God’s four sore judgments are the seven seals of the book of Revelation. The number four signifies the whole experience of being judged, while seven signifies the completion of our judgment. Within those seven seals are seven trumpet judgments and seven vial judgments. Judgment is God’s goodness which brings us to repentance and which teaches us righteousness.

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God [Psa 197:21-31] leadeth thee to repentance?

As hard as it is for many to understand, Christ Himself, while in an earthen vessel of flesh and bone, “Learned obedience by the things He suffered”:

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

Christ was tried and tempted in every way just as we are:

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

We will not get the full meaning of those verses if we do not know that the the Greek word translated as ‘tempted’ in Heb 4:15 is the same word which is translated as ‘tried’ in these verses:

Heb 11:17  By faith Abraham, when he was tried [Greek: peirazo], offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation [Greek: G3986, pierasmos], which shall come upon all the world, to try  [Greek: G3985, peirazo] them that dwell upon the earth.

G3985
πειράζω
peirazō
Total KJV Occurrences: 41
tempted, 15
Mat_4:1, Mar_1:13, Luk_4:2, 1Co_10:9, 1Co_10:13, Gal_6:1, 1Th_3:5, Heb_2:18 (2), Heb_3:9, Heb_4:15, Heb_11:37, Jam_1:13-14 (3)
tempting, 7
Mat_16:1, Mat_19:3, Mat_22:35, Mar_8:11, Mar_10:2, Luk_11:16, Joh_8:6
tempt, 6
Mat_22:18, Mar_12:15, Luk_20:23, Act_15:9-10 (2), 1Co_7:5
tried, 3
Heb_11:17, Rev_2:2, Rev_2:10
about, 2
Act_24:6, Act_26:21
tempter, 2
Mat_4:3, 1Th_3:5
assayed, 1
Act_16:7
examine, 1
2Co_13:5
gone, 1
Act_24:5-6 (2)
prove, 1
Joh_6:6 (2)
tempteth, 1
Jam_1:13
try, 1
Rev_3:10

What is required to be “kept from the hour of temptation [peirasmos]” is to be “tempted [peirazo] like as we are”(Heb 4:15), now in this age:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment [God’s four sore judgments] 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?

Peter did not doubt his election either, yet he tells us “Judgment must … first begin at us”. There is a reason why we all must be judged, and that reason is that it simply is not in us as “brute beasts, made to be destroyed… to direct [our] steps”:

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

Pro 20:24  Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 

“The word of God tries [us]” (Psa 105:19). God has made us to err for the very purpose of turning us back to Himself, and to do this He uses “the sword of men… the famine, and the noisome beast”:

Psa 90:3  Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

There is no doubt Joseph felt that God had forgotten him while he was so long in Potiphar’s house, and then was sent from there into the dungeons of Egypt. God had truly turned Joseph’s life to destruction, but then He “returned [Joseph’s] captivity” and placed him on the throne of all Egypt where King David tells us:

Psa 105:20  The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
Psa 105:21  He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: 
Psa 105:22  To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

There is nothing in the book of Genesis telling us that Joseph “[bound] his princes at his pleasure; and [taught] his senators wisdom”, but the holy spirit has seen fit to inform us of that fact because it confirms that this, too, is just another type of our own calling:

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. 

How will God give His elect “power over the nations”?

God will use the very same principles upon “the kingdoms of this world” to place them under us, which He used to subdue us to Himself. Just as He has poured out His wrath upon us, He will do the same with “the nations… [and] all flesh”:

Isa10:4  Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

This is the mindset God will give those who will be at the heads of the kingdoms of this world towards His “blessed and holy… few chosen” when He decides it is time for His elect to begin their predestined rule and reign:

Gen 41:38  And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
Gen 41:39  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Gen 41:40  Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Gen 41:41  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. 

“Forasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are”. Those words came out of the mouth of the ruler of Egypt who moments before had Joseph in his own dungeons. But now He favors Joseph, and sets him over all the land of Egypt because:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

What will make God’s elect so appealing to the leaders of the nations is that we will be “[men] in whom the Spirit of God is”. All you and I must do is to repeat “His word”, and it is His word which makes us “so discreet”, and it is His word which will try us, and which will try “the kingdoms of the world… the nations… all flesh”.

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

It will be only because we know the word of God that these words will have any application to us at all:

Psa 105:22  To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

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 just a few of such words which reveal how God will go about causing the leaders of the nations of this world to want to relinquish the powers of the kingdoms of this world into the hands of those who have proven themselves to be “men in whom the spirit [words] of God [dwells]”. Men who are capable of being trustworthy, and Godly rulers of the kingdoms of this world.

“A Consumption… Determined Upon The Whole Earth”

Isa 28:22  Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

Jer 12:12  The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. 

Here is the context of Jer 25:31 quoted above. These verses demonstrate that the judgment of the great whore occurs at the same time as the judgment of all nations:

Jer 25:26  And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach [Babylon] shall drink after them.
Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. 
Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Jer 25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. 
Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
Jer 25:32  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
Jer 25:33  And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Jer 25:34  Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. 
Jer 25:35  And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. 
Jer 25:36  A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.
Jer 25:37  And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jer 25:38  He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger. 

