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“The Spiritual Significance of Directions”

North, South, East and West

[Study Originally Aired January 7, 2025
Revised and re-recorded January 28, 2025]

 

Introduction: Understanding Direction in Scripture

In our pursuit of spiritual understanding, we must begin with Jesus’s foundational teaching that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20). This truth transforms our study of directional references in Scripture from mere geographical indicators to profound spiritual realities. When God established physical directions in creation, He provided patterns that would reveal spiritual truth, for “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20).

God deliberately established directional patterns from the beginning of creation. This pattern became physically visible when “God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night” (Genesis 1:16). By setting the sun to rise in the east and set in the west each day, God created an enduring natural cycle that would teach spiritual truth. The prophet Malachi captured this teaching purpose: ”For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles” (Malachi 1:11). Through this daily journey of light, we learn how divine revelation progresses to completion in our lives.

To understand these spiritual patterns, we must rely not on natural reasoning but on divine wisdom. Paul emphasizes this necessity: “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” (1 Corinthians 2:14). As Jesus taught, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Therefore, we must approach directional references in Scripture seeking their spiritual significance.

The Divine Pattern: Israel’s Tribal Arrangement

God’s arrangement of Israel’s tribes around the tabernacle provides our first complete picture of how directions reveal spiritual truth. This wasn’t random positioning but deliberate placement teaching eternal principles. Each tribe’s location carried specific spiritual meaning that would illuminate God’s working in our lives.

On the east side, God positioned Judah: “On the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies” (Numbers 2:3). Through Judah would come Christ, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5). This eastern placement established that direction’s connection with divine revelation, just as natural light first appears in the east.

The south side belonged to Reuben: “On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben” (Numbers 2:10). As Jacob’s firstborn who lost his birthright through sin, Reuben’s position revealed how the south represents progressive testing and judgment in our lives. His story shows how God uses circumstances to reveal and deal with what lies within us.

Continuing with the tribal arrangement, God placed Ephraim on the west side: “On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim” (Numbers 2:18). Ephraim had received a blessing of multiplication from Jacob: “his seed shall become a multitude of nations” (Genesis 48:19). This western position reveals how God brings His work to completion and fullness, just as the sun completes its daily journey in the west.

Finally, the tribe of Dan occupied the north: “The camp of Dan shall be on the north side” (Numbers 2:25). The name Dan means “judge,” establishing the north’s connection with God’s judgment and authority. This positioning teaches us how God’s authority works in our lives through judgment to accomplish His purpose.

The Language of Direction: Hebrew and Greek Insights

The original Hebrew and Greek words for directions provide deeper insight into their spiritual significance. Each directional term carries meaning that illuminates how God uses these patterns to accomplish His purpose in our lives.

The Hebrew word for north, tsaphon (צָפוֹן), derives from a root meaning ”to hide or treasure up. ” God reveals this connection through Solomon’s instruction to ”lay up (tsaphan) my commandments with thee” (Proverbs 7:1). Just as precious things are carefully stored until the right moment, so God’s judgments from the north are released according to His perfect timing. The Greek equivalent, borrhas (βορρᾶς), relates to strength and hardness, reinforcing the north’s connection to God’s unmovable authority and judgment.

The south’s Hebrew designation, negeb (נֶגֶב), literally means ”to be parched” or ”dry, ” referring to desert regions. This parching process pictures how God uses testing to reveal what lies within us, as seen powerfully when Christ was ”led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Matthew 4:1). After forty days in this desert testing, angels came and ministered to Him, showing how God’s testing ultimately brings refreshing. The Greek term notos (νότος) reinforces this pattern – connecting to moisture and rain, it reveals how testing leads to spiritual renewal, fulfilling the prophet’s words: ”For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud” (Isaiah 55:10)

In Hebrew, east is mizrach (מִזְרָח), from zarach meaning “to rise or shine forth.” The Greek anatole (ἀνατολή) carries the same meaning of rising or dawning. Both terms connect directly to sunrise, reinforcing how God’s revelation dawns progressively in our lives, as “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18).

