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Zec 14:1-8  “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee”

[Study Aired August 31, 2023]

The “day of the LORD” is something that happens in stages, and this particular chapter of Zechariah makes that very clear. The terminology in verse one, “divided in the midst of you“, then the gathering process of the nations in the second verse, “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle“, then the LORD going forth to “fight against those nations” is another process that takes time of verse three (Zec 14:1-3). These are stages that will unfold during the thousand-year reign of the saints and that God’s elect are experiencing themselves in this life as Christ did (Rev 20:6 another process Luk 13:32, Heb 5:8).

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

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

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

After these first three verses, the moving of mountains is mentioned in verse four, which indicates a process of faith (Mat 17:20), followed by people reacting to the judgments of God that are in the earth in verse five as “ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains.“

Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Finally, in verse eight, we read of the process of judgment that is being executed in the earth by the elect with these words: “living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.“

It takes all these above mentioned processes unfolding in the life of God’s people to accomplish the day of the Lord within so that the body of Christ can execute God’s judgments without “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.”

The day of the Lord, or the day of God’s visitation (Luk 19:44) is realized when God determines it for every man, and because the elect are judged first (1Pe 4:17) we are then commissioned to execute those judgements on all God’s creation who are being reserved for that event  (2Pe 3:7, Jud 1:6, 1Co 6:3).

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Jud 1:6  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Here are the first eight verses for this study that will look at:

Zec 14:1  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
Zec 14:2  For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 
Zec 14:3  Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 
Zec 14:4  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Zec 14:5  And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 
Zec 14:6  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 
Zec 14:7  But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
Zec 14:8  And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

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Zec 14:1  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
Zec 14:2  For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 

Dispensationally these opening verses are talking about Jerusalem below (Isa 1:21, Rev 11:8, Psa 137:6, Jerusalem above Gal 4:26, Luk 13:32) and demonstrate the increased spiritual warfare that will be taking place in the world prior to Christ’s return (2Ti 3:13, 2Ti 3:1). Jerusalem below represents the harlot system that the beast (“all nations“) are against (Rev 17:16). The inward application of these first two verses applies to God’s people in this dispensation of grace as these words of Christ unfold within us.

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

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 

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. 

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

What God will do against Jerusalem, that is likened unto a whore which connects her with Mystery Babylon and  the daughters of this harlot church (Rev 17:5),  is explained in these terms, “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” These are the four verses in the book of Revelation that  talk about the “whore” being revealed for who she is and how God is going to punish her in stages “and half of the city shall go forth into captivity“: (Rev 17:1, Rev 17:15-16, Rev 19:2). 

Rev 17:1   And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.

Rev 17:15   And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
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 19:2  For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand [spiritual fornication within the 40,000 plus divided churches of Babylon (1Co 1:13)].

Again, this is to be understood inwardly for God’s elect today as we ‘come out of her my people’ and strive, with the faith of Christ, to be of one mind (1Pe 4:17, 2Co 6:17, Php 1:27). Outwardly, it is speaking of the time leading up to when the saints will judge the world with a rod of iron, having endured His complete judgment (Rev 15:8) until the end of our lives in order to be saved (Rev 2:27, Rev 12:5, Rev 19:15, Mat 24:13).

Php 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 

Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

This judgment is coming forth from the elect who are going to give her double [meaning the true witness [2] of God’s word that is going to burn as with fire (Jer 5:14, Rev 17:16)] and these verses (Rev 16:19, Rev 18:7, Rev 2:23) correlate with this verse: Zec 14:2 “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women [the churches of Babylon] ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”  The church of Thyatira really captures the thought that we can do many wonderful works in Babylon and still be given a spirit that despises God’s goodness which is leading us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Thyatira’s spirit will be alive and well during the thousand-year reign of the saints, all to demonstrate that we cannot come out of that Babylonian mindset unless the Lord builds that spiritual house within us with God’s spirit (Psa 127:1, Rom 8:9).

Rev 16:19   And the great city was divided into three parts [process of judgment], and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. [Zechariah’sH2148 name means “Jah has remembered“]

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Rev 2:18  And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
Rev 2:19  I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
Rev 2:20  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Rev 2:21  And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rev 2:22  Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Rev 2:23  And I will kill her children with death [her children represent false doctrines]; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Zec 14:3  Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 
Zec 14:4  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 

The mount of Olives is typical of mount Zion where the elect are raised after having fulfilled their symbolic three-and-a-half-year ministry of witnessing to all “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” where the whore sits (Rev 11:3-4). Verse three tells us the Lord will go forth and do spiritual battle “against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.” Verse four reveals who He is going to use to engage in that battle (Oba 1:21). Christ’s feet standing on the mount of Olives is telling us Christ is our head and leader in the day of this great spiritual battle against all “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues“, first within ourselves and then against all nations throughout the symbolic period of time called the thousand-year reign (Eph 6:12, Rev 20:6). We read the expression “as when he fought in the day of battle” that refers to when we were God’s witnesses of these things battling against the powers and principalities at that time in our lives and becoming more than conquerors through Christ and His Christ (Rom 8:37-39, Rev 12:6-8).

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 
Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 

The mount of Olives is “before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” We have all directions being given to us for a reason [north, south, east and west], demonstrating the elect, represented by the mount of Olives, are in perfect subjection to our sovereign God as spirit beings going where we are led by God’s spirit (Rom 8:14, Joh 3:8). The elect have experienced judgment in our heavens already, likened to lightning as from the east to the west, which is how the man of perdition is destroyed within us in this age by the brightness of His coming from the east to the west (Mat 24:27, 2Th 2:8). The mount of Olives, which represents the elect, has been blessed to cleave to Christ in this life – “the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west” from the east unto the west (Psa 19:4-6), The great valley between Jerusalem below and the mount of Olives represents the great gulf there is between mankind and the body of Christ (Luk 16:26). Our mission with Christ can now be accomplished having had His life formed in us through the things we have suffered in this life (Col 1:24, 2Ti 2:12). 

Psa 19:4  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 
Psa 19:5  Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 
Psa 19:6  His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

That mission is to be sent as Christ was sent (Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17) to fill the fleshly world, represented by the south, with His judgment which comes from the north (Isa 26:9). This dividing of the mountain (“half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south“) refers back to verse 1, “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee” (Zec 14:1). The most mountainous power that controls flesh is the law of sin in our members (Rom 7:23, 1Jn 2:16), and the carnal law of Moses or the Gentiles, who are a law unto themselves (Heb 7:16, 1Ti 1:8-10) deludes us into thinking that we can be righteous before God by adhering to those laws in the letter or by being a law unto ourselves. It is that massive self-righteous mountain that has to be divided by Christ in every man’s life, each man in his own order (Rom 7:6, Rom 2:14, 1Co 15:23-25). It is in the day of the Lord that God puts an end to that strong delusion, and our overcoming through Christ brings forth the spiritual spoils of war in our midst – “and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.” The spoils represent the nations at this time that are being ruled over with a rod of iron [inheritance of the saints], and the spoils of war are also experienced today as we become more than conquerors through Christ, being nourished by the giants in our land Christ slays in us (Num 14:9). In time the world will not just learn righteousness but adhere to the words of Christ and continue in them after they have become tried words in the lake of fire (1Pe 1:7).

Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

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:

Zec 14:5  And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 
Zec 14:6  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 
Zec 14:7  But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

God’s judgments in the earth will initially produce a healthy fear of God to which these verses are alluding (Rev 6:14-17). “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal (Azal = “proximity: he has reserved” – from H680: to lay aside, reserve, withdraw, withhold” – 2Pe 3:7, Psa 37:28). When God’s elect are resurrected, there is going to be a great fear that will come over the earth (Rev 11:11, Luk 21:26). What the world is fleeing from is Christ and the elect “and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” It is “like as ye fled from before the earthquake” to give another clue as to the condition of men’s hearts at this time when Babylon is about to fall, found in Revelation 11:13.

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Psa 37:28  For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. 

Rev 6:14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven [Rev 14:8].

This transition period when the world sees Christ and His bride will produce a mindset in humanity that is described in these terms by God, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark.” God’s glory can be seen and understood with a veil over our eyes like the day Moses came down from mount Sinai (Exo 34:29-30), but not have any effect on the heart as the Israelites typified for our sakes (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11). The elect have had the veil removed through Christ and saw the sun of righteousness in His full strength as resurrected saints during their reign under Christ, however the world still have a veil over their eyes (2Co 3:14). It is written this way  “and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” It is “like as ye fled from before the earthquake” and “But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.” The “evening time” when there shall be light typifies the salvation of all mankind, when everyone will be enlightened (Eph 1:18-23) to know God and Jesus Christ in their hearts and minds (Joh 17:3).

Exo 34:30  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 

Luk 21:26  Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Zec 14:8  And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

The living waters going out from Jerusalem are going out from the church and represent the word of God which is going to fill the world as the oceans are filled with water (Hab 2:14). These living waters of (Hab 2:14) are contrasted with the wine of the harlot churches of this world who have caused spiritual drunkenness and nakedness in the next verse of Habakkuk (Hab 2:15). 

Hab 2:14  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Hab 2:15  Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

The formerH6931 [former, ancient, eastern, old] sea that needs to be washed is all the false doctrines that have been propagated throughout the history of mankind, and the hinderH314 [behind, following, subsequent, western, hinder; generally late or last] sea represents the current state of all the “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” with their various belief systems. Those waters go forth “in summer and in winter shall it be” is speaking of the effectiveness of that preaching of the word. There will be seasons of overcoming for the world of the wood, hay and stubble that would happen in the summerH7019=summer, summer-fruit, but there will also be a resistance to the word going forth that falls on unconverted hearts that are likened unto winterH2779=cold, winter, winterhouse, youth mentioned in other scriptures as well. As we are blessed to know, God’s word will ultimately not return void in the great white throne judgment, the latter rain (Mat 24:20, Isa 55:11, Jas 5:7). 

Pro 20:4  The sluggard will not plow by reason of the coldH2779 winter; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

Mat 24:20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

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

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the last part of this chapter [Zec 14:9-21]:

Zec 14:9  And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. 
Zec 14:10  All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. 
Zec 14:11  And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
Zec 14:12  And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. 
Zec 14:13  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
Zec 14:14  And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. 
Zec 14:15  And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. 
Zec 14:16  And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zec 14:17  And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 
Zec 14:18  And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
Zec 14:19  This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
Zec 14:20  In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
Zec 14:21  Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

]]> Study of the Book of Judges – Jdg 3:1-11 Teaching the Generations of the Children of Israel how to War https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/study-of-the-book-of-judges-jdg-31-11-teaching-the-generations-of-the-children-of-israel-how-to-war/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-of-the-book-of-judges-jdg-31-11-teaching-the-generations-of-the-children-of-israel-how-to-war Wed, 24 Feb 2021 13:27:16 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=22117 Jdg 3:1-11 Teaching the Generations of the Children of Israel how to War
[Study Posted February 24, 2021]

Jdg 3:1  Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 
Jdg 3:2  Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; 
Jdg 3:3  Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath. 
Jdg 3:4  And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 
Jdg 3:5  And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: 
Jdg 3:6  And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 
Jdg 3:7  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. 
Jdg 3:8  Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years. 
Jdg 3:9  And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 
Jdg 3:10  And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim. 
Jdg 3:11  And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 

Chapter 2 of Judges shows us that when we started our journey with Christ, we were carnal. This means that we were under the control of the flesh. Under this circumstance, we all experience cycles of defeat. However, we should not give up at this stage of our walk with Christ, because everything that is going on in our lives is according to the counsel of God’s will. It is the Lord himself who decided to leave some of the nations in our land. At the right time, God will devise a means so that His banished is not expelled from Him.

It is in Chapter 3 of Judges that we understand why God leaves some of the nations (enemies within) in our land. The reason for God’s action is as follows:

Jdg 3:1  Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 
Jdg 3:2  Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; 
Jdg 3:3  Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath. 
Jdg 3:4  And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 

In God’s wisdom, He leaves some of the nations in our land to train us how to war against the flesh. This war against the flesh is about how to overcome our carnal nature.  In the early stages of our walk with Christ when we are carnal, we are easily overcome by the flesh, and God uses this to teach us that this war against the flesh is not our fight but His. He teaches us to war by causing us to fail so that we can learn to depend on Him to overcome on our behalf. This happens only after we have gone through several cycles of defeat so that we come to acknowledge we are actually the worst of sinners. When we come to the realization of being the worst sinner, then we have learned how to war by depending on Him wholly.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

I remember when we started this journey of knowing Christ in Babylon that we used to sing this song by Hosanna Music very often, and we did not understand how He trains our hands to war. This song is even more relevant for us now than when we started:

Who is God beside our Lord?
Who is the rock beside our God?
A fortress and a shield
A tower of deliverance is He all who trust in our king
Who is God beside our Lord
Who is the rock beside our God
He trains my hands to war
And lead me into triumph more and more
Praise to His name forever more!!!

