Moab – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty Mon, 13 Jan 2025 16:47:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cropped-headerlogo-32x32.png Moab – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com 32 32 The Book of Amos – Chapter 1:2-15, 2:1-3 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-amos-chapter-12-5/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-amos-chapter-12-5 Sat, 16 Nov 2024 05:23:58 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31346 Audio Download – Part 1

Audio Download – Part 2

 

The Book of Amos – Chapter 1:2-15, 2:1-3

“Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions and for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof”

[Aired November 9 and 16, 2024]

In the Introductory Study of Amos 1:1, we come to understand that our symbolic Richter Scale earthquake, rated at a symbolic 10 and multiplied by 10 for each digital increment, releases a 31-fold increase in incremental energy and correspondingly represents a catastrophic emotional event impacting our Old Man of flesh spiritually. This earthquake will shake us with such spiritual violence that it will symbolically liquefy the Old Man, rendering it impossible to piece back together. (The phenomenon of liquefication happens when the ground’s foundation has subterranean saturation, yet with a honeycomb-like relatively solid structure, and when it is shaken violently in an earthquake, all layers combine and literally turn to slop, as happened in Mexico City in 1985. For us, the focus is on it not being possible for us to be reformed in our original evil shape ever again, whether crushed, dashed, liquified or shaken).

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Psa 22:14  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels [That is Christ’s prophesied experience of being ‘spilt on the ground’ that resulted in him never to be re-formed in the flesh, yet never ‘expelled from the Father’].
Psa 22:15  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

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

There is tremendous spiritual significance in the way the holy spirit inspired Amos to identify our sins,  aligning us with Egypt, Sodom, Old Jerusalem, Syria and finally, all represented as Babylon. They all cryptically represent Amos’s first six cities and countries he uses, neighbouring Israel symbolically as one replicated in the seventh and eighth, Judah and Israel, where our Lord was crucified (Rev 11:8). They represent the land of our flesh and all that is in the world who cannot inherit the Kingdom and will, in their own time and order, bow down and serve the Christ, the first and last new man.

The Book of Amos is a parallel to John’s astonishment and bitter tribulation of not understanding his ‘little book’ in Revelations that translates to our even greater astonishment for being given the Keys to the Kingdom to understand those tribulations of John’s and keep those revelations given to us, the Seven Churches of Asia (Rev 1:9-20).

The first six nations and cities Amos identified represent our basest of natures in our Old Man of flesh. They are broadly distinguished as Ammonites or Moabites, which Deuteronomy 23:3 covers as “any of their descendants“, meaning Egypt, Sodom, Esau, and Old Jerusalem. They are all exposed as Babylon the Great.

Deu 23:3  No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
Deu 23:4  For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
Deu 23:5  Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you [through chastisements].
Deu 23:6 Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
Deu 23:7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.
Deu 23:8 The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.

These verses powerfully express that we are Christ’s spiritual works in progress, ‘we are begotten of them‘, evolving into the New Adam, becoming the embodiment of Christ. We must reflect on our history from Egypt to understand our present and drive future transformation toward becoming precisely Christ under his headship. Consequently…

There are a total of 8 occurrences only appearing in scripture in Amos saying, “For three transgressions… and for four“. The first concerns 6 symbolic Gentile Christian nations within and, finally, her 2 treacherous sisters, supposedly the Lord’s righteous priestly tribes, particularly Judah, yet in collaboration with Israel. They all point to our physical journey to becoming Christ with its accompanying final and violent spiritual earthquake of spiritual understanding.

In this study, all eight of Amos’s listed ethnicities, cities, and nations can symbolise the Seven Churches of Asia since they all, by their precise number, with Judah and Israel as one added to the Gentile six, parallel our transition from the Old Man to the New Man in Christ. Without the holy spirit, they all epitomise itemised aspects of our thorn of unconquered flesh. Geographically, none of them parallels the Seven Churches of Asia in Revelations, particularly since Edom, Ammon, and Moab were nowhere near them; in fact, their origins directly depict Esau and Ishmael and thus more poignantly emphasise our Old Man of the flesh in Esau despising his birthright and dwelling in dry places of spiritual desolation. Nonetheless, Amos’s eight nations directly correspond to the Seven Churches of Asia in Rev 1:4.

Amos’ listed nations:

GENTILES:

DAMASCUS—Southern Syrian Empire. Very prosperous on the crossroads between Mesopotamia-Syria. Not bordering, yet East of the Sea of Galilee. 

GAZA—The land of the Philistines on the Mediterranean Sea coast West of Judah. 

TYRUS—On the Mediterranean Sea coast, relatively close to Jerusalem. Tyrus is another name for the strongly fortified city of Tyre noted for trade and luxurious excess.

EDOM—Edom, Ammon, and Moab were East-Southeast of the Dead Sea and all strongly connected to Esau. 

AMMON   

MOAB  

JEWS:

JUDAH—The treacherous Priests and incipient Elect of God.

ISRAEL—The chosen but not the Elect of God.

Provocatively, the “Seven Churches of Asia“, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, are all north of old Israel and Amos’s list of Gentile nations, indicating that judgment will come from the north upon our old man Israel and Judah in the south. (Isa 41:25. Jer 1:14. 4:6. 6:1. 6:22. 13:20. 46:20. Eze 1:4. Dan 11:24).

Intriguingly, Amos’s eight ethnic groups fit into God’s plan for the salvation of humanity. The first six represent the man of flesh, and the last two, Judah and Israel, illustrate Gentile Flesh by portraying in spiritual order Judah, the Temple and Priests on the Sabbath Day and the number seven, and Israel characterising the Court, the last man of perdition of the Seven but is the Eighth. Through the Seventh and Eighth Old Man, Christ is making the two, being the house of Israel, ONE New Man in him.

Eze 3:7  But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Eze 3:8  Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
Eze 3:9  As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

The Lord’s Elect have been given to likewise have flinty faces against our formally impudent ways within and to not be dismayed at the inevitable hatred of our fleshy households who are yet blind (Mat 10:34-39).

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains [Nations within and depicted by Amos’s Seven Nations], on which the woman [The Great Whore – you and I] sitteth.

Where the Whore sits is you and I, who is of the Eighth nation, the self-righteous man with the spirit of a different Jesus first physically represented as one in Judah (Jew) and Israel (Gentile). 

Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11  And the beast [You and I] that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition [meaning to be destroyed].

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 

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; for to make in himself of twain one new man, [Jew and Gentile made on spiritual man in Christ] 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:

Following is a close quote from Mike Vinson. And since we are all, as “one” in Christ, heartily agree and speak the same thing:

The Elect of God is first granted a profound spiritual awakening, that can be referred to as their “earthquake,” that dramatically causes them to realise that they are given to go ahead of their brothers to learn righteousness, just as Christ did for them. Consequently, the Elect are first to perceive themselves as the man of perdition, who escapes from Babylon and is presented to Christ as His Bride immediately before the Seventh Day, which is represented as the One Thousand-Year reign with the rod of iron. This divine understanding is part of their magnificent and powerful “earthquake” of glorious truth.

Eph 1:9  And He has made known to us [in order of his very Elect] the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
Eph 1:10  as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.
Eph 1:11  In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
Eph 1:12  in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. 
Eph 1:13  And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised holy spirit, 
Eph 1:14  who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

Significations

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

Amo 1:2  And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. 

For the Israelites, through unbelief their initially unseen ‘earthquake’ comes in the form and outward reality of Amos and his compatriot prophets prophesying Israel and Judah’s sequential exile into slavery; unwittingly, their slave masters are already enslaved to their heathen ways. Interestingly, the first six prophecies of Amos identify with her neighbours, deemed Gentiles outside of the Camp of Israel, whose heathen ways spiritually align with ours in our journey to becoming the New Adam in Christ.

In scriptural terms, there are only two groups of people, and those two groups are Jews and Gentiles. In their own order of utter demolition, and later spiritually beginning at the Temple of God, symbolised by Judah, the Lord spiritually roars from Zion with his voice from the heavenly Jerusalem in the form of a vessel-shattering ‘earthquake’ of spiritual understanding. The “shepherds’ of Judah represent the Priests of God, his Bride, today. Descending in the order of ruination is Israel, represented by the Court. Because of Israel’s God-given harlot ways, she is included with the Gentiles. Hence, there are only two groups of people. Physical Judah is last to be exiled and the new spiritual Jews, the Elect become the first.

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

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 [The Priests; the Two Witnesses: the Bride’s ministery] shall they tread under foot forty and two months [or 3.5 years; “forty and two months” – Rev 22:3]

The phrase “For three transgressions of…, and for four” in Amos 2 refers to the judgment that extends on the six nations from Damascus to Moab and into the seventh of Judah and Israel. The six nations highlight the sins of neighbouring Gentile nations outside the Camp of Israel, yet our Lord sees them as being equal with Israel, inwardly reflecting the Elect’s failings. The Lord will not withhold His punishment from us due to these unique yet relatable sins manifested by these six ethnic groups. Both groups of Jews and Gentiles experience one event for the same symbolised timeframe of “forty and two months” chastisement since every man is but a “beast” (Ecc 3:18. Joh 8:44. Rev 13:14. 2Pe 2:12-15) who speaks great swelling doctrines of blasphemies. It all mirrors Joseph identifying Pharoah’s dreams as ‘one event to all’ (Gen 41:25-26).

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him [The Beast, sitting on God’s throne] a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Regarding Amos’s “For three transgressions of…, and for four” statements:

The number 3 represents the process of spiritual progression for the completion of judgment regarding that thing. 

The number 4 represents the whole of a thing and tribulation. It doesn’t matter if it is 4 or 4,000.

Adding up to 7 represents the completion of that process through judgment and is the primary message of Amos judging the Seven, the Priests of God, with all things being theirs (1Co3:21-23).

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.
Jer 29:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jer 29:9  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

Therefore, the first six characteristics of Israel’s neighbours are inherently worldly and will remain so, reflecting their fate in the Lake of Fire along with Gentile Israel and Christians who say that they are spiritual Jews and are not. In that place, they will mourn bitterly for a designated time culminating in their earthquake of understanding most gloriously and ecstatic peace for the love of the Father.

Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares [All not in the first holy resurrection, Christ’s Bride] are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world [ultimately in the Lake of Fire. However, the Elect are first to go through the fire, but it is not THE Lake of Fire]. 
Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

It is deemed that everyone ever conceived will become righteous and shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. It is just that the very Elect of God is first to experience God’s earthquake of his fiery word and live by his every commandment.

Let us begin to study our disappearing sinful nature as we learn from our timely experiences; we were and sometimes still are equal to our neighbour’s earthy sensualities, stubbornly resisting Christ and thus quenching his spirit.

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you [for  the evil experiences that teach us to juxtapose with Christ’s spirit].
1Th 5:19  Quench not the spirit.
1Th 5:20  Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1Th 5:22  Abstain from all appearance of evil.
1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amo 1:3  Thus saith the LORD; [ONE] For three transgressions of DAMASCUS, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: 
Amo 1:4  But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. 
Amo 1:5  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD. 