The Hebrew ma’arab (מַעֲרָב) for west comes from a root meaning “to grow dark,” referring to sunset. Similarly, the Greek dusme (δυσμή) means “a setting.” Rather than suggesting negative darkness, these terms speak of completion – just as each day finds completion at sunset, God brings each aspect of His work to its appointed conclusion.

These linguistic foundations reveal how God embedded spiritual meaning even in the basic terms for direction. As we study how Scripture uses these terms, their root meanings enrich our understanding of God’s working in our lives. This aligns with Solomon’s observation that “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11).

The North in Scripture: A Place of God’s Judgment and Authority

Scripture develops the north’s spiritual significance far beyond Dan’s initial placement. Job provides foundational insight when he declares, “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7), connecting the north with God’s absolute authority over creation. The Psalmist reinforces this, declaring “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:2), linking the north specifically with God’s kingship and throne of judgment.

The prophet Ezekiel deepens this understanding through his dramatic vision: “a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it” (Ezekiel 1:4). This appearance from the north preceded God revealing His throne and glory, showing how experiencing God’s judgment prepares us for deeper revelation of His nature.

Through Jeremiah, God reveals how He uses northern powers as instruments of His judgment: “Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 1:14-15). Yet this judgment serves His redemptive purpose, for He promises restoration through this same direction: “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers” (Jeremiah 3:18).

Isaiah illuminates the north’s significance when recording the king of Babylon’s proud boast: “I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). This reveals the north as the place of highest authority – a position belonging to God alone. As Isaiah further declares, “I am the LORD, and there is none else… I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:6-7). Through this authority, God works all things according to His will, establishing His kingdom within us.

The South: A Direction of God’s Progressive Judgment

Building on the north’s establishment of judgment, the south reveals how God’s judgment progresses to accomplish His purpose. This progression begins with Reuben’s placement on the south side of the tabernacle. Just as Reuben’s position changed through testing, the south represents how God’s judgments work progressively to transform us.

Just as He told Satan regarding Job, ”Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand’‘ (Job 1:12), every testing from the south operates within His set boundaries. The progression of these tests follows His perfect timing, for ”to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Job provides a key witness to how God uses the south for progressive testing: “Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north” (Job 37:9). This verse reveals how both directions serve God’s purpose – the north establishing judgment and the south advancing that work. The progression through the south appears powerfully in Ezekiel’s prophecy when God commands him with threefold emphasis: “Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field” (Ezekiel 20:46). This repetition emphasizes the progressive nature of God’s work through this direction.

The Psalmist captures the transformative nature of God’s southern working when he prays, “Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south“ (Psalm 126:4). These streams in the south speak to how God’s judgments flow progressively, bringing transformation as they advance. The context reveals the joyful outcome of this work: “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing” (Psalm 126:1-2).

North and South: The Progression of Judgement

The distinction between the north’s judgment and south’s testing is crucial. North’s judgment establishes God’s authority, like when God told Job from the whirlwind, ”Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2). This judgment firmly establishes God’s sovereign rule.

South’s testing, by contrast, works progressively to reveal and purge what opposes God’s life within us. This appears when God tested Abraham: ”And it came to pass after these things, that God did test Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). Testing reveals what lies within, as Moses explained to Israel: ”to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Both judgment and testing serve God’s purpose, but in different ways. Judgment establishes His authority and right to rule, while testing progressively reveals and removes what opposes His life. As Isaiah declared, ”when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9).

North and South: The Boundaries of Judgment 

Unlike east and west which continue without end, both north and south reach definite boundaries. This natural pattern reveals important truth about God’s judgments and testing. As David observed, ”As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Significantly, David did not say ”as far as north from south, ” because those distances are measurable and finite.

The finite nature of the north and south appears clearly in creation. Traveling north, one eventually reaches the pole and can go no further – any continued movement becomes southward. The same limitation occurs when traveling south. This natural boundary reminds us that God’s judgments and testing serve specific purposes and have appointed ends. As the prophet Isaiah declared, ”In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind” (Isaiah 27:8).

This truth brings comfort during times of judgment and testing. Job learned this when God appeared to him from the whirlwind, revealing that even his intense trials had prescribed limits. The Lord reminded him, ”Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11). Just as God sets bounds for the sea, He sets boundaries for every judgment and testing.