This song is taken from Psalm 31 as follows:

Psa 18:31  For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
Psa 18:32  It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. 
Psa 18:33  He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places. 
Psa 18:34  He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

Verse 34 says that He teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. We all know that a bow of steel cannot be broken by our arms. That is to show us that this war against the flesh is like breaking a bow of steel.  Only God can accomplish it for us so that no flesh can glory in His presence!! That is why the righteous must fall seven times to know that the battle is the Lord’s and that is what this cycle of defeat by Israel is all about. Falling seven times means a complete domination by the flesh.

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. 

Immediately after leaving Egypt, the Amalekites waged war with the Israelites, and this war was to teach the Israelites how to war – that is to depend entirely on God.  This war was such that the Israelites were fighting, but victory depended on Moses’ hands being raised.  So technically, the Israelites fighting the Amalekites was not what won the war. It was the hands of Moses.

Moses’ hands here are the hands of the Lord Who fights our battles for us. This war against the flesh within is not to be fought in our strengths. The reason we are losing this fight is that we are depending on ourselves!!  It is the Lord’s battle. Let us lift up our eyes unto the hills from whence cometh our help.  Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth!! This help is what wins the war, not our strength.

Exo 17:8  Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
Exo 17:9  And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
Exo 17:10  So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Exo 17:11  And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
Exo 17:12  But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 
Exo 17:13  And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Psa 121:1  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 
Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 
Psa 121:3  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Psa 121:4  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Psa 121:5  The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The five names of the enemies in the land mentioned in verse 3 imply that it is by grace through faith that we can defeat these enemies. We must have faith that He who has started this overcoming process will see to its completion. At the same time, it is His grace that chastens us to stop sinning and to live righteously in this present world.

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

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

Jdg 3:5  And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: 
Jdg 3:6  And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 
Jdg 3:7  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. 

The children of Israel living among the nations which God asked them to drive away are the same as our old man being alive and well and dominating us in our thinking and actions. As a result, we end up “marrying” the world (being in bondage to the weak and beggarly elements of the world) and serving another Jesus.  In verse 5, the Israelites were living among six nations – the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. The number six is the number of mankind. This means that living under the influence of the flesh (the six nations) would cause us to do evil in the sight of God, as every imagination of our heart is evil as shown in Genesis 6:5.

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

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.

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

These actions by the Israelites gave God the occasion to come and judge them as follows:

Jdg 3:8  Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years. 

Here in verse 8, the Israelites served the Mesopotamian king for eight years. Eight is the number of new beginnings or the new man. What this means is that our being under bondage to the flesh is all part of the requirement for the new beginning or the birth of the new man in us. Indeed, God’s ways are mysterious!! They are past finding out!!

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

The meaning of the name of the king of Mesopotamia (Chushanrishathaim) is significant here. It means double wickedness. In other words, when we start our walk with Christ and we start getting some victories over the flesh, the areas of our flesh where we do not have victory become a snare to us. As we succumb to the dictates of the flesh, we end up being double wicked.  In other words, we become worse off than when we started. This was what Jesus was talking about when He said the following:

Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Israel’s state became worse, and so they began crying for a deliverer. This is the same as Paul saying, “Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?” When we cry to him in our distress, he hears us and comes to our aid. This is what happened to the Israelites. God gave them a judge, by name Othniel, to deliver his people from bondage.

Jdg 3:9  And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 
Jdg 3:10  And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim. 

Othniel here represents the elect whom God is raising up in every generation to take His people out of bondage to the flesh. The Spirit of the Lord coming on Othniel in verse 10 here is God’s fiery words in the mouth of His elect which judges us, and as a result, we start the process of being delivered from bondage to the flesh.

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.

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.

Jdg 3:11  And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 

Here in verse 11, the land has rest for forty years. To understand the significance of the number forty as it applies to us, let us look at what happened to the Israelites when they were in the wilderness for forty years.  During that period, it became clear that they were not cut out to please God because their hearts were always erring.  In that situation they were not able to discern God’s ways. That is what happens to us when we come under bondage to the flesh. We will always be erring, and we cannot please God during that period because we do not know His ways. However, forty years on a positive note also signifies the period of God’s provision and protection. The Israelites lacked nothing during the wilderness experience.  It is also the period in our lives that we begin the dying to the flesh process and getting ourselves ready to drive out the giants of our land.

This period is also characterized by our raiment not waxing old as it happened to the Israelites in the wilderness. As we know, raiment stands for our righteousness. So what it means is that we do not change our righteousness to put on the righteousness of Christ. We bask in our own righteousness just like Job as we wear our own clothes and eat our own food and only desire to have the name of Christ as our husband. This is what happens to us when we come under bondage to the flesh for forty years during our walk with Christ.

Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Num 32:13  And the LORD’S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.

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.

Deu 8:4  Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

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.

Now let’s focus on what this rest is about. This rest of forty years by the Israelites under Othniel is a period where the devil’s activities are constrained by the Lord just as at the beginning of the millennial rule, Satan would be bound for a period of a “thousand years”. As a result, the Israelites had a period of rest from war with the other nations in their land. It is therefore a physical rest, and as we journey with Christ, we also experience these periods of rest. However, this is not the spiritual rest for the elect which we must endeavor to enter. As indicated in Hebrews 4:9-11, this spiritual rest is to cease from our own works. We can enter into this rest when we believe in the Lord that what He has started in our lives, He is able to finish it on our behalf.

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
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.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

[Next study in this series is here.]

]]> The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 1:1-10 I Have This Day Set Thee Over The Nations and Over The Kingdoms https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-11-10-i-have-this-day-set-thee-over-the-nations-and-over-the-kingdoms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-11-10-i-have-this-day-set-thee-over-the-nations-and-over-the-kingdoms Tue, 24 Nov 2020 21:13:30 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=21762

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

[Study Aired November 22, 2020]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, the Lord dragged King Manasseh to repentance:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To which the Lord responded:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

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

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

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

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

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

Paul listed four of our spiritual enemies:

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

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

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

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Rev 13:4  And they [“all men, small and great, rich and poor, free and bond”, Rev 13:16] worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

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

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

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

2) Against powers:

This is the Greek word translated as ‘powers’:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

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

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

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

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

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

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

4) Against spiritual wickedness in high places.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Col 1:16  For by him [Christ, verse 18] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him [Christ] should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father [Jer 1:10].

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

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

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

]]> Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 66:15-19 By Fire and by His Sword Will the Lord Plead with All Flesh https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-6615-19-by-fire-and-by-his-sword-will-the-lord-plead-with-all-flesh/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-6615-19-by-fire-and-by-his-sword-will-the-lord-plead-with-all-flesh Sun, 01 Nov 2020 03:45:35 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=21663 https://www.dropbox.com/s/udqhhd0hkl8hxdh/GMT20201101-155741S_Mike-Vinso.m4a?raw=1

Isa 66:15-19 By Fire and by His Sword Will the Lord Plead with All Flesh

[Study Aired November 1, 2020]

Isa 66:15  For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16  For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
Isa 66:17  They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
Isa 66:18  For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
Isa 66:19  And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.

Our last study ended with the Lord informing us that “when… [we] shall be comforted in Jerusalem… our heart shall rejoice… and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies.

Isa 66:13  As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isa 66:14  And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.

Knowing ‘the hand of the Lord’ is to know and believe that His Words are sure:

Num 11:23  And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD’S hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

Ecc 8:4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

Luk 4:32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.

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

Our study today begins with the work of the Lord’s “right hand… by the Word of His power:

Isa 66:15  For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16  For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

These last verses of Isaiah transition back from the subject of comfort to informing us of how the Lord is dealing with our flesh which was “made to be taken and destroyed”:

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;

“Know[ing] the hand of the Lord toward His servants” (Isa 66:14) is speaking of the faith of His servants in His Word. The Lord’s enemies are always those who withstand Him and His doctrines. The rebellious carnal mind in each of us has ‘spoken evil of the things we did not understand.’ To “know… the hand of the Lord” is to experience its fiery work in purifying our inward heavens. The sword with which “the Lord… will… plead with all flesh”, including first and primarily with the flesh of His elect, is His Word:

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Having the understanding and knowledge required to “know the hand of the Lord toward His servants, and [to know] His indignation toward His enemies” will be the focus of our study today. The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven is given only to those who are being dragged to the Lord by His fiery words:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

“The hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies” is reiterated “line upon line and precept upon precept upon precept” in:

Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

The “book of remembrance” is just another name for “the Lamb’s book of life”:

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Rev 21:10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Rev 21:11  Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

As the overcomers of “this present time” (Rom 8:18) produce seed to the Lord, our children will become our family and will through our mercy (Rom 11:30-31) enter into the New Jerusalem.

Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Act 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

Isa 61:9  And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

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

That ‘mercy’ will not be shown to them until after the great white throne judgment begins. ‘Jerusalem’ in Isaiah 66 is speaking specifically of “Jerusalem above, the mother of us all”, and it is “Jerusalem above” which is “the apple of [the Lord’s] eye”. It is certainly not “the son of the bondwoman… Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children.”

Here in Malachi “Jerusalem above” is called “My jewels… [My] own son”. In Isaiah 66:14 we are told that ‘when we are comforted by Jerusalem [above] then the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.’ “Knowing… the hand of the Lord toward His servants [contrasted with] His indignation toward His enemies” is expressed here in Malachi as the spiritual ability to “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and Him that serves Him not.” Such discernment comes only through being spiritually matured through “having [our spiritual] senses exercised to discern good and evil,” to “know [what is] the spirit of Truth and [what is] the spirit of error” (1Jo 4:6).

Such critical discernment is not left to individual preferences. Doctrinal differences from time to time are inevitable. The Lord uses our hunger for more of Christ and His Truth to let the adversary tempt us into believing a lie and thinking above what is written. When that happens, our pride identifies with our thoughts which are “above that which is written”. At that point “the pride of life” and the tribulation of being humiliated before men causes us to “believe a lie” and believe the idols of our own hearts. This is an essential and integral part of “the hand of the LORD be[ing made] known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.”

Paul tells us we must live out this experience:

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

Look at this verse again with its Strong’s numbers:

1Co 11:19  ForG1063 there mustG1163 beG1511 alsoG2532 heresiesG139 amongG1722 you,G5213 thatG2443 they which are approvedG1384 may be madeG1096 manifestG5318 amongG1722 you.G5213

Notice that four English words are used: “they which are approved”, to translate the one Greek word ‘dokimos’ G1384. This word appears seven times in the New Testament. Two examples will demonstrate that the English word ‘approved’ is indeed a proper translation:

Rom 16:10  Salute Apelles approved [G1384: ‘dokimos’] in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus’ household.

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved [G1384: ‘dokimos’] unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I was surprised to find that this is also the Greek word found in a verse we all quote quite frequently:

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried [G1384: ‘dokimos’, approved], he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Knowing that four English words were used for the single Greek word ‘dokimos’, and knowing that ‘dokimos’ is translated as ‘tried’ in James 1:12,  and knowing that ‘dokimos’ means ‘approved’ is all very interesting, and it helps us to more fully understand what the Lord is telling us. However, it does not change the fact that heresies reveal heretics and the fact that seeing what is a heresy also contrasts that heresy with what is the Truth.

Let’s read this placing the emphasis on the heresy and see if it changes anything:

1Co 11:18  For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that [that] which [is] approved may be made manifest among you.

The emphasis is taken from the heretic and placed upon the heresy. Either way we translate verse 19, an unrepentant heretic is revealed if he refuses to humble himself and to be persuaded by the consensus of the multitude of the counsel of our leaders by whom we are commanded to be persuaded.

If we are granted the humility to “tremble at… every… word of God” then we can, and we will, fear and tremble to fail to obey these words:

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

Pro 15:22  Without counsel [physical and spiritual] purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

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

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders [the consensus of your elders], and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The word “leaders” is in the plural because the apostles demonstrated by their example that the way they kept “the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace [was and is to] defer to [the counsel of our] leaders.” That is what they did concerning the question of whether the Gentiles were commanded to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses in Acts 15. Such a humble spirit is in accord with this spirit:

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

Such doctrinal questions are to be settled by the consensus of “your leaders” who are mature enough, experienced, and knowledgeable enough to know how to “try the spirits [to see] whether they are of God”:

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

A false prophet is a false prophet because he is bringing false doctrines into the church of God, which is the Lord’s house. “Believe not every spirit [doctrine] but try the spirits [doctrines] whether they are of God: because many false prophet are gone out into the world”.

