The Book of Amos – Chapter 7:1-17 – Still at Ease in Zion, unwittingly being measured

[Aired January 18, 2025]

In Chapter 7 of Amos, as is most of scripture, God is signifying the measuring of his Elect for the building of his house and the turbulent path they will tread in glory; he temporarily lays aside the rest of Israel their salvation to their predetermined fate until the Lake of Fire—for non-spiritual eyes at ease in Zion, a one thousand mile stare of resigned disinterest, unless, of course, the prophets prophesy good things (1Ki 22).

Israel’s constant sea-sawing between somewhat obeying her Lord and resulting peace and wealth and disobedience provoking war, famine, and death typifies the Lord’s Elect since the cross. In Amos Chapter 6, we saw that the chief of sinners is the budding Elect, to their consternation at ease in Zion, portraying a more delicious ‘ease’ later in Babylon.

Pro 25:2  It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

It is for kings to know the mystery of the Lord’s word; not just any old king, but rather the kings and priests of God, the Elect, the Bride, who, like their Lord, have many names, all identifying with her Husband.

We know for certain that our Lord will strive with his ‘very elect’; paradoxically, it seems to belie that he will not always strive with men.

Isa 46:3  Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
Isa 46:4  And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Rom 9:27  Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

It wasn’t the Lord’s plan to save old Israel from her inevitable fate of exile, and when she got to Babylon, she grew to like its riches far from the face of her Lord’s overbearing commands where she could deliciously indulge without judgement. She typifies Zion today, and the collective of Gentile Christianity, still at ease, nauseously bleating how good her fabled democracy is while creating 200,000,000 lies to substantiate her unwitting whoredom. It is the Lord’s very Elect he has given the “honour to search out the matter”, and, with a shudder to the soles of her feet, delightedly see that she is ‘small Jacob’, the “remnant”, the little flock he will save out of the commonwealth of Israel.

Accordingly, in Amos 7, the Bride of Christ, in training to be one in her Lord’s Kingship, is, and like him, a King who alone as ‘the’ remnant is given to search out the mysteries of her Husband’s word; he certainly does strive with her all the way to the First Resurrection. Paradoxically, though, at times, he doesn’t strive with us when our consciences accuse us of repetitious sins that sit at ease in our hearts, a most insidiously damning Zionist-like ease that must be eradicated. If we continue to hear the still small voice behind us saying, ‘This is the way’, and ignore it, we, like Esau, are in danger of the Devil secretly stealing our inheritance away, and no flood of tears will restore us.

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Isa 44:21  Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I have made you, and you are My servant; O Israel, I will never forget you.
Isa 44:22  I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. 
Isa 44:23  Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O depths of the earth. Break forth in song, O mountains, you forests and all your trees. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and revealed His glory in Israel. 
Isa 44:24  Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,
Isa 44:25  who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense, 
Isa 44:26  who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’ 
Isa 44:27  who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’
Isa 44:28  who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’ who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’” (BSB)

Judah and Gentile Christianity remain to this day as the Lord’s servants, whereas the Lord’s Elect, typified by ‘small’ Jacob, the eminent servants of his focus, are given to understand that they, representing the Bride, are given to know the secret things of God and build her Temple spiritually within upon the foundation of her Husband, Christ. In the meantime, this very day, the Lord’s servants, Zionist Christianity, seem to be in a headlong rush to reestablish a temple on the original temple mount in Jerusalem—wait and see; our Lord will not suffer the filth of the Old Covenant’s former glory of works to last; possibly only just long enough before its guaranteed destruction to cataclysmically amplify his authority.

Christ daily strives with his Bride for her to understand the secret things of God by his spirit in visions of God-inspired thought, and she sees the locusts (grasshoppers), the false prophets with stings in their tails, coming a mile off, intent on eating her tender shoots of truth. Without fear and fanfare, she resists these Devil’s agents by simply requesting her Lord’s intervention, knowing that calling on the Lord’s name to be saved from the wiles of the Devil follows a rich unity with Christ’s mind and not from her former dusty and repetitious mumbling of contextual scripture that she is saved without chastisement. She is an incipient King, rightly dividing the word of God and understanding spiritual meanings.

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Mat 5:45  … for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Significations:

Warning Visions

Amo 7:1  Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the King’s mowings. 
Amo 7:2  And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 
Amo 7:3  The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD. 

Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. 

Jdg 6:5  For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land [The Temple of God we are] to destroy it.

Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women [denoting churches], and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle [the sound drowning out the still small voice of truth].
Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months [for the length of time it takes for grace though Christ’s faith to do its work within].

Nah 3:17  Thy crowned [Nineveh and Israel in bed as one; doctrines of Gentile Christianity and we in our time unrighteously sitting on Christ’s throne as the mother of harlots] are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges [protected by the multitude of voices drowning out the truth, speaking the same lying doctrines] in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth [Christ’s words] they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Nah 3:18  Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

In Amos 7:1-3, the Lord’s Elect experiences bountiful spiritual growth of nutritious hay to feed her spiritual mind. Meadow grass and wheat, upon being mown or chewed down by stock, will stool out, meaning that the plant suffers stress, and to compensate, it puts forth more stalks for fodder or, in the case of wheat, more heads of grain. In either case, both examples amplify the subsequent harvest and can point to the Biblical account of the early rain and latter rain as vital for a bountiful harvest.

Deu 11:12  A land [The Bride, our bodies, the Temple of God] which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 
Deu 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deu 11:14  That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
Deu 11:15  And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

Our Lord, in repenting of ‘mowing’ Jacob being us, is him saying that he will not allow the giants of our land to chew us into the ground as do locusts (and should drought follow) for us not to spring back. Nonetheless, the stress from the evil spirits devouring our initial spiritual growth and the new shoots do not kill our roots in Christ, and we endure to spring forth again much stronger for the trial. The process is a type of our Lord forgiving Jacob that he is assured to be fruitful.

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Amo 7:4  Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
Amo 7:5  Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 
Amo 7:6  The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD. 