Remembering that ‘all things are ours’ and beginning with the nature of the people of Damascus, inclusive of the characteristics of the other five to be studied, is the progression and completion of physical judgment flowing into total tribulation perfectly parallels our spiritual earthquake and the journey, which is hopefully soon coming to a close for our redemption.

Damascus is a city in Syria, and it has historically instilled a deep sense of iron-like fear in Israel. It is represented as Gilead’s threshing because Israel never conquered that nation as the Lord required. Nevertheless, in 2 Samuel 8:6, the Syrians within the spiritual Elect are depicted as vanquished, leading to the Syrian’s servitude for our spiritual growth.

2Sa 8:5  And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
2Sa 8:6  Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

Mic 7:12  In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
Mic 7:13  Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate [mirroring our former spiritual deslolation] because of them that [we previously!]  dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 
Mic 7:14  Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

What a profound insight this is! It is first understood by the budding Elect through the ‘rod’ of Christ’s teachings and then by those whom Christ has designated to shepherd his people with the guidance of his word. This is especially true for the Gentiles during the One Thousand Year reign when they experience this bewildering frustration without the holy spirit. Later, in the Lake of Fire, they will increasingly receive this chastising guidance with the increasing holy spirit.

The key names and their meaning in verses three to five:

Gilead H1567 means  – ‘a witness heap’, and our sins likewise witness against us.

Hazael H2371 means  – ‘one who sees’.

Benhadad H1130 means  – ‘son of [the false god] Hadad.’

Aven H206 means – ‘vanity’.

Eden H5731 means – ‘pleasure. Luxury, dainty, delight, finery’.

Kir H7024 means – ‘wall. To dig’.

Thereupon, Amos’s prophesy is a ‘witness heap’ against two groups of people: the Gentile neighbours and the Priests of God, parallelling Israel and Judah and, spiritually, the entire Gentile world inclusive of Gentile Christianity and the Elect. The times of Gentile rulership are nearing the end, at which point Christ and his Christs will begin to rule in the One Thousand Year reign with the rod of iron (Luke 21:20-24).

The narrative derived from those names spiritually means that our former ways, aligned with Egypt, Syria, Sodom Old Jerusalem, and collectively represented by Babylon, are a ‘witness heap’ between us and ‘God who sees’ our every thought and action ‘vainly’ worshipping a ‘another Jesus’ while ‘luxuriating in our epicurean ways’,’ living high on the hog behind impenetrable ‘walls’ of self-righteousness, thinking no force can assail us. We dig our own wells to drink our doctrines that sensually delight us more than our new beginnings of small things of understanding symbolised as our Lord’s light bread (Zec 4:10. Num 21:5).

It is the Priests of God who hold his sceptre from ruling righteously in the house of Eden in that they do not swiftly bring justice first to themselves for Israel to mirror. When the foundation, the core of the nation represented by the corrupt Priests, is irretrievable, there is nothing left for the Lord to do but to chastise them in captivity.

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

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

1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1Co 5:13  But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person [who is you and I, and not some other poor, blind, hapless sinner].

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? [first within?].

Amo 1:6  Thus saith the LORD; [TWO] For three transgressions of GAZA, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: 
Amo 1:7  But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: 
Amo 1:8  And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD. 

It is noteworthy that the holy spirit inspired Amos to say “the whole captivity” only twice and nowhere else in the Bible: once for Gaza and once for Tyrus.

Remember that Gaza was the land of the Philistines. During the reign of wicked King Jehoram, the son of King Jehoshaphat, who reigned following his father’s death (2Ch 21), the Edomites (Esau) who were under the dominion of Judah in those days. Because the Edomites revolted against Judah, Jehoram went and slew many of them. Additionally, Jehoram caused Israel to typically go a whoring and commit fornication and compelled Judah to do likewise. In retribution, the Lord caused the Edomites to collaborate with the Arabians to strike against Judah. Scripture recounts…

2Ch 21:17  And they [Edomites] came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

That act of carrying away “all the substance of the substance of the King’s house” to Edom is the very act of taking them all captive, as expressed in Amos 1:6. On that account, the Lord sends a “fire of infamy” upon the wall and strength of those wicked nations within us and devours our high places and tears up the roots of evil worship and take ‘the whole into captivity’. The outcome is the complete destruction of our self-proclaimed leadership for the ‘remnant’ of Philistinean doctrinal intellectualism within. That glorious annihilation of our old man is a gift of chastising grace from God.

Eph 4:7  But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8  Therefore He says, “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.”

As with Gaza, similarly is the exact same destruction of Tyrus within for delivering up the whole captivity to Edom, and additionally for a broken covenant.

Amo 1:9  Thus saith the LORD; [THREE] For three transgressions of TYRUS, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant: 
Amo 1:10  But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof. 

What is that “brotherly covenant” that we deem an easy dismissal and of little consequence?

Remember that all six neighbouring heathen-gentile nations of Damascus, Gaza, Tyrus, Edom, Ammon and Moab are one and the same, yet pointedly reflecting upon Edom, who directly represents Jacob’s brother, Esau and Mt Seir. Consequently, it is Jacob’s typically scheming, supplanting ways represented by Israel and Judah who attracted Esau’s hatred and forgetfulness of the peace treaty between him and Jacob for Jacob’s past deceptions over Esau’s birthright and blessings. Consequently, those six nations were always antagonistic towards Israel, representing Esau’s forgetfulness of their ‘brotherly covenant’ of peace (Gen 33).

The following scriptures in Ezekiel 35 portray that saga of our Lord’s wrath against our old Esau within.

Eze 35:1  And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
Eze 35:2  Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir [Esau] and prophesy against it.
Eze 35:3  And say to it, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a ruin and a waste. 
Eze 35:4  I will raze your cities, and you shall be ruined, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Eze 35:5  Because you have had a never-ending hatred, and have shed the blood of the sons of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that iniquity had an end,

In other words, Jacob, who represents Israel, had received forgiveness from God. However, Esau continued to hold onto resentment and vengeance against him. This situation mirrors how we often struggle to let go of our past sins or harbour bitterness towards our Babylonian wives, preventing us from moving forward in Christ’s loving correction. We must remember that we, too, are often guilty of sin against Christ, just as our Babylonian wives may be seen as intimately indifferent offenders towards us.

Eze 35:6  Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

That verse is similar to the sword never departing from David’s house and ours, spiritually, until all remnants of our heathen neighbours within are made desolate.

Eze 35:7  So I will make Mount Seir [Esau] a ruin, and cut off from it the one passing through, and the one returning.
Eze 35:8  And I will fill his mountains with his dead. In your hills, and your valleys, and all your rivers, those slain with the sword shall fall in them.
Eze 35:9  I will make you ruins forever, and thy cities shall not return. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Eze 35:10  Because you have said, These two nations and these two lands shall be mine, we will possess it [the Heavenly Jerusalem above and within]; 
Eze 35:11  therefore, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will act by your anger and by your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them. And I will make Myself known among them when I have judged you.
Eze 35:12  And you shall know that I am Jehovah. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, Desolation! They are given to us [The Elect] for food.
Eze 35:13  So with your mouth you have boasted against Me, and have multiplied your words against Me. I have heard them.
Eze 35:14  So says the Lord Jehovah: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a ruin.
Eze 35:15  As you rejoiced at the inheritance of the house of Israel because of desolation, so I will do to you. You shall be a desolation, O Mount Seir and all Idumea, even all of it. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

Consequently, we forget our ‘brotherly covenant’ Christ has made with us and despise our birthright when we don’t desolate those six nations within. If we don’t forgive for the duration of our unforgiveness, our Lord likewise holds back from forgiving us.

Col 3:13  forbearing one another and forgiving yourselves, if anyone has a complaint against any. As Christ forgave you, so also you do.

Jas 2:13  For he who has shown no mercy shall have judgment without mercy, and mercy exults over judgment.

Amo 1:11  Thus saith the LORD; [FOUR] For three transgressions of EDOM and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother [Esau] with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: 
Amo 1:12  But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. 

The fourth transgression against Edom has been covered, but its second mention is a second witness for the Lord’s assurance of not turning away his punishment. Teman represents the grandson of Esau and directly corresponds to the Lord’s curse against the third and fourth generations of sinners. Bozrah means “sheepfold or fortress” and conforms with our Esau-like stubbornness in sustaining our righteousness of self-proclaimed false doctrines when in Babylonian churches.

Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him [Moses], and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exo 34:7  Keeping [Chastising] mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 

That revisiting of chastising punishment is carried forward in all eight listed nations to pointedly indict the seventh, Judah, the priests of God, the Elect first for judgment before her sister, Israel, who is subsequently judged in the Lake of Fire on the eighth day.

The next nation for judgment is Ammon, kin to Edom and Moab, yet with a variation of sin that transcribes to us spiritually. Amos says,

Amo 1:13  Thus saith the LORD; [FIVE] For three transgressions of the children of AMMON, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: 
Amo 1:14  But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: 
Amo 1:15  And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD. 

We are somewhat dismayed as to why our Lord designed Satan to incite mankind to treat his fellow man with such unspeakable violence. Of course, such barbarism without the holy spirit reflects our true nature of being a beast in our unfinished transition to being recreated as God. Our innate way of endless war, treachery and brutality is designed to etch our minds appallingly to contrast God’s nature. Of course, those beastly ways are to mirror how we, with Christ’s power and might, are to war against the Beast we are and recoil from our image.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the Beast: and they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him? 

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

Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isa 2:5  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Ammon’s ripping up Israel’s pregnant women is an image too horrible to contemplate. Nonetheless, and for our benefit, all the natural and spiritual belong to us as food for transitional growth (Num 14:9, negatively and positively). We save nothing alive in cleansing our land within, and particularly the cuteness of pet sins symbolised as unborn false doctrines growing in pretty pregnant women as churches, ready for Satan to devour and sustain his nature in us, all seemingly paradoxical to non-spiritual eyes. The city of Rabbah means ‘great’, and was the capital city of the Ammonites. and reflects our self-styled headship as the Beast sitting on God’s throne. And of course, as with the other eight nations and cities, we go into captivity for sins unacknowledged (Jer 2:13).

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Amo 2:1  Thus saith the LORD; [SIX] For three transgressions of MOAB, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 
Amo 2:2  But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 
Amo 2:3  And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD. 

Again, Moab is in lockstep with Esau and typifies the Christian churches of this world who all cannot agree on doctrine and thus fight disputes of doctrine within their very own kin, only this time they burned the bones of the King of Edom, their near kin, into lime. That exaggerated expression of utterly burning the King into lime, being a vital product for hardening mortar in the construction of a city’s walls and palaces, characterises our hardened hearts against Christ’s word as we build our temple inwardly where we sit as the Beast on our Lord’s throne profoundly, yet mostly unconsciously presenting ourselves as king! That astonishing measure is represented in 2 Thessalonians,

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

The city of Kerioth is a town in the southern district of Judah, and its location potently points to our Esau-like nature residing in the heart of us and our supposed priesthood represented as treacherous Judah, ruling the laity and fleecing the wealth of Israel into their captivity and destruction. Kerioth and Moab within die with much noisome anguish turned into joy for its chastisement in the hope of the last trumpet for our resurrection to life in and with our husband, Christ. Consequently, and as Amos concludes in 2 verse 3, our order of judgment in this age is cut short in our midst, having had our “princes” of rulership destroyed within.