The Lord Himself warns us of this experience in these words:

Joh 10:1  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door [The Truth of Christ and His doctrines] into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
Joh 10:2  But he that entereth in by the door [knows and teaches The Truth] is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3  To him the porter [the holy spirit] openeth; and the sheep hear his voice [Mat 16:17]: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

The only way “the sheep hear His voice” is if the holy spirit of the Father has “given [us] ears that hear”. What we are being told is that those who are the true “Jerusalem above” will know which doctrines agree with the ‘voice’ of the Shepherd and which doctrines are the ‘voice’ of a stranger who does not know and cannot hear the ‘voice’ of the true Shepherd. Knowing what is the voice of the true Shepherd is itself extremely comforting, because that means we have already experienced His fiery wrath upon all the lies of “the voice of a stranger”, and we have “through much tribulation… dying daily… presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, and being crucified with Christ’ and we have now come to “know His voice” and will not follow a stranger.

Which leaders are to persuade us if our leaders are themselves divided? The holy spirit knew this question would arise and has given us two examples of what we are to do when that happens. That is exactly what happened in the reign of Rehoboam and in Acts 15.

In the case of Rehoboam, the lesson we learn is that we are to listen to the older counselors:

1Ki 12:6  And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
1Ki 12:7  And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.
1Ki 12:8  But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:

This happened to Rehoboam, and it is written for our admonition (1Co 10:11). Following the counsel of the younger counselors led to the disastrous breaking up of the kingdom. The older counselors had given good counsel, but it was ignored by King Rehoboam.

Acts 15 deals with a doctrinal matter which arose within the church. Peter, Paul and Barnabas believed that being physically circumcised and keeping the sacrifices and holy days was all fulfilled in Christ and that now the Lord “Puts no difference between [the Jews] and [the Gentiles].

These are Peter’s words before all the apostles and elders in Jerusalem:

Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

The apostle “James the brother of John” had been killed by Herod by this time:

Act 12:2  And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

Peter was speaking for Paul and Barnabas. The twelve, minus James who had been martyred by Herod, and Peter who was agreeing with Paul and Barnabas, means there were ten apostles who believed that the Jews were still required to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses:

Act 21:17  And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
Act 21:18  And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
Act 21:19  And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
Act 21:20  And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law [of Moses]:
Act 21:21  And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
Act 21:22  What is it therefore? The multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.
Act 21:23  Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
Act 21:24  Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.
Act 21:25  As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
Act 21:26  Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

Notice what the multitude did while the apostles were in the process of discussing this question of who was required to keep the law of Moses:

Act 15:12  Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
Act 15:13  And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

The multitude of the church were not involved in the discussions of the apostles and the elders. This is all being said “after there had been much disputing” among “the apostles and the elders”:

Act 15:6  And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
Act 15:7  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

Notice that the ten apostles, while agreeing with Peter, Paul, and Barnabas that the Gentiles need not be circumcised and that the Gentiles did not need to keep the law of Moses, most certainly did not agree that the Jews need not do so:

Act 15:13  And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
Act 15:14  Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
Act 15:15  And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
Act 15:16  After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
Act 15:17  That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Act 15:18  Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Act 15:19  Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not [with the law of Moses] them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Act 15:20  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21  For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

“Moses… being read in the synagogue every sabbath day” to the ten apostles was a very positive thing for the Jewish believers. Therefore, James concludes that a letter must be sent to the Gentiles to let them know that only the Jews are required to keep the law of Moses.

Act 15:22  Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
Act 15:23  And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Act 15:24  Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
Act 15:25  It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Act 15:26  Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 15:27  We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
Act 15:29  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

What now were Peter, Paul and Barnabas to do? Ten apostles agreed the Jews must still be circumcised, keep the weekly sabbath and all the annual holy days, eat only clean meats, and even continue to offer sacrifices at the temple. Should Peter, Paul and Barnabas say, “I do not care about ‘consensus’. I am right and you are wrong.” As we all know, that would have split the church just as it was beginning to grow in numbers. No, such a spirit would have to ignore the example of Rehoboam placing the counsel of the younger above the counsel of the elders, and they would have had to ignore the consensus of a multitude of counselors.

The Truth is that it was simply not yet God’s own appointed time for the ten apostles to see the truth of Peter’s words acknowledging that there is no difference between a Jew and a Gentile in Christ. For the time:

Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

For the Jews it was not so because:

Act 15:21  For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

This is all reiterated in Acts 21 where we learn that all this time the ten apostles who had never left Jerusalem were still offering physical blood sacrifices as if Christ’s sacrifice was not quite enough to forgive our sins:

Act 21:26  Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

Having experienced the Lord’s wrath, knowing we are no more under the wrath of the law, we are now in a position to be used by the Lord to pour out that same fiery wrath of the Truth of His Words upon our adversaries, within ourselves and within His body.

Rom 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

It is not yet time to take revenge on the outward kingdoms of this world, but if we are faithful and patient that day will come:

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 [spiritual… doctrinal] strong holds;)
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

The Lord is not far off anywhere. He is right here, right now “working all things after the counsel of His own will”:

Deu 30:11  For this command which I am commanding you today is not too wonderful for you, nor is it too far off.
Deu 30:12  It is not in the heavens that you should say, Who shall go up into the heavens for us, and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it, that we may do it?
Deu 30:13  And it is not beyond the sea that you should say, Who shall cross over for us to the region beyond the sea and take it for us, and cause us to hear it, that we may do it?
Deu 30:14  For the Word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Notice how the holy spirit has Paul to understand these words:

Rom 10:6  But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above: )
Rom 10:7  Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8  But what saith it? The word [Christ] is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Christ really is alive and well living within His elect, and at the appointed time, after we have been “through much tribulation [then] He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Christ has subdued the rebellious kingdoms within us, and we have “endured… fiery trials… to the end”… then “the kingdoms of this world “are [and will] become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.”

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

“The kingdoms of this world… becoming the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ” is in down payment form ‘being brought to our desired haven’ of:

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.

Psalms 107, as we will see, agrees with the revelation of Jesus Christ in telling us that “great tribulation” must  precede the joy and peace that comes to us when we are comforted in Jerusalem above, comforted by the Lord through His body.

The work of “the seventh angel” is “the great and marvelous… seven last plagues”:

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

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

If we are granted by the Lord to accept and endure the seven last plagues of His wrath as a “great and marvelous… sign… [in our] heavens” then we will be comforted by ‘Jerusalem above’ and we will rejoice in knowing that it is all “the hand of the Lord… toward His servants” separating our new man from our old man who is His enemy to whom His indignation is directed:

Isa 66:13  As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isa 66:14  And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.

Inwardly, these verses are the seven last plagues doing their marvelous work within us. Outwardly, they will be fulfilled when the Lord makes manifest the sons of God at the very beginning of His kingdom over the kingdoms of this world, and dispensationally these words will have their final fulfillment in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death:

Isa 66:15  For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16  For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

These words and the following verses are not in the future tense. Hebrew has a future tense, but that is not the tense conveyed to us by the holy spirit. This is all in the Qal stem which conveys the is, was and will be nature of what is being said. The emphasis must always primarily be on the ‘is’ application of His words or there will be no personal application. Our natural inclination is to place the Lord’s words off into the future and into some distant place away from ourselves.

However, these words apply primarily and first to me and to you:

Isa 66:17  They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
Isa 66:18  For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

“Eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse” are imbibing of all the false doctrines of Babylon. “All nations and tongues” include first and primarily the Lord’s elect who are all dragged out of ‘Babylon’ by the fiery trials of the seven last plagues as we are plainly told in:

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come [1Pe 4:17]: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

1Pe 4:17  For the time [“the hour of His judgment”] 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?

While the whole world is teaching that the seven last plagues are to be experienced only by those who are destined to be cast into the lake of fire, and are to be avoided by the Lord’s elect, this is what the Lord’s elect and His own words teach us about this “marvelous work”. This is the Truth about who must endure the wrath of the Lord:

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

That is what makes these seven plagues such a marvelous work! It applies to all men of all time:

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

The judgment of the religions of this world must first take place within us. Then at the appointed time, following the thousand-year reign, they will in time include the masses of Babylon who are not granted repentance in this age:

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon [the religions of this world] came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

There is one doctrine upon which all religions agree and thereby placing the beast, the man of sin, upon the throne in the hearts of all men. That doctrine is the false doctrine of mankind having a free will. That spirit will be judged and that “wicked one” who promotes that lie, is being destroyed within us “in this present time” and will be destroyed in “all in Adam” only by the coming  of Christ into our hearts to dethrone and “destroy” that beast which is residing within every one of us at first:

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:

It is the Truth of the Lord’s words which constitute and precipitate this “great earthquake, such as was not since [I] have been upon the earth”, which begins to destroy the man of sin who has ruthlessly ruled over my entire life before the coming of Christ within me. It is my old man who is this ‘earth’ which is being shaken so violently that nothing is left standing before the Lord.

“The spirit of His mouth, and… the brightness of His coming” are one and the same thing. They are both the fiery truths of the fiery Word of God:

Jer 5:11  For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.
Jer 5:12  They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
Jer 5:13  And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

This statement, “I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them” is expressed again is this way:

Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

This is the function of this “great hail[storm]”:

Isa 28:15  Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Isa 28:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
Isa 28:18  And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

It is through the words of those who have endured all these fiery judgments ahead of us that we have endured these fiery trials, this great earthquake and this great hailstorm, and it will be through our words that others will come to the Lord. That is what is being said in our last verse of our study today:

Isa 66:19  And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.

We are those who are being ‘comforted by Jerusalem above, the mother of us all. Lord willing we are the body of Christ which builds itself up in love’, we are those by whom the Lord’s glory will be “declared among the Gentiles”, and it will be through us “and [our] seed]” that those who have never known our Lord will hear of His glory.

Isa 61:9  And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

That is our study for today. Here are the verses for our next study:

Isa 66:20  And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
Isa 66:21  And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD.
Isa 66:22  For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
Isa 66:23  And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
Isa 66:24  And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

]]> Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 65:1-6 I am Found of Them That Sought me Not https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-651-6-i-am-found-of-them-that-sought-me-not/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-651-6-i-am-found-of-them-that-sought-me-not Sat, 29 Aug 2020 18:23:09 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=21388 Isa 65:1-6  I Am Found of Them That Sought Me Not
[Study Aired August 30, 2020

Isa 65:1  I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
Isa 65:2  I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Isa 65:3  A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
Isa 65:4  Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Isa 65:5  Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
Isa 65:6  Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

The first verse of this chapter is a prophecy of the gospel being taken from the Jews and going to the Gentiles.

Isa 65:1  I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.

Here is what the apostle Paul makes of this verse of scripture:

Rom 10:19  But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
Rom 10:20  But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
Rom 10:21  But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

Paul points out that Moses himself had told the Lord’s people that he was taking His offer of salvation in this age to the Gentiles, who were not even seeking after Him:

Deu 32:21  They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

In its fullest and final application, this prophecy speaks of the Lord’s elect, the despised of this world who have been called out of the established churches of the Babylonian system which holds sway over the kings of this earth.

Here is the ultimate meaning of “those which are not a people… a foolish nation”:

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

In time even we, the Gentile Christians, have done the exact same thing ancient Israel did and placed the idols of their heart instead of the Truths of the Lord’s word and false doctrines for the doctrines of Christ. Ancient Israel typifies the great whore out of whom all of God’s elect must come:

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.

A mere three days after being miraculously brought through the half-mile deep waters of the Red Sea, Israel was murmuring against the Lord for trying their faith with thirst:

Exo 15:22  So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
Exo 15:23  And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
Exo 15:24  And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

In the same way, the very churches which were raised up by the apostles before they had physically died, had apostatized and had turned their backs on the Lord’s apostles and had rejected their doctrines… the doctrines of Christ:

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia [“the seven churches of Asia” (Rev 1:4)] be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

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

The ministers of Babylon were “casting [the faithful] out of the church” before the apostles Paul and John had even died. As Paul had prophesied, the apostasy of the New Testament church was an accomplished fact just that early:

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

Not one word of this is addressed to apostatized ancient Israel or to the apostate Christian church. Every word is addressed only to those who have been given eyes that see and ears that hear these words:

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.

Every one of the Lord’s elect must first become this whoring, unfaithful wife before we will be granted to “come out of her…”

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

The angel interprets the meaning of the waters this whore is sitting upon:

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.