Our Lord contending with us by fire clearly correlates to us being devoured and thus saved by fire in this age, juxtaposed by Noah and his family of eight being saved from being devoured by the great deep beneath the ark. While both the fire and the flood devour all as ‘one event to all’ (Ecc 9:2), our Lord’s mercy allows it to devour his Elect with a controlled burn, little by little of our contentions against his word, until we are entirely consumed. We thus are able to ‘rise’ from being severely humbled, as did Jacob upon enduring wrestling with Christ.

The Lord doesn’t need to repent as if his mind is subject to double-mindedness. It was the Lord’s plan that Jacob would be initially small in number since his wife, Rachel, only had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, to uphold their tribe’s inheritance. It was a fiery trial for Jacob to contend with Rachel’s constant dripping, her malcontent unable to bear children made unbearable by her sister’s fecundity. Jacob’s foreshadowing of the Bride is a work in progress whereby the plumbline upon her, the New Jerusalem’s wall our Lord hadn’t finished measuring, and the Old Jerusalem destined for demolition.

Ecc 3:1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecc 3:2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 
Ecc 3:3  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Ecc 3:4  [Rachel and we, the ‘barren woman’] A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Ecc 3:5  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
Ecc 3:6  A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Ecc 3:7  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
Ecc 3:8  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Amo 7:7  Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. 
Amo 7:8  And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: 
Amo 7:9  And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 

The Lord, in stating to Amos that he would not pass by Old Israel any more, would have been a ‘bitter in his belly’ experience not unlike what John in Revelations saw since the concept enigmatically announced God abandoning Israel. In verse 10 below, Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’], the priest of Bethel, bore that vapid consternation somewhat sarcastically, saying, “The land is not able to bear all his words”. Being the priest, his contempt perfectly characterised Israel’s demeanour toward her Lord, as were Cain’s accusations for the burden of judgment.

What Israel didn’t see was the Lord’s plan spelt out in the wilderness since Egypt to this day in the spiritual meanings and pattern of the Holy Days and Feasts—indeed, they couldn’t bear Amos’s or any of the prophet’s words, but a remnant coming out of futuristic Israel, would, now bearing a light burden made easy by her Lord’s power and might.

Amos Accused

Amo 7:10  Then Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’ = Jehovah is mighty] the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 

And yes, the Lord had pre-plotted Israel’s demise precisely as he has ours, so we could spiritually most graphically see that all of scripture is our experience, though now, able to bear his fiery words.

1Co 3:21  Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, 
1Co 3:22  whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas [Amos] or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you,
1Co 3:23  and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Because Solomon pursued other gods, including his relentless search for the implausibly ‘perfect wife’ from every ethnicity available, regardless of their god’s ideologies, the Lord was about to divide Israel—Ephriam, comprising ten tribes in the north, and Judah, constituting Judah and Benjamin, in the south.

1Ki 11:9  And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,
1Ki 11:10  And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.
1Ki 11:11  Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. 
1Ki 11:12  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
1Ki 11:13  Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. 

(That one tribe is Judah, incorporating Benjamin that certain people today, who say that they are Jews and are not, have seized the name as God’s elect, to which Gentile Christianity in lockstep of strong delusion swoon, and soon to burn with fire. Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire).

Meantime, out of Amos’ generation, the Lord raised up adversaries against Solomon for his lethargy for his Lord’s word that riches indulge, one named Jeroboam, to wrest the Kingdom from Solomon.

1Ki 11:26  And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman [meaning = ‘full-breasted; diseased; leperous’ to feed her many harlot church’s; symbolic of the Great Whore who says that she is not a widow
Rev 18:7 and characterised mother of the Ten Tribes of Israel], even he lifted up his hand against the king.
1Ki 11:27  And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father.
1Ki 11:28  And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.
1Ki 11:29  And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah [ akh-ee-yaw = brother of Jehovah] the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field [symbolic of Cain and Able and the principle of the elder serving the younger—Old Israel in transition to serving the new version]:
1Ki 11:30  And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:
1Ki 11:31  And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
1Ki 11:32  (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city [the incipient New Heavenly Jerusalem, the Elect of God] which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:):) 
1Ki 11:33  Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
1Ki 11:34  Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:
1Ki 11:35  But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.
1Ki 11:36  And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. 
1Ki 11:37  And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel.
1Ki 11:38  And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee.
1Ki 11:39  And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever.

That saga is a major event for Israel and for the Bride’s potent understanding since it all directly points to her being the spiritual Judah, replacing the dismally failed physical Judah and Benjamin in Amos’ time. Consequently…

Amo 7:11  For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 

Likewise, anytime we fail to bear the Lord’s chastisement and refuse to die by the sword of his word, if we are indeed his ‘very Elect’, we will humbly be made to spiritually die and submit to his commands, gladly captive to the Kingdom. There we will always be with our Husband harmoniously eating and being in the same spirit as prophesied.

Amo 7:12  Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 
Amo 7:13  But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the King’s chapel, and it is the king’s court. 

The Lord’s Elect, having come from lowly estate, now in eternal unity with him, don’t need to be prophesied to since they are the fully consummated prophets at one with their Husband and the Father. As seen in these following verses, they, in rulership with her Lord, will assuredly prophesy and judge in the Lake of Fire the entirety of Gog and Magog, the world, “my people, Israel”.

Amo 7:14  Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman [a lowborn and despised calling], and a gatherer of sycamore fruit [figs]: 
Amo 7:15  And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 
Amo 7:16  Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 

This powerful directive states that the ten tribes of Israel, meaning Gentile Christianity today, are not judged during that era or in the present. Instead, they are simply unwitting bystanders, delusionally as the Lord’s wife, deciphering scripture in their favour (epic ad nauseum, “I am no widow; I have a husband…” Rev 18:7). God’s primary focus is on his little flock, the budding Bride, and all the periphery chronicles in scripture, serve to build faith and belief in their Lord and his workmanship in her, recreating Christs (plural).

