[Posted January 29, 2024]

Hi Mike,

We discussed that it’s expected to have empathy and why it’s mandated to have this emotional intelligence. My question is what does the Bible discuss about apathy, the antonym of empathy? Obviously it’s not right to have apathy toward others, and it’s totally not respected for one to have it.

D____

Hi D____,

Thank you for this very timely question. Here is what the scriptures have to say about this specific question:

Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

Now look at the context of that verse in 1 John:

1Jn 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

The Lord knows whether we love each other, and He tells us how to know whether we love each other:

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

This principle was revealed even in the Old Testament where the Lord defines the ‘fast’ God has ordained:

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?

I have always appreciated how Christ’s true ‘body’ does not hide itself from its own flesh but ministers to every legitimate pressing need in His ‘body’.

Having pointed out all these verses which condemn apathy within the body of Christ, it must be noted that Christ Himself urges us to deal wisely with the resources He has given us and not squander them on an unappreciative self-centered poor world:

Joh 12:7  Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
Joh 12:8  For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

Now look at the context of these words of our Lord:

Joh 12:1  Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
Joh 12:2  There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
Joh 12:3  Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Joh 12:4  Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,
Joh 12:5  Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
Joh 12:6  This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
Joh 12:7  Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
Joh 12:8  For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

Mary had poured out her expensive ointment upon the body of Christ, and Christ is admonishing us to do good to all men but especially to them who are of the household of faith; they who are ‘His body.’

Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

I hope this has answered your question about how God feels about apathy. One verse more needs to be added to this discussion, and it happens to be right here in this same 6th chapter of Galatians and in the very context of verse 10:

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Your brother who always wants to minister to my “own flesh… His body which is the church” (Isa 58:7, Col 1:24).

The Book of Joshua – Part 13, Joshua 11:1-23

For Jehovah is a God of judgment; blessed are all those who wait for Him (Isa 30:18)

[Study Aired May 20, 2023]

When we read the book of Joshua and spiritually understand the metaphors for endless wars and killing of everything – man, woman, child and city – but for the Lord’s spirit, it is possible to insidiously reflect the nature of a listless harlot.

How do we become a harlot? It is quite easy. A seasoned harlot will fake her pleasure, hoping her earnest laborer will be substantially ravished to finish early while being a dispassionate production line operator mechanically watching the clock. She can be us, detachedly listening to a study’s content read for the one-hundredth time in forty years, hoping it will finish early. It is typified by Israel becoming bored with her Lord’s power of going before her to win her battles and hearing “… and Joshua left nothing remaining; he destroyed it, and all the souls that were in it; and every soul in it he completely destroyed that day…”, and so forth unceasingly. If we are a dull-eyed wife, we could inwardly hate our Lord’s light bread, having heard this stuff a hundred times before, provoking the same emotion as reading the Chronicles of who begat whom.

Num 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

Pro 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love. 
Pro 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Christ is our enemy when we get bored with his kisses where our flocks (teeth – Song of Solomon metaphor) rest at noon when we are no longer aroused in our passion for him. In the negative, it is possibly a bit late when we subsequently need a hit of “strong drink” for our dying man. (Pro 31:6)

2Ti 1:6 Therefore I remind you to inflame anew the gift of God, which is in you by the putting on of my hands. 
2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2Ti 1:8 Therefore you should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner. But be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.

Hopefully, let’s be inflamed by the holy spirit discerning our Lord’s spirit as His hands mould us through our many afflictions. We must learn to delight in routing our land from the endless giants, men, women and children; representing our sins.

Conquests in Northern Canaan

Jos 11:1 And it happened when Jabin, king of Hazor, had heard, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph,
Jos 11:2 and to the kings on the north of the mountains, and on the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west,
Jos 11:3 and to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh.
Jos 11:4 And they went out, they and all their armies with them, many people, even as the sand on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots.
Jos 11:5 And when all these kings had met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Jos 11:6 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver them up, all killed before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.
Jos 11:7 And Joshua came suddenly, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom. And they fell on them.
Jos 11:8 And Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them to great Sidon, and to the salt pits, and to the valley of Mizpeh eastward. And they struck them until they left them none remaining.
Jos 11:9 And Joshua did to them as Jehovah commanded him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
Jos 11:10 And Joshua at that time turned back and took Hazor [‘khaw-tsore], and struck its king with the sword. For Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms.
Jos 11:11 And they struck every soul in it with the edge of the sword, destroying them. And he left none breathing. And he burned Hazor with fire.
Jos 11:12 And Joshua took all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them. And he struck them with the edge of the sword. He destroyed them, as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded.
Jos 11:13 But Israel did not burn any of them, the cities that stood in their strength, except Hazor only. Joshua did burn it.
Jos 11:14 And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle the sons of Israel took for a prize to themselves. But they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left none breathing.
Jos 11:15 As Jehovah commanded Moses His servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that Jehovah commanded Moses.
Jos 11:16 So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountains of Israel, and its lowlands,
Jos 11:17 from mount Halak [khaw-lawk] that goes up to Seir, even to Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon. And he took all their kings, and struck them and killed them. 
Jos 11:18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
Jos 11:19 There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All others they took in battle.
Jos 11:20 For it was of Jehovah to harden their hearts so that they should come against Israel in battle, so that they might be destroyed, so that they might have no favor, but that He might destroy them, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Jos 11:21 At that time Joshua came and cut off the giants from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel. Joshua destroyed them with their cities.
Jos 11:22 There were none of the giants left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod there remained some.
Jos 11:23 And Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Jehovah commanded Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

Our Lord never used words in scripture that weren’t relevant; moreover, they often had extensive spiritual meanings. On the surface, sometimes the meanings of names appear bland and of little consequence, yet, almost always, some body member will be gifted with greater spiritual insight for our delight. So if we are to get much out of the endless killing of the enemy within or reading the Chronicles of who begat who, our priestly obligation is to study the nuances of our Lord’s word.

Although it may seem tedious to a dull-eyed harlot, the bright-eyed wife of righteousness can construct a spiritual picture from the meanings of the below names.

Jos 11:1 And it happened when Jabin [‘whom God observes; to discern, understand, consider’], king of Hazor [‘Castle, court, enclosures’], had heard, he sent to Jobab [Phonetic – jaw-bab. ‘desert; to cry shrilly’]  king of Madon [‘strife; stature; size; garment’], and to the king of Shimron [‘watch-height; lees, dregs; to guard, observe, give heed; have charge’], and to the king of Achshaph [‘I shall be bewitched; to practice witchcraft or sorcery’],
Jos 11:2 and to the kings on the north [Judgement comes from the north and is the Lord’s people’s ‘treasure’] of the mountains, and on the plains south of Chinneroth [‘harps; lyre; sing. Early name of the sea of Galilee’], and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor [‘generation’ – the coastal city of Manasseh. ‘period, generation, habitation, dwelling’] on the west [While the light of Christ comes from the east, neither the east, west or south sustains growth without judgment from the north. (Psa 75:6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.)]
Jos 11:3 and to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh.

For our understanding, the essence of that 6-member pictorial is, as always, describes the Beast sitting on the throne of God. He’s both full of pomp and glory, yet schizophrenic when ruled by evil spirits that cause him to cry and regain strength through his ‘clothing’ of self-righteousness and support for his cause from his neighbour’s equal spiritual derangements. It is precisely what we can expect when we fight without the Lord’s power to go before us.

Thankfully, and at our appointed time, our Lord is guaranteed to cut off the horns of our power.