This woman is a whore because she has forsaken her husband and has given herself to other men, which is exactly what the Lord tells us His people have done to Him:

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

If there is anything to be learned from knowing the story of the gospels, it is that the established apostate Jewish religion of Christ’s day typifies the established religions of our day, which will always be found rejecting the words of our Lord:

Joh 15:20  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

The word ‘they’ of this verse is speaking of those who “will also persecute you”. That the Lord is referring specifically of the established religious leaders is made clear when He tells us:

Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
Mat 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 10:23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

It was not the Romans who persecuted our Lord. Christ was, and He is, speaking specifically of the religious leaders of that day, and the religious leaders of our day and of every generation of mankind from Christ’s death and resurrection until the time of the resurrection of “His Christ… the first resurrection”, when the Lord will establish His kingdom over the kingdoms of this world. The Romans typify this secular world in which we live, and they certainly were no fans of Christ. However, they did not have the visceral hatred for Christ the religious leaders had, simply because they did not feel threatened by a carpenter from Galilee. In the same manner, the secular governments of today, while they have nothing in common with us, do not have the visceral hatred of the doctrines of Christ which the apostatized church has toward Christ and His Christ. Even more insidious is that, like Judas who betrayed the Lord to the Jews, it is “of your own selves [that] men… shall… arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”

Christ made it clear that, though He was indeed a king, His kingdom was not of this world. He never once said, “My kingdom will never be of this kosmos”… this world. The fact is that He taught the exact opposite when He told Pilate, the Roman representative:

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

The Greek word translated as ‘world’, which appears twice in this verse, is ‘kosmos’ and means:

The Greek word translated as ‘now’ in “now is my kingdom not from hence”, now “not of this world” is the Greek word ‘nun’:

Telling Pilate that His kingdom is not at this “present time… of this kosmos”, certainly intimates that a time is coming when His kingdom will indeed be of this world, of this kosmos. Is there scripture which would confirm that the day is coming when Christ’s kingdom will be over this entire world, “this kosmos”? That is exactly what we are told will take place, and all the preterist doctrines in the world will not spiritualize away the fact that:

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

Notice what this verse does not say. It does not say that “the kingdoms of this world are within you” which is what is said of the kingdom of God in:

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

“The kingdom of God comes not with observation” is a statement the Lord made to the Pharisees who “demanded of [Him] when the kingdom of God should come.” He assuredly was not saying, “The kingdom of God is within” those apostate Pharisees who wanted Him dead. Christ was not attempting to convert those who were appointed to be His murderers. When He told them “The kingdom of God is within you” He was speaking of those in “this present time” into whose lives He would come after His death and resurrection which He knew was imminent.

Notice what Christ said immediately after revealing that for “this present time… [if Christ is within you] the kingdom of God is within you. This is the very next verse:

Luk 17:22  And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
Luk 17:23  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
Luk 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Luk 17:25  But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luk 17:29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

When speaking to the Pharisees, Christ spoke exclusively of the kingdom of God which would be within those in whom he would come to dwell and to live out His life of being rejected by “this generation”. During that time, while His kingdom is within His elect, He tells us not to believe anyone who attempts to tells us that His kingdom is an outward kingdom. Nevertheless, notice what He says of the time when “the kingdoms of this world… become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ” (Rev 11:15). Just for the purpose of making it clear that an outward kingdom will indeed rule over the kingdoms of this world, this ‘kosmos’, Christ makes this statement:

Luk 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

Does this 24th verse have an inward spiritual application for you and for me? Of course, it does; just as “the first man Adam” (1Co 15:45) has an inward spiritual application to our carnal-minded old man. However, 1 Corinthians 10 and Revelation 11 both reveal that there is a consummation of this age and the beginning of a new age in which “My servants [shall] fight that I be not delivered unto the [religious leaders of] this generation”:

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

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

Christ did not tell Pilate, “My kingdom will never be of this world, this ‘kosmos’. Instead He said that if His kingdom were of this kosmos, then His servants would fight. We need to know that there is coming a time when Christ’s servants will fight literal warfare against the kingdoms of this world, and we need to know that when:

Rev 11:15  …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.

Notice again what this verse does not say. It does not say…’The kingdom of God within you is become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ’, rather it actually affirms, “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” The Greek word translated as ‘world’ here is ‘kosmos’, the same Greek word which Christ used when telling Pilate that if His kingdom were of this ‘kosmos’ then His servants would fight for Him. Christ makes clear that before this outward kingdom is established on this earth, He must physically die and be rejected by the religious establishment of “this present time… this generation”:

Luk 17:22  And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
Luk 17:23  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
Luk 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Luk 17:25  But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

When we are given the understanding that Christ identifies with His body, just as His Father identifies with Him, then we are able to spiritually apply these words to ourselves and know that we, too, must “suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.” When we do apply these words spiritually and when we acknowledge that we, too, must “first… suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” we still must also acknowledge Christ is telling us that this suffering and being rejected is just the “first” step toward the day in which the outward kingdom of the Son of Man will be revealed to this world “as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven”. That is how the Lord describes the appearance of “the Son of man… in His day”. It is “His day” because He is given outward “power over [all] the kingdoms of this world” (Rev 11:15).

Luk 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day
Luk 17:25  But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

The “kingdom of heaven” is given to very few in “this present time”. The rulers of “the kingdom of God”, who will rule the nations of this world a thousand years, are not ruling over spirit beings during that thousand years. That period of time is not “within you”. It is a literal, outward kingdom which, along with the “short season” of rebellion which follows the thousand years, separates the first resurrection and that blessed and holy few who are given part in that “resurrection of life”, from the second resurrection which is the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death. Those who are granted the honor of being in the first resurrection are “given power over the nations”, and we are told we will rule the nations with a rod of iron.

The “pattern of sound words” which describes the same experience, the “one event” of those who are in the blessed and holy first resurrection is:

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

No one being ruled over by the Lord’s Christ during that thousand-year reign is ever referred to as being “dragged” to Christ. When we attempt as the ‘amillennialists’ (meaning there is no literal thousand-year reign) to spiritualize away this literal thousand-year reign, it has the same effect as spiritualizing away the creation and the flood of Noah. Such an insidious doctrine removes any fear of losing our “crown of life”. Such a doctrine has the effect of removing the incentive of being blessed to rule with Christ over the nations for a thousand years and then judging angels in the great white throne judgment. That false doctrine disallows all the incentives of all the promises we are given to have a part in that “blessed and holy first resurrection” and “not be hurt of the second death/lake of fire/white throne judgment”. It denies that God is a God of order and that each man is saved “in his own order”:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death [via the lake of fire/second death].

The last words of the previous chapter were:

1Co 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.

God is a God of order, and those who say, “If you see anything in scripture in an ordinal manner then you can and you will miss the spiritual message” or denying that “every man… shall be… made alive… in his own order,” that person’s eyes are blinded by the Lord Himself to the words “then… when… till… [and] the last enemy…” found there in 1st Corinthians 15:22-26.

It is the greatest blessing of all time to be given to be of those “few chosen” who are promised a “crown of life” and the power of “a rod of iron” to rule this outward world for a thousand symbolic years:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations [“of this world” (Rev 11:15)]:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The Lord tells us that our resurrection, “the resurrection of life”, is contrasted with another resurrection which cannot take place “till the thousand years should be fulfilled”, after which there is “a little season” of rebellion against ‘the camp of the saints and the beloved city’:

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

“The camp of the saints… and the beloved city” are those who were given by the Lord Himself to “have a part in [that] blessed and holy… first resurrection” and who have no part, and will not be hurt, of the second death, which is the lake of fire into which everyone who was not in “the resurrection to life” is cast at the white throne judgement:

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 [to reign with Christ over the nations of this world for a thousand years]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: krisis, judgment – following the short season of rebellion which takes place “when the thousand years are expired” (Rev 20:7)].

Therefore, it is a great blessing to be “rejected of this generation” with our Lord. If indeed we are given that honor, then we will in “this present time [be] hated of all men”:

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues [The word translated ‘councils’ is the Greek word ‘sunedrion’];
Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
Mat 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
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.

If we know Christ, then we will be treated as He was treated. It is as sure as the rising of the sun because it is the Lord Himself who tells us unequivocally:

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.

Christ is not suggesting that some people might hate us if we sincerely subscribe to His doctrines. This is an assurance from Christ Himself that “[we] shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake”. ‘His name’s sake’ is a matter of simply being faithful and obedient to His words, which policy the religious leaders of this world simply hate, just as much or more than they did when our Lord was here on this earth in a body of corruptible flesh and blood:

Just as it was in the days of Jephthah and King David, it will be by the hand of those who are rejected of this world that the Lord will deliver His people, and later all mankind:

Jdg 11:1  Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
Jdg 11:2  And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.
Jdg 11:3  Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.

1Sa 22:1  David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.
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.

Being rejected by the Lord’s anointed makes David, a shepherd boy, not at all seeking to be a king the typical fulfillment of our first verse:

Isa 65:1  I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.

As King David himself, who despised the words of the Lord and took another man’s wife, we must acknowledge that we all first fulfill these words concerning our own apostasy:

Isa 65:2  I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Isa 65:3  A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;

Bricks are made by men, who put clay into a fire and produce a product which is vastly inferior to stones which are made by God Himself. Bricks and “slime for mortar” were the building materials for the tower of Babel:

Gen 11:3  And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

In such a spiritually inferior state, we are the dead burying their dead, and our food is all unclean flesh which is sure to keep us in our spiritually defiled dying condition:

Isa 65:4  Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

This is the Hebrew word translated as ‘monuments’ in this verse:

“Keep, keepeth, kept, keeper, keeping, observe, preserve”, etc. This word means the same as the Greek word ‘tereo’, as in “If you would enter into life, keep (tereo) the commandments (Mat 19:17) …keep (tereo) the sayings of the prophecy of this book” (Rev 22:9).

Isaiah 65:4 is telling us is that until we are judged, we all “lodge in [the things we keep… eating] swine’s flesh and abominable things”

Isa 65:5  Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

When we keep and observe false doctrines, at first we will and do hate those who refuse to do so, and we put them away from ourselves because we think we are more righteous than they are. The scriptures call that ‘making yourself righteous’ and thereby condemn Christ and His Christ:

Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Here is the “smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day” as these words apply to you and me in the New Testament:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

It is the wrath of God against the rebellious kingdom of our old man which works His righteous judgments within the lives of every one of His elect because:

Isa 65:6  Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

The revelation of Jesus Christ within the lives of each of us as His elect includes the reading, hearing and keeping of chapters 14-16. We, too, must be judged. It is the greatest blessing the Lord can give any of us to make us to be judged first in “this present time”:

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?

If you do not see the order in which the Lord is doing His work with mankind, “first beginning at us”, then you can and will miss the spiritual message concerning His kingdom which must rule until all enemies are put under His feet, the last enemy to be destroyed being death itself.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

That is our study for today. Here are the verses we will cover next Sunday, Lord willing:

Isa 65:7  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
Isa 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Isa 65:10  And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Isa 65:12  Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

]]> Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 51:12-17 We Have Drunk At The Hand Of The Lord The Cup Of His Fury https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-51-12-17-we-have-drunk-at-the-hand-of-the-lord-the-cup-of-his-fury/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-51-12-17-we-have-drunk-at-the-hand-of-the-lord-the-cup-of-his-fury Sun, 22 Dec 2019 02:49:32 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=19984
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Isa 51:12-17 We Have Drunk At The Hand Of The Lord The Cup Of His Fury - Discussion

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Isa 51-12-17-We Have Drunk At The Hand Of The Lord The Cup Of His Fury

Isa 51:12  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
Isa 51:13  And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
Isa 51:14  The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
Isa 51:15  But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
Isa 51:16  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
Isa 51:17  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

In our last study we learned that we are the Lord’s ‘arms’ through which he sends His word to “destroy and to build up”:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

I recall a sermon from my days in the World Wide Church Of God in which the minister pointed to this verse of Jeremiah and made the point that God had “set [Jeremiah] over the nations… to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant”.

At that time I had not been given eyes to see that the person speaking to Jeremiah was Christ Himself, and that Christ Himself taught us that “man [Greek, ‘anthropos’, mankind, all of mankind, and not just Jeremiah, must] live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This study will reveal just how integral the Lord has ordained that His elect are in carrying out His plan for the salvation of all of mankind (1Co 15:22):

Luk_22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

Joh_20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

My own blinded eyes read over these words without considering what Christ’s Father sent Him to accomplish through the kingdom He has appointed to us. So what has the Lord sent us to accomplish?:

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

Will Christ, really, through us “save… the world”? Oh yes, He will not fail:

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The Lord’s will to have all men to be saved is not just some idle desire of His, dependent upon mankind’s fabled ‘free will’, but this is The Truth:

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

The believers of ‘this present time’ (Rom 8:18) are the Lord’s special firstfruits , but the very fact they are referred to as ‘firstfruits’ necessitates that there is a later harvest which will encompass “all men”:

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Jas 1:18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Just as it requires fiery trials in this present time to drag us to Christ, it will take the same fiery trials in the great white throne judgment to drag those in the second death to repentance. But the Lord has ordained that we are the saviors of Obadiah 21, and through us not one will be lost:

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. 