The finite nature of judgment appears again when God promises restoration: ”For the Lord shall not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies” (Lamentations 3:31-32). All judgment serves His purpose of transformation, leading to the prophet’s confidence: ”The Lord doesn’t enjoy sending grief or pain.” (Lamentations 3:33 CEV)

The East: The Direction of God’s Glory and Light

The east holds special significance as the direction from which God’s glory and revelation proceed. As mentioned earlier this pattern begins in creation itself when God said “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.” (Genesis 1:16). He established the sun’s daily rise in the east as an enduring pattern teaching how spiritual light and understanding come to His people. After creating man, “the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden” (Genesis 2:8), and when man sinned, God placed cherubim “at the east of the garden of Eden” (Genesis 3:24), establishing the east as both the direction of divine glory and the way back to God’s presence.

Ezekiel witnessed this connection dramatically when “the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory” (Ezekiel 43:2). This appearance carried such power that “the earth shined with his glory,” showing how divine revelation illuminates everything it touches. When Israel’s disobedience caused God’s glory to depart from the temple, it moved eastward in stages, “Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.” (Ezekiel 10:18-19), yet God promised restoration would come from the same direction, as the prophet later saw the glory return “from the way of the east“ (Ezekiel 43:4).

This pattern of revelation from the east finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ, for “in him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). The wise men declared, “We have seen his star in the east“ (Matthew 2:2), following this light to find Him who would later declare “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). This connects the east’s natural light with Christ as the source of all spiritual illumination.

The east’s association with God’s glory reminds us that even divine revelation serves His sovereign purpose. When the Psalmist declares, “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge” (Psalm 75:6-7), he emphasizes that all true advancement comes from God alone, not from any direction or means.

The West: Completing God’s Work and Gathering His People

The west in Scripture reveals how God brings His work to completion and gathers His people. Just as the sun completes its daily journey in the west, this direction teaches us about the fulfillment of God’s purposes. This completion pattern begins with Ephraim’s placement on the west side of the tabernacle. Through Ephraim’s blessing of multiplication and fruitfulness, the west reveals how God’s work reaches its full increase.

The west’s completion pattern demonstrates God’s sovereign control over every work’s fulfillment. Nothing reaches completion except according to His purpose and timing, for ”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” (Ephesians 1:11).

The west’s connection to completion appears powerfully in God’s promise to Joshua about the Promised Land: “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast” (Joshua 1:3-4). This western boundary, marked by the setting sun, represented the full extent of their inheritance.

The Psalms connect the west to the completion of God’s praise and glory: “From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’s name is to be praised” (Psalm 113:3). This shows how God’s work extends throughout the whole earth, from beginning (east) to completion (west). Similarly, Isaiah declares “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun” (Isaiah 59:19), revealing how God’s glory fills the entire earth as His work reaches completion.

Christ particularly connects the west to the gathering and completion of His work: “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” (Matthew 24:27). This gathering work culminates in His promise that “many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). The progression from east to west in these verses shows how God’s revelation leads to completed gathering.

The Unified Working of All Directions

Understanding how these directions work together reveals the completeness of God’s purpose. We see this comprehensive pattern first in God’s promise to Abraham: “And the LORD said unto Abram… Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever” (Genesis 13:14-15). This all-encompassing view represented not just physical territory but the fullness of God’s spiritual promise.

Isaiah reveals how these directions serve God’s gathering purpose: “Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 43:5-6). Each direction receives specific commands that reveal its role in God’s complete work – the north must “give up,” showing release of judgment; the south must “keep not back,” allowing progression of judgment; while east brings forth “thy seed” and west completes the “gathering”.

The prophet Ezekiel witnessed this comprehensive working through the four living creatures: “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle” (Ezekiel 1:10). These four faces, looking toward the four directions, show how God’s authority extends everywhere. Their movement according to God’s spirit – “And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went” (Ezekiel 1:12) – reveals how all directions serve His sovereign purpose.