What is “the sword of the Lord [which] shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land”? Here is how He will do that:

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

“The noisome beast” is really “the evil men [who] are [the Lord’s] sword”, and with the sword of evil men “evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.”

I have pointed out that if a statement is repeated twice in scripture it is because it is important to God, and it will “shortly [be brought] to pass”:

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

God’s judgment by wicked men who are called “noisome beasts” is repeated literally dozens of times, and here are but a few more:

2Ch 20:23  For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. 

Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

Isa 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. 

Hag 2:22  And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. 
Hag 2:23  In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, [the type of God’s elect] the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

That is what we are told literally dozens of times will be used by God to bring the nations of this world to their knees: “they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.”

But just as Joseph was safe and secure in the Lord’s hands against the power of the Pharaoh, and was even given favor in his eyes; just as Daniel and his friends were saved from the wrath of the Kings Nebuchadnezzar, and Darius, and were given favor in the eyes of those kings; and just as Mordecai and Esther were saved from the king’s commandments, and even given favor in his eyes, so it will be with us in the midst of all the civil unrest with every man’s hand against his brother and every man’s hand against his neighbor.

One more type of that favor with God, which is the source of our favor with our enemies, is the story of King Jehoshaphat when the Moabites and the Ammonites and the Edomites “came up against Jehoshaphat to  battle” (2Ch 20:1-3):

2Ch 20:9  If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house [1Pe 2:5], and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

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

2Ch 20:15  And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
2Ch 20:16  To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
2Ch 20:17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. 

Notice how the Lord went about delivering Jehoshaphat and Judah from their enemies. It is once again the same message we are given so many times in the Old Testament:

2Ch 20:22  And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
2Ch 20:23  For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

When we sing and praise the Lord, and when we bring to Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving in the midst of our trials, then we will win His favor, and He will deliver us from all of our trials:

Psa 41:11  By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.

Psa 44:3  For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

Our heavenly Father never ceases to “maintain [our] cause” in every battle for His name’s sake in which we engage, but that favor is always preceded by a spirit of repentance from sins, and gratitude for the work God is doing in “making us to err” (Isa 63:17), and in bringing us to repentance:

1Ki 8:44 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:
1Ki 8:45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
1Ki 8:46 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;
1Ki 8:47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
1Ki 8:48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
1Ki 8:49 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,
1Ki 8:50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:
1Ki 8:51 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

Psa 90:3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

It is all proving that:

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.

The giving of the kingdoms of this world to our Lord and His Christ is but the beginning of the “good [that is coming] to them that love God, [and] are the called according to His purpose”.

It is my prayer that this series of studies will serve to encourage us all to endure to the end of the “much tribulation” (Acts 14:22) and the fiery trials (1Pe 4:12) which must precede our ascension to the throne to rule and reign with our Lord for a thousand years, and then to judge angels in the lake of fire.

If the Lord wills we will possibly conclude this series of studies on the Lord’s “four sore judgments” and how they will be used to condition the nations to give the rule of the nations over to God’s elect, without even a fight.

2Ch 20:17  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

The last of the four sore judgments is “the pestilence”. It is the death of our old man, and it is the death of the rule of men over the kingdoms of this world:

Eze 14:19  Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
Eze 14:20  Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

Audio Links

How The Kingdoms of The World Become The Kingdom’s of Our Lord and His Christ

God’s Four Sore Judgments, Part 5 -The Noisome Beast – A

Introduction

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

Our study this week, as we continue to answer the question, “How will the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ?”, considers God’s sore judgment of “the noisome beast” and how “the noisome beast” will be used by God to give the rule of the kingdoms of this world over into the hands of His elect:

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

Rev 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.

Before we consider what part this “sore judgment” will play in delivering the kingdoms of this world to our Lord and His Christ, we need to know exactly what this judgment is which in the King James Version is called “the noisome beast”.

When we look at what Strong’s reveals to us to be the Hebrew word translated as “noisome”, this is what we discover:

ra‛  râ‛âh
rah, raw-aw’
From H7489; bad or (as noun) evil (naturally or morally). This includes the second (feminine) form; as adjective or noun: – adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease (-ure), distress, evil ([-favouredness], man, thing), + exceedingly, X great, grief (-vous), harm, heavy, hurt (-ful), ill (favoured), + mark, mischief, (-vous), misery, naught (-ty), noisome, + not please, sad (-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked (-ly, -ness, one), worse (-st) wretchedness, wrong. [Including feminine ra’ah; as adjective or noun.]

Of the 644 times this Hebrew word appears in the Old Testament, it is translated as ‘evil’ 440 times. This is the same Hebrew word translated as ‘evil’ in this verse of scripture:

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The ACV has a much more accurate translation of this verse:

Eze 14:21  For thus says lord LORD: How much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!