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. 

That is why we are called the Lord’s arms:

Isa 51:5  My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

Here is the Lord’s “arms [which] shall judge the people”:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

If these words proceed out of the mouth of God concerning those who live and reign with Christ for a thousand years, then I am obliged to say, Amen! to these words:

Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

‘Living by every word… of God’ includes living by the limitations and the order which proceeds out of His mouth, as we have all become painfully aware. We simply must not attempt to make those words read… ‘Blessed and holy is he on whom the second death has part’.

In other words, if Christ tells me that He is my head, and the Father is His head (1Co 11:3), and that He, Christ, is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev 3:14), I cannot just presumptuously claim that the words “The Beginning of the Creation of God” applies to me, or that I am the head of Christ. I may well be of a group whom He says are “the first to believe on [Him]…the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Eph 1:12 and Rev 14:4), but that is only because those words came out of His mouth and He “is working all things after the counsel of His own will”, and not after the counsel of my twisting of His Words.

Just because the words, “the head of Christ is God” have proceeded out of the mouth of God, does not mean that ‘the head of Christ is mankind’. What utter foolishness, what utter presumptuousness it is to so twist and distort the words of God so as to nullify His own function and place, and the position in which He has placed us in relation to His Father, to Himself, and to our fellow man. What utter foolishness and presumptuousness it is to deny  the order of the events with which He, “after the counsel of His own will”, is working with mankind!!! If we believe that “man shall… live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, then it behooves us to “tremble at His words”, the very words which give us the knowledge of the order and the means through which every man will be “made alive” (1Co 15:23), as well as the rewards given to those  “who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12).

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. [That is “the place of His rest”]
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your  joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Isa 66:6  A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

Not only are we “the arms of the Lord” but we are also “the place of [His] rest.” As His arms He will use us to drag all men to Himself:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Will we dare to say ‘they that are Christ’s will be made alive as firstfruits and then after us Christ’??? Will we presumptuously say that the first resurrection is actually after the thousand years, and the great white throne judgment is prior to the thousand year reign??? Will we dare to say that death is not the last enemy to be destroyed??? Or will we be seduced by the forked tongue of the great red dragon to believe that “if you see anything as ordinal then you can and you will miss the spiritual message”???

No, if the Lord wills we will humbly pay very close attention to the revealed order in which He is in the process of making every man alive in Christ. We will rather acknowledge and agree with the scriptures that Christ is the firstfruits of them that slept, and afterwards they that are Christ’s in “this present time”. And then only after that, after the “little season” of rebellion which follows the thousand year reign of those who are ordained to be the first to be “made alive in Christ [1Co 15:23, in] this present time” (Rom 8:18), will all the rest of mankind be “made alive in Christ” through the same purifying fire, but then the Lord’s words will be known as “the lake of fire”, the same fire which tries every man’s works, but which under that name is ordained for a later time with a different reward (Rev 20:7-15). But we will not be so presumptuous as to assume that just because the fire which is now trying our works is the same fire, the very Word of God which will try those who will be cast into the lake of fire that therefore there is no significance to the words “every man in his own order”. Rather we will humbly acknowledge that anyone counted as ‘firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, are “blessed and holy” above all men of all time, and that the last harvest is never called “the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb”. No one else is given our honor nor our “crown of life” (Rev 14:4).

Isa 42:8  I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

The ‘fire’ which is trying our works is doing so now, in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), so that we will “not be hurt of the second death [which is] the lake of fire” (Rev 20:14). And we will give great “respect unto the recompence of [our] reward, [which is our] crown of life”, and the promise of the spirit that ‘the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb’ will not be hurt of the fires of the lake of fire which is the second death (Heb 11:26; Rev 2:11 and Rev 20:6).

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ [fidelity to His Words] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Lest we lose or despise our promised “crown of life”, let us all pray with King David:

Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

So while we want to avoid presumptuous sins, we must acknowledge that anything which does not accord with the word of God is the very definition of ‘presumptuous sins’. We must accept all the Lord has given us to do or we are just as presumptuous as those who have no ‘respect unto unto the recompence of the reward’ (Heb 11:26).

While I was totally unaware of what the Lord has prepared for those that love Him, I have since been granted to see that the Lord has revealed them unto us by the words of His spirit:

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

In this study the spirit of the Lord’s words will reveal some of the deep things of God to us, and we will see just how integral we are to His work which work from the Father’s perspective was completed in Christ, through His Christ “from the foundation of this world… before the world began”: 

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; 

We have shown that God wants and will have all men to be saved, but we now see that He has predestined” some few to be those who will “first believe in [Christ]”, and to rule with Him over the nations of this world for a thousand years:

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 

If we “tremble at [the Lord’s] words we dare not make these words read ‘All men of all time will be to the praise of His glory regardless of when they trusted in Christ’. Yet there are millions of Christians who know nothing whatever about any later fruits. The masses of Christianity actually believe that if you are not converted in this age then you will never have access to the redemptive blood of Christ. To believe that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”, will in fact cause you to be expelled from most Christian congregations anywhere on earth.

This brings us to the first verses of our study today:

Isa 51:12  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
Isa 51:13  And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

The loss of the friendship of this world is a real threat to the kingdom of our old man. The family of the man Christ healed of being born blind feared being cast out of the synagogue if they said anything favorable about the Lord  who had just healed their son of His life long blindness:

Joh 9:20  His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
Joh 9:21  But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
Joh 9:22  These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Christ knows we are spirits in prison longing to be free. But He also knows that we of ourselves are incapable of delivering ourselves from our spiritual prison or of feeding ourselves:

Isa 51:14  The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

Christ knows we simply cannot just naturally accept the fact that He is still quite capable of leading us through the Red Sea, the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, and through the death of the cross. So He has given us the promise of His Word which He tells us “cannot be broken” (Joh 10:35):

Isa 49:25  But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

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

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

“The scriptures cannot be broken”, and the Lord promises to “contend with those who contend with you” and He reminds us why men are never to be feared:

Isa 51:15  But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. 

Then He also tells us of the calling we have been given, and the work He is doing through us as His Christ, His inheritance… His anointed. We are His instrument through whom  He is bringing all men and all powers and principalities, in heaven and in earth to Himself: 

Isa 51:16  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. 

“I have covered you in the shadow of mine hand that I might plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth”. This verse is giving us  the same message the Lord gave Jeremiah which I referenced at the beginning of this study:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

We know this must be done in the kingdom of God within us first (Luk 17:20-21). But when that is accomplished by Christ within us then, and only then, will Christ use us as His instrument to accomplish everything His Father sent Him to accomplish, and that involves being placed over the literal, physical, carnal nations of this world, to root out all evil and rebellion, to pull down all that rise up against the Lord and His Christ, His anointed, to throw them all down and to build and to plant the seeds of His kingdom.

It all begins at the “seventh trump”, which inwardly is the establishing of the kingdom of God within, and outwardly and dispensationally it is at the appearing of Christ and at the beginning of the thousand year reign of Christ:

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

The Lord has come into our lives to dismantled and utterly destroy the kingdom of our old man, and in doing so He causes us “at His hand” to partake of the seven plagues of the seven angels, which brings us to our last verse in this chapter of Isaiah for today:

Isa 51:17  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

The message of this verse is repeated in Revelation 14 and 15:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [What is all this torment in “the wrath of God”?]
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

“Here is the patience of the saints: Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”. The fact is that no man can enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled in that man’s life:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

The Lord’s elect will fulfull the seven plagues of the seven angels, and at the seventh trump, the Lord will send us to do what His Father sent Him to do, and we will then become every instrument He needs to rule the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years, and then we will continue to “judge angels” in the lake of fire.

Look at just how versatile in His hands we are right now in spirit, and just how versatile we will be during the thousand years and also in the lake of fire:

Jer 51:20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

Inwardly we must “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” acknowledging that “it is Christ which works in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure”:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

These words demonstrate that while we must acknowledge that “it is God which works in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure”, acknowledging His work within us in no way denies that we must still “work out our own salvation [and] do the things that [Christ] says”:

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

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Since we must “work out [our] own salvation (Php 2:12-13), [and] do the things [Christ tells us to do]” (Luk 6:46), in that sense we are His inward “battle axe and weapons of war”. We are waging war inwardly every day, breaking in pieces the nations, destroying kingdoms; breaking in pieces the horse and his rider;   breaking in pieces the chariot and his rider; breaking in pieces man and woman [who deny the doctrines of Christ]; breaking in pieces old and young [who withstand an oppose the Lord and His doctrines]; and within us we are breaking in pieces the young man and the maid, who will not submit to Christ within us; We are also breaking in pieces within us the shepherd and his flock; the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and  captains and rulers.

This is the “war in heaven” which is the “fiery trials” and sufferings which must “try every man’s works”, inwardly in “this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

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

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Eph 2:6 and Heb 9:23 demonstrate that ‘heaven’ is within our hearts and minds, just as it was with Christ who was also “seated… in the heavens even as He walked on this earth:

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

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

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [that would be us] with better sacrifices than these. 

But when “the sufferings of this present time” are “endured to the end”, then as “overcomers” we are given to reign with Christ for a thousand years over the kingdoms of this world:

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

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

And this is what is meant by “reign[ing] with Christ a thousand years”:

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

Ruling with a rod of iron is the same as being the Lord’s “battle axe and His weapons of war”, with which the Lord will put down every religion and ever nation which will refuse to submit to the hegemony of “the Lord and His Christ”:

The Lord has added the words in Jeremiah 51 to His words in Isaiah 51:

Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

A “battle axe” is designed for delivering a death blow to the head of the enemy. It is indeed a “weapon of war”, designed spiritually to decapitate our old man with all of his rebellious doctrines, which are armies of the nations and kingdoms within us.

Those ‘nations and kingdoms’ we are sent to “break in pieces”, have only the power given them by the Lord to serve as our dying old man (Joh 19:11). “The horse and his rider… the chariot and his rider”, are nothing more than the powerful rebellious, lying, false, doctrines like the false doctrines of an immortal soul which can be tormented for all eternity, and which directly contradict and nullify the doctrines of Christ which are foolishness to the “horse and his rider” within us (1Co 2:13-15). “The man and the woman” within us are “[our] father the devil… the great red dragon”, and his wife, the great harlot who sits upon us and rules us with her horrendous burdens of eternal torment, tithing, and the observing of days, months times and years, and the oppressively heavy burden of the false doctrine of free moral agency, which places the responsibility of our salvation upon our own shoulders. Having the knowledge of The Truth, we are sent to break that ‘man and woman’, and all of their false doctrines to pieces.

“The shepherd and his flock… the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; [and the] captains and rulers” we are sent to break in pieces and destroy are the Nicolaitan “captain and their rulers”, those Babylonian ministers who lay such heavy burdens upon us that we cannot begin to bear them.

All of these things are within us and restrain us from seeing the plain Truth which is “that which is written” right there before our eyes in His written word. These all are parts of the kingdom of our old man who must be destroyed and who can only be destroyed by “the brightness of [Christ’s] coming” (2th 2:8) to delivers us from our dark prison:

Isa 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

As we saw earlier in this 51st chapter of Isaiah we are not just the weapons of war, we will also judge and bring salvation to all of mankind as  His arms:

Isa 51:5  My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

Isa 53:1  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

As is always the case, these words are primarily fulfilled in Christ. But it is few indeed “to whom… [we as] the arm of the Lord [are] revealed”. Many may acknowledge that Christ is the arm of His Father, but who is Christ’s arms through whom He will judge the nations? The answer according to Christ Himself is that we are His body whom He has sent us into this world to do the exact same thing His Father sent Him to accomplish:

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

Christ’s Father sent Him as His arms to save this world and because He has sent us as His Father sent Him we are His ‘arms’ and we are even called “saviors”:

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.