Hence, the Lord directs Amos to prophesy to Israel for their guarantee of exile and not against them for what the Lord has decreed will happen since it is He who sends the house of Isaac into Babylon.

Jer 29:4  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; 
Jer 29:5  Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; 
Jer 29:6  Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
Jer 29:7  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 

Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we [The Bride of Christ] are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. 

Amaziah, who didn’t want to hear what he considered an evil prophecy against his kingship, sarcastically told Amos to go preach in Judah—where someone might want to hear his message. Amaziah knew that the people in Judah, like those in Israel, also despised the Lord’s authority, disregarding God and attempting to take His place on the throne. Covertly, the whole stay of water and bread was taken away from Israel and Judah.

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

Amo 7:17  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.

The consequences of Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’] effectively ‘killing the prophets’ (Mat 23:37. Acts 7:51-52) as we once did results in wives, women, and children ruling the already emasculated men, and the priests of the land abdicated headship. Even though Amaziah’s wife apparently did become a harlot, so, too, and because of Eve’s curse, do all physical wives, not directly, but rather by their focus being on authentic Martha-like busyness instead of a Mary-like balanced approach with the spiritual taking precedence. A harlot has no interest whatsoever in what drives the mind of her debtor to seek delusional unity of spirit with her. Neither do most wives for their husbands once they have their future secured by the best provider their ‘gin’ (Isa 8:14. Amo 3:5) can capture, and their biological needs of children are satiated, typified by Israel to her Lord and husband’s righteous lust to be of one mind, thus equating all wives equated with gentile churches intrinsically with harlotry-such as we individually have been.

Accordingly, the Bride is being measured by the plumbline of Christ’s righteousness today, eagerly expressing her delight by actively arousing her Husband’s kisses. She knows by her bright unity in not denying his spirit, is life eternal from the captivity of being a harlot. However, in the next study of this series, she will typically suffer for a little while longer.

Revelation 11:1-3, Part 1- Measure The Temple

[Study Aired Oct 6, 2024]

The first 14 verses of this 19-verse chapter concern the measuring of the temple and the witness of, the rejection of that witness, and the death, and resurrection of the two witnesses. These events are all a part of the sounding of the sixth trumpet, also called the second of three ‘woes’, because of the devastating affect of these last three trumpets upon the kingdom of our old man.

The measuring of the temple and the witness of the two witnesses are the symbols of our obedience to the voice of the Lord who told us to take the little book out of the hand of the angel that stood on the land and the sea and eat that little book and then prophesy before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings:

Rev 10:8  And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

The witness of the “two witnesses” of this 11^th chapter is in obedience to the commission to prophesy before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings of chapter 10. The measuring of the temple is the introspective intent of judging ourselves which produces revelation of Jesus Christ within ourselves.

Paul tells us:

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

Even if we “judge ourselves” we are still being judged, and it is our own judgment which is sweet in our mouths but bitter in our belly when we judge ourselves. That is the very meaning of ‘measuring the temple’ which temple we are (1Co 3:16):

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months.
Rev 11:3 And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

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

Chapter ten ends with John eating the little book.

Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

John, signifying each person in whom Christ is being revealed, takes the little book, which we have established to be Christ and His words in us individally, and He eats the little book which, while sweet in his mouth becomes bitter in his belly. Then He is told that he will yet prophesy before many people, nations and tongues and kings.

It is immediately after this statement that John is told to measure the temple, but leave out the court of the temple because it is given to the Gentiles and will be trodden under foot by the Gentiles for 42 months. It is at this juncture that the two witnesses are introduced into our narrative, and we are told they will witness, or “prophesy again before many people, nations, and tongues, and kings”, for “1260 days”, which just happens to be another way of saying “42 months”, or “time, times and half a time”. It all amounts to the same length of time our Savior witnessed to a dead and dying world. It is three and a half years expressed with four different phrases.

If all we see in all of this is the symbols, then we will never understand the message contained in the symbols. But we know that the angel who hands John the little book is Christ. We know that the little book is Christ’s words at work in our individual lives, sweet in our mouths becoming bitter in our bellies (Rev 10:9). We know that eating those words is the symbol of believing and living those words by judging ourselves before we prophesy to others (1Co 11:31-32). We know that John is the symbol for all of God’s elect who do prophesy before this world (Rev 19:10 and 22:8-9). We know that his mouth is our mouth if we are His elect (1Jo 4:17). We know that the mouth speaks what comes from the heart (Mat 12:34. We know that the belly is our old fleshly desires (Rom 16:18) until our desires become Christ’s desires (Joh 7:38):

Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

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

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am [I signify] thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Mat 15:18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

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

Rev 10 ends with John eating the words of the little book. The little book is sweet in his mouth and bitter in his belly. John and the angels of this prophesy symbolize us.

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am [I signify] thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book [Rev 1:3]: worship God.

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.

John, who signifies each of us, is told that he will now prophesy for Christ, the words of this little book full of lamentations, mourning and woe. “The testimony of Jesus Christ, is the spirit of prophecy… You must prophecy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” demonstrates that it is the words of this little book which will come out from our hearts, through our mouths and which are “bitter in our bellies” as we experience the “hatred of all men” and as they hear these words of “lamentations, mourning and woe” which we ourselves have lived. Yet they are at the same time “rivers of living waters” coming straight from the river of Life, which is Christ, who gave this little book to us. If we are in Him, we are both the little book out of which we are ‘bitterly’ judged (Rev 10:10) and we then bring forth through our mouths rivers of living waters (Joh 7:38).

This eleventh chapter of Revelation gives us a heads up on what we can expect when we “prophecy before many people.” The symbols of the first verse are 1) a reed like a rod, 2) the temple of God, 3) the altar of God, 4) them that worship in that temple.

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

The symbols of the second verse are 5) the court without the temple, 6) the Gentiles, 7) the holy city and 8) forty and two months.

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months.

The symbols of the third verse are 9) My two witnesses, 10) a thousand two hundred and three score days, and 11) clothed in sackcloth.