Psa 75:1 To the Chief Musician. Do not destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song. To You, O God, we have given thanks, to You we have given thanks; for Your name is near, Your wonderful works declared.
Psa 75:2 When I take the appointed time, I will judge uprightly.
Psa 75:3 The earth and all its people are melting away; I hold up its pillars. Selah.
Psa 75:4 I said to the proud, Do not boast; and to the wicked, Do not lift up the horn;
Psa 75:5 do not lift up your horn on high; nor speak with a stiff neck.
Psa 75:6 For lifting up comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
Psa 75:7 But God is the judge; He puts down one and sets up another.
Psa 75:8 For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed; and He pours out from it; but the dregs of it, all the wicked of the earth shall drain its dregs and drink.
Psa 75:9 But I will declare forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
Psa 75:10 Also I will cut off all the horns of the wicked; but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Jos 11:4 And they went out, they and all their armies with them, many people, even as the sand on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots.

Immediately, any time we see the term ‘sand of the seashore’, we know that that sand represents the billions of humans who will have ever lived. Because of Abraham’s faithfulness (as was Joshua’s) to do all that the Lord commanded, he made Abraham’s seed as numerable as the stars of heaven and the sand of the seashore.

Gen 22:16 and said, I have sworn by Myself, says Jehovah; because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only one;
Gen 22:17 that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies.

Gen 32:11 Deliver me [Jacob, Abraham’s son], I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
Gen 32:12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Of course, those coming out of the resurrection to judgment, the Lake of Fire, are those numberless stars finally (figuratively) ascending into their inheritance of eternal life in God’s realm. They are of Esau, who serve Jacob. However, by the strength of their power (horses and chariots) in high places within, these books of Joshua represent our seemingly inexhaustible sins. In the duality of meaning, and when these sins and people are ground to powder and burned with fire, we will possess, that is, rule and judge numberless humanity beginning in the one-thousand years and completed in the resurrection to judgment.

Jos 11:5 And when all these kings had met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom [may-rome – ‘high place’], to fight against Israel.
Jos 11:6 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver them up, all killed before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.

Our fine Australian member, Anthony, knows what it is like to be hamstrung when he tore his Achilles tendon. Joshua slashing the horse’s hamstrings rendered the horses utterly incapacitated, meaning spiritually that the pride of our power is rendered useless, as are the conveyances of our power represented by chariots.

Our Lord comes suddenly upon our sins as he drags us out of Babylon.

Jos 11:7 And Joshua came suddenly, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom. And they fell on them.
Jos 11:8 And Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them to great Sidon, and to the salt pits, and to the valley of Mizpeh eastward. And they struck them until they left them none remaining.
Jos 11:9 And Joshua did to them as Jehovah commanded him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
Jos 11:10 And Joshua at that time turned back and took Hazor [‘khaw-tsore], and struck its king with the sword. For Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms.

As we saw in Joshua Part 12, if we crush an enemy’s head, the rest of him is rendered as useless as a horse without his hamstrings. In war, for the most part, if the capital is captured, the rest of the country yields to the coup. For the spiritual-minded, it means to kill the heart, the spirit of the intent for the proposed sinful act.

Jos 11:11 And they struck every soul in it with the edge of the sword, destroying them. And he left none breathing. And he burned Hazor with fire.
Jos 11:12 And Joshua took all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them. And he struck them with the edge of the sword. He destroyed them, as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded.
Jos 11:13 But Israel did not burn any of them, the cities that stood in their strength, except Hazor only. Joshua did burn it.

Verse 13 sounds alarm bells for us to not burn to the ground our sins standing in their strength. Nonetheless, and as represented above, if Hazor, the capital of our land, is destroyed, the remaining parts of the body submit. Even if the sin isn’t decapitated, the strength of our spiritual walk is utterly incapacitated, symbolised by cut hamstrings.

Jos 11:14 And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle the sons of Israel took for a prize to themselves. But they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left none breathing.

Mercifully, our Lord doesn’t lay our land waste in one move since we would become overwhelmed by his chastisement.

Exo 23:29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become a waste, and the beast of the field multiply against you.
Exo 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and inherit the land.

Jos 11:15 As Jehovah commanded Moses His servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that Jehovah commanded Moses. 
Jos 11:16 So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountains of Israel, and its lowlands, 
Jos 11:17 from mount Halak [khaw-lawk] that goes up to Seir, even to Baal-gad [bah’-al gawd ‘lord of fortune’] in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon. And he took all their kings, and struck them and killed them. 
Jos 11:18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

Our Lord, instead of dispatching all our enemies within in one fell swoop with the high probability of us being overwhelmed, stretches our faith by making us contend with our adversaries in dying daily.

1Co 15:30 And why are we also in danger every hour? 
1Co 15:31 Day by day I die, by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jos 11:19 There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All others they took in battle.

We harken back to the Gibeonites being a Levitical city of Benjamin, our brother kin to whom we extend mercy for their inherited unwitting Christian Babylonian ways. They are hardened of heart by God not to have ears that hear and eyes that see. They serve the Tabernacle and, for the time being, feed our Benjaminite kin with magic sermons suitable for etching ears (2Ti 4:3).

Isa 61:5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

Rom 9:15 For He said 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 the one willing [Babylonian Christians], nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.”
Rom 9:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.

Our Lord’s mercy upon the Gibeonites highlights the Lord’s power to choose the weak and beggarly elect of God to raise them to royal honor that His name will be declared throughout all the earth.

We, too, in our time, have been made by God to come against him to do battle so that he will be given an occasion to destroy and remake us in his image.

Jos 11:20 For it was of Jehovah to harden their hearts so that they should come against Israel in battle, so that they might be destroyed, so that they might have no favor, but that He might destroy them, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Jos 11:21 At that time Joshua came and cut off the giants from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel. Joshua destroyed them with their cities.
Jos 11:22 There were none of the giants left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod there remained some.
Jos 11:23 And Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Jehovah commanded Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

We will be battling our spiritual giants, and the meaning of their names in the recent studies in Joshua perfectly describes the nature of our enemies.

These verses show us that our battle against the flesh is fought until the first resurrection, and we hopefully gain Christ, our inheritance. Then we will be totally at rest from the wars of our flesh in Christ.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 51 Discussion

1 file(s) 19.04 MB

Download

The Yoke Shall Be Destroyed Because o​f The Anointing (Christ)

Isa 10:27  And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
Isa 10:28  He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
Isa 10:29  They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
Isa 10:30  Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
Isa 10:31  Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
Isa 10:32  As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
Isa 10:33  Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
Isa 10:34  And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

The Lord is informing His Israel how He is using Assyria and Babylon to punish His Israel for their sins. Then after He has used Assyria and Babylon to punish His people, then He will use His people to "take away from off [our] shoulder... and... neck... the yoke" of the lies, the false doctrines, and the bondage of Assyria and Babylon, which comes with those heresies.

He will do so, "because of... by reason of... [and] through the anointing". What is this 'anointing'?

This is the only 'anointing' which can and does deliver "from off [our] shoulder, and... from off [our] neck.. the yoke" which is the bondage of the lies of Assyria and Babylon".

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Being "bound... broken hearted... captives [in] prison" is indeed a great "yoke", upon the shoulders of those who are in bondage to all the lies of the kings of Assyria and Babylon.

However, that deliverance comes only through Christ and His Christ, as Christ made clear with these two statements:

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Christ informs us that Isa 61:1 is a prophecy of Himself, but then He also tells us this of 'Himself':

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

Christ was anointed by His Father to break the yoke of Assyria and Babylon, and Christ has sent us to do the same, with the same 'anointing'.