With our judgment cut short, our sisters in Babylon are immediately ruled by the Lord’s Elect with Christ’s rod of iron in the One Thousand Year Rule. They are utterly frustrated that they cannot consistently keep Christ’s commands since the holy spirit is quenched thus confounding the whole measure and stay of His word.

Isa 3:1  For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, takes 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 honorable man, and the adviser, and the skilled worker, and the expert charmer.

Until that time and in the interim, it is all happening daily before our eyes with juvenile leadership by men claiming to be leaders but injured in their privy members and stones, effectively making them women. To add insult to our Lord’s headship, women literally are our leaders in high courts and government, and worse, as priests in the Babylonian churches of the world.

Deu 23:1  He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD [Spiritually, such a man and priest, cannot lead the Lord’s flock. Being neutered, he gains female qualities of gentleness and makes judgments based mostly on emotions rather than the seemingly harshness of God’s word].
Deu 23:2  A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
Deu 23:3  An Ammonite or Moabite [like nature, just studied] shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:
Deu 23:4  Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

Isa 3:4  And I will give young boys to be their rulers, and caprices shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be crushed, every man by another, and every man by his neighbor; the boy shall act proudly against the old man, and the low against the honorable.
Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand; [Ironically, at least some in Babylon can see that their disarray of 40,000+ churches preaching another Jesus disquiets their consciences and seeing it all as a “ruin”].
Isa 3:7  in that day [and most pointedly soon in the rule with the rod of iron] he shall swear, saying, I will not be a healer; there is no bread nor a cloak in my house. You shall not make me a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah has fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of His glory.
Isa 3:9  The look of their faces witnesses against them; and they declare their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it! Woe to their soul! For they have rewarded evil to themselves.
Isa 3:10  Say to the righteous that it is well; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Isa 3:11  Woe to the wicked! For the evil doing of his hand will be done to him.
Isa 3:12  As for my people, children are their taskmasters, and women rule over them. Oh my people, your rulers cause you to go astray and destroy the way of your paths.
Isa 3:13  Jehovah stands up to plead His case, and stands up to judge the people.
Isa 3:14  Jehovah will enter into judgment with [upon] the elders of His people, and their kings; for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
Isa 3:15  What do you mean? You crush My people and grind the faces of the poor? says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts [vividly happening today in the churches of the world and government].
Isa 3:16  And Jehovah says, Because the daughters [churches] of Zion are proud, and have walked with stretched out necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;
Isa 3:17  therefore Jehovah will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will make their secret parts naked.
Isa 3:18  In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of ankle-bracelets, and the headbands, and the crescents,
Isa 3:19  the pendants, and the bracelets, and the veils;
Isa 3:20  the headdresses, and the leg ornaments, and the sashes, and the houses of the soul, and the amulets;
Isa 3:21  the rings and nose jewels;
Isa 3:22  the festal apparel and the outer garments; and the mantles, and the purses;
Isa 3:23  the mirrors and the fine linen; and the turbans and the veils.
Isa 3:24  And it shall be, instead of sweet smell, there shall be an odor of decay; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a wrapping of sackcloth; burning instead of beauty.
Isa 3:25  Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war.
Isa 3:26  And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall sit deserted on the ground.

Those verses graphically depict the destruction of the first six nations of our neighbours studied, with whom we have been in lockstep, in preference repudiating Christ’s commands.

In our upcoming study, with the Lord’s guidance, Christ amplifies the alarm and unrest among His people, Judah. Judah symbolises the Elect of God, moving ahead of her elder sister, Israel, to face a greater judgment. This is because Judah was expected to lead with righteousness but instead abused her esteemed position out of lust for power thus establishing pride.

Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
Lev 26:21  And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Accordingly, for those chastisements, the Elect of God is learning to receive them most heartily since we know that they bring forth a ravishing connection with our husband, Christ, and he for us.

]]> Book of Jeremiah – Jer 49:11-22  No Man Shall Abide In Edom https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/book-of-jeremiah-jer-4911-22-no-man-shall-abide-in-edom/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=book-of-jeremiah-jer-4911-22-no-man-shall-abide-in-edom Sat, 03 Sep 2022 21:24:04 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=26205 Jer 49:11-22  No Man Shall Abide In Edom
[Study Aired September 4, 2022]

Jer 49:11  Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.
Jer 49:12  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
Jer 49:13  For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.
Jer 49:14  I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
Jer 49:15  For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.
Jer 49:16  Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:17  Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
Jer 49:18  As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
Jer 49:19  Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Jer 49:20  Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.
Jer 49:21  The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.
Jer 49:22  Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

In our last study we saw how Esau’s close relationship to Jacob (‘Israel’) makes Esau the type of those who are the closest to the true “Israel of God”.

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

Esau is Jacob’s twin brother who at first had the birthright.

Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

The natural mind does not connect Esau’s selling of his birthright for a bowl of pottage to assuage his hunger pangs worthy of calling him a “profane… fornicator”, but that is exactly how the Lord feels about us when we ignore and disobey Him for the purpose of avoiding the tribulation or persecution [which] arises because of the word:

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

Esau was not born of a bondwoman as Ishmael was, and he was circumcised in the flesh, along with Jacob and Ishmael. Esau then, and those he typifies today, have a lot in common with the Lord’s elect, yet it is the Lord’s preordained intention that Esau is to be rejected and supplanted by Jacob. This decision by the Lord had already been determined of God while Esau and Jacob were still in their mother’s womb having yet done “neither good nor evil… that the purpose of God should stand… not of works… but of election”:

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 9:8  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Rom 9:9  For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
Rom 9:10  And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
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.

Those words are the ‘birthright’ of those to whom they apply. “The children of the promise” will endure hunger and discomfort and the rejection of this world and will never sell their birthright, not because of their own will or their own works, but because God has “before ordained that they should walk in [those good works]”:

Eph 2:5  Even when we [“the children of promise”] were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved; )
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
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.

Esau, and all those who are so close to the Lord’s people and yet are rejected of the Lord, hate these words and feel that the Lord’s ways are not right or fair. Esau feels that he has gotten cheated, and indeed, by the Lord’s own design, Esau, our rejected anointed, has been supplanted by Jacob:

Gen 27:41  And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

Esau, who is Edom, is therefore the type and shadow of all those who are circumcised in letter but not “of the heart, in the spirit”:

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.

Esau does “many wonderful works” in an effort to please his physical father, but our heavenly Father is not interested in our works:

Gen 27:1  And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
Gen 27:2  And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
Gen 27:3  Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;
Gen 27:4  And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

A conniving Jacob, at his mother’s commandment, didn’t even have to prepare the “kids of the goats”, to lie to and deceive his father into blessing him while Esau was away doing all his father had asked of him.

Gen 27:8  Now therefore, my [Rebekah] son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
Gen 27:9  Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:

The Lord expects us to accept even the evil in this world as part of the “all things” which are His works for our good (Rom 8:28, Eph 1:11).

Edom, Moab and Ammon are the three adversary nations who were all physically related to Israel. Of these three family members who were related to Israel, Edom is the most closely related, and Edom is also by the Lord’s design, the most resentful of the Lord’s elect as the story of Jacob and Esau so graphically demonstrates. So also, it is with Christ. Christ came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

That statement is as true of the church today as it was of “[the Lord’s] own” when those words were first penned. It will always be those who want Christ’s name but refuse to wear His clothes or eat His bread who will most hate Him and want Him crucified. The closer to Christ they are, the more they hate Him, His ways, and those who are His. In plain English, Christians who know that Christ said “resist not evil… love thine enemy… he that lives by the sword will die by the sword” will hate those who live by those words more fiercely than a Hindu or even a Muslim. It is Christians who most hate the Lord’s faithful who teach His doctrines such as:

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

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

The answer of the ministers of Babylon to these words of Christ is, “All that is needed for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.” They are eating their own bread and wearing their own apparel, but they call themselves ‘Christians’ (Isa 4:1). We’ve all been there. None of us could at first believe that God creates and works in and through evil, wicked men to accomplish “His own” purposes (Isa 45:7).

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

Lot, the father of Moab and Ammon, was the son of Abraham’s older brother, Haran. That makes Isaac and Lot first cousins. However, Jacob and Esau are not mere cousins – they are twin brothers. The Lord promises both Moab and Ammon, who are far more distant from Israel than Esau, that in the end He will “bring again [their] captivity”. Esau is given no such honor because Esau, Israel’s closest relative, his twin brother, typifies the Lord’s rejected anointed. The Lord’s rejected anointed king, King Saul, was David’s most fervent enemy and was constantly seeking to destroy David, who typifies the Lord’s ‘accepted in the beloved’ anointed. Abraham just naturally hated to have to drive Ishmael out of his house, and David also mourned the death of the Lord’s anointed, King Saul, showing us that we must never, ever rejoice when our enemy falls:

2Sa 1:21  Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.

Pro 24:17  Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Pro 24:18  Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

Esau leaped for joy at the judgment of Israel, and that is one of the reasons why the judgment pronounced upon Esau sounds so severe:

Jer 49:11  Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.

This is a call for all of us as “fatherless children” to “come out of [Babylon the great]”:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Jer 49:12  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.

We all, “every man in his own order” judged that we will “not drink of the cup… of the Lord’s wrath”. That is exactly what Jerusalem thinks:

Jer 25:4  And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
Jer 25:5  They [“His servants the prophets”] said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
Jer 25:6  And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Jer 25:7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Jer 25:8  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

Jer 49:13  For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.

Two of the prophets who speak of the utter destruction of Esau, Israel’s closest relative, are Jeremiah and Obadiah. The entire book of Obadiah concerns the judgment and destruction of Esau and his kingdom of Edom.

Oba 1:1  The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her [Edom] in battle.

Take note of the use of the feminine pronoun. This tells us we are speaking of an adulterous daughter, church, or religion. Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament consisting of a mere 21 verses.  Obadiah builds upon this part of Jeremiah concerning the judgment of Esau. Look at the similarities between these two prophets as they prophesy of the ultimate judgment of Esau:

Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.

