity of Ammon

[Study Aired August 28, 2022]

Jer 49:1  Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?
Jer 49:2  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:3  Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.
Jer 49:4  Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?
Jer 49:5  Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.
Jer 49:6  And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

Edom is also judged

Jer 49:7  Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
Jer 49:8  Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.
Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Jer 49:10  But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

We have spent the last several studies on the judgment of Moab within us. Moab signifies our own flesh because he is the incestuous son of Lot by his eldest daughter. Ammon is the incestuous son of Lot by his younger daughter. Lot is Abraham’s brother’s son. He is Abraham’s nephew, and in that sense he is Abraham’s ‘brother’ as the scriptures put it:

Gen 14:16  And [Abraham] brought back all the goods [of Sodom], and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people [of Sodom].

Therefore, Ammon, who is both Moab’s brother, via having the same father, Lot, is also Moab’s first cousin because their mothers are sisters, the two daughters of Lot. In the same sense that Lot was called Abraham’s “brother”, Moab and Ammon are also Abraham’s ‘brother’. Like Lot and His first-born son, Moab, Ammon also signifies Abraham’s own flesh which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”:

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

Jer 49:1  Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king [the king of the Ammonites] inherit Gad , and his people [the people of the king of  the Ammonites] dwell in his [Israel’s] cities?

When the Assyrians carried the northern kingdom away into captivity, the Ammonites rejoiced at Israel’s fall and retook all the land of Gad and Manasseh, which the Amorites had taken away from the Ammonites before Israel came up out of Egypt and destroyed Sihon the king of the Amorites and his army and possessed his kingdom, part of which had been taken from the Ammonites.

This fact is revealed to us in the story of the judge, Jephthah, who delivered Israel from the persecutions of the Ammonites many decades before the time of Jeremiah:

Jdg 11:5  And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:
Jdg 11:6  And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
Jdg 11:7  And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?
Jdg 11:8  And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
Jdg 11:9  And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
Jdg 11:10  And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
Jdg 11:11  Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh.
Jdg 11:12  And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
Jdg 11:13  And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
Jdg 11:14  And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon:
Jdg 11:15  And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
Jdg 11:16  But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
Jdg 11:17  Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
Jdg 11:18  Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.
Jdg 11:19  And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
Jdg 11:20  But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
Jdg 11:21  And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
Jdg 11:22  And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
Jdg 11:23  So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
Jdg 11:24  Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
Jdg 11:25  And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,
Jdg 11:26  While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
Jdg 11:27  Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
Jdg 11:28  Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Ammon, signifying our own flesh, has always been envious of the son of the freewoman, and wants to be Abraham’s heir, just as Hagar and Ishmael, who were even closer to Abraham, wanted to persecute and destroy the son of the freewoman:

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
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.

These things all happened to these people of the Old Testament, and they are all written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come:

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.

Moab and Ammon both signify the flesh of our “first man Adam” who is always envious of, and at war with, the new man, “the son of the freewoman” within us. Cain, Lot (the son of Abram’s brother), Moab and Ammon all feel they have claim to being the heir because they are indeed the physical firstborn in every case. Not that Haran was born before Abram, but he was born long before Isaac, and Lot had followed Abram long before either Ishmael or Isaac was born. The Truth is that “the first man, Adam is of the earth, earthy”, and therefore he cannot be heir with the child of promise who signifies “the children… of faith”:

Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

If the Lord has written in His book that we are to be faithful to the end, then He has also written that we would first “fall seven times… lose our first love, [and] fulfill the seven plagues” before we would be granted to repent of losing our first love [and have our] captivity returned and brought back to the Lord and given back our inheritance.

Both Moab and Ammon, therefore, typify and signify that part of our ‘experience of evil’ (Ecc 1:13) where we ‘lose our first love’, and we want to take back the throne of Christ, which in type was taken from us by God’s design and was given to our new man. We never attempted to cast out the Amorites who had taken our inheritance from us because we felt that we could not make war with the beast within us, who the Amorites typify:

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

The king of Ammon thinks nothing of warring against Israel over Gilead, which Israel had possessed for over three hundred years. We have no record that they ever once attempted to reclaim their inheritance while it was in the hands of the Amorites. However, in the time of Jephthah, they attempted to reclaim their inheritance which the Lord had given to His people 300 years earlier.