Practical Application of Directional Truth

Understanding these directional patterns transforms how we view and respond to every circumstance in our spiritual journey. Each direction reveals specific aspects of God’s work in us, helping us cooperate with rather than resist His purpose.

When facing judgment from the north, we recognize God establishing His authority in our lives. Rather than resisting these experiences, we can submit like Job who declared “He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). This understanding helps us yield to God’s establishing work, knowing His judgment serves His perfect purpose.

The south’s progressive testing reveals God’s transformative work advancing in our lives. Like the Psalmist, we learn to pray “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). God’s testing process accelerates our spiritual growth as each trial reveals and purges what opposes His life within us.

When divine revelation comes from the east, it brings increasing light and understanding to transform our walk with God. The prophet captured this progressive illumination: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward” (Isaiah 58:8). As Hosea declares, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning” (Hosea 6:3). Each new day presents fresh opportunities for increased spiritual understanding.

The west reminds us that God will complete what He has begun, bringing every aspect of His work to its appointed conclusion. Paul expressed this certainty: “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” (Philippians 1:6). When circumstances seem to hinder or delay God’s purpose, the west’s completion pattern encourages our faith to trust His perfect timing.

These directional workings ultimately point to internal spiritual realities, fulfilling Christ’s declaration that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20). The north’s judgment works within to establish God’s authority in our hearts. The south’s progression moves us through internal testing that reveals and purges what opposes God’s life. The east’s light illuminates our understanding of spiritual truth. The west’s gathering brings all these workings to completion in our experience.

This internal working aligns perfectly with God’s promise through Ezekiel: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Each direction serves this transformative purpose as God works to conform us to Christ’s image.

Conclusion: The Perfect Pattern

These directional patterns ultimately reveal the perfection of God’s working in every aspect of our lives. From the north’s establishment of divine authority through the south’s progressive testing, from the east’s revelation to the west’s completion, each direction serves God’s purpose of conforming us to Christ’s image.

The prophetic visions of both Daniel and Ezekiel reveal how God orchestrates all powers and movements according to His directional purposes. Daniel’s vision of the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward demonstrated how God uses even earthly kingdoms to accomplish His purpose of judgment (north), testing (south), and moving toward completion (west). Notably, the ram’s inability to push eastward aligns with our understanding that God alone brings revelation and glory from the east.

Together, these prophetic visions reveal how God maintains absolute control over all directional movements in creation. Whether through spiritual beings or earthly powers, every directional movement serves His sovereign purpose, for ”all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand” (Daniel 4:35).

This comprehensive understanding brings peace amidst life’s various circumstances. Whether facing judgment, testing, revelation, or completion, we recognize each experience as part of God’s perfect pattern. As Paul declared, ”we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

May this understanding of Scripture’s directional patterns deepen our walk with God and strengthen our faith in His sovereign working. For truly, ”of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36)

]]> Ezekiel 42:1-20 The Inner Temple https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/ezekiel-421-20-the-inner-temple/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ezekiel-421-20-the-inner-temple Mon, 06 Jan 2025 05:30:19 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31769 Audio Download

Ezekiel 42:1-20 The Inner Temple

[Study Aired January 6, 2025]

INTRODUCTION

Today, we are dealing Ezekiel chapter 42 which continues and concludes the measurement of the passageway to the outer and inner courts of the temple, together with the private chambers arranged in three floors. As indicated, these chapters which focus on the measurement of the temple is to makes us aware of how the Lord comes into our lives with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to cleanse our hearts and minds for Him to dwell within us. The spirit of His mouth refers to His judgement, and His brightness signifies the illumination of His words for us to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Before the coming of the Lord, our old man or flesh has taken the throne of our hearts and minds claiming to be God that deserve our worship, since we think we make our own decisions. In this world, it is only the Lord who makes decisions and so thinking that we make our own decisions means we are playing the role of God. The decisions we make are caused by the Lord.

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes 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:

The question that we may be asking is that why would the Lord devotes three long chapters of the Bible to describe the temple to Ezekiel? The answer to this question is that the temple serves as the gathering place for His elect. The gathering of the Lord’s children is very important especially as we see the day approaching. The day approaching is the Lord coming with His judgement to His chosen ones and our gathering supplies what is needed to survive the onslaught of the evil one.