Rev 11:3  And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Now let’s seek to know what each of these symbols signify.

1) A reed like a rod

“A reed” is found here in this prophecy twice, and both entries are in reference to a measuring device.

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

Rev 21:15  And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

“A rod” is used in scripture as connoting discipline, and authority. Here is a typical verse using this same Greek word.

1Co 4:21  What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

Paul is not contrasting a rod with the disciplinary love of a parent. As any parent with their children, he simply does not enjoy having to discipline his children when he first gets home from work. Here is how a rod is part of love, just as discipline is a very necessary part of love.

2Sa 7:14  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
2Sa 7:15  But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took [it] from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

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

This is the word used to describe the rulership of God’s elect during the millennium.

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

So a rod signifies discipline and chastening. But in the verse under consideration, it is mentioned in conjunction with a measuring reed, “a reed like unto a rod”. In other words, Christ and His Words are our measuring reed, and if we do not measure up to those words, we are being measured or chastened and disciplined. That is why is is called “a reed like unto a rod”. This “reed like a rod” signifies “chastening with the rod” as contrasted with the reed with which the holy city is measured. There is no need for a rod in the “New Jerusalem” because that part of our experience is behind us if we are blessed to be a part of that “holy city… the bride the Lamb’s wife”:

Rev 21:15  And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

Here is the setting for this verse:

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

The rod and the discipline are now past, and the reed is not “like unto a rod.” Rather it is now “a golden reed to measure the city”.

In the verse here in chapter 11, it is “a reed like unto a rod” because the struggles against our old man and the doctrines of Babylon in this life are yet in full bloom.

2) The temple of God

John, who is the symbol of all those to whom it is given to keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book, is given “a reed like unto a rod” and is instructed to “measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein.”

We have been over this symbol many times already, nevertheless I will quote these two verses to remind us what “the power of the spirit” is (1Co 2:4) when using these words “the temple of God.”

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

3) The altar of God

Again, the altar is at the temple. We have demonstrated many times that the altar is where we lay down our lives in sacrifice to God. The Israelites were to “lay their hands on the head” of the sacrifice to indicate that they identified with the death and offering of that sacrifice.

Lev 4:15  And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD.

So too, we are instructed in the New Testament:

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

So the spiritual significance of this symbol, “the altar of God”, is the cross, where we lay our lives down as “a living sacrifice.”

4) Them that worship therein

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

Our “worship” is not our singing. Our “worship” is our obedience:

1Sa 15:22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

It is a reverence for God’s Word which constitutes true worship. Our goal is to seek to know and do all that He wants us to do.

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

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;

In order to “worship therein”, in order to worship God in His temple, we must know “the doctrine of Christ… in spirit”, and beyond just its basic principles and beyond just the milk of that doctrine.

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

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?

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

We are all “carnal babes in Christ… unskilful in the word of righteousness” when we are first called to follow the Lord. But it is the “reed like unto a rod” that brings us into the temple and causes us “go on unto perfection” as “them that worship therein” “in spirit and in Truth”.

The “reed like unto a rod and the golden reed to measure the holy city, the book in the hand of the man on the throne and the little book in the hand of the mighty angel” are one and all, Christ and His work within our lives. It certainly is not our own work in our own strength:

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

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.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our own] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The symbols of the second verse are…

5) The court without the temple

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months.

We will not spend a great deal of time on this symbol because, again, we have demonstrated already that the court without the temple is where the masses of God’s people were permitted to come to make their physical sacrifices. Yet neither the people nor even the Levites themselves were permitted to go beyond the court nor to enter into the temple, nor to handle the holy things unless they were the sons of the high priest, Aaron.

Num 18:1  And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
Num 18:2  And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.
Num 18:3  And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.
Num 18:4  And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.
Num 18:5  And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.
Num 18:6  And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Num 18:7  Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

Not even the sons of Aaron could do the service of the Temple if they were blemished in any way.

Lev 21:16  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 21:17  Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
Lev 21:18  For whatsoever man [he be] that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
Lev 21:19  Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
Lev 21:20  Or crookback, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
Lev 21:21  No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
Lev 21:22  He shall eat the bread of his God, [both] of the most holy, and of the holy.
Lev 21:23  Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.

So, we should always expect to be hated of our brothers, accused of thinking we know God better than they do, and accused of separating ourselves from their company when the reverse is the Truth.

Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

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

“I will… I will… I will… I will”. It is God who decides upon whom He will be merciful and compassionate, and it is God who also decides “who He will harden”.

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.

So it is God who decides who “worships in the temple” and who is “the Gentiles in the court.” So who are “the Gentiles”?

We will pause here and begin our next study by showing with the scriptures who the Gentiles spiritually signify.

Gospels In Harmony – The Parable of the Ten Pounds

What is the Measure of Our Faith?

[Study Aired March 16, 2021]

Luk 19:11-27 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

Luk 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

The apostles and disciples of Christ all thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. They did not understand that the kingdom is within, among other things yet to be revealed to them. They were told in Daniel the kingdom would be established, and Christ has told them that the kingdom is within.

Dan 7:13-14 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Luk 17:20-25 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: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

In the next verses Christ explains why their thoughts are incorrect.

Luk 19:12-13 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

Once again Christ explains with a parable. The nobleman is Christ. The far country is the flesh flesh. The ten servants are the called, the chosen, and those that endure until the end. Ten = Completeness of the flesh. Here is the link for the study of the number ten.

Christ has come to the world and as the parable says has returned to his kingdom. This is speaking of his ascension. Even in the book of Acts the disciples think the kingdom is eminent.

Act 1:6-11 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

This also explains the meaning of “Occupy till I come”. 

Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The ten servants are given ten pounds representing the faith we are given. We will go over this in later verses.

Luk 19:14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

Christ is hated by the world, and the citizens of the world hate him.

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

Now we will see how the money given to the servants ties in with the measure of faith we are given.