Oba 1:5  If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

This little book ends with these foreboding words concerning Esau, the type and shadow of those who are closest to Christ but will not do the things He says:

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

Esau typifies all religions which claim to know God but are in rebellion against the doctrines of Christ. “The kingdom [which] shall be the Lord’s” at the time of the judgment of Esau, will be all religion which is in opposition to “our Lord and His Christ”. It will be the whole world which the Lord promised to ‘Abraham’ as the type and shadow of Christ and those who do the things He says:

Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

The message of both Jeremiah 49 and the book of Obadiah is that those who humble themselves and do the things Christ says to do, those who are willing to wear His clothing and eat His bread, will be the ultimate judges of those who are closest to Christ and who want His name but refuse to submit themselves to His doctrines:

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

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

It is for the Truth’s sake and for our own good that the Lord will play second fiddle to no one. He does not need us or our worship, but we surely need Him and His Truth to deliver us from this great deception to which He first commits every man.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

No one is above being deceived by “that wicked”. Even the Lord’s elect are first held in this deceitful bondage:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

The Lord is not impressed with the power of this “man of sin…second beast…false prophet…eagle, Esau”:

Jer 49:14  I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
Jer 49:15  For, lo, I will make thee [“her”] small among the heathen, and despised among men.

Jeremiah refers to Esau with the same feminine pronoun, ‘her’ that Obadiah uses in his opening words:

Oba 1:1  The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

This feminine pronoun signifies religion in rebellion against “our Lord and His Christ”. This is taking place before our very eyes. The religions of this world are being revealed to be the hypocrites they have always been, and their hold on mankind is diminishing every day as the religions of this world become “small among the heathen and despised among men”.

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

Jews claim to be “God’s chosen people”. Christians and Muslims both claim Christ’s name, but the only thing these three religions have in common is their common disdain for the doctrines of Christ. Christianity is still the largest religion on earth. The Muslim religion is the second largest. Between these two religions, both claiming the name of Christ, more than two-thirds of the nations of this world have for thousands of years been in bondage to their false anti-Christ doctrines. Nevertheless, the Lord will judge the house of Esau and will make religion in opposition to Christ “small among the heathen, and despised among men”.

Jer 49:16  Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.

Obadiah also refers to Edom in his pride against the Lord and His Christ “dwelling in the cleft of the rock… as high as the eagle”:

Oba 1:3  The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Oba 1:4  Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

Jer 49:17  Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.

Edom is proud of heart, has exalted himself, and will be brought down, and everyone who passes by ‘shall be astonished and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof’. Where have we read this before?

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

Jer 49:18  As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

This is exactly what the holy spirit says about the destruction of the great whore, Babylon the great:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her [Same feminine pronoun for ‘Edom’]
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

The utter destruction and the “burning with fire” of Edom and Mystery Babylon are one and the same, and it is not bad news. Rather, it is good news. It is ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ’:

2Th 1:8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: [The kingdom of our old man]

Jer 49:19  Behold, he [Nebuchadnezzar, the destroyer of both Judah and Esau] shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong [It is Edom who thinks he is so strong]: but I will suddenly make him run away from her [Edom will flee from the Chaldeans who are also referred to with the feminine pronoun]: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her [Edom]? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

The Lord is sovereign, and it is He who will appoint a governor over Esau. In that day He will appoint saviors over all of mankind:

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

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

The destruction of Edom and Babylon within us is the best thing we will ever experience, because that destruction is the beginning of the birth of Christ within us.

Obadiah 1:21 and Revelation 11:15 are one and the same event which will culminate in the greatest work of grace by God which is known as “the great white throne… judgement/the lake of fire/the second death.” It is in the lake of fire that Esau will be destroyed and through that destruction become a new man “as seemed good to the Potter to make [him]”:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jer 18:7  At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

Jer 49:20  Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.
Jer 49:21  The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.

The same words are used to describe the fall of Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth:

Jer 50:46  At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

This ‘woman’ is the mother of all harlots and every worldly religion, and every legal denomination within that religion is one of her daughters. As hard as it is to imagine at this time, this entire system of rebellion against the bread and apparel of Christ will be “made desolate [and will] be destroyed”:

Jer 49:22  Behold, he [Nebuchadnezzar in type, and “the Lord’s army… in that day”] shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

“The heart of a woman in her pangs” is the same as being brought to our wits’ end. It really is the end and the destruction of the kingdom of our old man, and it really is a painful and extremely trying time. However, let us not forget that birth pangs, like a seed that falls into the ground and dies, brings forth a new life, both in “this present time” and in the great white throne judgment.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Joh 16:21  A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

We quote many verses of Psalms 107, and some think we dwell much too much on the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our old man. Nevertheless, let’s look at these verses together, and Lord willing, He will cause us to see the positive side of His judgments, the delivering of a child, and He will cause us to sacrifice to the Lord the sacrifice of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing and not with a heart that is ungrateful and unaware that His judgments are actually His “wonderful works” which drag us to repentance. It is only through the Lord’s judgments that He will bring us to “praise [Him] for His wonderful works to the children of men”:

Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

I will insert these words from Romans between verses 22 and 23 of Psalms 107.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

It is a very rare ‘lost sheep’ who is made to understand that the destruction of the kingdom of our old man is the first step to laying down the foundation of the kingdom of our new man, “the kingdom of God… within us” (Luk 17:20-21). It is a rare ‘prodigal son’ who is brought to see that Psalms 107 is all about “the goodness of God that brings [us] to repentance”

Continuing in:

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:32  Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

It is Christ and His elect who ‘go down to the sea in ships and who are doing His business in great waters’. They alone have eyes that can see and rejoice in His wonders in the deep. When Edom is in the pangs of the Lord’s judgments, Edom is just as much a son of Adam as Jacob is. The only reason we do not read the phrase “And in the latter day I will bring again the captivity of Edom” is that Edom is used of the Lord as a type and shadow of religion in rebellion against the Lord, a system of men which is also called “Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth”. Being used of the Lord to typify that doomed system does not mean that the great white throne judgment does not include all of Edom because:

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

These verses are also applicable to Edom as to anyone else who is “in Adam” and who is in the great white throne judgment:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

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

So much for the despicable and blasphemous false doctrine of an immortal soul burning in literal flames of fire for all eternity. The Father sent Christ to save the world, and as His Father has sent Him, He has sent us be “Saviors on mount Zion judging the house of Esau” so that they, too, will “learn righteousness”.

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

]]> Book of Jeremiah – Jer 48:16-31  Moab Shall Wallow in His Vomit https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/book-of-jeremiah-jer-4816-31-moab-shall-wallow-in-his-vomit/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=book-of-jeremiah-jer-4816-31-moab-shall-wallow-in-his-vomit Sat, 13 Aug 2022 18:26:43 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=26099 Jer 48:16-31  Moab Shall Wallow in His Vomit
[Study Aired August 14, 2022]

Jer 48:16  The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.
Jer 48:17  All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!
Jer 48:18  Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.
Jer 48:19  O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?
Jer 48:20  Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,
Jer 48:21  And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
Jer 48:22  And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim,
Jer 48:23  And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon,
Jer 48:24  And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
Jer 48:25  The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.
Jer 48:26  Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
Jer 48:27  For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy.
Jer 48:28  O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth.
Jer 48:29  We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
Jer 48:30  I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.
Jer 48:31  Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.

Both Moab and Ammon are the sons of Lot, and Lot is Abraham’s brother’s son. Abraham fought several eastern kings for the purpose of rescuing his nephew Lot when those kings fought with and conquered Sodom. Notice how scripture refers to Lot’s relationship to Abraham:

Gen 14:14  And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
Gen 14:15  And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
Gen 14:16  And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Abraham risked life and limb to save ‘his brother Lot’. It was only because of Lot that Abraham later attempted to bargain with the Lord to spare Sodom if He found at least ten righteous men in the city. The point being made is that Lot signifies Abraham’s own flesh, just as much as Ishmael was his own flesh when Abraham was informed of the Lord that Sarah would have a son:

Gen 17:15  And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
Gen 17:16  And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Gen 17:17  Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
Gen 17:18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
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.
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 17:21  But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

Ishmael was Abraham’s own son by a bondwoman. The Lord promised to make of him ‘a great nation [of] 12 princes”. Look at what we are told of this ‘great nation [of] twelve princes’:

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Notice how the holy spirit went from physical Sarah to spiritual Sarah, “Jerusalem above”, without as much as a pause or explanation. The holy spirit even likens “Jerusalem which now is” with Hagar and her son, “the son of the bondwoman”. The mind of the natural man cannot follow the mind of the spirit in making that transition.

This fourth chapter of Galatians reveals that there is little spiritual difference between Ishmael and Moab. Both signify the rejected seed of Abraham, and neither Ishmael nor Moab will be made heir with the son who is born of promise.

Lot separated from Abraham and moved into Sodom. Ishmael was cast out of Abraham’s house and will not be made heir with the son of the freewoman. Both Lot and Ishmael typify our dying flesh whose kingdom of twelve princes are “in bondage with [their] children” and will not be made heir with the son of the freewoman, “Jerusalem above”.

‘All flesh is as grass’ and, like grass, flesh is very short-lived.

Isa 40:6  The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Isa 40:7  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
Isa 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

1Pe 1:24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Moab, as a type of our flesh, is ‘as grass’ which withers, fades and falls away. Moab signifies our carnal mind which is enmity with God’s mind:

Jer 48:16  The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.

Everyone upon whom the judgment of the house of God has come knows that the calamity of Moab is near and ‘hasteth fast’. Peter tells us the same thing in these words:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Jer 48:17  All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!

‘Knowing Moab’s name’, like knowing the name of the Lord, is to have Moab’s mind. Moab’s name is one of opposition to everything that reflects the mind of the Lord. Moab’s name is associated with a carnal mind:

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

Jer 48:18  Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.

Here is how Strong deals with the name ‘Dibon’:

The name means “pining” which indicates grieving. “Thou daughter” reveals that our flesh thinks of itself as being in the Lord’s service as His church. Moab is called ‘daughter’ to let us know there is such a thing as a carnal-minded church, which is full of “carnal babes in Christ”.

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, [40,000 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 ‘thirst’ of the daughter of Moab… “And sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee”, signifies the drought of the Word we suffer as carnal babes in Christ:

Deu 28:48  Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

It does not seem possible to be so blind, but this is what our own flesh, our ‘Moab’ within us, is capable of:

Deu 29:19  And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

Isa 5:13  Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

Jer 48:19  O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?

‘Aroer’ is a city of Moab, and the instruction is to enquire what has the Lord done to Moab. Verse 20 is the answer to that question.

Jer 48:20  Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,
Jer 48:21  And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
Jer 48:22  And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim,
Jer 48:23  And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon,

Nebo is already “spoiled”, and Kiriathaim is already confounded and taken by the Chaldeans according to verse one:

Jer 48:1  Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.

Jer 48:24  And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

These are all cities of Moab. Not one small village is exempt from the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our rebellious carnal-minded old man.

Jer 48:25  The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.

A horn in scripture signifies power, and our arm indicates our strength. The power of our flesh is cut off, and our carnal strength is literally broken.

Jer 48:26  Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

This is very graphic language which simply reveals our stubborn old man for who he is and of what he is capable. A dog returns to his vomit, and the sow returns to her wallow in the mire:

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

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

Our flesh, proud Moab within us, is capable of being insanely foolish and stubborn to the extent of combining the dog and the sow, and wallowing in his own vomit. It is not natural or possible for either a dog or a sow to be anything but what they are, and so it is with each of our stubborn, rebellious, old first man Adam, until Christ comes and cuts off Moab’s horn and breaks his arm. If the Lord is merciful in this present time, we are actually brought to the realization that we are given to wallow in our own vomit. If we have been made to see just how self-righteous we are, then we can say with Job:

Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.