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We must also understand that the move of the Lord in this dispensation is the gathering of His people together, which is a prerequisite for the possession of the land, which is our bodies. Possessing our bodies means overcoming the flesh and it is what will qualify us to reign with Christ.

Eze 11:17  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Eze 11:18  And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
Eze 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Eze 11:20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.  

Eze 36:24  For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Eze 36:25  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

It is important to note that the Lord loves our gathering together more than our individualistic pursuit of the kingdom. That is what it means when the word of the Lord says that the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob.

Psa 87:2  The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Psa 87:3  Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.
Psa 87:4  I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.
Psa 87:5  And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.
Psa 87:6 The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.

In the final analysis, as we mature through what every joint supplies, we shall surely become part of the New Jerusalem whose measurement depicts Christ. The number twelve is the number of Christ and the twelve gates, the foundations and the twelve angels are all to tell us that we shall all measure up to the standard of Christ as the Lord has promised.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 21:10  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 21:12  And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
Rev 21:13  On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Today’s study focuses on the description of the chambers near the courts in terms of their situation and structure. It also touches on the uses of these chambers. Finally, the study shows us measurements of the area containing the house and the courts belonging to it.

The Passageway to the Chambers

Eze 42:1  Then he brought me forth into the utter court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was before the building toward the north. 

As indicated in the previous studies, the outer court is where everybody comes to worship. Our time in the physical churches of this world or Babylon is represented by worshipping in the outer court. This brings to mind the multitude praying in the outer court while Zacharias, the priest, who represents the elect, was worshipping in the inner temple. It was in the inner temple that he had an encounter with the Lord.

Luk 1:8  And it came to pass, that while he (Zacharias) executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,
Luk 1:9  According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
Luk 1:10  And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
Luk 1:11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

The north signifies judgement as shown in the following verses:

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 4:6  Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

This implies that Ezekiel being brought into the outer court towards the way to the north is to tell us that we begin our walk with Christ in the outer court where we give the Lord the occasion for Him to come and judge us. As shown in the introductory section, the key focus of Today’s study is the rooms or chambers which were against the open area and the building on the north. As indicated in verse 13, these rooms represent our hearts and minds where the Lord resides and it is where we receive or eat the holy things which refer to the truth of the word of the Lord.

Eze 42:13  Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.

When the Lord Jesus was referring to the fact that in His Father’s house there are many mansions, the mansions signifies the heart and mind of each of His elect. 

Joh 14:1  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Joh 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

The separate place or the open area represents our liberty in Christ and the building towards the north symbolizes the inner temple which is accessed through judgement. Being brought into the room which was against the open area and the building on the north means that the Lord must have His throne in our hearts and minds to give us the liberty in Christ which comes through the Lord’s judgment. This liberty in Christ means we are no longer in bondage to the flesh.

Eze 42:2  Before the length of an hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits. 
Eze 42:3 Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for the utter court, was gallery against gallery in three stories. 

The building whose door is towards the north has a length of an hundred cubits and a width of fifty cubits. The fact that the door was towards the north means that we can only access the inner temple or building through the Lord’s judgement of our flesh. The number ‘an hundred’ (100 = 10×10) show us the fulness of the flesh, and ‘fifty’ signifies our liberty in Christ. What these measurements mean is that to have access to the inner temple, which is accessed only by the priests, we must realize that we are the worse sinners as our sins have reached the heavens. That is what gives the Lord the occasion to come and judge us so that we can be liberated from the shackles of our flesh.

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

In verse 3, opposite the inner courtyard was an area of twenty cubits wide which was opposite the pavement of the inner courtyard which faces gallery upon gallery in three stories. These galleries are long, covered areas that are open on one or both sides and are used as corridors or walks. What this implies is that it is those who are ready to war against the flesh who are granted access to the chambers in three stories, since the galleries lead to the chambers or rooms on each floor designated for only the priests.

Eze 42:4  And before the chambers was a passage inward, ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long, and their doors were on the north. 
Eze 42:5  Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. 
Eze 42:6  For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the courts. Thus the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones. 