Here in Jeremiah 49 Ammon is again taking back Israel’s inheritance and rejoicing in Israel’s judgment at the hands of the Chaldeans. It all typifies our loss of our first love, which is also signified by the healing of the deadly wound upon the beast within us:

Rev 2:1  Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

When we ‘lose our first love’ the Lord judges us:

Jer 49:2  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.

It is the Lord Himself who causes us to be carried away captive, giving our inheritance back to Ammon, which typifies the dominion of our flesh being given back to our old man. That dominion is not forever, though it may seem that way at the time.

Israel’s seventy years of captivity signify the fact that the Lord’s elect bow to Esau within them “seven times”:

Gen 33:3  And he [Jacob, whose name had been changed to Israel the night before] passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother [Esau].

It is the Lord’s elect ‘Israel’ who must be “punished seven times more for [our] sins:

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 26:24  Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

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.

It is the Lord’s own servant whom He loves who must be the first to “fall seven times” and have the Lord’s seven last plagues poured out upon them:

Isa 42:18  Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?
Isa 42:20  Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
Isa 42:21  The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
Isa 42:22  But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Isa 42:23  Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Isa 42:24  Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Isa 42:25  Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Now we know why “no man could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels” has been poured out upon that man:

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

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God [Isa 42:25], 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.

Jer 49:3  Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

Heshbon is the capital city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, which he had wrested from the Ammonites to make it into his capital. It was the first city conquered by Israel when Sihon refused to let Israel pass peacefully though his land.

Num 21:25  And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.
Num 21:26  For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.

“Chemosh, the abomination of the Ammonites”, had not served the Ammonites very well since he had permitted the Amorites to take Heshbon and its environs away from the Ammonites. Such is the service of all our lying, false, doctrines. Ammon, typifying our own flesh, did not learn a thing from the Lord’s chastening:

Jer 49:4  Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

We may indeed be fruitful and possess much treasure in this world. We might even be militarily superior to every nation on earth, but it is foolish to trust in or take pride in such carnal and temporal passing things because when the Lord comes to “visit” and “to judge” He is not the least bit impressed with such temporary, physical things. It is in His power to strike fear into the heart and mind of the man of sin who is seated on the Lord’s rightful throne in our hearts and minds:

Jer 49:5  Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.

The Hebrew word translated as “wandereth” is:

H5074
נָדַד  nâdad  naw-dad’
A primitive root; properly to wave to and fro (rarely to flap up and down); figuratively to prove, flee, or (causatively) to drive away: – chase (away), X could not, depart, flee (X apace, away), (re-) move, thrust away, wander (abroad, -er, -ing).

Here is how this Hebrew word ‘nadad’ is variously translated:

H5074
נדד  nâdad
Total KJV Occurrences: 30
fled, 8
Psa_31:11, Isa_21:14-15 (2), Isa_33:3 (2), Jer_4:25,
Jer_9:10, Hos_7:13
wandereth, 5
Job_15:23, Pro_27:8 (2), Isa_16:3, Jer_49:5

flee, 4
Psa_64:8, Psa_68:12, Nah_3:7, Nah_3:17
chased, 2
Job_18:17-18 (2), Job_20:8
abroad, 1
Job_15:23
away, 1
2Sa_23:6
could, 1
Est_6:1
departed, 1
Gen_31:40
drave, 1
2Ki_17:21
moved, 1
Isa_10:14
removed, 1
Isa_10:31
thrust, 1
2Sa_23:6
wander, 1
Psa_55:6-7 (2)
wanderers, 1
Hos_9:17
wandering, 1
Isa_16:2

The most common translation is the English word ‘fled’. Even where it is translated as ‘wander’, it is speaking in the context of fleeing from or being pursued by an adversary:

Psa 55:6  And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Psa 55:7  Lo, then would I wander [H5074: ‘nadad’] far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah.
Psa 55:8  I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.

Jer 49:6  And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

Our salvation (‘bringing again our captivity’) must always be preceded by the destruction of the kingdom of our proud, rebellious, self-righteous old man, ‘Ammon’ within us.