Isa 10:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

"The yoke" we bear is "the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of His high looks" which rule over our proud carnal minds for so long. We are literally slaves to our own pride and our desire to preserve that pride and fit in with all the traditions of men. Those who have been there and who have come out from that bondage, know best just what it means to have that yoke taken off their necks and shoulders, "because of the anointing", because of the Truth of the words of God which are the spirit and which are that 'anointing':

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1Jn 2:20  But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

The Greek word translate as 'unction' is:

G5545
χρίσμα
chrisma
khris'-mah
From G5548; an unguent or smearing, that is, (figuratively) the special endowment (“chrism”) of the Holy Spirit: - anointing, unction.
Total KJV occurrences: 3

It means "anointing", and it is so translated just five verses later:

G5545
χρίσμα
chrisma
Total KJV Occurrences: 3
anointing, 2
1Jo_2:27 (2)
unction, 1
1Jo_2:20

1Jn 2:26  These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
1Jn 2:27  But the anointing [G5545: chrisma] which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man ["them that seduce you"] teach you: but as the same anointing [G5545: chrisma] teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

It must be pointed out that "you need not that any man teach you", is not referring to the teachers God has "set in the church":

1Co 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29  Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?

All of our years spent in bondage to the kings of Assyria and Babylon are a work of our own Creator who is humbling us through "them that seduce [us]" and in delivering us out of that seduction, is qualifying us to be used as kings and priests in His service:

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

It is a great privilege to be given to know the very mind and plan of our own Creator. It is in His mercy and His honor toward us that we are told:

Isa 10:27  And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

It is "because of the anointing" upon Christ's Christ, His anointed, that the yoke of our enslavement to the doctrines of Assyria and Babylon "shall be destroyed". The destruction of "his burden" is in no way connected to anything we have done by our own might or power. That is the very spirit and doctrine being revealed and prepared for destruction in the kings of Assyria and Babylon.

This is what is NOT true either for the spirit of the king of Assyria or for the Lord's elect:

Isa 10:13  For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
Isa 10:14  And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

We do not choose of ourselves either to be proud and lifted up, or to be humbled and pliable in the Lord's hands. All that is done within any of us, both the good and the evil, are His works who is working all things after the counsel of His own will.

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

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 create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

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.

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.

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

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 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 9:15  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.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Why does Paul neglect to tell us that God has mercy on those who choose of their own free will to obey Him? He neglects to do so because he is being inspired of the holy spirit, and the holy spirit knows the doctrine of "free moral agency" is an outright lie which directly conflicts with the Truth of scripture which teaches instead that it is the Lord who makes us to err from His ways and hardens our hearts from His fear. The holy spirit knows and teaches that "it is not of him that wills... but of God that shows mercy... or hardens". That is why Paul neglects to tells us that lie!

"The purpose of God according to election" is what will stand, and it is not based upon what works we choose to perform, rather it is based upon "him that calls" us either to be His anointed, under His mercy, or to be in enmity to Him and to be given by our Lord Himself, a deceived and hardened heart" simply because 'He wills' to do so.

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

On the other hand, if we are used of our Lord to remove the yoke of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, then that, too, will be only "because of the anointing" of His spirit, which He will give us to "set at liberty the captives" (Luk 4:18), then it will again be only by and through His anointing:

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Since we must "live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God", being a hard-hearted, carnal-minded, deceived prophet is an essential part the "experience of evil", which is given to all men:

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

Not one person can circumvent that "experience of evil" the Lord has given to the sons of humanity. We must all first be "marred in the Potter's hand", before we can be 'His anointed... His Christ":

Psa 2:1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

These words are quoted by the holy spirit as referring to Christ and His disciples, "His Christ", in the book of Acts:

Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

Both "His anointed", and "His Christ", are correct because the Greek word 'Christos' means 'anointed':

Here is Strong's definition of the Greek word 'Christos', translated as 'Christ':

G5547
Χριστός
Christos
khris-tos'
From G5548; anointed, that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus: - Christ.

Here is where this word appears in the New Testament:

G5547
Χριστός
Christos
Total KJV Occurrences: 569
christ, 553
Mat_1:1, Mat_1:16-18 (3), Mat_2:4, Mat_11:2, Mat_16:16, Mat_16:20, Mat_22:42, Mat_23:8, Mat_23:10, Mat_24:5, Mat_24:23, Mat_26:63, Mat_26:68, Mat_27:17, Mat_27:22, Mar_1:1, Mar_8:29, Mar_9:41, Mar_12:35, Mar_13:21, Mar_14:61, Mar_15:32, Luk_2:11, Luk_2:26, Luk_3:15, Luk_4:41 (2), Luk_9:20, Luk_20:41, Luk_22:67, Luk_23:2, Luk_23:35, Luk_23:39, Luk_24:26, Luk_24:46, Joh_1:17, Joh_1:20, Joh_1:25, Joh_1:41, Joh_3:28, Joh_4:25, Joh_4:29, Joh_4:42, Joh_6:69, Joh_7:26-27 (2), Joh_7:31, Joh_7:41-42 (3), Joh_9:22, Joh_10:24, Joh_11:27, Joh_12:34, Joh_17:3, Joh_20:31, Act_2:30-31 (2), Act_2:36, Act_2:38, Act_3:6, Act_3:18, Act_3:20, Act_4:10, Act_4:26, Act_5:42, Act_8:5, Act_8:12, Act_8:37, Act_9:20, Act_9:22, Act_9:34, Act_10:36, Act_11:17, Act_15:11, Act_15:26, Act_16:18, Act_16:31, Act_17:3 (2), Act_18:5, Act_18:28, Act_19:4, Act_20:21, Act_24:24, Act_26:23, Act_28:31, Rom_1:1, Rom_1:3, Rom_1:6-8 (3), Rom_2:16 (2), Rom_3:22, Rom_3:24, Rom_5:1, Rom_5:6, Rom_5:8, Rom_5:11, Rom_5:15, Rom_5:17, Rom_5:21, Rom_6:3-4 (2), Rom_6:8-9 (2), Rom_6:11, Rom_6:23, Rom_7:4, Rom_7:25, Rom_8:1-2 (2), Rom_8:9-11 (3), Rom_8:17, Rom_8:34-35 (2), Rom_8:39, Rom_9:1, Rom_9:3, Rom_9:5, Rom_10:4, Rom_10:6-7 (2), Rom_12:5, Rom_13:14, Rom_14:9-10 (2), Rom_14:15, Rom_14:18, Rom_15:3, Rom_15:5-8 (4), Rom_15:16-20 (5), Rom_15:29, Rom_16:3, Rom_16:5, Rom_16:7, Rom_16:9-10 (2), Rom_16:16, Rom_16:18, Rom_16:20, Rom_16:24-25 (2), Rom_16:27, 1 Cor 1 (17), 1Co_2:2, 1Co_2:16, 1Co_3:1, 1Co_3:11, 1Co_3:23, 1Co_4:1, 1Co_4:10, 1Co_4:15 (2), 1Co_4:17, 1Co_5:4 (2), 1Co_5:7, 1Co_6:15 (2), 1Co_8:6, 1Co_8:11-12 (2), 1Co_9:1, 1Co_9:12, 1Co_9:18, 1Co_9:21, 1Co_10:4, 1Co_10:9, 1Co_10:16 (2), 1Co_11:1, 1Co_11:3 (2), 1Co_12:12, 1Co_12:27, 1 Cor 15 (14), 1Co_16:24 (3), 2Co_1:1-3 (3), 2Co_1:5 (2), 2Co_1:19, 2Co_1:21, 2Co_2:10, 2Co_2:14-15 (2), 2Co_2:17, 2Co_3:3-4 (2), 2Co_3:14, 2Co_4:4-6 (3), 2Co_5:10, 2Co_5:14, 2Co_5:16-20 (5), 2Co_6:15, 2Co_8:9, 2Co_8:23, 2Co_9:13, 2Co_10:1, 2Co_10:5, 2Co_10:14, 2Co_11:2-3 (2), 2Co_11:10, 2Co_11:13, 2Co_11:23, 2Co_11:31, 2Co_12:2, 2Co_12:9, 2Co_12:19, 2Co_13:3, 2Co_13:5, 2Co_13:14, Gal_1:1, Gal_1:3, Gal_1:6-7 (2), Gal_1:10, Gal_1:12, Gal_1:22, Gal_2:4, Gal_2:16-17 (5), Gal_2:20-21 (3), Gal_3:1, Gal_3:13-14 (2), Gal_3:16-17 (2), Gal_3:22, Gal_3:24, Gal_3:26-28 (4), Gal_4:7, Gal_4:14, Gal_4:19, Gal_5:1-2 (2), Gal_5:4, Gal_5:6, Gal_6:2, Gal_6:12, Gal_6:14-15 (2), Gal_6:18, Eph_1:1-3 (5), Eph_1:5, Eph_1:10, Eph_1:12, Eph_1:17, Eph_1:20, Eph_2:5-7 (3), Eph_2:10, Eph_2:12-13 (3), Eph_2:20, Eph_3:1, Eph_3:4, Eph_3:6, Eph_3:8-9 (2), Eph_3:11, Eph_3:14, Eph_3:17, Eph_3:19, Eph_3:21, Eph_4:7, Eph_4:12-13 (2), Eph_4:15, Eph_4:20, Eph_5:2, Eph_5:5, Eph_5:14, Eph_5:20, Eph_5:23-25 (3), Eph_5:32, Eph_6:5-6 (2), Eph_6:23-24 (2)Phi_2:1, Phi_2:5, Phi_2:11, Phi_2:16, Phi_2:30, Phi_3:3, Phi_3:7-9 (4), Phi_3:12, Phi_3:14, Phi_3:18, Phi_3:20, Phi_4:7, Phi_4:13, Phi_4:19, Phi_4:21, Phi_4:23, Col_1:1-4 (5), Col_1:7, Col_1:24, Col_1:27-28 (2), Col_2:2, Col_2:5-6 (2), Col_2:8, Col_2:11, Col_2:17, Col_2:20, Col_3:1 (2), Col_3:3-4 (2), Col_3:11, Col_3:13, Col_3:16, Col_3:24, Col_4:3, Col_4:12, 1Th_1:1 (2), 1Th_1:3, 1Th_2:6, 1Th_2:14, 1Th_2:19, 1Th_3:2, 1Th_3:11, 1Th_3:13, 1Th_4:16, 1Th_5:9, 1Th_5:18, 1Th_5:23, 1Th_5:28, 2Th_1:1-2 (2), 2Th_1:8, 2Th_1:12 (2), 2Th_2:1-2 (2), 2Th_2:14, 2Th_2:16, 2Th_3:5-6 (2), 2Th_3:12, 2Th_3:18, 1Ti_1:1-2 (3), 1Ti_1:12, 1Ti_1:14-16 (3), 1Ti_2:5, 1Ti_2:7, 1Ti_3:13, 1Ti_4:6, 1Ti_5:11, 1Ti_5:21, 1Ti_6:3, 1Ti_6:13-14 (2), 2Ti_1:1-2 (3), 2Ti_1:9-10 (2), 2Ti_1:13, 2Ti_2:1, 2Ti_2:3, 2Ti_2:8, 2Ti_2:10, 2Ti_2:19, 2Ti_3:12, 2Ti_3:15, 2Ti_4:1, 2Ti_4:22, Tit_1:1, Tit_1:4, Tit_2:13, Tit_3:6, Phm_1:1, Phm_1:3, Phm_1:6, Phm_1:8-9 (2), Phm_1:23, Phm_1:25, Heb_3:1, Heb_3:6, Heb_3:14, Heb_5:5, Heb_6:1, Heb_9:11, Heb_9:14, Heb_9:24, Heb_9:28, Heb_10:10, Heb_11:26, Heb_13:8, Heb_13:21, Jam_2:1 (2), 1Pe_1:1-3 (4), 1Pe_1:7, 1Pe_1:11 (2), 1Pe_1:13, 1Pe_1:19, 1Pe_2:5, 1Pe_2:21, 1Pe_3:16, 1Pe_3:18, 1Pe_3:21, 1Pe_4:1, 1Pe_4:11, 1Pe_4:14, 1Pe_5:1, 1Pe_5:10, 1Pe_5:14, 2Pe_1:1 (2), 2Pe_1:8, 2Pe_1:11, 2Pe_1:14, 2Pe_1:16, 2Pe_2:20, 2Pe_3:18, 1Jo_1:3, 1Jo_1:7, 1Jo_2:1, 1Jo_3:22-23 (2), 1Jo_4:2-3 (2), 1Jo_5:1, 1Jo_5:6, 1Jo_5:20, 2Jo_1:3, 2Jo_1:7, 2Jo_1:9 (2), Jud_1:1 (2), Jud_1:4, Jud_1:17, Jud_1:21, Rev_1:1-2 (2), Rev_1:5, Rev_1:9 (2), Rev_11:15, Rev_12:10, Rev_12:17, Rev_20:4, Rev_20:6, Rev_22:21 christ’s, 16
Rom_15:30, 1Co_3:23, 1Co_4:10, 1Co_15:22-23 (2), 2Co_2:12, 2Co_5:20, 2Co_10:7 (3), 2Co_12:10, Gal_3:29, Gal_5:24, Eph_4:32, Phi_2:21, 1Pe_4:13

In the book of Acts the apostle Peter reveals this to us:

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

God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. Then Paul tells us that Christ said this about who you and I are to Him and His Father:

Act 22:7  And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

To that Paul adds this additional bit of knowledge:

2Co 1:21  Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
2Co 1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Here is verse 21 with the Strong's numbers:

2Co 1:21  Now^G1161 he which stablisheth^G950 us^G2248 with^G4862 you^G5213 in^G1519 Christ,^G5547 and^G2532 hath anointed^G5548 us,^G2248 is God;^G2316

G5547 is the Greek word 'christos, the anointed', and in this same verse we are told that we, too, have been 'chrio' by God.

Here is the definition of the Greek word here is translated as 'anointed':

G5548
χρίω
chriō
khree'-o.
Total KJV occurrences: 5
Probably akin to G5530 through the idea of contact; to smear or rub with oil, that is, (by implication) to consecrate to an office or religious service: - anoint

So Christ is God's anointed, His [G5547: 'christos', Act 2:36], who also "hath anointed [chrio^G5548, 1Co 1:21] us", and if we are anointed (chrio) by Christ then we have the anointing [G5545, chrisma, 1Jo 2:27] and we "shall know the Truth", and will not be seduced by the tempter.

The Greek word translated as 'stablisheth' in 2Co 1:21 appears 8 times in the New Testament, and of those 8 entries it is most often translated as 'confirm'.

Here are all the entries and how they are translated:

G950
βεβαιόω
bebaioō
Total KJV Occurrences: 8
confirm, 2
Rom_15:8, 1Co_1:8
confirmed, 2
1Co_1:6, Heb_2:3
confirming, 1
Mar_16:20
established, 1
Heb_13:9
stablished, 1
Col_2:7
stablisheth, 1
2Co_1:21

What Paul has been inspired to tell us is that it is God who has established and confirmed us together in the Christ. Then he tells us that we are "chrio... anointed" by God. That is why we are three times called the Christ of Christ, the Lord's Christ.

Here are those three times we are called "His Christ":

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.

"Our God, and... His Christ, are accused by "the accuser... day and night". There is only one group who 'the accuser accuses day and night', and that is those who are "the Christ [of] our Lord".

But the accuser uses the spiritual kings of Assyria and Babylon to punish us for the fact that we all really do 'leave our first love' and have our candle removed, have the blood of all the prophets required of us, and have our names blotted out of His book', before the Lord sees fit to 'confirm and establish us to the end':

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

Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

 Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

But the Lord knows those who are His, and He keeps His very elect from being deceived:

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.
Mat 24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

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.