Verse 4 is telling us that there is a passageway of ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits in length, leading to the doors facing north. This is telling us that those who are privileged to have access to the chambers or rooms are those whose sins have reached the heavens or become full and therefore are being judged.

Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
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 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

As we are aware, it is only the Lord’s elect or priests who are being judged in this age and therefore the rooms are specifically for the priests only. As indicated, these rooms or chambers represent our hearts and minds being a habitation for the Lord.

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?

In the previous study, we came to know that there were 30 rooms in each floor. The fact that the rooms are arranged in three stories or levels is to show us that we grow in spiritual maturity through the Lord’s judgement. The number ‘thirty’ signifies those who have started to rule over their flesh. They are the ones whose hearts and minds are being prepared as a habitation for the Lord. Later, in another age, we shall rule the kingdoms of this world.

Gen 41:46  And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

2Sa 5:4  David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

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 three floors with thirty rooms on each level is therefore to make us aware that it is only the Lord’s elect who constitute the temple of the Lord and that as we are being judged, we grow in spiritual maturity from one level to another, and that we are perfected on the third day or floor.

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

It is instructive to note that in verse 5, we are told that the rooms on the third floor are narrower than those on the first and second floor of the building because of the corridors that took more space away from them. The corridors on the third floor having more space is to let us know of the liberty we have in Christ as we grow in maturity. The fact that the rooms on the third floor were narrower compared with the first two floors is let us know that although we have the liberty in Christ, we are not to use our liberty to indulge the flesh.

Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Verse 6 deals with the structure of the three story buildings. It is not clear from the various versions of the Bible what was being said. All versions say that the rooms in the three stories do not have pillar support like the buildings in the courtyard. The CEV version gives an indication of what supports the three stories.

Eze 42:6  The rooms on the bottom level supported those on the two upper levels, and so these rooms did not have columns like other buildings in the courtyard. (CEV)

As indicated, the rooms represent the Lord’s elect. We can therefore look at the first floor as the work of the apostles which lay the foundation or pillars for us to build on.

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Eze 42:7  And the wall that was without over against the chambers, toward the utter court on the forepart of the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits. 
Eze 42:8  For the length of the chambers that were in the utter court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were an hundred cubits. 

There was a wall parallel to the rooms and towards the outer court and it had a length of fifty cubits. The wall is that which separates those in the outer courts from the rooms or chambers of the priests. Being fifty cubits in length means that what separates us from our brothers and sisters in Babylon is our liberty in Christ. It is also worth noting that the length of the chambers that were in the outer courts was fifty cubits. This affirms the fact that what separates us from our brethren in Babylon is our liberty in Christ.

Gal 2:2  And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
Gal 2:3  But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:
Gal 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:

In verse 8, we are also told that the chambers that faced the temple had a length of an hundred cubits. This is to make us aware that the stumbling block to our hearts and minds being made the temple of the Lord is our flesh in his fulness.

Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
Isa 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Eze 42:9  And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goeth into them from the utter court. 
Eze 42:10  The chambers were in the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, over against the separate place, and over against the building. 
Eze 42:11 And the way before them was like the appearance of the chambers which were toward the north, as long as they, and as broad as they: and all their goings out were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.  

The east signifies the beginning of the rise of the sun in our lives. This sun is our Lord Jesus Christ. When we start our walk with Christ, we enter the outer court. From the outer court, on the east end, there is a gate leading to the rooms meant for priests. It is when Christ comes to us while we are worshipping in the outer courts, that we are able to enter the chambers through the east gate. Entering the chamber means that our hearts and minds becoming a habitation for the Lord as the Lord rises in our hearts and minds.

2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

Verse 10 shows us that there were rooms parallel to the wall of the courtyard on the south side. They faced the open area and the building. This suggests that the courtyard, which is where we start our walk, is such that unless the Lord intervenes, there is no way we can come into the chambers, that is, the Lord making a habitation in our hearts and minds. This is because the wall of the outer courtyard runs parallel to the chambers.