Job at this stage of his experience has been made to “wallow in his own vomit” before coming to see just how vile he was. Long before Moab, Job had also “magnified himself against the Lord”. The spirit of ‘Moab’ and the spirit of ‘the daughter Moab’ convinces us that our own righteousness is a gift to the Lord for which the Lord should be grateful to us:

Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Oh, how foolish and how fateful is such nonsense! Nothing is further from the Truth. The Truth is that we of ourselves can do nothing and much less place our Lord in our debt. Such mental gymnastics is truly ‘our own vomit’, and the Lord makes us wallow therein until He knows we are brought to say, “Behold I am vile… I will lay my hand upon my mouth”.

Here is what we do while wallowing in our own vomit:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

Job had said, “Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous”. Job had already acknowledged to his wife that it was the Lord who had risen up against him, and yet he made that statement:

Job 1:21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Job 1:22  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly [yet].

Job 2:9  Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
Job 2:10  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips [yet].

Later Job did “charge God foolishly [and] sin with his lips” when he accuses God of taking away his judgment even as the Lord was in the process of judging Job.

Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

While we wallow in our own vomit, we do not think that is what we are doing. We think we are making ourselves even more righteous than God. Wow! That is indeed “vile”. We 1) contend with the Almighty. We have the temerity to question why He would afflict such a righteous person as we think ourselves to be. Then we actually 2) reprove God for afflicting such a righteous person as ourselves, and when we do that, we 3) disannul His judgment and 4) we condemn the Lord Himself rather than acknowledge that we are wallowing in our own vomit. That is the extent of the pride of our rebellious old man.

Our old man hates and despises our new man and takes great joy in assisting in the death of the new man within us. Israel had attempted to befriend the king of Moab and buy bread and water from the Moabites when they came up out of Egypt.

Deu 2:28  Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;
Deu 2:29  (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

Nevertheless, Balak, the king of Moab, hired Balaam the prophet to curse Israel, and the Lord turned the curse into a blessing:

Deu 23:5  Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.

Jer 48:27  For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy.
Jer 48:28  O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth.

This is just another version of:

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

This admonition is repeated in:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

We are admonished to help even our enemies:

Pro 25:21  If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
Pro 25:22  For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

Moab rejoiced when Assyria carried the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity, and now they rejoice that Judah is being carried into captivity by Babylon. Moab’s heart was glad when Israel stumbled, and the Lord now has Moab in the queue to be carried away captive of the same Babylonians. We just naturally love it when our enemy gets what we see as his comeuppance, his just deserts. Moab has no fear of these words of the Lord:

Pro 24:17  Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Pro 24:18  Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

Jer 48:29  We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
Jer 48:30  I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.

Nothing changed in over 70 years because Isaiah had earlier made the same observation concerning Moab’s extreme pride and self-righteousness:

Isa 16:6  We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

“His lies shall not so affect it” is demonstrated by how little Job’s lies against the Lord affected the Lord’s judgment of Job’s pride and self-righteousness:

Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Job is each of us before we come to see just how vile and self-righteous we just naturally are.

Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

The enemy of Job’s self-righteousness was the Lord Himself, and Job is condemning his own Maker with his proud, self-righteous words. However, Job’s pride does not keep the Lord from His work in Job’s life, and our pride and our lies do not restrain the destruction of our self-righteous proud old man with “the brightness of His coming”:

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

Jer 48:31  Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.

As a type of our flesh, Moab is a necessary evil which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God” and was made to be taken and destroyed:

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

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

It is all part of ‘plan A’. The first man Adam was designed to be temporary and to be dispensed with:

Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

The Hebrew word translated as ‘unto’ in this verse is ‘el’ and it is translated as ‘against‘ in the very next verse:

Gen 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against [H413: el] Abel his brother, and slew him.

‘Sin’ is personified, and we are told its desire will be ‘against’ us, but then we are assured right here in the book of Genesis “thou shalt rule over him”.

Immediately after telling us…

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

… we are given these very encouraging words:

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

This promise of the destruction of death will not be kept until the last person who ever died is made alive. This promise Paul references in:

Hos 13:14  I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

Christ Himself made the same statement:

Joh 5:21  For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
Joh 5:22  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
Joh 5:23  That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Joh 5:25  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
Joh 5:26  For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [G2920: krisis, judgment]

In the end it is the Lord’s judgments which will bring life to all who are in Adam:

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

This is not the time for “the inhabitants of the world” to be judged. When the time does arrive for the Lord’s judgments to be “in the earth, [then] the inhabitants world will learn righteousness”, and death will not claim one single soul of all who are in Adam.

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

]]> The Book of Ruth – Rth 1:1–22  The LORD had Visited His People in Giving Them Bread  https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-ruth-rth-11-22-the-lord-had-visited-his-people-in-giving-them-bread/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-ruth-rth-11-22-the-lord-had-visited-his-people-in-giving-them-bread Mon, 04 Oct 2021 20:26:57 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=24467 Rth 1:1 –22  The LORD had Visited His People in Giving Them Bread
[Study Aired October 4, 2021]

Rth 1:1  Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 
Rth 1:2  And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 
Rth 1:3  And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. 
Rth 1:4  And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. 
Rth 1:5  And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. 
Rth 1:6  Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread. 
Rth 1:7  Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. 
Rth 1:8  And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. 
Rth 1:9  The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. 
Rth 1:10  And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. 
Rth 1:11  And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 
Rth 1:12  Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; 
Rth 1:13  Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. 
Rth 1:14  And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. 
Rth 1:15  And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. 
Rth 1:16  And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 
Rth 1:17  Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. 
Rth 1:18  When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. 
Rth 1:19  So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? 
Rth 1:20  And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 
Rth 1:21  I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? 
Rth 1:22  So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. 

The book of Ruth is named for its central character, a Moabite woman who married an Israelite living in Moab. After the death of her husband, Ruth moved to Judah with her mother-in-law, Naomi, instead of remaining with her own people. Ruth then became the wife of Boaz, a wealthy kinsman of her former husband, and bore Obed, who, according to the final verses of the book, was the grandfather of David.

As we have always stressed, it is the spirit that makes us alive in Christ, the flesh or the letter of the word is unprofitable. Thus, our study of the Book of Ruth will be based on what our Lord is telling us in the spirit about this Book.

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

Rth 1:1  Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 
Rth 1:2  And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 

The period that this story of Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi took place was during the days when Israel did not have a king and was therefore ruled by various judges. A key characteristic of this period is that because there was no king, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

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

This verse is to let us know that when Christ has not ascended the throne of our hearts, we are subjected to the dictates of the old man, or the flesh, and therefore do whatever we want, thinking we are serving God. That was what happened to the Israelites during the time of the Judges and in the case of Naomi and her husband, Elimelech. We all, in a certain period of our lives, followed the dictates of our flesh when Christ was not king in our hearts.

As we are aware, one of the Lord’s four sore judgments is famine.

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

Although there was a physical famine in the land of Bethlehem of Judea, what we are talking about here is famine of the absence of the word of God.

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

Bethlehem means ‘house of bread’ and therefore represents the house of God where there is bread, which is the word of God. The famine in Bethlehem shows that here Bethlehem signifies the apostate churches of this world or Babylon where there is lack of the word of God. So, we as His elect are starved of the true word of God through famine in Babylon (Bethlehem), and as a result, we move to Moab just as Naomi moved to Moab with her husband and two sons.

The Moabites believed in God but did not give Him the honor He deserves. They believed in physical reward for service rendered to God. This is clearly demonstrated by the Moabites coming to Balaam with gifts for him to curse the people of God.

Num 22:7  And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.
Num 22:8  And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam.

Thus, Moab represents the apostate churches of this world or Babylon who love rewards and are in spiritual adultery by worshipping another Jesus.

Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

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

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

As shown in Amos 8:12, famine is a tool God uses to make us wander to and fro trying to seek God but not finding Him. In order to understand the significance of moving to Moab, let’s look at the role the land of Moab plays in the life of God’s elect.

It was in the plain of Moab that the Israelites had their last encampment. In other words, Moab represents our last point in our walk in Babylon before we leave Babylon to fight the enemies of the promised land to inhabit our possession, which is our body.

Num 22:1  And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho.

It is as we stand in Moab and Mount Nebo, which is in Moab and is opposite Jericho, that we see the promised land. In other words, being in Moab means God is preparing us for our exit from Babylon as our Lord starts to open our eyes to see, but we are not given to go there yet because we are still carnal and ruled by the flesh.

Deu 34:1  And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,
Deu 34:2  And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea,
Deu 34:3  And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.
Deu 34:4  And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.

It is in Moab that we come to know what the law of sin and death stands for as we see it complete its work in our lives in the sense that we come to see who we really are. This is signified by Moses proclaiming the law in the land of Moab and finally dying there. Moses means drawing out, so the law draws out of us our beastly nature. As we come to know this, we become dead to the law of sin and death, which is symbolized by the death of Moses in Moab, and we are now ready to start our walk of faith in Christ.

Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Deu 1:5  On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,

Deu 34:5  So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
Deu 34:6  And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

Rth 1:3  And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.

The name Elimelech means ‘my God is king’ and that of Naomi means ‘my joy’.

Jer 49:25  How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!

So here Naomi signifies the bride of Christ, which is the city of praise, and Elimelech represents our Lord who died so He would pave the way for the Comforter to come and guide Naomi and Ruth or the church of the first born to the truth.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Rth 1:4  And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

The two wives here represent the two Jerusalems. One (Orpah) is in bondage with her children, and the other is the New Jerusalem which is the mother of us all. Orpah is a symbol of the existing churches of this world, and Ruth stands for the elect.

Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

The number ten stands for the completeness of the flesh, and so ‘dwelling in Moab for ten years’ suggests that the patience of our flesh is exhausted in Babylon and must be ready for judgement.

Rth 1:5  And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

The death of Mahlon and Chilion are all part of the judgment that the bride of Christ, represented here by Naomi and Ruth, face as the death of our Lord precipitates the coming of the Comforter who comes to reprove us of judgment.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Joh 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Joh 16:9  Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Joh 16:10  Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Joh 16:11  Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

As we will learn later, Orpah represents the Babylonian system and therefore is not judged but faces suffering which is common to man in this life.

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Rth 1:6  Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
Rth 1:7  Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.

As was indicated earlier, the Bethlehem that Naomi left during the famine represented Babylon, but the Bethlehem to which Naomi was returning with her daughter-in-law had been visited by the Lord with bread, which is the word of God. So the Bethlehem that Naomi was returning to is the Heavenly Jerusalem or the church of the first born.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

The leaving of the land of Moab to go to Bethlehem, the house of bread, is therefore the same as leaving Babylon to join the church of the first born.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Rth 1:8  And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. 
Rth 1:9  The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. 
Rth 1:10  And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. 