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

1Co 1:8  Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Before we are given over to Babylon, we are punished for our sins by the king of Assyria. The Lord actually gives us space of repentance by first breaking us to pieces:

Ezr 9:8  And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

Luk 20:18  Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Rev 2:20  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Rev 2:21  And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rev 2:22  Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Rev 2:23  And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Israel, Judah and Jerusalem all typify how Christ works with us. The king of Assyria carried away all the cities of the northern kingdom of Israel. He also took many of the cities of Judah, but he was not given to conquer Jerusalem, giving Judah "a little reviving in [their] bondage".

This is what the king of Assyria does to us as the Lord pleads with us to repent of our sins:

Isa 10:28  He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
Isa 10:29  They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
Isa 10:30  Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
Isa 10:31  Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
Isa 10:32  As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
Isa 10:33  Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
Isa 10:34  And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

"The high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled" is a reference back to this verse:

Isa 10:8  For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

The king of Assyria is far more powerful than we are of our own power. The loss of all these cities within us is the story of how the Lord demonstrates to us that we cannot do war with the beast within. It is our own sins which humble us and bring us to see our sad, helpless state, yet we are not yet humbled, and we are brought to our "wits' end" (Psa 107:27), as the apostle Paul explains:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
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? [Psa 107:27]
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.

But it takes many failures to bring us to this point, and in the meantime, the Lord demonstrates His mercy and gives us space for repentance by actually delivering us from the king of Assyria. This is what happened to the cities listed in Isaiah 10:28-32.

2Ki 18:13  Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

The Lord's judgment is just now beginning. King Hezekiah cries out to be delivered, and he is delivered, but the kingdom is not yet at its wits' end, and it is only "given... a little reviving in [their] bondage" to the sins which still afflict the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Judah and Jerusalem are given "space for repentance", but they do not repent because they have not yet come to see their own helpless, and hopeless, condition, and they still think they are free from the will of their own God and Creator.

Nevertheless, just for our own admonition, and just to let us know what "a long time" means (Luk 20:9), the Lord takes mercy on Hezekiah, and He delivers them from the might of the king of Assyria:

2Ki 19:1  And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2Ki 19:2  And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
2Ki 19:3  And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
2Ki 19:4  It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
2Ki 19:5  So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
2Ki 19:6  And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
2Ki 19:7  Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

So the Lord's judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem is postponed until a later date, and Judah and Jerusalem, as Laodicean types of you and me, will continue on as a lukewarm kingdom until they will, in time, be spewed from the mouth of their own God, to be judged in the fire of His doctrine and His words.

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

The Lord was equally patient with King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. Ahab killed Naboth and simply took Naboth's vineyard for an herb garden. When the Lord told Ahab that he would die for that treachery, Ahab fasted and repented, and the Lord showed mercy and spared Ahab's life:

1Ki 21:28  And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
1Ki 21:29  Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.

The entire book of Judges is a commentary on the longsuffering of God in working with His people. It is a commentary on how we are gradually brought to see the necessity of the utter destruction of the entire kingdom and economy of our own rebellious old man, so that through that death, the life of the new man is birthed:

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

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

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Next week, Lord willing, we will learn when the wolf really does "dwell with the lamb", in the kingdom of God, and when all the beasts of our land will be submissive unto us.

Here are the verses we hope to cover next Sunday:

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Isa 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
Isa 11:3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
Isa 11:4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Isa 11:5  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
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.

[Updated August 21, 2023]

Hi Mike,

I have been reading some on your site. Do you have any studies on the rapture, or what is your take on it? I could not find anything at all about it. I’m trying really hard to grasp your beliefs. I guess it would be hard for anyone who has been taught different, their whole life. Could you make it more clear to me about how you see things playing out for people who do not make it to heaven? Are people tossed in a fire, by God or what? Why is there no mention about another chance to make it to heaven, after having God says… depart from me, I know you not, in scriptures? Believe me, I do not want to believe in such a thing, but I never read Paul, Jesus, Timothy or any of the rest write… “Don’t worry, if you miss this train, there will be a next.” If you have any additional teachings, that I could learn from, it would be greatly appreicitive, if you could hook me up.

Thank you and God bless,

R____

Hi R____,

Thank you for your questions and for explaining why you are struggling to see that “as in Adam die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” You are exactly right; I, too, have not read anyone in the bible say, “Don’t worry, if you miss this train, there will be a next.” That was not and will never be the attitude of anyone in whom the zealous and fervent and loving spirit of Christ dwells. Christ was not and He is not lukewarm, and He will not abide a lukewarm spirit in anyone who will be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. Here is what Christ has to say to anyone whose attitude is, “Well, everyone is going to be saved, so I’ll just catch the next train.”

Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Those words are written to “the church at Laodicea”, but they are also written to “he that has an ear to hear”, and anyone with “an ear to hear” has that “ear to hear” as a gift given to them. If you do not have that gift, then there is no way you can possibly “hear what the spirit says unto the churches”.

The fact that we must be given to hear His Words as a gift was revealed to us when Christ was asked by his disciples why He spoke to the multitudes in parables

Mat 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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.

They see what they read but they do not understand what they are reading. They hear what they read but they do not understand what they hear.

Christ clarifies this statement that it is “not given… unto… them… to understand”, when He tells us this:

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

Just a few verses later Christ reiterates this principle:

Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

That being so, it would be monstrously evil for a so-called “loving heavenly Father” to condemn the multitudes of Matthew 13 who “are not given to understand” to eternal flames of literal fire. So while you will not find Christ telling the seven churches of Asia “Don’t worry, if you miss this train, there will be a next”, neither will you ever read of Him threatening them with eternal hell fire if they are “lukewarm” or if they “have the doctrine of the Nicolaitans [or] the seat [Greek: ‘thronos‘, throne] of Satan” is within them. Oh yes, you can read Mark 9 in the King James English translation, and with the false doctrine of eternal torment already in place, you can make the scriptures say that sinners will burn in hell in literal flames for all eternity. However that is not to be found anywhere in scripture in the original languages. It simply is not there.

If you want to know what God is really doing with His human creatures then please take the time to read the series of studies entitled The Spiritual Overview of the Plan of God. Read that series of studies beginning at this link: The Biblical Overview of the Plan of God

Having an overview of anything is like looking at a picture of a puzzle you are putting together. It really helps to know where the blues, the reds, the yellows, etc. are before you even get started. Then you can begin looking for the blue pieces to place in the sky and the green pieces to put in the grass, and the white pieces to put in the house, etc. So it is with the Word and work of God. When you get a good overview of what God is doing, it is so much easier to know what is taking place in your life, and where it all fits in the overall plan of God. Without that proper overview, you really struggle just to know what the purpose of the puzzle is, and what it will look like when it is finished.

So read that series of studies, and you will be much better equiped to answer a lot of questions you may now have.

You asked specifically about the false doctrine of a rapture of Christians out of the plagues which are coming on this earth. Matthew 24 tells us that it is the wicked who will be taken away, and it is “the old man”, within each of us who will be taken away. Being “caught up… to meet the Lord in the air” is a spiritual statement which has nothing to do with being taken off to another planet called ‘heaven’. Notice what Christ actually said there in Matthew and in Proverbs about who is taken and who is left:

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Pro 2:21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
Pro 2:22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Pro 3:23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
Pro 3:24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
Pro 3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

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

“The flood came and took all [the wicked] away… So shall also the coming of man be”. “So” means ‘in like manner’. The next two verses make the same point, and yet the false doctrine of the rapture would have us to believe that ‘the coming of the Son of Man will be the exact opposite of the days of Noah, and this time the righteous will be taken away and the wicked will be left on the earth.’ That’s how rapture followers understand these scriptures:

Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

We were just told, “The flood came and took them [the wicked] all away”, and yet the false doctrine of a rapture twists our minds to think that it is the righteous who was taken away, even in the face of these words of scripture:

Pro 10:30 The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.