In verse 11, there was a walkway in front of the open area and the building which was like the one that was in front of the rooms on the north side. These rooms were as long and as wide as the northern rooms. They had the same exits, dimensions, and doors. The walkway being the same as the one in front of the rooms on the northern side means that from whatever direction or background that we are coming from, we must all face the judgement of our old man or flesh as the Lord makes His habitation in us.

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?

Eze 42:12  And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door in the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into them. 

A simpler version of this verse reads:

Eze 42:12  The doors to the south rooms were the same as the doors to the north rooms. There was a doorway at the other end of the walkway that was parallel to the corresponding wall that ran eastward. People entered through that doorway.

The door to the south rooms being the same as the door to the north rooms implies that irrespective of our background, we all share the same experience with our walk with the Lord. The passageway to the chambers being parallel to the wall towards the east is to let us know that this pathway which the Lord takes us through to become His mansions or habitation is separate from our experience with Christ when we first believed. It is this pathway that the Lord constrains us to walk through to become His elect.

The Uses of the Chambers

Eze 42:13  Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy. 
Eze 42:14 When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the utter court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy; and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people. 

The verses here show us that the north chambers and the south chambers are holy chambers and they belong to those called and chosen as priests. As we have seen, the north represents judgement and the south means being in the land of trouble and anguish, where we are under the domain of the devil and his cohorts as they feed on our flesh.  This gives the Lord the occasion to come and judge us.

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 4:6  Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

Isa 30:6  The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

The north and south chambers therefore represent those who are being judged in this age. It is this people that the Lord is making their hearts and minds His temple to live in. It is in our hearts and minds that we imbibe the truth of the word of the Lord, which is represented in verse 13 as the holy things.

In verse 14, we are told that as priests of the Lord, we cannot go back into the outer court which signifies Babylon or the physical churches of this world. The garments that were worn by the priests represent our righteousness.

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

It is only when we leave behind our garments, that is, lose our righteousness, that we can become part of the outer court. Becoming part of Babylon is the same as wearing other garments not recommended for the wedding feast with Christ.

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

The Measurement of the Gates

Eze 42:15  Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about. 
Eze 42:16  He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. 
Eze 42:17  He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. 
Eze 42:18  He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed. 
Eze 42:19  He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. 
Eze 42:20  He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place. 

The East side represents our walk with Christ when He begins to rise within us. The measurement of five hundred reeds on the east side is to let us know that when our sins have reached their fulness because of the dominance of the flesh in our lives, that is when the Lord comes to us with His grace through faith.

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;

This grace is the Lord’s chastening which, through the faith the Lord has given us, we are able to endure to the end. The rise of the daystar within us is therefore through the judgement of the Lord.

2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

The north side also had the same measurement as the east side. This is to assure us that this grace through faith that we have received involves the judgement of the Lord since the north signifies judgement.

The south side also had the same measurement. Being on the south side means that we are in the land of trouble and anguish where we are under the domain of the devil and his cohorts as they feed on our flesh.

Isa 30:6  The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

It is this situation that we find ourselves in that the Lord comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to cleanse our temple for Him to dwell in.

The west is where the sun sets. The west side therefore refers to our maturity in Christ as we come to fear the name of the Lord.

Isa 59:19  So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

The west having the same measurement of five hundred reeds as the other sides of the cardinal points means that it is grace through faith that we mature to have the fear of the Lord. As explained, this grace connotes the chastening of the Lord.

The fact that all the sides of the temple area have the same measurement means that the temple area was a square. This implies that from whatever background we come from, our spiritual experience are all the same.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

In verse 20, the chapter concludes with the fact that there is a wall surrounding the temple area with the measurement of five hundred reeds in length and five hundred reeds in breadth. This is to remind us that it is when our flesh has reached its fulness that the Lord comes with His grace through faith to deliver us, and to makes our hearts and minds His sanctuary or temple. In verse 20, we are also given the function of the wall. It separates the sanctuary or the holy place from the profane place. What separates us, His elect, from the people of this world, including our brothers and sisters, is the five hundred reeds square wall. What we are being told is that the difference between us, His elect, and all others is this grace through faith that the Lord gives us when He comes to us in our spiritual poverty, when the deeds of our our flesh had peaked. As indicated, this grace is the Lord’s chastening. In other words, it is the Lord’s judgement of our flesh that separates us from all others.