Because we see both words “man and beast” in this verse, we are at first led to forget the truth of these verses of scripture:

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. 
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 

Since “all go unto one place: all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. [therefore] they [mankind] themselves are beasts”, God is not informing us that He intends to release upon mankind all the caged beasts in all of the zoos all around the globe. That would be so easy for mankind to deal with.  The “evil beasts” He is telling us He will use to judge mankind are far more dangerous than any physical “leopard… bear [or] lion. The “evil beast” by which God is judging all men receives his power from the great red Dragon, who is Satan himself. The “evil beasts” by whom God will judge all men is the beast of Revelation 13:

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.
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?
Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him [as one of God’s four sore judgments] to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
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 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

This “evil beast” overcomes all of God’s saints! He is “given… power… over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship [this “evil beast”]. He goes so far as to ‘sit in the temple of God, proclaiming himself that he is God’. He kills by the sword, and he is killed by the sword. We are told that all of this “is the patience and the faith of the saints” who acknowledge that it is they, too, who must “keep the things written therein” (Rev 1:3 and Rev 22:7)

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.

Of course, this not a literal statement. While rulers of men have indeed proclaimed themselves to be gods, such as the king of Babylon, Isa 14, and the prince of Tyre, Eze 28, most men simply place themselves ahead of God, and in that sense they “worship the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” All who have Christ in them know that Christ alone has been capable of ‘making war with the beast’ that is within us all. This is the noisome beast by whom God will judge “all flesh”, and will bring the nations to want God’s elect to take over the reins of government on this earth. (Psa 82:8; Isa 49:26 ; Isa 66:16; Jer 25:31)

Peter speaks of this very same beast, by whom God will judge all men:

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

It is with “natural brute beasts” that God is at this very moment judging His house, and it is with “natural brute beasts” that He will outwardly judge this world and make the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, His Christ, who we are.

Notice what Peter tells us about the function of these “natural brute beasts”, the “noisome [evil] beast” by whom He is judging His people and the kingdoms of this world:

2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 
2Pe 2:14  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 
2Pe 2:15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 
2Pe 2:16  But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Let’s understand what we are being told. Christ Himself had a “natural brute beast [who was a] spot and a blemish sporting himself with his own deceit while feasting with” Christ and His Christ. That man “followed the way of Balaam” because he, too, loved the wages of unrighteousness. He thought he would be free when he betrayed Christ, but he very soon discovered the he was himself the servant of corruption, and was in fact in bondage to that corruption. He had escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord, but was again entangled in the pollutions of this world, and his latter end was worse than his beginning.

“…As He is so are we” (1Jo 4:17)

Just like Christ we, too, are promised “a kingdom” and “power over the nations”. We are told “the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”

Dan 2:44  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

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

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

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

Rev 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.

Christ has already been given all power in heaven and in earth, and He is wielding that power at this very moment.

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

At this very moment, He is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”.

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 are predestined to “be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in the Christ,…[who] has been given all power in heaven and in earth”, and if it is true that “as He is, so are we in this world”, then we ought to be able to look at the life of Christ to see how the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. The fact is that we have already done just that when we examined the life of Joseph.

Joseph’s going from Potiphar’s house to prison typified Christ passing from “a body of flesh and bone” into the grave.

Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

On coming up out of the realm of death, Christ ascended to His Father’s throne, where He was given “all power in heaven and in earth”. But how did He get to that throne? King David tells us how God made it all happen. It is the same way He judges us, and it is the same way He will judge this world (1Co 6:2) and make the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ:

Psa 105:16  Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.
Psa 105:17  He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: 
Psa 105:18  Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
Psa 105:19  Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
Psa 105:20  The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
Psa 105:21  He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:
Psa 105:22  To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

The Word of the Lord tried Joseph, and it was the Word of the Lord which also tried Christ when He was tempted and tried of the Devil:

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.

Christ believed His Father’s Words, and that is what Joseph did. It was a true trial to spend 13 years as a slave to the powers of Egypt waiting for the words of the Lord to come to pass.

These are the words of the Lord which tried Joseph’s faith in the Words of His Lord:

Gen 37:5  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Gen 37:6  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
Gen 37:7  For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

From the time Joseph was given the promise of becoming a ruler, his life went straight down the drain. Everything he had been promised seemed to get farther and farther away from him. First, his own brothers hated him. They put him in a pit, then they sold him into slavery. He served Potiphar as a slave for some time, but things were to get even worse when he was cast into the dungeons of Egypt, typifying the death of his flesh.

But the time came for those words of promised rulership to come to pass, and that is exactly what happened. His brother’s “sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to [Joseph’s] sheaf”:

Gen 42:5  And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Gen 42:6  And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

You and I are in the same place as Joseph. We have been told that we were predestined to be called to “be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in [the Words of] Christ”. Notice all the personal pronouns in these verses:

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

Does that sound like Paul doubted his election? These verses deal with all the blessings of our election. Judgment is not the subject of these verses. But it is God’s four sore judgments and all seven seals of the book of Revelation which are prerequisites of election:

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

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