Luk 19:15-19 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

Upon Christ’s return, this is once we receive the spirit, we are asked to give an account.

Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Luk 19:20-23 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?

The fear this steward had was because of his lack of faith. This type of fear is shared by those in Babylon today. They call him Lord but do not do the things He says. This last steward represents the called and chosen but not being able to do what Christ says. The other two stewards represent the called, chosen, and faithful until the end. The citizens represent the many called. We are all first the steward lacking faith until Christ gives us His faith if we are chosen to receive it.

Mar 4:37-40 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

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

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

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

Here are the last verses in our study.

Luk 19:24-27 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

Those that stood by complained that the one who had the most would get more. This is what is promised to the elect of God. The elect will receive the prize of the high calling, the crown of life.

Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

The point of this parable is for Christ to tell us what is coming and what is expected of His disciples. Christ is come in the flesh (a far country) and His servants, the called, chosen and faithful to the end, are charged with working out their own salvation (occupying till I come) with the measure of faith (increase in pounds) they have been given. The servant with ten pounds increase represents the completion of the flesh. Another with five pounds increase represents grace through faith. Finally the one who buried the pound given him in the earth and had no increase represents the affairs of this world.

These examples show us that we must give an account upon His return. Christ, being represented by an austere man, is our judge. The increase we achieve is not of ourselves. This increase is given to us by Christ through our trials and tribulations we endure. Christ is here now in His elect and will return in the age to come in order to set up His kingdom on earth. The elect are being prepared for that age and the age to follow and will become kings and priests to those who have not received any measure of faith.

I will end this study with a Proverb.

Pro 4:1-27 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

Lord willing, our measure of faith will increase five-fold and then ten-fold, and we will not be given to have our faith stored in the earth. This will be accomplished through the trial of our faith.

1Pe 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Video Links

Rev 21:13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Rev 21:15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
Rev 21:16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

Introduction

As we saw in our last study, this city is, Lord willing, you and me, “the bride the Lamb’s wife”. We saw that as the bride and wife of the Lamb, we are secured by “a wall great and high”, which is “the doctrine of Christ” (2Jn 1:9).

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

Why would those who are “the bride the Lamb’s wife” have upon their twelve gates the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel? The reason God’s elect have the names of the twelve tribes is that they are “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:15-16) and are part of “the commonwealth of Israel”.

Eph 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

God’s elect were “in time past Gentiles”. What are they now?

Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Just how near does “the blood of Christ” make these Ephesians who were in time past “Gentiles in the flesh.” Are they near enough to be called “the holy Jerusalem, the bride the Lamb’s wife”? What do the scriptures teach?

Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; f or to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Both physical Jews and physical Gentiles are now both made one, because God is not saving mankind via a dual channel of a physical chosen people along with a spiritual chosen people. The way God is reconciling both Jews and Gentiles to Himself is “in one body by the cross” by “making of twain one new man”, not by making twain of twain.
What does this have to do with “the holy Jerusalem, the bride the Lamb’s wife” with “a wall great and high, and the twelve gates with the names of the twelve apostles”?

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

It has everything to do with this city whose wall is “great and high”. That great high wall is constructed of the rejected doctrines of our Lord, and His Word. It is Christ’s doctrines which keep “that which is defiled” out of His body, which body is this holy Jerusalem. The doctrine that he is “making of twain one new man… that He might reconcile both Jews and Gentiles unto God in one body” is only one of those doctrines which make up the great and high wall of that holy Jerusalem, who is the bride the Lamb’s wife. The whole orthodox Christian world ridicules this doctrine, insisting instead that God has both a physical and a spiritual chosen people through whom He will reconcile a few of humanity. God on the other hand does not even consider physical descent as a factor in determining who is and who is not a Jew. This holy Jerusalem has no one in it who believes contrary to this Truth:

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

This holy Jerusalem and its great high wall is made up only of those who are Jews inwardly, and whose circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit.
Add to that doctrine the doctrine of loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, wives submitting themselves to their husbands, as unto the Lord, women not teaching in the church, and following Christ’s example of refusing to keep the established traditions of His day, and the wall of the holy Jerusalem is indeed “great and high”.

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

So we now know what a great high wall does. It protects those who are within that wall.
What more does our Lord want us to know about this “great high wall” which protects the holy Jerusalem, the Lamb’s wife?

Rev 21:13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

Remember that this holy Jerusalem is “the bride the Lamb”s wife”. There are three numbers with which we are dealing as we read of the description of ourselves as this holy Jerusalem. Those three numbers are three, four and twelve. We will be reminded of the spiritual significance of both the numbers three and four, but the number twelve dominates our thoughts as we read and hear the description of this great city. Let’s go back to verse 12 to demonstrate how many times the holy spirit repeats, for our benefit, the number twelve in this one verse:

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

The four sets of three gate on the four walls of this city are the twelve gates mentioned here in verse 12. So regardless of how you approach this city, there will be three gates through which all who come into her must pass. As we have demonstrated, the spiritual significance of this number three is the process of judgment which our Lord is working with mankind. It is demonstrated by the three judgment harvest seasons of ancient Israel. Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles and the last great day. These three harvests complete the ingathering of all people to our Lord.
Egypt was in “thick darkness” for three days, as Egypt was being judged. Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights as he was being judged for his disobedience. Saul of Tarsus was blind for three days while he was being judged for persecuting the disciples of Jesus. Of course we continue being judged, but the number three always reminds us of the process of being judged. This “revelation of Jesus Christ” comes to us in three stages, called ‘seven seals’, ‘seven trumpets’, and ‘the seven last plagues of the wrath of God’.
The fact that the city is four square reveals to us that this city will, in time, encompass the whole of God’s elect. Four is the number that speaks of “the four quarters of the earth, the four winds of heaven and the four beasts around the throne of God. Each case speaks of the whole of each.
But the number which is stamped upon every part of this city, and which is mentioned most in relationship to the holy Jerusalem as the wife of the Lamb, is the number twelve.

Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Now let’s place verse 12 beside this 14th verse, and see just how prominent is this number twelve as it relates to “the Lamb’s Wife”.

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

So now besides the twelve gates, the twelve angels, and the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, here in this 14th verse we are told that we, as this holy Jerusalem, the wife of the Lamb, have twelve foundations named after the twelve tribes of Israel. But that is just the beginning of the application of this number twelve to us as this city.

Rev 21:15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

You and I, “the Lamb’s wife”, are measured with “a golden reed”. The holy Jerusalem as the wife of the Lamb must measure up to the exact measurements required of her. Here is this same statement as it is presented to us in the Old Testament. Here is how careful God is in the construction of this city where he dwells.

Exo 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
Exo 25:9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
Exo 25:37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.
Exo 25:38 And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
Exo 25:39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.
Exo 25:40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

“The pattern which was shown you in the mount” is a type of our pattern, Christ. He is our city, our wall, our going out and our coming in. He is “the pattern shown us in the mount”. He is both the golden reed and the pattern by which we are all measured.
Here is how Christ explains all of this to Ezekiel:

Eze 43:10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
Eze 43:11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
Eze 43:12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

“If they be ashamed of all that they have done” means they will not be shown “the form or the house” if they are not ashamed of all they have done. Those who are seeking to make the word of God conform to the way they want to live will not be given to see “the forms thereof and the laws thereof”. Here is how Ezekiel is made to express this:

Eze 43:8 In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.

“Their thresholds” and “their posts” are not God’s thresholds and posts, and it is this enmity which forms the wall great and high, between the world and the Lamb’s wife, the holy Jerusalem.

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

We are told this city is “foursquare”, and again we are given the number twelve and its multiples as the dimensions of the Lamb’s wife. We will discuss the spiritual meaning of the word “foursquare”, but first let us discuss why it is that the number twelve and multiples of twelve, are stamped all over the Lamb’s wife.

Rev 21:16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
Rev 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel

That the angel showing this all to John is a man who is the symbol of John’s brothers in Christ and is John’s fellow servant who is keeping the sayings of this book, is made clear by telling us “the measure of a man, that is the angel”.
Since all four sides of this city are referred to as a single wall, we will do well to understand the measurements of “the length [ and] the breadth” in the same singular way. In other words, twelve thousand furlongs is the measure around the city. Since a furlong is one eighth of a mile, this gives us a city 375 miles on each of its four sides or 1500 miles going around the city. The fact that we are told that “the length and the breath and the height of it are equal, while at the same time telling us that the walls are 144 cubits, tells us that the size of the city is not even the point because this is not a city at all, it is rather “the bride, the Lamb’s wife”.
The shortest cubit to be considered Isa 18 inches. 144 cubits amounts to 216 ft high. That is the height of the walls of the city which symbolizes the Lamb’s wife. but it is not given to us in feet. I mention this only to demonstrate the absurdity of taking any of this literally. To say that the city Isa 3,000 furlongs, or 375 miles square, and then in the very next verse tell us “The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal”, being 375 miles each, seems to be asking us to believe that the wall of the city Isa 144 cubits, or 216 feet high, but the city itself Isa 375 miles high. How is it possible to have a city which Isa 375 miles high, with a wall which is only 216 feet high?
This may seem to be absurd or even, for some, to be contradictory, Nevertheless this is no different than telling us that “the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the seals”, and then when you look to see who is opening the seals you see “a Lamb, as it it been slain…” Well, which is it? Are the seals opened by a lamb or a lion?

Rev 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Rev 5:7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

Is it a lion or a lamb? It is both, because both symbolize our Lord. The form used to symbolize our Lord is not even the point. So let’s not ask, is the city 144 cubits high, or is it 12,000 furlongs high? It is both, the wall is “144 cubits, great and high”, and the city is a high as it is long and broad; 12,000 furlongs.
It is the spiritual significance of the number twelve that is being emphasized in describing to us the Lamb’s wife. What is that meaning? Let’s look at a few Biblical uses of this number twelve.

Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Gen 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
Luk 6:13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;

Here we have the three foundations on which the Lord works with men. First as Gentile Ishmaelites, who are Abraham’s seed, then as the physical descendants of Israel, and then as the spiritual wife of the Lamb, the twelve tribe of spiritual Israel, the holy Jerusalem whose foundations have written upon them the names of the twelve apostles. In every case it is the number twelve which is used to tells us we are dealing with a foundational precept. The foundation of the enemies of physical Israel, the foundation of the enemies of spiritual Israel, and the foundation of spiritual Israel.
Now let’s see what is said of Sarah, when, in her old age, she brought forth a manchild.

Heb 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive [ Greek – katabole, foundation] seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Here we are being told that Sarah, the wife Abraham, the wife of him who was to be the father of a seed whose numbers would be as the sand of the sea shore and as the stars of the heavens, was given to have a foundational seed. Abraham is the type and the shadow of our Lord, the true “father of the faithful”. What was this seed that Sarah was laying down? That is revealed in the previous verse:

Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

So Abraham is a type of Christ, the true father of the faithful.

Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

How are we to be counted as “the children of Abraham”? Here is the only way that is possible:

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

This holy Jerusalem is those who are Christ’s. These are those who are the wife of Christ. They are “the Lamb’s wife”. Sarah was to be the type of this bride of Christ. Sarah was to bring forth “a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. Sarah was the type and shadow of Christ’s wife, His church, which is the foundation for the salvation of all mankind.

Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us- ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

It is the church, which is His body”, which is the fullness of Christ who fills His Father who will, in His time be all in all. But this will be done “through the church”.

Eph 3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Eph 3:4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Eph 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Eph 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Eph 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
Eph 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the myster y, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

If we are Christ’s, we are this “city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God”, and it is through those who are this city, the wife of the Lamb”, who will bring forth the “children of Abraham”, and who will “make all men to see what is the fellowship of this mystery. It is Christ’s wife who will bring forth children whose numbers will be “as the sand of the sea shore and as the stars of heaven”.

Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Our heavenly Father sent Christ to be our foundation, and through that foundation to save all men:

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

That is what Christ is doing with His wife, this holy Jerusalem, the Lamb’s wife.

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

That is the significance of the number twelve being stamped all over the Lamb’s wife. She, in Him, is a city which has foundations…” In Christ and with Christ, she is that “city which has foundations” upon which and through which “all men will be made to see what is the fellowship of this mystery… which is Christ in you the hope of glory”.

1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

It is “through the church, through this “wife of the Lamb”, that Christ will accomplish the salvation of all men. It is the greatest calling that can be given to mankind, but it requires a wall great and high to be part of this city stamped with the number twelve.
Now what is the spiritual significance of the Lamb’s wife being “foursquare”. That is certainly not what any natural man is looking for in a bride.

Rev 21:16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

Where else in scripture do we see this word ‘foursquare’? The brazen altar, the breastplate of judgment and the golden altar of incense were “foursquare”.

Exo 27:1 And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.
Exo 28:15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.
Exo 28:16 Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.
Exo 30:1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
Exo 30:2 A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.
Exo 30:3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.

What are these altars? The brazen altar is where we place our hands on the head of the sacrifice and identify completely with our sacrifice.

Exo 29:10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.

Those who know Christ, know that we are “crucified [ together] with Him”,

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

So the altar in scripture is the cross of Christ, where we lay down our life with Christ. But we are a living sacrifice. Ours is a calling to live in the service to our Lord and His work in us, even as we die daily to our old man, being crucified daily with our Lord, upon the altar of His cross.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

That is the spiritual significance of being “foursquare”. If we are “conformed to this world” and we are taken in by the philosophies of this world and the traditions of men, we are not spiritually “foursquare” and will not be in that city whose walls are “great and high”.

Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Col 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [ same Greek word translated ‘elements’ in Gal 4] of the world, and not after Christ.

What is it that most likely will keep us from “walking in Christ”? What most often keeps us from being “rooted and built up in Christ”? It is nothing less than our desire to “be conformed to this world… through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, and the example He left for us to follow in His steps”.

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

So if we follow Christ’s steps, we will “walk in Him, be rooted and grounded in Him”, and we will not be spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, which are the rudiments of the world, which are not after Christ”. What are these “rudiments of the world”?
What is it which so concerned both the apostles Paul and Peter as keeping God’s flock from being willing to be a living sacrifice on a foursquare altar? This is too important a matter to be guessing. Those “rudiments of the world” are defined for us in Gal 4, where the exact same Greek word is translated as “elements of the world” which Peter says are used to “spoil us through philosophy and vain deceit”.
Here are at least some of these “elements of the world”:

Gal 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements [ Greek – stoicheion, same word translated ‘rudiments’ in Col 2:28] whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

What is the example Christ left us regarding this subject? What are His footsteps concerning the traditions of His day?

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

The golden altar of incense is where the prayers of the saints are offered up while burning frankincense. The prayers of God’s elect are always prayed only asking “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” It too, was “foursquare” for that very reason. Those who are given to come to that altar are seeking only the will of our heavenly Father.
The same is true of “the breast plate of judgment. It too, was “foursquare” for the very reason that the high priest wanted only to know what is the Lord’s will concerning any inquiry made of the Lord.

So the Lamb’s wife is said to be “foursquare” because she wants only to please her husband, the Lamb – Christ.
Next week if the Lord wills we will see what “hidden wisdom” is to be found in these verses:

Rev 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
Rev 21:19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
Rev 21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
Rev 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

Hi Mike,

Do you see grace (which chastens and disciplines) available (accessible) only to those who have come out of Babylon?

Seems to me, those who are under law, false doctrine of Christ, don’t have access to grace. The law hasn’t done its work yet of leading them to the true Christ. They do not have the faith of Christ.

In other words, is grace what brings us out of Babylon, or is grace (the chastening that causes daily death to self) a result of coming out of Babylon?

Seems to me that grace is given to all men, but it is only through faith that it is “accessed”.

Rom 5:2 through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace. (seems if sin no longer has dominion over one, then one is out of Babylon).

Thanks for your time and ministry.

L____

Hi L____,

I have pointed out on many occasions that grace and faith cannot be separated:

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

Grace comes only “through faith.” Now, with that in mind, I want you to look at this verse of God’s Word:

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

We are told “not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought.” And we are told to think “according to the measure of faith.” It is “by grace through faith” that we receive the “deadly wound by a sword” when we first come “to Christ” through the law-keeping “son of the bondwoman” church. That is the “measure of faith” given to us up to that time. But even though we have been “brought to Christ by the law,” even though we are “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints… coming behind in no gift,” we are nevertheless “yet carnal.”

1Co 1:1 Paul, called [to be] an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes [our] brother,
1Co 1:2 (a) Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,
1Co 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
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:

Babylon is “in everything enriched by Him, in all utterance and knowledge.” It is while still in Babylon that “the testimony of Christ is confirmed in us and we come behind in no gift.”

And yet we are told that with all of these blessings, those who are in Babylon are “yet carnal…[with] enmity against God.”

This is “the measure of faith” given to us at this point, and that faith is “by grace.” It is one of the hardest things in the world for us to see how we can come out of Babylon and yet not be part of the “body of Christ, which is His church.”

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

A letter has just been posted which explains this phenomenon. It is entitled ‘How Can We Come Out of The Church and Still Be In It?’ I will not rewrite that letter here, but you need to read it to understand how “grace is given to all men” and yet men can come out of Babylon and still be carnal.

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?

The law has done its work of bringing those in Babylon to Christ. Their beast within has received a “deadly wound with a sword.” They have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” Nevertheless “they are yet carnal.” This is all accomplished through the “many pastors” who will not enter into the kingdom and hinder those who would and make them two fold “more the child of hell than themselves.”

Jer 12:10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

The “gold, silver and precious stones” of Babylon are real “gold, silver and precious stones.” But under the “many pastors” they are cankered gold and they are in need of purification of the fire of God’s Word.