We are these ‘saviors’ who will judge ‘Esau’ a type of this world during the thousand years and then we will judge the spirits of all men and angels in the lake of fire:

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?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Here are the “judges” of Esau… the world… and… angels”:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study of the exhortation and comfort of the words of this prophet, Isaiah:

Isa 51:18  There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
Isa 51:19  These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
Isa 51:20  Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
Isa 51:21  Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Isa 51:22  Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
Isa 51:23  But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

]]> Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 40:11-20 All the Nations Before Him Are as Nothing https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-4011-20-all-the-nations-before-him-are-as-nothing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-4011-20-all-the-nations-before-him-are-as-nothing Fri, 19 Apr 2019 23:13:51 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=18649
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Isa 40:11-20 All the Nations Before Him Are as Nothing - Discussion

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Isa 40:11-20  All The Nations Before Him Are As Nothing

Isa 40:11  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. 
Isa 40:12  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 
Isa 40:13  Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 
Isa 40:14  With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 
Isa 40:15  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 
Isa 40:16  And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 
Isa 40:17  All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. 
Isa 40:18  To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 
Isa 40:19  The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 
Isa 40:20  He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

This prophecy of Isaiah is founded on all the scriptures which precede it, and in turn, it is the foundation of the prophets who followed Isaiah. This prophecy is the “vision” and understanding of the work the Lord is performing in “Judah and Jerusalem” as types of His elect.

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.

Judah and Jerusalem are Old Testament types of the Lord’s elect who were chosen from “before the world began” (2Ti 1:9 and Tit 1:2) to be “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Rev 14:4), and to be those “who first trusted in Christ (Eph 1:12).

Neither this nor any other prophecy of scripture was ever intended to be understood by anyone other than the Lord’s elect at “this present time” (Mat 13:9-15 and Rom 8:18). This prophecy of the entire book of Isaiah concerns the apostasy and redemption of the Lord’s first fruits, and it is built upon the truth which had been revealed many years earlier by King Solomon:

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.

Those words being the Truth, it follows that the Lord’s elect, typified by Judah and Jerusalem, should be the first to understand that the Lord has given them an evil experience to humble them. It is for that reason this prophecy is addressed to the Lord’s typical elect who are the first to see themselves as ‘rebellious children… a 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.’

God’s elect ones are not His elect because they are any better than other people. The fact is the exact opposite. God’s elect must come to see themselves as “the basest of men… chief of sinners”:

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

As we have clearly demonstrated in the scriptures, Jacob was far more offensive to Esau than Esau was to him. King David was far more offensive in taking Uriah's wife and then his life than King Saul was in taking the spoils of the Amalekites. Hezekiah was no better than his wicked father, Ahaz. Yet Jacob, King David, and Hezekiah were all given “place for repentance” and were all given the humility to confess their sins and repent. But the scriptures want us to know that the Lord’s elect, you and I, are “chief of sinners… the basest of men”, and that “no flesh should glory in his presence”. Here are our qualifications as the Lord's elect:

1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The verses above are the Biblical list of the qualifications of those whom “God has chosen” as His elect. The Greek word translated as ‘chosen’ is ‘eklegomai’. It appears in the New Testament 22 times and it is always translated as ‘chosen, chose, or choice’. 

G1586
ἐκλέγομαι
eklegomai

Total KJV Occurrences: 22

chosen, 16
Mar_13:20, Luk_10:42, Joh_6:70, Joh_13:18, Joh_15:16 (2), Joh_15:19, Act_1:2, Act_1:24, Act_15:22, Act_15:25, 1Co_1:27-28 (3), Jam_2:4-5 (2)

chose, 4
Luk_6:13, Luk_14:7, Act_6:5, Act_13:17

choice, 1
Act_15:7

This word has the same root as the word translated ‘elect’, which is the Greek word ‘eklektos’, which is also translated as ‘chosen’ seven times in the KJV:

G1588
ἐκλεκτός
eklektos

Total KJV Occurrences: 23

elect, 13
Mat_24:24, Mat_24:31, Mar_13:22, Mar_13:27, Luk_18:7, Rom_8:33, Col_3:12, 1Ti_5:21, Tit_1:1, 1Pe_1:2, 1Pe_2:6, 2Jo_1:1, 2Jo_1:13

chosen, 7
Mat_20:16, Mat_22:14, Luk_23:35, Rom_16:13, 1Pe_2:4, 1Pe_2:9, Rev_17:14

elect’s, 3
Mat_24:22, Mar_13:20, 2Ti_2:10

This prophecy and all of scripture demonstrate that the Lord is just as merciless on the old man of His elect as He is on the old man in all the rest of mankind. In other words, those who are blessed to “find a place for repentance” do so only because of their election; their being chosen by God for that blessing and for that position, and the Lord wants us to know that if we are given that blessing it has nothing whatsoever to do with our own righteousness or anything that comes of ourselves. That is why this book begins as it does:

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.

It is in spite of our weakness and corruption that we as the Lord’s elect are granted to ‘find a place for repentance’ while all others are not given that grace, even though they might seek to do so:

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 entire story of King Hezekiah, starting in chapter 36 with the Assyrian invasion, the deliverance of Hezekiah from that invasion, His ‘sickness unto death’, the turning back of the sundial, his healing and Hezekiah taking the credit for all the Lord’s works for him and through him, typify how the Lord’s elect do the same things, and yet we are ‘given a place for repentance’, while others, who are no worse than we are, are not given that blessing. The entire story of the experience of King Hezekiah is given to us, not just as a history lesson, but as types of us, to let us know just how special we are to our Lord, and to let us know just how powerful He is on our behalf.

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

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

The Lord is intent on making His elect aware of the work He is doing in and through them for their good and as His tool to bring salvation to all men:

Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 
Eph 3:12  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

At the same time He is intent upon making us aware that we bring absolutely nothing to the table. Everything is being done “by the faith of Him… [and it is all being made] known by the church”, signified by ‘Zion’ and ‘Judah’ in the last two verses of the most encouraging words of our last study:

Isa 40:9  O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! 
Isa 40:10  Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

Being given the commission by the Lord to be the bringer of “good tidings… unto the cities of Judah” and assuring them that their success is “His work” is something special and worthy of our greatest “respect”:

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

Just as we are being sent to feed and comfort the Lord’s flock, He Himself feeds and comforts us:

Isa 40:11  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. 

We are in the very best hands anyone could hope to be. Christ Himself is our spiritual ‘insurance policy’, and to keep us aware of His qualifications to keep us safe in Himself, He asks us to consider:

Isa 40:12  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 
Isa 40:13  Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 
Isa 40:14  With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 

The answer to every one of those questions is, “Absolutely No one!” So instead, this is what we are given as answers to these questions:

 1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 
1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 
1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

As our experience has and does and will continue to demonstrate, it is very few indeed who are given to “know the things that are freely given to us of God”.  

Paul drives home this point concerning the promises of God in the second epistle to the Corinthians:

2Co 1:18  But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. 
2Co 1:19  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. 
2Co 1:20  For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 
2Co 1:21  Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 
2Co 1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

“In Christ”, inwardly and in spirit, we can say with Him, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth:”

Mat 28:16  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 
Mat 28:17  And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 
Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Here is how we apply these words if we are “in Christ” and as we understand what it means to be “as He is… in this world”.

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

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” does not give me the power to speed up the Lord’s agenda, or to start at this moment acting as if I have all power in heaven and in earth in an outward manner. That day will NOT arrive until after the first resurrection at the spiritual last ‘trump’, meaning the time of the beginning of the outward judgment of the kingdom of this world as we are plainly told:

Let's put those verses together.

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

1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

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.

No, “in this present time” (Rom 8:18) we are to ‘be subject to the powers that be [because they] are ordained of God [and if we] resist the power [we are] resisting God… and [we] will reap to ourselves damnation’:

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 
Rom 13:2  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

Here is what “all power in heaven and in earth” empowers the Lord’s anointed to accomplish at this time:

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 
Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 
Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

That is what is “freely given to us of God… [at] this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

At “this present time” we are given power over all sin within. We are not yet given power over all sinners outside ourselves or outside the body of Christ because at “this present time… the kingdom of God is within [us]:

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

Where in those two verses do we read that there will never be an outward kingdom? The answer is, it is not there because that is not true. There will be an outward kingdom of God ruling over all the outward kingdoms of this world and not just “the kingdom… within you”:

Rev 11:15  And, the seventh messenger, sounded; and there came to be loud voices in heaven, saying—The kingdom of the world, hath become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign unto the ages of ages. [The “thousand years” and the “second death/ white throne judgment/ lake of fire]”.

We are not yet given “power over the [outward] nations” as we will be given if we are granted to ‘have part’ in the blessed and holy first resurrection’:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection [“of life” Joh 5:28-29]: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The saints of God have never before been raised up from the dead in “the first resurrection”, and those who are “in Christ” have never before been given “power over the nations [to] rule them with a rod of iron” nor to “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. Nevertheless, that is exactly what will happen at the appointed predestined time, and all those who doubt and deny these Biblical Truths will be just as astonished as the whole world was when the flood of Noah occurred.

Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.  

However, there will not be one soul in the first resurrection who has not first been humiliated in this present time and granted to dash in pieces all the nations within themselves. Only after having experienced the death of our old man in the first judgment, which begins at the house of God in “this present time”, will we be granted the blessing of being in the “blessed and holy first resurrection to judge this world and then judge angels.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 
1Pe 4:14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 
1Pe 4:15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 
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? 
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.

Why would we not “commit the keeping of our souls to him in well doing” after all:

Isa 40:15  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 
Isa 40:16  And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 
Isa 40:17  All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. 

As the Lord’s elect, those words are just as true and as reassuring to the nations inwardly and spiritually as they are outwardly. If indeed our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, then our inward nations and giants and our passions and our flesh is “counted to him less than nothing and vanity”, and nothing can separate us from Him and His love:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 
Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 
Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 
Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

It is my prayer the Lord will give every one of us the faith of Christ to simply believe the Lord’s inspired words here, and to accept it as a true Biblical fact that the Lord is making everything work together for our good as “the called according to His purpose” whom He foreknew and predestined to be the firstborn among many other brothers, who will come to him through our mercy (Rom 11:31), and that Christ is at this very moment in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us, and that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What more can we ask of the Lord?

Isa 40:18  To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 

The answer is obvious considering what we were just told. There is nothing to which our Lord can be likened. Nevertheless, it was only yesterday that even the Lord’s elect were worshipping the man of sin who had set himself up in the temple of God showing himself to be God with a will that was free from the will of God.

It is spiritual adultery to believe and teach that our salvation depends upon anything other than Christ and His work and His will, but because we at first think only physically, we all deny that we have ever been guilty of our last verses in today’s study:

Isa 40:19  The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 
Isa 40:20  He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

According to the scriptures we are this “goldsmith”, and the ‘gold’ we ‘melt’ and ‘spread’ and the ‘silver’ we ‘cast’ is the Lord's words, which we twist to say what we want to hear:

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

Joe 3:5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

Idolotrous images in scripture are false doctrines and “idols of the heart”:

Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

In our next study the Lord will again reassure us that He is at the helm, and no one and nothing can deter what He is doing, and nothing anyone does is hidden from Him who is working everything after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11):

Isa 40:21  Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 
Isa 40:22  It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: 
Isa 40:23  That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. 
Isa 40:24  Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. 
Isa 40:25  To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 
Isa 40:26  Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. 
Isa 40:27  Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD , and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Isa 40:28  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD , the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 
Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

]]> Awesome Hands – Part 145: “Seek not after their gods” https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-145-seek-not-after-their-gods/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome-hands-part-145-seek-not-after-their-gods Thu, 13 Dec 2018 00:54:59 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=17783

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Awesome Hands – part 145

“Seek not after their gods”

December 12, 2018

 

Deuteronomy 12 is a famous chapter for those that know what it contains. It is one of the earliest examples in scripture, of not following the example of the nations, which God has driven out of their lands, on behalf of the people of God.

I could almost end the study with that paragraph, but in order to add supporting evidence to this statement, we will continue the study 😊.

As with all of this series, we are going to read the context surrounding the mentioning of the word hand in Deuteronomy. In this chapter, we have 5 different verses which contain the word hand or hands, so it should become apparent that the Lord wants “our work” to reflect His mindset.

In fact, this is how the chapter starts off:

Deu 12:1  These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

We should all know by now that the land spoken of here is not a parcel of physical land in Israel for that “Jew which is one inwardly” (Rom 2:29). The land spoken of spiritually is the land we possess, but rather than think of it as our physical flesh, we must learn to think of this land us where it is our heart and minds dwell.

Just as verse 1 says, we live “upon the earth”; therefore, we who live upon and in this dust must possess it, while observing to do “in the land”, whatsoever the Lord commands via His statutes and judgments.

This chapter does not pull any punches in letting us know exactly what the Lord expects from us when we take over the land that He has prepared for us and which is freely given to us.

Deu 12:2  Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
Deu 12:3  And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

Deu 12:4  Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.

It sounds to me like the Lord wants us to do something to the places, high mountains, hills, “under every green tree”, altars, pillars, groves, graven images and the very names of their gods which the nations served.
The word “served” tells us something about the nations and about those who do not hearken unto the warning of these words. If we do not do these things, we too will SERVE other gods. We will be subject unto them. We will be their servants for their glory.