Naomi’s persuasion for the daughters-in-law to return to the land of Moab is the same as what our Lord said concerning counting the cost to become His disciples.

Luk 14:25  And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Luk 14:29  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, 
Luk 14:30  Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Luk 14:31  Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Luk 14:32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
Luk 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

This journey to the New Jerusalem demands our all. In this admonition by the Lord, a great multitude was following Him, but our Lord was not impressed by the crowd as He knows that in this life He is saving only a few. This admonition to count the cost before following Him is not to suggest that we play a part in our salvation. All that is being said here is that those who are destined to be part of the New Jerusalem are able to lose everything to follow Him, and all of this is the work of God. All we must do is to believe in Jesus that what He starts, He is able to finish!!

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Rth 1:11  And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
Rth 1:12  Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; 
Rth 1:13  Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. 

This part of the passage of scripture is to let us know that Naomi had come to a point where she realized she could do nothing in furthering the cause of herself and her daughters-in-law. It is when we come to this point in our walk with Christ that we learn to rest in Christ as He then takes over.

Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

The statement “the hand of the Lord is gone against me” is to let us know that Naomi, who represents the elect, was under judgment from the Lord. The end result of this hand of the Lord against us or Naomi is to make us learn righteousness, which is another way of saying that the old man is dying, and the new man is rising within us.

1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 
1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

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

Rth 1:14  And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.

As we can see, Orpah finally departed to stay in Moab. She started the journey, but returned to her vomit as the cost of discipleship was too much for her, thinking it is through her own strength that she can obtain salvation. As we indicated earlier, Orpah signifies the existing apostate churches of this world or Babylon. They are called but are not chosen to leave Moab to go back to Bethlehem, the house of bread, where the Lord is visiting His people. We are called and chosen, like Ruth, to leave the camp of Babylon or Moab to go to the house of God.

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

The return of Orpah to Moab is because she was carried about by divers and strange doctrines, and therefore did not have the right to eat in the New Jerusalem or the house of bread.

Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

Rth 1:15  And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. 
Rth 1:16  And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 
Rth 1:17  Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

These statements by Ruth reflect what Peter told our Lord Jesus when He asked whether the disciples would also want to leave Him.

Joh 6:67  Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Joh 6:69  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

As God’s elect, we have nowhere to go as we are aware that it is in the church where we hear our Lord speak, as He has the words of eternal life. What Ruth said is the same as losing her whole life for the sake of coming to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi.

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Rth 1:18  When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.

One of the key qualities that is required of overcomers is that they are steadfast. That is a key characteristic we see in Ruth, who represents the elect. To be steadfast means that one is resolute or unwavering. A steadfast person knows what he believes and cannot be tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of false teaching.

1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

To remain steadfast and unmovable we have to know the Word of God. That means we must be diligent to present ourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Rth 1:19  So the two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

Our entering into the New Jerusalem from Babylon does not mean that we are righteous or matured children of God. No. Actually, we had come to know who we were as the law of sin and death had accomplished its work in us by letting us know that we cannot help ourselves to do any good thing and that when we look in the mirror, what we see is us as the greatest sinner!! That was the situation Naomi and Ruth found themselves in as they entered Bethlehem, which in this case is a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem which is the mother of us all. The gathering of the saints is shown us in the following scripture:

1Sa 22:2  And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

In this verse, David represents our Lord Jesus Christ who operated outside the camp of religion of His days. There are three categories of people representing the elect who went to David:

Those in distress – The dictionary defines being in distress as extreme anxiety, suffering, pain or affliction. Weren’t we all in some form of suffering when we left Babylon and entered the heavenly Jerusalem? Even now, we are still going through all kinds of suffering so that we will learn righteousness.

Those in debt – They are those who recognized that they were sinful. Being sinful means we are indebted to God.

Those who were discontented – They are those who recognized they were sinners but are frustrated that they cannot do anything to change their situation.

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. (ESV)
Rom 7:15  For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (ESV)
Rom 7:16  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. (ESV)

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (KJV)
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (KJV)

That was the situation in which we all found ourselves as we left Babylon (Moab) and came to the house of bread (Bethlehem), just like Naomi and Ruth. The next two verses throw more light on the spiritual immaturity of Naomi as she entered Bethlehem:

Rth 1:20  And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
Rth 1:21  I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? 

Here we see Naomi not content with God’s judgment. We all in our time had disannulled God’s judgment just like Naomi. What Naomi and we all have said when we went through suffering was that we do not deserve this judgment from God. At that time of our exit from Babylon, we did not know about God’s judgment and what it accomplishes and therefore disannulled our Lord’s judgment.

Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Rth 1:22  So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

The significant point here in this verse is that when Naomi and Ruth came to Bethlehem from Moab, it was the beginning of barley harvest. Barley is a cereal grain that is used in bread and other dishes. Two grain crops are prominent in the Scriptures – barley and wheat. In Bible times, barley was much more widely cultivated than it is now and was the main food of the poor. It was always valued less than wheat (2Ki 7:1, Rev 6:6). Although barley was sometimes used as fodder in Bible days (1Ki 4:28), its main use was as a staple food. It was ground and baked into round cakes (Jdg 7:13).

In Leviticus 23:10, the Israelites were instructed to bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain to mature.

Lev 23:10  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
Lev 23:11  And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

In 1 Corinthian 15:23, Paul applies this to Christ.

1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

Christ being the firstfruits means that we, the elect, represent the harvest. It is in the heavenly Jerusalem, or the church of the first born, that we mature to be harvested by the Lord. So, coming to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest means that we really start or begin our maturity journey in the church of the first born.

Our time in the church, or the New Jerusalem, is the period of the harvest when all the tares in us are dealt with by the Lord as He sends us His angels or messengers through their fiery words to gather out of His kingdom within us all things that offend and our iniquities. These are cast into a furnace of fire to be burnt. The furnace of fire represents the judgment we go through by the Lord to make us ready to be harvested at His own time.

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

Our Lord’s interpretation of this parable is as follows:

Mat 13:36  Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
Mat 13:37  He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Our time in Babylon is the period where the enemy comes to sow tares (wrong doctrines through the children of the wicked one) among the wheat (the truth) in our lives as we grow. At that time outwardly, everybody, including ourselves, thinks we are good Christians, and so there is no difference between the called and the called and chosen. However, inwardly, we are the children of the devil. It is therefore only during the period of the harvest, that is our time in Bethlehem or the church of the first born, that we come to clearly see the tares and the wheat through the angels sent by our Lord. That is when all the tares in us are destroyed by our fiery trials, and we are ready to be harvested as mature sons of God.

]]> Awesome Hands – Part 138: “He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness” https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-138-he-knoweth-thy-walking-through-this-great-wilderness/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome-hands-part-138-he-knoweth-thy-walking-through-this-great-wilderness Sun, 08 Jul 2018 23:38:38 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=16738

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Awesome Hands – Part 138

”He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness”

July 15, 2018

“Murmuring in our tents” is what we saw ourselves doing in our previous study. This was a reflection of what the Israelites did when they reflected on why the Lord brought them out of Egypt, from their perspective.

Deu 1:27  And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

The Israelites murmured to themselves the wrong things which were opposite of the truth, and it was their own hearts and actions that caused them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years in the first place.

As we will see with the study today, the Israelites were completely wrong about being delivered to the hands of the Amorites, but more than that, their own hearts were deceiving them into doing things which caused them more anguish in the long run.

Lord willing, we can learn from this pattern and ready our own hearts and minds to properly understand what the Lord is doing in our lives.

There are several different verses that will be the focus of the study today, and they are spread through the second book of Deuteronomy. These verses will contain the Hebrew word “yad”H3027, but they will also show us the faithfulness of the Lord.

Deu 2:7  For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Before this verse in Deuteronomy, there were some interesting things that happened which we should file away in the “important lessons” file of our brains.

At the end of Deuteronomy 1, which was also the end of the last study, the Lord gave the Israelites specific commands to take their journey into the wilderness, but the Israelites decided they were ready to go to war.

I would like to point out that the people often answered Moses as if it were only Moses they were answering. Moses was the spokesman for God, and Moses was only conveying what the Lord commanded or did not command. Yet, the Israelites only pointed out what was being told by the Lord.

This is detrimental for the Israelites because they always bring the wrath of the Lord down on them when they have this mindset.

As we ended the last study, the Israelites were told that only the faithful spies Caleb and Joshua, and the little ones which had no knowledge of their parent’s actions, were permitted to enter the promised land.

Deu 1:39  Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
Deu 1:40  But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
Deu 1:41  Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.

If you can relate to the Israelites in their stubbornness right now, then you are on the path to the mindset we must have in order to approach the Lord.

That mindset is one of recognition of our constant desires and actions to go AGAINST what the Lord says to do. Of course, the Israelites do NOT have that mindset right here in the moment they are in, but since we can recognize it NOW, we can see that we too have done this to the Lord in various ways.

It’s no different than my children doing this to me when they know I gave them clear directions to do something while they choose to ignore those clear directions.

What will be the result of this disobedience?

Deu 1:42  And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
Deu 1:43  So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuouslyH2102 up into the hill.
Deu 1:44  And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
Deu 1:45  And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
Deu 1:46  So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

Yes, we will reap what we sow. The Hebrew used in English as “presumptuously” in Deu 1:43 is only used a few times in the old testament, and 5 of the 10 times it is used, it is used as 'proud' or 'proudly'.

In other words, the Israelites were dealing with the pride of their life.

Here are a few examples of this word being used elsewhere:

Neh 9:13  Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
Neh 9:14  And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
Neh 9:15  And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.
Neh 9:16  But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,

Neh 9:28  But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
Neh 9:29  And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
Neh 9:30  Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

Ultimately, the Lord has to teach His people hard lessons, but if we are honest with ourselves, then we will stop wanting to excuse ourselves and will own up to the truth that we bring things on ourselves just like the Israelite’s did.

We know that we do not have free will outside of God’s will, but we do have a will, and that will continuously have us going AGAINST the Lord.

The Lord will always win when there is a battle of wills, and the Israelites ended up doing exactly what the Lord commanded them to do in the first place.

Deu 2:1  Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.

It’s funny, because I know this to be so true in my own life and in my own parenting. I regularly tell my children they will do what I say one way or another.

They can either do what I ask them to do, and get things done. They can also choose NOT to do what I ask them to do the first time I ask them to do it, get it trouble, and then do it anyway.

Either way, it is getting done, and maybe one day they will choose the easier of the two choices on a consistent basis.

Now that the Israelites have learned this lesson the hard way, that they were going to take their journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, the Lord tells them “you can move along now”.

Deu 2:2  And the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Deu 2:3  Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
Deu 2:4  And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:
Deu 2:5  Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
Deu 2:6  Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.
Deu 2:7  For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Being that this lesson of war with the Amorites is fresh in their minds, relatively speaking, the Lord tells them to go northward.

On this passage, they will be encountering the children of Esau, the Moabites, the Horites and the children of Ammon.