What the Judgment of Edom Signifies:

Now the Lord turns our attention to the judgment of Edom, which is Esau, who signifies Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the world. While those who “come out of her” (Rev 18:4) will be brought into the temple of God, spiritual ‘Mystery Babylon’ will be destroyed. Edom is the only nation of the nations who are “Abraham’s brother”, and are in that way close to Israel, of whom we will not read ‘I will bring again the captivity of Edom’:

Jer 49:7  Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

The answer to every question concerning Edom as a type of ‘Mystery Babylon the Great’ with all of her false doctrines is, “Yes, wisdom is no more in Teman, her chief city. Yes, counsel is definitely perished from her most ‘prudent’ leaders and elders, and yes indeed, wisdom is vanished from Edom, the type of the great whore, Mystery Babylon the Great.” No whore has any great wisdom. If she did, she would not be a whore. Only those who “come out of her” will hear the words, “I will bring again [your] captivity.” We will not see those words applied to Edom or Esau, the twin brother of Israel, the physical seed of Abraham.

Jer 49:8  Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.

This is how the concept of “dwell deep” is expressed in the New Testament:

Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

“The time that I will visit him [is] the great day of His wrath”, and at that time we all become ‘deep dwellers’.

Four times we are told… ‘Esau… is Edom’:

Gen 36:1  Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.

Gen 36:8  Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

Gen 36:19  These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.

Gen 36:43  Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites.

The fact this statement is repeated four times indicates that the whole of ‘Esau’ is under consideration. It is therefore of utmost importance that we understand who it is that “Esau, the father of the Edomites” foreshadows and typifies in scripture.

Esau is the closest to Abraham of the three nations who are called “His brother”. This tells us that Esau knows Abraham even better than Moab and Ammon who, through their father, Lot, are also called Abraham’s brother. Moab and Ammon came into the promised land via their father, Lot, who came into the land of Canaan with Abraham. It is the scriptures which tell us that Lot is the same as “the brother” of Abraham:

Gen 12:5  And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Gen 14:12  And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

Gen 14:16  And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Abraham typifies Christ:

Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

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

Christ is the true “faithful Abraham”, and Esau is the twin brother of Jacob who was beloved of God. Esau, on the other hand, was ‘hated’ of God “while they were in their mother’s womb… having done neither good nor evil”:

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

As Abraham typifies Christ, the True Father of the faithful, Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, is the Biblical type of those who have no “respect unto the recompense of the reward”, treating faith in Christ as if it is no more valuable than a bowl of red pottage:

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

“The elder shall serve the younger” reveals that our old man will be supplanted by and will serve our new man. It is a principle which is adhered to throughout the scriptures. Esau was born before Jacob, and therefore had the outward claim to the birthright. The same was true for Cain who was replaced by Abel and then Seth. Ishmael was born before Isaac, Esau before Jacob, and King Saul was anointed before King David. Therefore Esau, who is Edom, signifies all those who came before Christ, and who now persecute “the Lord and His Christ”. That so happens to include all men who are still being ruled over by their carnal-minded old man and who are not in Christ. Esau signifies all religion which is in opposition to the Lord. He signifies the beast which comes up out of the earth with “two horns like a lamb [who] speaks as a 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.

“Two horns like a lamb” is the same as being the twin brother of Jacob. The mind of Christ has no trouble distinguishing these two, but the natural man cannot discern the things of the spirit and he will always default to the natural mind. To our natural mind Jacob really was a conniving supplanter who obviously has no claim to neither the birthright nor the blessing.

Esau, in type, is not just those who are closest to Christ, and yet are His rejected anointed. Esau is certainly rejected, but he typifies all men who are rejected of God in this age. That is why we are told that the Lord’s ‘Christs’, His saviors, “will arise on mount Zion to judge the house of Esau”:

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 [“and His Christ”]

The only time “saviors… come upon mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau” is when “the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”, followed by a great white throne judgment:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The power to judge is given to the elect of Christ at the beginning of the thousand years, and it remains in their hands throughout the time of the great white throne judgment:

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.

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 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Esau shows no mercy to the Lord and His Christ because he sees Christ as an interloper and a supplanter:

Gen 27:36  And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Jer 49:10  But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

Esau “is not” simply because he signifies the religious world which is all in opposition to the Lord and His Christ whom this world hates and counts as those who unjustly claim to be “the seed of Abraham”.

We will continue with the Lord’s judgment of Esau in our next study where we will learn that Esau within us thinks he can avoid drinking of the cup of the Lord’s wrath, but he will not be permitted to do so.

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.

If we endure His wrath in “this present time”, it will be well worth it:

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

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?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

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 8:37  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.