Instead, we need to listen to the words we just read and make sure to destroy the things mentioned while also making sure to NOT serve the LORD your God in the same way.

No, we must serve Him differently and I can assure you He does NOT want to be called by the name of any other false god.

Here is how we serve our God:

Deu 12:5  But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

Deu 12:6  And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

Deu 12:7  And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.

It can seem tempting to just bypass these verses because we do not offer physical offerings today of burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, heave offerings of our hands.

We don’t make vows, offer free will offerings or the firstlings of the herds and flocks physically either, but we do know that all of these examples do have spiritual applications.

Instead of bypassing these verses in our hearts and minds, or trying to figure out what each and every spiritual type and shadow is, we simply need to realize that whatsoever the Lord tells us to do in order to serve Him is what we should do we all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. All that we do, do to the glory of God.

In fact, trying to define things on our own or trying to define the terms of how it is we will serve our Lord, is what gets us in trouble the quickest.

Deu 12:8  Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.

Deu 12:9  For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.

In case that is not easily understood when reading it from the King James translation, I am including another translation.

(ESV) Deu 12:8  “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,

Deu 12:9  for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.

In other words, when the Lord gives you rest and brings you into His inheritance, you must serve Him according to how He defines services to Him. Otherwise, it is all in lip service calling the Lord, Lord, but not keeping His commandments.

Look at the context of where it is Jesus tells us we desire to call Him, “Lord, Lord”:

Luk 6:45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

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

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Instead of doing what the Lord says to do, we decide we want to remain as children. The painful truth is though, that when the Lord brings us into His rest, we can no longer be of an ignorant mindset and pretend to ignore what He clearly says are His commandments.

1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

1Co 13:13  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

The greatest of these is a “love feast”, charity. We have a love feast with our Lord when we keep His commandments.

What we are not permitted to do is plead ignorant to the rules, statues and judgments of the Lord.

“You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes”.

Serving the Lord does NOT include serving the Lord in the capacity which makes us feel most comfortable. When the Lord gives us Faith that something is True or not, it is that Truth that we must adhere to.

Why is it I keep emphasizing these points? It is because the Lord specifically tells us how to serve Him as the one True God. We cannot serve in our own understanding, according to how it is “we” see it is good to serve the Lord.

I remember literally, and pridefully saying to many folks back in the day, that me and the Lord have an understanding. “He knows me and how I think”, was the justification I used to do whatever it is I wanted to do in service to Him because He was God and I was a mere man.

This reasoning allowed me to escape all judgment of the Lord because with that reasoning I am able to avoid doing whatever it is I don’t want to do “because me and God have an understanding”.

The problem is that God gives us His understanding and it sounds nothing like my reasonings.

Deu 12:10  But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;

In other words, when the Lord does all the work and delivers you from all enemies, including the #1 enemy of yourself, then He gets to make the rules!

Deu 12:11  Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:

Deu 12:12  And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.

And again we are warned to NOT do things the way we see fit to do them. The Lord builds in, for lack of a better phrase, fail safes for situations that He knows He will cause us to be in.

He “allows” for these situations because He knows that there will be times when we will not be able to do things the way they have always been done i.e. maybe we cannot travel to the place the Lord has placed His name at, so we are able to “eat in the gates”. You are permitted to eat these things in your own towns or cities in other words.

The real focus here is on doing what the Lord commands versus just doing things willy-nilly and calling it serving the Lord.

Deu 12:13  Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:

Deu 12:14  But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

“Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see” is a command that is stated because the Lord wants us to know that doing whatever we think is okay is not acceptable to Him.

There is a place and time for all things under the sun and the Lord wants us to take this admonition seriously. I know this because He states these same orders over and over with different topics or subjects being discussed.

Deu 12:15  Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.

Deu 12:16  Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.

Deu 12:17  Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:

Deu 12:18  But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.

Deu 12:19  Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.

Again, there is much repeating in what is being told to us, but it is for good reason. 1) We will not get it right away and must be told over and over that something is serious enough for the Lord to repeat it multiple times. 2) The Lord is bringing us ultimately bringing us to the commandment of not serving other gods, but we will see that at the end of the chapter.

Remember, the Levite is there is serve, but has not inheritance “with you”. Therefore, we must not forsake nor forget that the Levite has been placed as a Levite for the benefit of God’s people.

Deu 12:20  When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.

Deu 12:21  If the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.

Deu 12:22  Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.

Deu 12:23  Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

Deu 12:24  Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.

The Lord is clear in His commandments about what we are able to do and not do. We are able to eat the meat we crave, but we are not permitted to partake of the blood. The blood is the life, but notice in this type and shadow a person eating meat does not necessarily partake of life.

1Co 8:7  Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

1Co 8:8  But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.

1Co 8:9  But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.

1Co 8:10  For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;

1Co 8:11  And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

1Co 8:12  But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

1Co 8:13  Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

We are not looking toward the outward appearance of things, but we are looking toward the inward meat of the spirit. But, we also must be castioned in how we THINK about things.

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

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

1Co 10:5  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

Meat is being mentioned in the same breath as idol worship. In the context of Deuteronomy 12, we must be very careful with doing what the Lord says versus allowing ourselves to do what we want and then claiming that it is serving the Lord.

This time of year is an example of a time where we must be prudent in our thinking. We must war against idolatry in high places and realize what spiritual idolatry is.

Deu 12:28  Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;

Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

“(ESV)  take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.”

If the Lord looked on these nations and their god worship, and then destroyed them for it, why would He treat us any differently? In fact, because we are His people and have been told His commandments, we will be held to a higher bar.

Luk 12:46  The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The thing that should be screaming out to us all is how it is we can worship idols. Idols aren’t ONLY going to be something that we shape with our hands and place on a mantel to worship.

Far more insidious are those idols of the heart which we worship in ourselves and in OTHERS.

Notice, we are told several times in this chapter about idol worship and also about “eating meat”.

Where else are we told about “eating an idol”? This is the ESV translation.

1Co 10:26  For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”

1Co 10:27  If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

1Co 10:28  But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—

1Co 10:29  I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?

1Co 10:30  If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

1Co 10:31  So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

This has been offered to idols is not something that I have ever heard someone say. I would be a bit surprised to ever hear this come from anyone alive today.

However, when we know idols are of the heart, then we can know what we are being told spiritually.

Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

(BBE)  Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?

If this can happen to the elders of Israel, it can happen to anyone. Holidays are but one way we worship “the gods of the nations destroyed before us”.

Much more hidden in our hearts and minds, for the people of God who desire to serve the Lord, is worshipping the idols of others.

As we talked about in our last study, Jesus asks us all, “Isn’t it written that you are gods?”

Joh 10:34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

So, it is easy to conclude that the gods we want to worship are ourselves and others around us. We want everyone’s approval and acceptance naturally. There is much danger in serving these gods and their idols.

We must always be cautious because even when we are convinced that we are going to go one way, the devil will use subtle ways to speak through others so that we turn away from the way we were going.

This happens many times during our lives, but as we see in Deuteronomy 12, we are warned of the Lord not to do these things.

Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

]]> Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 18:1-7 He Lifts Up An Ensign On The Mountains https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-181-7-he-lifts-up-an-ensign-on-the-mountains/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-181-7-he-lifts-up-an-ensign-on-the-mountains Sun, 26 Nov 2017 05:25:01 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=15055
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The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 69 Discussion

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Isa 18: 1-7 All Ye Inhabitants of The World... See Ye, When He Lifts Up An Ensign On The Mountains

Isa 18:1  Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
Isa 18:2  That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
Isa 18:3  All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
Isa 18:4  For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Isa 18:5  For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
Isa 18:6  They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
Isa 18:7  In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

These seven verses comprise this entire 18th chapter of Isaiah, and I was surprised to learn that they are considered by most commentaries to be the hardest verses to be understood in this entire book of Isaiah.

This is what Guzik's commentary has to say about this short 18th chapter of Isaiah. He begins by quoting three other commentators:

(Bultema) “To us, this brief chapter is the most difficult one of all the sixty-six chapters of Isaiah.”

(Wolf) “Although the prophecy is a short one, it probably ranks as the most obscure chapter in this entire section.”

(Clarke) “This is one of the most obscure prophecies in the whole Book of Isaiah.”

The Word of God is "obscure" only to those who are "not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God" (Mat 13:10-15). "But God has revealed them to us by His spirit":

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

"His spirit" by which He has revealed "the things which [He] has prepared for them that love Him" IS His Word, the scriptures, as these words of Christ make clear:

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.

But Christ is very clear when He informs us that His Words until this very day are not being revealed to the masses who come to Him:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [The multitudes, vrs 2-3] it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

The fact that the Lord is speaking to His own people in a way that fulfills Isaiah's prophecy "By hearing ye shall hear, and not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive" is repeated to us in Paul's epistle to the Corinthians:

1Co 2:6 Yet wisdom are we speaking among the mature, yet a wisdom not of this eon, neither of the chief men of this eon, who are being discarded,
1Co 2:7 but we are speaking God's wisdom in a secret, wisdom which has been concealed, which God designates before - before the eons, for our glory,
1Co 2:8 which not one of the chief men of this eon knows, for if they know, they would not crucify the Lord of glory. (CLV)

But verses 12-14 of this same second chapter of First Corinthians tell us how some few are granted to "hear and... understand, and... see... and perceive... the mysteries of the kingdom of God which have been concealed [from] before the eons".

Here is how the holy spirit reveals Truth which is hidden right out in the open:

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

When we read the Word of God with the natural mind, without spiritual eyes and spiritual ears, we will never understand what we are being told. Concerning all of this prophecy of Isaiah, as well as the rest of the entire Old Testament, we are told this bit of information which will help us immensely to understand this 18th chapter of Isaiah:

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

Peter confirms this and goes even farther to tell us:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

With the knowledge that the prophets "searched diligently [and] prophesied of the grace that should come to us" we should be looking for ourselves in all of their prophecies. Knowing that everything that happened to Israel was for our admonition, and knowing we must always take care that we are "comparing spiritual things with spiritual", we will now look at the first verse of "this brief chapter [which Bultema tells us] is the most difficult one of all the sixty-six chapters of Isaiah":

Isa 18:1  Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: 

The commentaries are especially confused by this first verse. Albert Barnes Commentary On The Bible makes this statement on this first verse:

"Shadowing with wings - (כנפים צלצל  tsı̂letsal kenāpāı̂ym). This is one of the most difficult expressions in the whole chapter; and one to which as yet, probably, no satisfactory meaning has been applied."

When we know these words are for our admonition, the mystery becomes a little easier to solve. When we consider that all the chapters in this entire prophecy are concerned with us, as the Lord's Israel (Gal 6:15-16), and how we relate to our old man in the form of the nations both near to and distant from Israel, all the mystery of even this chapter will be removed.

Let's begin our study by looking at Strong's definition of the Hebrew word translated as 'shadowing' in this first verse, and then let's look to see where it is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.

This is that Hebrew word, and this is how Strong's defines it:

H6767
צלצל
tselâtsal
tsel-aw-tsal'
From H6750 reduplicated; a clatter, that is, (abstractly) whirring (of wings); (concretely) a cricket; also a harpoon (as rattling), a cymbal (as clanging): - cymbal, locust, shadowing, spear.

So that we can determine what is being said, here are the other four verses where this word appears in the Old Testament:

Deu 28:42  All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust [H6767: tselatsal] consume.

2Sa 6:5  And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals [H6767: tselatsal].

Job 41:1  Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

Job 41:7  Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? [H6767: tselatsal]

Psa 150:5  Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. [H6767: tselatsal]

If all we see is the primary natural meaning of these verses, then they can indeed become very confusing. But as Strong's definition points out, spears and cymbals both make "rattling [and] clanging" sounds when in use, and the spear, like the locust, destroys everything in its path. The 'spear' is a Biblical symbol for destruction, as these verses demonstrate:

Jos 8:18  And the LORD said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.