Notice how many times we are going to read about various GIANTS and the LANDS attributed to giants. This should tell us that the Lord gives us ample warning concerning the giants we are going to encounter, the “land” of the giants and the people there now and how to deal with them.

Deu 2:8  And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
Deu 2:9  And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.
Deu 2:10  The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
Deu 2:11  Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
Deu 2:12  The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them.
Deu 2:13  Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.
Deu 2:14  And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.
Deu 2:15  For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.

So, we have been told not to try and TAKE THE LAND from our kinfolk whom had been given that land by the Lord Himself. Spiritually speaking, we are not to try to OVERTAKE the land of our brothers and kinfolk. We are NOT to try and conquer the giants in THEIR LANDS, especially when we can’t even make war with the giants in our own spiritual lands.

In fact, when we do try, the Lord just waits out the works we try to do on our own, as what happened when the Israelites went to war with the Amorites without the Lord being with them.

The Lord also waits out the “men of war” until they are “wasted out” and destroyed.

Then, when our “old man of war” is consumed, the Lord tells us it’s time to move to the step of His beat.

Deu 2:16  So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,
Deu 2:17  That the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Deu 2:18  Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:
Deu 2:19  And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.
Deu 2:20  (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;
Deu 2:21  A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:
Deu 2:22  As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:
Deu 2:23  And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)
Deu 2:24  Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
Deu 2:25  This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

These lessons of the Israelites are hard learned, but if we can learn QUICKER than they did, then we can move past the lessons that must be learned, into the land that the Lord gives us, by listening to His voice and commandments.

All of the lands over which the Lord will now give the Israelites victory have all been prepared for the coming of the people of God. Even in their disobedience, the Lord has provided that the “good fruit” of His people will prosper.

The other thing to note is that the Lord does not always use the same methods of victory for all situations, and that is okay. It is the waiting on the Lord that matters.

The Israelites had been told to “buy meat and water” from the children of Esau, but DO NOT MEDDLE with them. At this point in time these are people, in type, who are TWINS to the Israelites, similar to Jacob and Esau.

However, when the Israelites approach Sihon the king of Heshbon with a similar message of peace and trade, he refuses.

Deu 2:26  And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
Deu 2:27  Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.
Deu 2:28  Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;
Deu 2:29  (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

The Israelites were only doing what they learned had been successful before, but the difference here is that the Lord hadn’t told them to do this. So, it is obvious that the Lord had other plans for Sihon and his people.

God’s people didn’t do anything wrong with this approach, but it just proves that the Lord has plans and things will work out according to those plans.

When we do away with our own prideful will and wait upon what the Lord is doing in our lives, then we can react to what we need to when we need to. This will bring us success.

Deu 2:30  But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
Deu 2:31  And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.
Deu 2:32  Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.
Deu 2:33  And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.
Deu 2:34  And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:
Deu 2:35  Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.
Deu 2:36  From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us:
Deu 2:37  Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.

The Lord makes His points very vividly for those who will listen and obey. These old stories are there to show us that what is best for us is NOT going to be wrought by our own ways and doings without the Lord stepping in to do it for us.

This “rule of thumb” is one that applies to the people of God. There are many blessings to being the people of God, but when we ignore His precepts He will get our attention.

For the rest of the world who do not yet know God, they obviously find success as well in the world and that, too, is of the Lord.

However, these lessons about which we are reading are to show us that when the Lord is on our side, NO ONE can be against us, and the Lord will fight for us.

We also must accept whatever the results of war in our lives mean because a lot of the time we do not get the results we think should happen. We can rest, however, knowing that the Lord will work it all for our good in the end.

]]> Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 16:8-14 Moab Shall Come To His Sanctuary To Pray… https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-168-14-moab-shall-come-to-his-sanctuary-to-pray/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-168-14-moab-shall-come-to-his-sanctuary-to-pray Sat, 21 Oct 2017 23:52:36 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=14823
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The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 66 Discussion

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Isa 16:8-14 Moab Shall Come To His Sanctuary To Pray; But He Shall Not Prevail

Isa 16:8  For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
Isa 16:9  Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
Isa 16:10  And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
Isa 16:11  Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
Isa 16:12  And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.
Isa 16:13  This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.
Isa 16:14  But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.

Today we will see that Moab, as a type of our own flesh, is intricately connected with the two beasts of Revelation 13. After establishing the connection between Moab as the Biblical type of the flesh of our old man and the beast of Revelation, presented to us in two stages, we will then see that the second stage of the beast of Revelation 13 is nothing other than the self-righteous harlot of Revelation 17-18, all of whom are given their throne and their great authority over us by the great red dragon.

The verses we will discuss in today's study describe the destruction of Moab, the Old Testament type of our own beastly flesh, which was "made to be taken and destroyed":

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

In Revelation 13 we are confronted with what appears to be two beasts, which really are two stages of the same one beast. The first beast arises out of the sea, while the second beast arises out of the earth with two horns like a lamb, but speaking as a dragon.

That these are merely two stages of the same beast is made clear from these words:

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man [Greek: G444, 'anthropos' - mankind]; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

"Two horns like a lamb" tells us this second beast within us masquerades as a religious God-fearing man, but when he opens his mouth, he speaks all the false lying doctrines of the great red dragon whom we were told earlier in this same chapter empowered the first beast:

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

That explains why our second beast insists that we give life to the image of the first beast and worship that image. We are told that in doing so we are actually worshiping the great red dragon himself:

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

While it is true that you and I of ourselves cannot "make war with... the beast", it is equally true that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and that Christ in us can and will destroy this self-righteous beast with two horns like a Lamb who speaks as a dragon:

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

When Christ within us makes war with this inward beast, this is what He does:

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

This all sounds like a "road to Damascus" experience which takes place within a few hours or days and is all over. Nothing could be further from the Truth. Even Saul of Tarsus, who was blinded by "the brightness of His coming", later had to spend time in the wilderness of Arabia before he could begin his ministry, and even after that judgment remained on the house of God within as Saul of Tarsus had despised and consented to the deaths of the Christ of Christ, and the sword of the Word of God never departed from Saul's house:

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

Act 26:10  Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them

The sword of the Lord's Word judging us every day is not a bad thing. Judgment in this age is the greatest honor that can be bestowed on any man. That is why we are made to know:

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

We are all guilty of despising Christ and His doctrines and taking the great harlot, the seed of the serpent, his 'wife', to be our wife, and our old man and his kingdom is doomed to the destruction He was made to endure:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

With all of this background on whom and what is our beastly flesh, let's read about what we all just naturally do when the destruction of our old man and his kingdom begins with the brightness of the coming of Christ into our lives:

Isa 16:8  For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
Isa 16:9  Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
Isa 16:10  And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.

Verse ten sums up the emotions of our old man when his judgment is now begun and is finally in progress. Gladness and joy are taken away and "out of the fruitful field..." there is no singing or shouting in the vineyards because there is no wine being tread out. God has "made their vintage shouting to cease."

Now compare this message to Moab, the Old Testament type of the kingdom of our old man, to what we are told the Lord is doing to the great harlot who was the source of worldly riches to "as many who trade by sea".

Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
Rev 18:19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
Rev 18:20  Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
Rev 18:21  And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
Rev 18:22  And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Rev 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

Compare Rev 18:22-23 with these verses of our study today:

Isa 16:9  Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
Isa 16:10  And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.

The reason there is no joy in either Moab or Babylon the Great is that both are one and the same kingdom of our old man. Moab is just an earlier type of the beast within us who has rejected his own Maker and is now worshiping and serving the creature himself, rather than the Creator.

Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Do not be blinded by the plural, "they knew God, they glorified Him not as God..." Always remember that it is "mankind", the Greek word 'anthropos', who must live by every Word of God. Do not let the tense of a verb or the plural of a noun or pronoun keep you from remembering that it is each of us who must "live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4). It is each of us who has received the deadly wound by the two-edged sword of the Word of God, and it is each of us who has experienced the healing of that wound only to go back to being a healthy God denying, self-righteous, rebellious brute beast.

Neither should we let the gender of the great harlot keep us from seeing that this great harlot is merely another manifestation of "the man of sin" of 2Th 2:3 and another manifestation of the second beast, who demands that we worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed, and whom we are clearly told 'had two horns like a lamb, but he spake as a dragon':

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

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

As our judgment begins and our "man of sin" begins to "be revealed", we are brought to our wits' end in time, and the mental and physical and spiritual pain of the process of being judged and being brought to see ourselves for what brute beasts we are is so painful that we are told we will "seek death, and it will flee from [us]. Let's read about this in the very words we are admonished to "read... hear... and keep" (Rev 1:3):

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

That is the message we are given concerning Moab within us:

Isa 16:11  Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
Isa 16:12  And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.
Isa 16:13  This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.

When Christ first began to come into my life, I still 'went into my sanctuary to pray, but I did not prevail', and the next day I would discover that another of my own 'idols of [my] heart' had to be destroyed. That is what is being said here in spiritual, internal terms.

We are watching this play out in outward terms as our nation becomes more divided by the day as the "free moral agent, Christian" harlot struggles to maintain her outward 'spiritually uncircumcised, son of the bondwoman kingdom' against the immoral beast which hates her and is eating her flesh and burning her with fire. That is what is taking place this very moment outwardly in our daily news reports.

The 'he shall not prevail' of verse 12 here in Isaiah 16 is the same as what happens to the great harlot of these verses:

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

To which "words of God" does verse 17 refer? Where else in scripture are we told this same story concerning a harlot? Here is where we see this same message concerning the Lord's own people who have put the desire to serve their flesh above their desire to please their true Husband:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

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

Isa 1:27  Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
Isa 1:28  And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

How will "Zion [the "harlot"] be redeemed with judgment"? What will the Lord use to "eat her flesh and burn her with fire"? What do all of these symbols mean outwardly? This is what these symbols all mean, and this is what we are witnessing within our own borders, between the nations of this earth, and within the borders of all the nations of this earth, and this is what the Lord is doing "after the counsel of His OWN will" (Eph 1:11):

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 19:2  And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

The scriptures from Genesis to Revelation are all about all of  mankind being "redeemed with judgment". It is an experience of evil which the Lord has given the sons of men to humble them by it:

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

The only way to "explore by wisdom" any subject concerning the fate of mankind is to know what has proceeded out of the mouth of God.  When you are given eyes that see and ears that hear, you will discover that God has given mankind an experience of evil to humble him and destroy that brute beast which sits in the temple of God claiming to be God.

In other words, 'the proud heart of Moab will be humbled' as these things all come to pass, and our bowels will attempt to comfort and sooth the spirit of the kingdom of our old man within us.

Isa 16:11  Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.

The Hebrew word for 'harp' here is the same word translated 'harp' where David played the harp to sooth the spirit of King Saul, who typifies the rejected anointed kingdom of our old man within us. While being judged we just naturally "come to [our] sanctuary to pray" and to seek comfort, not realizing at first that our 'comforter' is the very person who will replace the kingdom of our old man:

1Sa 16:23  And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

King Saul was momentarily refreshed, "but he [did] not prevail" (Isa 16:12). Our 'bowels' represent that which is within our innermost being. These verses will help us to better understand what is taking place in the proud heart of Moab within us at this time in our "experience of evil" (Ecc 1:13) which the Lord has given us to humble that proud heart of Moab within us (Isa 16:6).