Here are two links to more information on this subject which I have already dealt with in much more detail. Please take the time to read these links, and if you still have any questions, feel free to get back to me.

Is There Ever a Rapture?
The Idea of The Rapture

Your brother Christ,

Mike

Audio Download

Rev 3:14-18 What The Spirit Says to The Church of Laodicea – Part 1

Updated December 8, 2023

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

Introduction

Laodicea is the seventh of the seven churches within those who have been “given ears to hear.” It is the capstone of our spiritual condition as we look behind ourselves to see the voice speaking to us and giving us this revelation of Jesus Christ. What we see in “what the spirit says to the church” of Laodicea within us is a “lukewarm” spirit which is totally unaware of its lackadaisical attitude and is completely self-satisfied. Until we face this angel of the church of Laodicea within us and give an accounting of the fact that its self-satisfied attitude is in us, we will never be given the “open heavens” of chapters 4 and 5 and all the revelations that follow. When we do “look behind us to see the voice that speaks with us”, we begin to be given the sum of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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

Rev 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
Rev 18:13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

Rev 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. [That would include Antipas who was martyred “where Satan dwells” in the church at Pergamos (Rev 2:13)],

Rev 2:13  I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Here now is what the spirit has to say to “he that hath an ear to hear” what the spirit says to the angel of the church of Laodicea within us all.

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Here Christ calls Himself three things. He is the Amen, the faithful and true witness and the beginning of the creation of God. As the ‘Amen’ we know Christ as the Truth. The Greek word is pronounced about the same as is the English ‘amen’ except that the ‘e’ is pronounced as a long ‘a’ and is defined by Dr. Strong as “Properly firm, figuratively trustworthy.” It is by far most often translated in the King James as ‘verily,’ meaning ‘truly,’ and is often seen repeated as “Verily, verily,” especially in the gospel of John. For example:

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

G281
αμην
ame n
am- ane’
Of Hebrew origin [ H543]; properly firm, that is, (figuratively) trustworthy; adverbially surely (often as interjection so be it): – amen, verily.

So Christ and His Words are definitely firm, true and trustworthy. But he also wants to be known as “the faithful and true witness,” and it is always instructive to note that the Greek word for ‘witness’ is ‘martus,’ from which we derive our English word martyr. While it is generally used simply in the sense of being a faithful witness, the example of Antipas, along with Christ’s own example, demonstrates that the willingness to remain a faithful witness until death is the deepest application of this Greek word:

Rev 2:13  I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, [even] where Satan’s seat [is]: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr [same Greek word, ‘martus’], who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

We find it hard to understand how the Lord can tell us that we have not denied His name nor His faith and yet find us guilty of the blood of Antipas among us where Satan dwells. Yet that is exactly what Isaiah said would happen in this prophecy:

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

Christ is God’s ultimate “faithful martyr” at our hands, and so He introduces Himself to us as being martyred by the angel of the church in Laodicea. Christ’s final revelation of Himself to the angel of the church of Laodicea within us is as “the beginning of the creation of God.” There is really nothing new in Christ’s claim to being “the beginning.” We have already covered this in chapter 1 where we were told Christ is “the beginning and the end.”

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

The Greek word translated ‘beginning’ here and in Revelation 3:14 is ‘arche,’ and it literally means “a commencement.” Here is Strong’s definition:

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

So it is also properly translated as ‘chief,’ and ‘principalities.’

Eph 1:20  Which he [the Father] 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:

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Col 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

In telling us that He is the beginning of the creation of God, Christ is telling us that He is the head of all principality and power. The God head is understood by the things that are made, and just as the man is the head of the woman, and the woman came out of the man, so also, the Father is the head of Christ, and Christ came out of the Father:

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 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

As “the head of all principality and power” there is nothing the Adversary can do that he is not commissioned by Christ to accomplish. In other words, there is no uncertain struggle going on between Christ and Satan. The outcome of the “war in heaven” includes a necessary struggle, which struggle and its outcome were “predestined… and written in his book… before the world began.” (Eph 1:11, Psa 139:16, 2Ti 1:9)

Christ being “the head of all principality and power” means that Christ is Satan’s overseer and his boss, and Satan cannot as much as raise his little finger without being told to do so. However, the most controversial part of this verse is the fact that Christ tells us He is “the beginning of the creation of God.” So whether you apply this Greek word ‘arche‘ in either “an abstract sense as a commencement or concretely as chief in order, time, place or rank,” this verse of God’s Word, these words of the revelation of Jesus Christ from His own mouth, have the Father as Christ’s predecessor and as His Superior, and that is exactly as Christ would have us to understand it:

Joh 14:28  Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come [again] unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

The trinitarian answer to that verse is that this was only true of Christ as long as He was in the flesh, but here in Revelation 3:14, Christ tells us He is “the beginning of the creation of God.” This true doctrine of Christ fits perfectly with all the rest of scripture which declares to those who are given eyes to see and ears to hear:

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

Col 1:15  Who [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

It was long after Christ had died and was risen from the dead and was no longer ‘in the flesh’ that Paul made that statement in:

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

It is clear that He of whom are all things is much greater than He by whom are all things. For more on this subject see our paper entitled Is God a Trinity? on iswasandwillbe.com.

Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

This is an incredible statement. Christ prefers that we be completely cold over being lukewarm. Why would that be? The answer to that question is very clear. A person who is “lukewarm” is a fence sitter who is “tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine” because he is not really excited or hot about his relationship with the Man who is supposed to be his Head. He is not dedicated, and lack of dedication within any of us leads to infidelity. We are not just unreliable, but we can actually be relied on to bring a reproach upon the name of God. God demands “whole-hearted” service or we will not be His servants:

Psa 119:2  Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

Jer 3:10  And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

It will always be easier to just go along to get along with all the faults within ‘the seven churches of Asia’ than it is to remain faithful to our Lord and master who is supposed to be our head. For example, how do verses like these affect a person who is “neither hot nor cold.”

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.

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.

Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Here is how such a person is affected by these verses:

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

The truths of God sovereignty, His love for all men and His definition of love, and equating that love with obedience to His commandments, has “offended” us all at some time in our lives. Then being “neither hot nor cold… being lukewarm” is very closely akin to “receiving the seed into stony places, having no root in himself, but during for a while and when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, becoming offended,” and denying our Lord and His Word.

It is at this point that Christ spews us out of His mouth, because Christ’s mouth is a clean mouth which speaks nothing but the words of His Father:

Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

That is a white-hot desire to please the Father, and that is what Christ must see in us. It is not in the flesh to be that dedicated, and so it is first spewed out of God’s mouth and made to experience the bitterness of repentance before we are brought to being “on fire” in Christ’s service. The story of the apostle Peter demonstrates the spirit of the angel of the church in Laodicea within us all at its appointed time. Peter, just like this “angel of the church in Laodicea,” thought that he was in very good spiritual condition, when in reality he was neither hot nor cold but was lukewarm. Just like Peter we, too, must come to see this in ourselves. Here is how Peter conceived himself:

Mat 26:33  Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Mat 26:34  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

“All the disciples” means you and me, and “because you are neither hot nor cold” also means you and me. We simply must “keep the things which are written therein.” We cannot do as Peter and try to side-step the admonitions of Christ and think we can somehow avoid denying our Lord. Yet that is exactly what we do when we think we can somehow avoid all the admonitions of our Lord to all the churches except Smyrna and Philadelphia. It simply cannot be avoided. “All the disciples” is each of us, and we all are lukewarm to the extent that we all deny Him at our appointed time.