Jos 8:26  For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

Nah 3:3  The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

When we simply remember how all of these nations are introduced to us in Isaiah 11, and we remember that all that happened to Israel "happened to them and they are written for our admonition" (1Co 10:11), then this chapter and all the preceding chapters, and all the chapters to come, will be much easier for us to understand. Then we will see clearly that God is using the nations within us to destroy our old man, just as He used the nations of this world to destroy His people Israel for turning away from Him, and Ethiopia is but another one of those nations. The Lord uses all the nations to symbolize our old man and his function as His own hand, which He uses to correct and to chasten us for our sins and wickedness:

Jer 2:17  Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?
Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Here are the verses from Isaiah 11 which set the stage for all these following chapters dealing with all the nations surrounding Israel, and even those nations which are not near Israel, and how they relate to the Lord's rebellious and stubborn people:

Isa 11:10  And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Isa 11:11  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Isa 11:12  And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The first two verses of Isaiah 11 tell us who this "ensign" is who will "assemble the outcasts of Israel":

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Isa 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Of course, this is Christ, but it is not Christ alone because He Himself has told us:

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

This 'ensign' includes the body of Christ, His messengers, His angels with whom He tells us He will gather together His elect from the four corners of the world. Christ Himself was referring to these words of Isaiah 11:12 when He tells us this in both Matthew and in Mark:

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Mar 13:27  And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

If indeed "he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth", then this is also true of us because:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

For these verses to have any significance, the Lord's  people must first be scattered to all these places before He would need to "send His angels... the outcasts of Israel and gather together His elect from the four winds". Spiritually and inwardly these nations, far and near, are the many false doctrines, like the trinity and its accompanying  fruit, which is the false doctrine of the immortality of the soul, with its fruit which is the doctrine of an eternal hell with literal flames of literal fire, literally inflicting indescribable misery without purpose and without end. Inwardly these nations symbolize the doctrine of tithing on one's gross income, the keeping of days, months, times and years, and all the rest of the "two hundred thousand, thousand", the two hundred million false doctrines which enslave us and keep us in the bondage of Babylon. Outwardly all this bondage is symbolized by all the nations to which the Lord sent His stubborn and rebellious people who had turned their backs to Him in favor of being like the nations around them. We just naturally want to fit in with this world, and Israel was as natural as can be in demanding to be given a king:

1Sa 8:4  Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
1Sa 8:5  And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
1Sa 8:6  But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.

It is very revealing for us to notice that the Lord's 'ensign', His 'rest', and Ethiopia are all three discussed in both chapters 11 and 18. Notice:

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Isa 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Isa 11:10  And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Isa 11:11  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Isa 11:12  And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Compare these verses to these verses here in chapter 18 where Ethiopia, His ensign and His rest are all again mentioned, as they relate to the Lord's elect:

Isa 18:1  Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
Isa 18:2  That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
Isa 18:3  All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye,when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
Isa 18:4  For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

While it is not obvious from the King Jame's translation, the fact is that the name 'Ethiopia' here in this 18th chapter and the name 'Cush' in chapter 11 are both translated from the single Hebrew name 'Cush'.

Here are the verses in the Old Testament where this name appears:

H3568
כּוּשׁ
kûsh
Total KJV Occurrences: 27
ethiopia, 19
Gen_2:13, 2Ki_19:9, Est_1:1, Est_8:9, Job_28:19, Psa_68:31, Psa_87:4, Isa_18:1, Isa_20:3, Isa_20:5, Isa_37:9, Isa_43:3, Isa_45:14, Eze_29:10, Eze_38:4-5 (3), Zep_3:9-10 (2)
cush, 8
Gen_10:6-8 (3), 1Ch_1:8-10 (3), Psa_7:1, Isa_11:11

Looking at the last part of this verse, we read:

Isa 18:1  Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

This again seems to have baffled many commentators because of the use of the word 'beyond' in the phrase 'beyond the rivers of Ethiopia'. But once again it is not so hard to understand when we notice that this English word 'beyond' is translated from two Hebrew words which are 'min' which is defined as "properly a part of", and the word 'eber' which means "properly a region across." So it is not at all hard to accept that the Lord is speaking to a land which is "a part of" and "a region across... the rivers of Ethiopia".

Yet Gill's commentary states:

"It is very difficult to determine what land is here meant: some think the land of Assyria is here designed,"

I do not generally waste time demonstrating the lack of spiritual understanding in the commentaries, but when I discovered how they all agreed that this 18th chapter is such a mystery, I have chosen to show how the use of the natural mind is contrasted with "the mind of the spirit" which tells us that all of this happened to Israel "for our admonition" (1Co 10:11).

Other commentaries simply repeat the words of various rabbis whose opinions also vary greatly. Some rabbis agree with Gill who thinks the words of this chapter refer to Assyria, and others think they refer to some country which is known for ships with great shading sails. Another commentary thinks that 'shadowing' refers to being 'covered with many trees'. They all are reasoning with a natural mind instead of seeking to know the spiritual meaning of what the Lord is telling us.

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The inability to see with spiritual eyes is nothing short of a blindfold or "a vail" which the apostle Paul informs us is still over the eyes of those who are not given to let the spirit, which is the Lord's own words, interpret the scriptures. In other words, they are not given to let the scriptures interpret themselves:

2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
2Co 3:16  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. [As well as eyes that see and ears that hear, Mat 13:10-15]

Context is not the primary key to understanding the Bible. We are plainly told this book is written line upon line and precept upon precept for the express purpose of causing us to "fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" by the adversary.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isa 28:13  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

So we are going to be very careful to "compare spiritual things with spiritual" and not let the mind of "the natural man" direct us as we examine the words of this prophecy.

Here are the two Hebrew words, 'min' and 'eber', which are translated as the single English word 'beyond' in verse one, and here is Strong's definition for those words. We define 'min' first:

H4480
מִנֵּי    מִנִּי      מִן
min    minnı̂y    minnêy
min, min-nee', min-nay'
For H4482; properly a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses: - above, after, among, at, because of, by (reason of), from (among), in, X neither, X nor, (out) of, over, since, X then, through, X whether, with.

This is one of the most common words in all scripture, appearing over 5,000 times, and it has many and various translations, but it is "properly a part of" whatever is the subject. In this case the subject is "the rivers of Ethiopia."

The other Hebrew word which appears with 'min' and which is translated with the single English word 'beyond', is 'eber'. Here is how Strong's defines that word:

H5676
עֵבֶר
‛êber
ay'-ber
From H5674; properly a region across; but used only adverbially (with or without a preposition) on the opposite side (especially of the Jordan; usually meaning the east): -    X against, beyond, by, X from, over, passage, quarter, (other, this) side, straight.

According to e-sword this word appears a total of 115 times in the Old Testament. Here is an example of how it is used:

Gen 50:10  And they [Joseph and the Egyptians who came with him] came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond [H5676: 'eber'] Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he [Joseph] made a mourning for his father seven days.
Gen 50:11  And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond [H5676: 'eber'] Jordan.

Of the 115 times this word appears in the Old Testament, it is translated as 'side' or 'sides' 60 times, and it is obvious from Genesis 50:10-11 that 'beyond Jordan' does not mean 'Assyria' or any far away country. Rather "the threshing floor of Atad", and all of Abraham's time in the promised land, was lived in close proximity to the Jordan River, just as "the land shadowing with wings" is in close proximity to "the rivers of Ethiopia".

Isa 18:1  Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

The word 'wings' refers to the dominance or hegemony of the subject under discussion, as Boaz's words to Ruth demonstrate:

Rth 2:11  And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.
Rth 2:12  The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

Both the scriptures and secular historians acknowledge that, at that time, Ethiopia was a major world power, as these verses demonstrate:

Isa 20:3  And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;

Isa 20:5  And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory

Isa 37:9  And he [the captain of the hosts of Assyria] heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah,

Now notice what we are told Ethiopia, as a type of our old man, will do:

Isa 18:2  That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

"A nation scattered and peeled" should be a nation drawn out and perverse, according to the definition of the Hebrew words.

Here is Strong's definition of the Hebrew word translated as 'scattered'. This word is a primitive root:

H4900
מָשַׁךְ
mâshak
maw-shak'
A primitive root; to draw, used in a great variety of applications (including to sow, to sound, to prolong, to develop, to march, to remove, to delay, to be tall, etc.): - draw (along, out), continue, defer, extend, forbear, X give, handle, make (pro-, sound) long, X sow, scatter, stretch out.

This is Strong's definition for the Hebrew word translated as 'peeled':

H4178
מוֹרָט
môrâṭ
mo-rawt'
From H3399; obstinate, that is, independent: - peeled.

This chapter is the only place in all of the Old Testament in which this word appears twice, and it is translated as 'peeled' both times. So we must go to the word from which it is taken, H3399, to discover what we are being told, and this is Strong's definition of that word:

H3399
יָרַט
yâraṭ
yaw-rat'
A primitive root; to precipitate or hurl (rush) headlong; (intransitively) to be rash: - be perverse, turn over.

Here is an example of how this verse is used in scripture. This is the angel talking to the prophet Baalam who was hired by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel:

Num 22:32  And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse [H3399: yarat] before me:

So who best fits this description of 'a nation drawn out and perverse before me'? Let's just read about it here in:

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

Lo and behold, we are once again speaking of you and me with whom the Lord is dealing in this age. This is why the Lord says this of His own people:

Isa 42:18  Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?
Isa 42:20  Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.

And this of those He has chosen:

Isa 48:4  Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
Isa 48:5  I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

In other words, our only qualification to be God's chosen people is that we are so very unqualified and so very undeserving. This is what we are told of our calling:

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

We are the rebellious young prodigal, the rebellious lost sheep, the despised publican, and the woman caught in the very act of adultery. So why does God choose the most unqualified to be His servants? This is why we have all been called to be the Lords "deaf... blind... messenger[s]":

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

These nations here in this prophecy of Isaiah, as types of our old man, are the Lord's vessel for bringing us to Him, just as the law for the lawless (1Tim 1:9-12) is used of our Lord to bring us to God:

Isa 11:12  And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isa 11:13  The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
Isa 11:14  But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Who is this "nation [who was] terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled?" Once again, Israel, God's own people, are a people who really were "terrible from their beginning". Even before they came down into Egypt, the Lord had placed a fear of them upon the nations around them because of the treachery of  Simeon and Levi, and what they did to the men of Shechem:

Gen 34:24  And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.
Gen 34:25  And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.

Gen 34:29  And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.
Gen 34:30  And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
Gen 34:31  And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

Gen 35:5  And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

This is us, "a people... terrible from their beginning... despised" of all men.

In the New Testament the apostle Paul typifies who we were before the Lord strikes us down. We, too, like the self-righteous 'Saul of Tarsus', are a terror to our new man and to any who would bring Christ to us.

Act 7:58  And [the Jews] cast [Stephen] out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

But in the Lord's own time we become "a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!" We are spoiled by the rivers of Syria, the rivers of Assyria and the rivers of Ethiopia. In other words, we are "brought to our wits' end [by] our own wickedness" and by the fruits of all the false doctrines under whose great bondage we place ourselves for so long.

For those with eyes that see, the next verses tell us clearly that this "nation scattered and peeled, [this] people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled" is  the Lord's own people:


Isa 18:3  All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
Isa 18:4  For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

Where is the Lord's "dwelling place"? That question is answered for us very clearly by our Lord Himself:

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Paul was used of the holy spirit to tell us the same thing:

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

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.

It is we who have spiritually seen, in down-payment form, the "ensign on the mountains", and it is we who have heard the seven trumpets of His judgments within us, and it is we who are entering into Christ who is our rest, just as He has come into these "vessels of clay" where He is finding His rest within us (Isa 18:4):

Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

These things are all ours right here and now but only in down-payment earnest form. The time is coming, and it is sure, that we will also be given "the purchased possession" at the time of the resurrection. But until that blessed day "the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God", and we must continue to battle the Philistines, the Canaanites and the giants within the land of promise, as we are told here in this 18th chapter of Isaiah:

Isa 18:5  For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
Isa 18:6  They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
Isa 18:7  In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

We are the ones who are being pruned with pruning hooks "afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower". The branches which are being cut and taken away and given to "the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth" represent the diminishing of our old man.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

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?

Verse 5 is:

Isa 18:5  For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.

Which is the same as:

Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

This 18th chapter of Isaiah is almost universally proclaimed to be one of the hardest chapters to understand in all of the scriptures, and that almost makes good sense because it contains the same message as one of the most profound, 'difficult to understand' verses of the book of Revelation:

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 that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

We have a new man in a vessel of clay which is also us. That new man leads our old man into perdition and through that perdition our new man is being birthed into the kingdom of God which at this time is within us:

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

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:

Didn't those verses tell us that the son of perdition was the man of sin? Yes, they did, but they also told us that the new man was in that dying earthen vessel, and that new man had to fall into the earth before he can come forth of that death experience as the Christ of Christ.

If our old man is given to fall into the ground and die, we will then become the "present to be brought unto the Lord of a people scattered and peeled... to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion".

This message is repeated in these verses of:

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.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will discover some very informative verses about how the Lord destroys the man of sin within us, and how He will also bring the outward kingdoms of this world to submit to Christ and His Christ, as we cover the first seven verses of Isaiah 19:

Isa 19:1  The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
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.
Isa 19:3  And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
Isa 19:4  And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
Isa 19:5  And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
Isa 19:6  And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
Isa 19:7  The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

]]> 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.

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