Jer 4:19  My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Lam 1:20  Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

It is important that we come to understand that the "new man" is in no way connected with our old man, except as the "corn of wheat" which must die to bring forth life (Joh 12:24), and yet the phrase "a remnant" is used to describe the new man who rises up out of the death and destruction of that old man.

These are Christ's words describing how He is dealing with what He calls His remnant:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

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

Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So it is with Moab. Moab is destroyed. He falls into the ground and dies, but a small remnant, like the "slain Lamb", will be used to redeem the multitudes who will, at the Lord's appointed time, be brought to Him (Rev 5:5-6).

Isa 16:14  But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.

The number 'three' in scripture always denotes the completing of the process of being judged, so we are told the judgment of Moab will be accomplished "within three years".

Here is the link to the study on the number three:  http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/numbers-in-scripture-three-the-process-of-spiritual-completion/

Mourning the destruction of the kingdom of Moab is not telling us that the Lord said something in a fit of anger and is now wishing He had not spoken these words. Not at all! Every Word of God is perfect and pure, and the scriptures cannot be broken:

Psa 12:6  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Psa 89:34  My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken

The fact is that all His judgments were all 'scripture [which] cannot be broken... written in His book' for each of us and for every nation "before the world began":

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

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Pro 16:5  Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

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.

When "the Lord has spoken" you can take what He has said to the bank. When He tells us that Moab's 'glory and his proud spirit will be punished and judged and destroyed and replaced by a faithful "remnant", He will not break His Word. "Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to [Him]: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished." It will be "through [our] death" and through our own destruction that our new man will be born into the kingdom of God within us, and death will have not one single victory. As long as one single person is not resurrected to "life... more abundantly", death can still claim a victory, but:

Isa 25:8  He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. [Isa 25:8]
1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will begin to learn how the judgment of Syria, another Biblical symbol of our own flesh, symbolizes the judgment of the kingdom of our old man:

Here are the verses which will begin this study:

Isa 17:1  The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Isa 17:2  The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Isa 17:3  The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.
Isa 17:4  And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
Isa 17:5  And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
Isa 17:6  Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.
Isa 17:7  At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

]]> Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 16:1-7 Let Mine Outcasts Dwell With Thee, Moab https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-161-7-let-mine-outcasts-dwell-with-thee-moab/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-161-7-let-mine-outcasts-dwell-with-thee-moab Sat, 14 Oct 2017 02:35:14 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=14781 Isa 16:1-7 Let Mine Outcasts Dwell With Thee, Moab

Isa 16:1  Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
Isa 16:2  For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
Isa 16:3  Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.
Isa 16:4  Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
Isa 16:5  And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
Isa 16:6  We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.
Isa 16:7  Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.

As we saw last week, after Israel subdued the countries within the promised land, then and only then, did the Lord permit King David to subdue the nations which he had until now forbidden them from contending with in battle. On the way to the land of promise Israel was specifically forbidden to contend with Edom, Moab or Ammon because those countries were Israel’s own family via, Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, and Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Syria, the nation just north of Israel, was Abraham’s own people.

The lesson for us in the fact that we are not first permitted to battle against our own flesh is to show us that we come to see Babylon for what it is and we hate it, and we hate the doctrines of Babylon. We fight against those doctrines within the land and we subdue them. It is in our nature to then attempt to force our new found knowledge down the throats of our own flesh and blood, our own friends and families, and they refuse to acknowledge that God parted the Red Sea for our sakes. Instead our own families says to us, “Who do you think you are? Why should I listen to you instead of my own minister?” We simply are not yet given to contend with our own families because we are not yet equipped to do so.

But after the period of the judges and after the experience of King Saul the time finally arrives for Israel to contend with His own flesh, and this is what King David did:

2Sa 8:1  And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines.
2Sa 8:2  And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts.
2Sa 8:3  David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates.

So the people in the land, the Philistines, as well as the Moabites and the Syrians, whose border is “the river Euphrates”, are all now able to be subdued under King David, who typifies Christ within us.

Here are the ‘gifts’ Moab brought to Israel in the days of Jehoram the son of Ahab.

2Ki 3:1  Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
2Ki 3:2  And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made.
2Ki 3:3  Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.
2Ki 3:4  And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool.

When the northern ten tribes were taken away from Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, the dominion over Moab was assumed by the larger northern nation which reverted to the name ‘Israel’. So Isaiah admonishes Moab:

Isa 16:1  Send ye the lamb [the singular for the plural] to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

Isaiah warns that if Moab refuses to acknowledge the house of David, “the mount of the daughter of Zion”, as their  master then Moab is “as a wandering bird cast out of the nest”.

Isa 16:2  For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

As we saw last week, all the nations around Israel were Israel’s own flesh, and therefore they represent our own flesh in which the Lord  has taken up residence as His temple. So Moab is presented to us as the place where God’s elect must dwell as peacefully as the Lord wills even in the face of severe persecution from Assyria and Babylon. Knowing that our flesh is but an “earthly tabernacle”, we are admonished:

Isa 16:3  Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

“Make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday” because that is the very hottest time of the day, and it is the time of the worst persecutions of the Lord’s outcast wanderers, which is what “Christ in [us]” is.

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:

Moab had already been kind to King David’s great, great-grandmother Naomi who had gone to Moab fleeing a famine in Judah. Now King David’s father Jesse and his mother fled Israel before the face of King Saul:

1Sa 22:3  And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.
1Sa 22:4  And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold.

Long before King David’s persecution from King Saul, whom David acknowledged as “God’s anointed”, Moab had already become a place of refuge for King David’s father’s great-grandmother Naomi, who fled to Moab while a severe drought and famine ravished the country of Judah and Bethlehem.

Rth 1:1  Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
Rth 1:2  And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
Rth 1:3  And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
Rth 1:4  And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
Rth 1:5  And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

Clearly Moab represents those in this world who are used by the Lord to shelter His kingdom during times of great stress, just as our own vessels of clay are used to house us as we go through the fiery trials which are used to birth Christ and His kingdom within us. However, those fiery trials, the famines and persecutions of this life, require that we have “friends of the mammon of this world” who will receive us into eonian tabernacles, until the storm is past. So the Lord has ordained Moab, the eldest son of the uncle of our father’s family, to be the type of “a covert to them… [a] shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hid[ing] the [Lord’s] outcasts;”

Luk 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Isa 16:4  Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

“The extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceases” means the same inwardly as “the kingdom of God is at hand… the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”.

Mar 1:14  Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar 1:15  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

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

King David had indeed been anointed King of Israel, just as we are sealed with the holy spirit as a down-payment of the inheritance of the purchased possession. Yet King Saul was also “God’s anointed”, and we, just like King David, must with patience wait for our promised inheritance.

1Ch 16:20  And when they went [Abraham and Isaac and Jacob] from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people;
1Ch 16:21  He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes,
1Ch 16:22  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

1Sa 24:6  And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.

King David knew that if He were ever to inherit the kingdom, he would first have to wait until the Lord Himself removed His own old man. What this tells us is that our own ‘old man’ is also “the Lord’s anointed” with whom we must live until the Lord sees fit to remove from the persecutions against us of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, etc.

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

2Ch 36:23  Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.

Our first “old man” was “made to be taken and destroyed”, but until he has served that purpose to its fullest, he is “the Lord’s anointed… first man Adam”, and we must live peaceably with him with all that is in us:

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.

Here is this same message for us in the New Testament:

1Ti 2:1  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
1Ti 2:2  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
1Ti 2:3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

“Seek the peace of the city, [and] pray for kings and all in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life”. Nowhere are we ever told to pray for the salvation of our King Saul or our oppressors in this age. Never are we admonished to pray for the salvation of our old man. David knew there could be but one king on the throne, and yet he did all in His power to be a peaceable servant to King Saul:

1Sa 24:9  And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?
1Sa 24:10  Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’S anointed.
1Sa 24:11  Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.
1Sa 24:12  The LORD judge between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.

1Sa 26:20  Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
1Sa 26:21  Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
1Sa 26:22  And David answered and said, Behold the king’s spear! and let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
1Sa 26:23  The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’S anointed.
1Sa 26:24  And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the LORD, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.
1Sa 26:25  Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

Whether it is King Saul, the king of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus, we are forbidden to confront those whom the Lord sends to punish us for our sins. Instead He tells us they are His servants and even His anointed. Instead He provides us with a Moab, a covert, an earthen vessel, a place to patiently endure the storms of this life, until we have endured the trial to the point He has appointed. We must never lift our hand against the Lord’s anointed old man. Instead we must leave our family in Moab, accept with gratitude the Lord’s provision and patiently wait in His faith for Him to give us our promised inheritance. He has given us to know what we are to expect, and our faith in His words promising to keep us safely through those fiery trials is also a gift from Him.

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

Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

If we are given His patience to endure to the end, we are promised the power to rule the nations with a rod of iron:

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.

If we are given to remain faithful to the Lord and His Word to the end, then Moab, the type of our own proud corruptible flesh, our own earthen vessel, our old man will have served his purpose, and we must then relinquish him back to the dust from whence he came.

1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Only after we have given up our physical bodies will we be given to rule with our Lord in His kingdom which will rule all the kingdoms of this world:

Isa 16:5  And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

Only those who “humble [themselves] and become as [a] little child” will enter into the kingdom of God:

Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

This is what Christ tells us concerning His throne and those who fill up what is behind of His afflictions in their flesh:

Luk 22:28  Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
Luk 22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
Luk 22:30  That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

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:

It is this spirit of humility which is contrasted with the spirit of our doomed old man:

Isa 16:6  We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

Our flesh is haughty, proud and full of wrath against the Lord and His ways, but none of that can substantiate any of His lies against the Lord’s truth and:

Isa 16:7  Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.

We are Abraham who, when he was informed that Ishmael, his own son of the bondwoman, was to be replaced by Isaac, the son of promise, the son of the freewoman cried out for his own flesh and blood:

Gen 17:18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

When the time comes within us for the great city wherein our Lord was crucified, Babylon the great harlot, to be “destroyed in one day”, there will be great weeping and wailing:

Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

This is the reaction of Moab within us when the time comes for us to begin to die daily and be crucified daily to Moab within us.

When that time of “the redemption of the purchased possession” does come upon us we are told of the glory of the Lord as our defense at that time:

Isa 4:4  When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
Isa 4:5  And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
Isa 4:6  And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

As the Lord permits in our next study, we will witness the similarities between the description of the destruction of Moab and the destruction of Babylon.

These verses are the last half of this chapter:

Isa 16:8  For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
Isa 16:9  Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
Isa 16:10  And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
Isa 16:11  Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
Isa 16:12  And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.
Isa 16:13  This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.
Isa 16:14  But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.

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