When any of us think that there is any part of “the things written therein” which have no personal application, we will soon enough find ourselves looking our Lord in the eye and being reminded that we must “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Anything less is to deny our Lord and His words, where we find ourselves with Peter and “all the disciples, … weeping bitterly ” as we realize that we do indeed “keep [all] the things written therein.”

Mat 26:69  Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
Mat 26:70  But he denied before [them] all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
Mat 26:71  And when he was gone out into the porch, another [maid] saw him, and said unto them that were there, This [fellow] was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
Mat 26:72  And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mat 26:73  And after a while came unto [him] they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art [one] of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, [saying], I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

Luk 22:61  And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luk 22:62  And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

The self-confidence of Peter and “all of His disciples”, who had said they would never forsake their Lord is really nothing more than being lukewarm, and it reflects an attitude that places the strength of the flesh above the power of God’s Word and His spirit. Here is the result of this spiritually “lukewarm”  attitude of a Laodicean spirit within us:

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.

This is exactly how Peter and all the disciples felt just before they all forsook and denied Him. All of Christ’s disciples felt that they were prepared to “drink the cup” that Jesus drank and be baptized with His baptism, but the Truth was that nothing could have been further from the Truth. The fact that they forsook Him at His time of trial demonstrated that all His disciples thought that they “were rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;” when in reality they were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” One of the disciples was literally naked, which is just a type of the spiritual condition of us all at that time in our own walk.

Mar 14:50  And they all [the disciples] forsook him, and fled.
Mar 14:51  And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
Mar 14:52  And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.

Another scriptural example of this phase of our walk with our Lord, is the example given us in the church at Corinth. Notice what the apostle reveals to us of this church and of its spiritual standing at the time of the writing of this epistle:

1Co 1:1  Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
1Co 1:2  Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

This congregation was well aware that they were being called, and they realized that they were being sanctified in Christ Jesus. Verses 6 and 7 reveal that “the testimony of Christ was confirmed in these Corinthian disciples, and they were even blessed with every gift of the spirit:

1Co 1:6  Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co 1:7  So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Now comes a revelation that few have ever even heard and which even fewer are given to receive. It is a revelation of what happens to you and to me when we say “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” and we don’t even know that we are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked: Here is our true spiritual standing while we are yet in the Babylonian phase of our walk.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Whoever heard of a “carnal babe in Christ?” How does such a verse of scripture fit into the false doctrine of a ten-second sinner’s prayer? These Corinthians are just like “the Jews that believed on Christ” and were also “of their father the devil in John 8:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Now look at how these same believing Jews, who are “Abraham’s children,” are also “of their father the devil” and want Christ killed.

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 

The angel of the church in Laodicea, cannot receive the Truth, because at this point we are “Yet carnal,” even thought we are “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, [and] come behind in no gift.” These are the very words of scripture, and yet they are completely foreign to the angel of the church in Laodicea.

Conclusion

This is the first part of what the spirit has to say to the angel of the church in Laodicea. We have come to see that these seven angels are actually one spirit within one church.

1Co 6:17  But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

In our study today we have seen that Christ identifies Himself to the angel of the church in Laodecia as the firm and trustworthy Word of God. We also saw that He considers Himself to be the actual beginning of, and the commencement of, God’s creation. It was through Christ that God then went on to create all the rest of His creation.

Col 1:15  Who [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

We have seen Christ’s disdain for all halfheartedness and being “lukewarm” in His service. Christ wants us all to be either hot or cold, either on fire in His service, or not in His service. Christ would actually prefer us to be cold rather than “lukewarm.”

We also saw that we will not be found “in His mouth,” meaning we will not be His mouth piece, speaking His words, if we are just lukewarm. We saw that being lukewarm was akin to receiving the word in stony places and that the apostles all forsaking Christ demonstrated that they were nowhere near as “on fire” for Him as they thought they were. Of course “all the disciples” means what it says and includes all of us who must “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and keep the things written therein.”

We have seen that keeping every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God includes all the qualifying words which tell us that we are not hurt of the second death because we are the first to trust in Christ and are the first to be baptized into His death.

We have seen that God’s Word, His “gold,” is not really a part of us until it is “tried in the fire” with the many trials which we all fail for many years before we are granted the strength to endure and rejoice in the fiery trials that mature us and grant us that gold bought of God, gold tried in the fire of His words. The very words of which we are told we “must live by every word…”

Finally, we also saw that when the all the disciples forsook Christ, they demonstrated how they thought of themselves as “rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing”, when in reality, nothing could have been further from the truth. Peter ends up denying Christ three times that very night, and doing so with an oath and while swearing, that he did not know Christ.

We also saw this same phenomenon demonstrated by “the Jews that believed on Christ,” but wanted to kill Him in John 8, and in 1 Corinthians 1 and 3, by the church at Corinth, which was called, sanctified, and came behind in no gift, and were yet “carnal babes in Christ.”

So these are all types of us, as the angel of the church in Laodicea.

Next week, Lord willing, we will see more of what the spirit says to the angel of the church in Laodicea.

Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Hi Mike,

I would also like to know if you can point me to an explanation of Jdg 19. I am having trouble with that one. I see that this is what happens when there is no Christ (king) in us (the land), but the meaning of the concubine being raped and her division into 12 parts is confusing. I also am not quite getting why the man who threw her out the door to save his own skin and then cuts her up is let off the hook of this story. He is supposed to love this woman, and frankly his behavior is less understandable than the crazed mob outside the door.

Abraham kind of threw Sarah under the bus in the same way when he gave her to the Pharaoh to save his own skin.

BUT I’m avoiding my real issue — I have read your unequally yoked papers and I have listened to so many of your teachings that I have a feeling I will know your response.

So my question about the unequally yoked is — What is a believer? Does a believer have to have all the truth? I left the church a very long time ago.

I am the mother of three teenage boys, but I am certainly unequally yoked with them. I came to the truth far too late to mold their beliefs although I do teach them. They are little rebellious Egyptians just like I was at their age, and I know God is the one who has to use the rod and lead them to Him, because I’ve got little control in that area. But yes, I do teach and know they listen. They are all almost men.

I very much want to be in the first resurrection. I don’t know what I’m hoping for here. I know that scripture is not ecumenical, but am confused where the line is drawn for blasphemous heresy.  After reading a lot of Jukes lately, I am still confused about what you would say about his wrong and right interpretations. I just love Types in Genesis, but I do see where he goes off the wrong way. But I could never call Jukes a blasphemous heretic and don’t think you would either.

Thanks so much for your teaching on numbers, colors and metals because you have so opened up the OT for me… but that Jdg 19 is a sticky one.

C____

Hi C___,
It is so good to hear from you! You ask me about what a believer is:

So my question about the unequally yoked is — What is a believer? Does a believer have to have all the truth.”

No one has ever had ‘all the truth.’ Believers are the ‘many called’ carnal ‘babes in Christ’, but ‘disciples indeed’ are the few chosen. God’s Word is far too deep for that to occur in a life that “appears for a moment, then vanishes away.”

Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what [ shall be] on the morrow. For what [ is] your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

I learn more of God’s Truth with every single Bible study. I can truly say that the more I learn, the more it appears to me is yet to be learned.

On this subject of being unequally yoked together with unbelievers we need to remember that the sum of God’s Word is truth. So first let’s look at the verse to which you are alluding:

2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
2Co 6:15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [ them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [ thing]; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

What I am getting at is the fact that the people who killed Jesus were “Jews that believed on Him.”

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [ then] are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
 
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [ even] God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of [ your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Do you see where Christ says “I know you are Abraham’s seed…” and then turns right around and says “If you were Abraham’s seed…?” Personally I cannot help but notice such things. What Christ is telling us is that there is a vast difference between being a disciple and a “disciple indeed.” There is a world of difference between a “carnal… babe in Christ,” and a “spiritual… son of God.”