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

To answer your question directly, grace is available to all men – in and out of Babylon. But it is available only “according to the measure of faith” given to each man.

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

I hope this has answered your question. Read that paper on ‘How We Can Come Out Of The Church and Still Be In It?’ Then if you still don’t understand how this is possible, drop me another e- mail.

Mike

Thank you Mike, I read tonight 1Co 1-10 again. I would appreciate your prayers, this has been one of the hardest areas for me to “come out of”, the ingrained belief that once we “accept Christ” we still are not there.

It is hard for me to accept (my flesh) that those sanctified in Christ (at least most) will have to go through the lake of fire along with those not sanctified, the non believers. I think I still struggle with the lake of fire as being punishment and unloving rather than God’s love in action. I mean this at a heart level, as I have knowledge of it, but all is a process.

Thanks again, L____

Hi L____,

I’m glad that you are at least struggling with this issue. Here is a scripture you will find helpful in understanding that the lake of fire is a work of grace. Paul is talking to Peter at Antioch when Peter and Barnabas had separated themselves from the Gentiles after having eaten with the Gentiles before. The only reason they were separating themselves was because some other Christian brothers from Jerusalem had come down to Antioch and were telling Peter and Barnabas that the law of Moses forbade them from eating with the Gentiles. This was true. If you believed that anything which has touched a piece of unclean meat was itself unclean, then you would indeed be obliged to separate yourself from eating with people who were comfortable eating unclean meats.

Now you will not find a command in the law of Moses which states clearly ‘you shall not sit down to eat with a Gentile’, but that is the message and force of the laws of the offerings. Any earthen utensil which has ever touched a piece of unclean meat was to be destroyed.

Lev 11:33 And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them [the meat of any unclean animal] falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.

With this understanding of why Peter and Barnabas and all of the Jews who were with them separating themselves from their Gentile brothers at Antioch, look at this admonition which Paul give to Peter “before them all:”

Gal 2:15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Now it was Paul who also revealed to us that grace comes through faith. Here we see that Paul is telling Peter that “no flesh” (not even Jewish flesh) shall be justified by the works of the law.”

What Paul is telling Peter is that salvation comes only by grace through faith. And this is true for “all flesh”, Gentile and Jew alike:

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

“Grace through faith” is the formula for salvation. And that faith is the “faith OF Jesus Christ.” It is the gift of God to give us His chastening grace through the faith of His Son Jesus Christ. And this will be done just as thoroughly through Christ as death passed upon all men through Adam without consulting any of us as to whether or not we would choose to be “in Adam:”

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

“As in Adam… so in Christ.” Now if two plus two equals four, and it does, then this equation means that just as all men are subjected to “the law of sin and death” and experience Adam’s experience of “doing that which we would not” even so “in Christ, all mankind will experience God’s chastening grace “chastening us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lust and to live godly lives…”

Some few will have this experience of God’s chastening grace while yet in these “marred… vessels of clay,” which Paul refers to as “the body of this death.” But it is God Himself who decided “before the world began” that He would choose these few out of the many He would call. The reason for choosing the ‘few’ out of the many is to use the ‘few’ to bring in the ‘many:’

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

“God has concluded all in unbelief” not for the purpose of tormenting all for all eternity, but for the purpose of using His elect to also show mercy to the rest of mankind: “… That through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.”

That mercy will be the “free grace” of God’s greatest work of His chastening grace in the experience of mankind. It is called a “lake of fire.” And who is this ‘lake of fire but those who “are like Him” who is a “consuming fire.” Here are the scriptures for these statements:

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

“We shall be like Him?” Then what is He like?

Heb 12:29 … Our God is a consuming fire.

And who is it that dwells in this “consuming… everlasting fire?” Is it the the wicked who are being tormented for all eternity, as the many called but not chosen “mother of harlots” and her daughter harlots teach? Is that who is to “dwell in” and comprise this lake of fire? What say the scriptures of those who are “like Him?”

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

So you see, God’s decision to use His elect to bring in his called is no different than His choosing Christ to bring in His elect. God is not “loving and hugging His mature children while telling his immature children that He doesn’t love them,” as I have been accused of teaching. What God is doing is carrying out a plan which is in line with His own “purpose for the eons” which He sovereignly conceived “before the world began:”

Eph 3:11 in accord with the purpose of the eons, which He makes in Christ Jesus, our Lord;”(CLV)

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

God determined “before the world began” who would receive eternal (eonian) life and therefore who would also receive eternal (eonian) punishment.” Neither, of course, have anything to do with the English word ‘eternity.” Both have to do with the “purpose of the aions.”

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

Rom 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;

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

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [Greek: chronos aionios – times aionian],

I hope this helps you to see the lake of fire in its scriptural perspective. It is not the “mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.” But neither is it the unspeakable monstrosity which the “many pastors” of Babylon have made it out to be. It is a day of giving account for all whom God decided to “hate while they were in their mother’s womb having done neither good nor evil.”

Being “hated of all men” is what we simply must experience if we hope to be in the blessed and holy first resurrection.

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.

Yet we must never be ashamed to confess with the apostle Paul what has been granted to us:

Eph 3:8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was granted this grace: to bring the evangel of the untraceable riches of Christ to the nations,
Eph 3:9 and to enlighten all as to what is the administration of the secret, which has been concealed from the eons in God, Who creates all,
Eph 3:10 that now may be made known to the sovereignties and the authorities among the celestials, through the ecclesia, the multifarious wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 in accord with the purpose of the eons, which He makes in Christ Jesus, our Lord;”

If the scriptures are reliable, and they are, then these words are truer today more than ever because we have been forewarned:

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

“The administration of the secret” is still to this very day “sealed with seven seals” from all but the “seven angels of the seven churches.”

Rev 19:9 And he [the angel] saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard [them]. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Let’s simply believe what God has revealed to us about who we are and what is our calling and commission.

Mike