Christ is showing us just how sharply the carnal mind contrasts with and contradicts the mind of the spirit. ‘You are Abraham’s physical children but you are not Abraham’s children spiritually.’

Because I see these things, I am accused of “believing in contradictions,” but the true contradictors are those who “do not understand my speech… Why do [ they] not understand my speech? even because you cannot understand my word.”

Any ambivalence will be burned out of anyone who is in the first resurrection. Christ knows very well whether Sandi means more to me than He does, and if she does then I will not be in that “blessed and holy first resurrection. Christ was crystal clear about what were the requirements of that resurrection:

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Pro 8:17  I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

All of that is condensed into this one verse:

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

So it really doesn’t matter what anyone thinks but God. God knows your heart, and He will play second fiddle to no one.

I am a married man, and I have women friends. I hope that you are one of them. A Christian who not only calls Christ ‘Lord, Lord,’ but who actually does “do all of His commandments’ is the best friend anyone could ever have. Christ was Mary’s best friend in the world, and yet there was nothing wrong with that friendship at all. He was certainly a very good friend in need to the woman caught in the very act of adultery.

The way these hypocritical  Jews brought that poor woman to be stoned without the man who was caught with her “in the very act,” brings me to your second question about the concubine and her husband in Jdg 19.

Jdg 19:29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, [ together] with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.

Just look at the state of the whole nation of Israel in that story. The husband of that concubine was a Levite; not a priest, but a Levite. I hope you have heard the study on the temple and The Priests, The Levites, and The Camp of Israel. The Levites represent our spiritual condition in Babylon. We actually bear the things of the tabernacle, but at that point in our walk we are not allowed into the holy place where the sons of Aaron were actually allowed into God’s presence.

So we are told this man was a Levite, close to being a priest, but not a priest, and not allowed to come into God’s presence upon pain of death.
That ‘concubine’ was a ‘concubine’ simply because that is the way we treat Christ. We say we ‘keep all His commandments’ but we don’t, and therefore we aren’t quite His wife, but a concubine.

You mention Abraham giving up Sarah to save his own life, the truth is that Abraham did that twice. He was rebuked by Pharaoh and God for what he did with the Pharaoh and then he went back to Caanan and did the exact same thing again with Abimelech, the Philistine King of Gerar. And to demonstrate just how we are all guilty of throwing Christ to the Jews and cursing that we do not even know the man, we are told that Isaac also did the same thing with Rebecca and the next generation Abimelech, King of Gerar.

Several hundred years later Abraham’s decendants had taken the land and were still living under the judges. Had the kingdom  improved over all those years? No, it had not. The fact of the matter is that “wicked men and seducers had waxed worse and worse.” This story is not far from the end of the book of Judges, and I want you to see how this book ends:

This story is in the 19th chapter. There are but two more chapters in the book of Judges. Here is the last verse of the book of Judges:

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

“Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” That is exactly what ecumenical orthodox Christianity does. God’s Word is made to say whatever “that great city wherein our Lord was crucified” wants it to say.

When I was drafted into the Viet Nam war, my Assemblies of God minister and a Pentecostal minister, men I really looked up to at that time, gave me a very ambivalent answer when I sought their counsel. Both men gave me the same answer when I asked them if I should go and fight for my country. Their answer was “Whatever you decide, we will support you. You can be either a soldier or a conscientious objector, and we will support you.”

And that is where that concubine is today. But that concubine is just part of what this story tells us about ourselves. And that is what this is all about. The whole story is all about what is in us. We are the concubine who plays the harlot, we are a Levite who is forbidden from touching His golden doctrines or coming into His golden presence. We are like the father of the concubine, who by our own lifestyle, teach our children to party rather than become responsible grown- up children.  In our spiritually dead condition we still see ourselves as too good to mix with the pagans in Jerusalem. After all we are Levites who bear the implements of the tabernacle. We are the homosexual perverts of Gibeah of Benjamin, who are willing to rape a woman to death if we can’t satisfy our utter depravity.

And through it all we see ourselves as God’s elect. We are so very righteous that we really ought to discipline those depraved people of Gibeah, just because we are so much closer to God that we would never do such a dastardly thing as raping a man’s concubine to death. No, we are much too righteous to do such a sinful thing. We might give our wife to a pervert to save our own worthless necks but we are not that sinful woman caught in the very act of adultery. We are not that lowly Publican, prodigal son, or woman at the well with five husbands and now living with a man who is not her husband. We see ourselves as above all of that. But the fact of the matter is we are all of those sinning people at one time or another in our lives before Christ starts living in us.

Do you doubt that this entire story is talking to you and to me about what is in every one of us at our own appointed time? If you do, then please look at these two verses of God’s Word. There is but one reason any of this happened, and there is but one reason why it was written down:

1Co 10:11 And all these things as types did happen to those persons, and they were written for our admonition, to whom the end of the ages did come, (YLT)

These things happened and they were written “as types” of us and for our admonition. The overwhelming message of this story is how low we can go, all the while feeling so superior. But Christ comes to us in our exposed, wretched condition and tells us “neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.” Yet we tell ourselves that we have “never blasphemed the name of God and we will never experience His wrath.”

That is what Jdg 19 is all about. It is a story about the kingdom of Israel within each of us, the kingdom of God at that ‘lead, tin, iron and copper’ stage of His work with each of us.

It is all within simply because “the kingdom of God is within you,” and that kingdom is being prepared for its birth from Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21. It is “every word” part of “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” If that is not so then none of these verses are true:

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.

“We were all, in time past, children of disobedience, and by nature children of wrath even as others.” All who say otherwise are nothing more than self- righteous Levites who see nothing wrong with throwing their own wife to the dogs.

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.

Where do we live “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God?

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.

God’s Is, Was and Will Be kingdom “is within you,” and only those who have that kingdom within them while yet in “this vessel of clay” will ever “rule over… the kingdoms of this world.” Only those who realize that “the kingdom of God is within you” will ever understand that “the time is at hand [ to] live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” and that every word  must be lived out in these marred vessels of clay:

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.

We must keep “every word” of “those things which are written therein: because the time is at hand.”

“This generation will not pass away until all these things shall be fulfilled” is true for “He that reads and hears the words of this prophecy” in every generation since Christ.

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

But while many are called, very few are given ears to hear or eyes to see “those things which are written therein.” Rather for most, God’s entire word, including Jdg 19, is still “sealed with seven seals.”

2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.

While the whole orthodox Christian world is trying to get a handle on God’s time- line for the future, thinking that is what the book of Revelation is all about, this is what Christ Himself says about such a doctrine and such a mindset:

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Does any of that, or any other scripture, put God’s emphasis anywhere but on the I Am, the ‘Is’ part of our Lord and His Word? Here is what the scriptures call ‘prophecy:’

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

You asked if I considered Andrew Juke to be a heretic. I could never call Jukes a blasphemous heretic and don’t think you would either”

I have given you all the scriptures which reveal what is required of those who will be in the first resurrection. What I did not give you is this part of God’s Word on that question:

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not [ himself], neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

It is obvious to me that Andrew Jukes was simply not given eyes to see this verse of God’s word:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

Andrew Jukes was forced out of the church of England simply because he refused to agree that the Queen of His day was the head of all things both spiritual and political, yet he always considered himself part of that church even as he declared the Catholic church to be apostate. I have many of his letters in my possession which reveal that he believed in the immortality of our spirits and several other disappointing doctrines. And yet God gave him a gift to see so much in the types and shadows of Genesis and in the laws of the offerings.

You said:

I very much want to be in the first resurrection.”

I do, too. I have prayed many times for the Lord to do with me whatever it takes to be in that “blessed and holy” resurrection. To that end I hope I have given you some “words of edification, exhortation and comfort.”

Your brother in Christ,
Mike >