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4  And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

May the name of the Lord be praised forever more. Amen!!

]]> The Book of Daniel – Dan 11:5-16 Be ye not troubled – Part 2 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-daniel-dan-115-16-be-ye-not-troubled-part-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-daniel-dan-115-16-be-ye-not-troubled-part-2 Thu, 16 May 2024 17:09:21 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=29976 Audio Download

Dan 11:5-16 Be ye not troubled – Part 2

[Study Aired May 16, 2024]

Dan 11:1  Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.
Dan 11:2  And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
Dan 11:3  And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 
Dan 11:4  And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.

This section of chapter 11 reminds us that historically both the Persian Empire and the Greek empire tried to destroy the Jewish people, who typify the Israel of God (Gal 6:16, Rom 2:28-29). These attempts at trying to destroy the physical nation of Israel typify for God’s elect the reality of the powers and principalities against which we wrestle in our heavens as God’s children, and how the devil constantly wants to sift us like wheat, but by God’s power we are kept spiritually alive through Christ.

It is by the words of eternal life that contain exceedingly great and precious promises that we are sanctified and washed and given increase from our Father as we grow (1Co 3:7) and become persuaded (Rom 8:38) that we are in fact more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Eph 6:12, Luk 22:31, Rom 8:37).

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

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

The mighty king that rises up in Daniel 11:3-4 is Alexander the great and he is another type of the self-willed man of perdition that has war in his heart, and opposes Christ (Mat 25:40). The spiritual lesson God is showing us via these evil rulers is that we will have many spiritual battles, much tribulation (Act 14:22) in our own heavens, and it will only be through Christ that we will conquer any and all empires that dominate our heavens at first (2Co 4:15).

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Alexander’s kingdom would not endure and would be divided after his death. There were no descendants who succeeded him, and after his death there were four generals that controlled the Greek Empire, but none of them “according to his will.” This reminds us of the vanity of flesh that cannot inherit the kingdom, as we look at all the conquests of Alexander the great come to nought as others would come in and rule his empire and not in a manner that would have been desirable to him. This is a very parallel situation to king Solomon (Dan 11:3, Ecc 2:17-18). 

Dan 11:3  And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.

Ecc 2:17  Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 
Ecc 2:18  Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

The next prophecies focus on two of the four inheritors of Alexander’s realm and the dynasties they established. Historically there were four inheritors of Alexander’s realm, however only two are focused on because they were continually fighting over the Promised Land because of its location between the northern and southern kings. 

Those struggles and wars over the promised land typify for us what we read in Romans 7:19-25. These verses in Romans chapter 7 become central to our thinking whenever we read of wars or power struggles in history, where we learn that not every battle is won “but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Pro 24:16), however in the end the war will be won against all the powers and principalities with which we war, through Christ, if that is God’s will for us (Rom 8:37, 1Sa 17:47).

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

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.

1Sa 17:47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.

Dan 11:5  And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion. 

Below are some historical facts surrounding this fifth verse which demonstrate how God controls who He puts in places of rulership in order to direct the course of history according to the counsel of His own will (Dan 4:17, Eph 1:11). It’s in our former conversation of Ephesians 2:1-3 that the basest of men take residence in our hearts and war ensues as a result, symbolized by the king of the South and the king of the North.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 

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. 

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:

Dan 11:6  And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.

According to the historical account, “the end of years they shall join themselves together” took 130 years of warring between these two dynasties. What transpired to make this happen is “the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement.“

Below are some historical facts that can help us understand what physically unfolded, and then we can look more closely at what this represents for us spiritually, the natural preceding the spiritual (1Co 15:46). What is very evident is that every part of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar that represents the corrupt history of humanity had vast schisms and weaknesses, each being a little different than the former but all corrupt and divided in the final analysis (Mar 3:24-25). 

Mar 3:24  And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Mar 3:25  And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

When reading the history of this verse of Daniel it brings to mind this verse, which pertains especially to the end of the ages prior to Christ’s return, but it also has an application for these days we’re reading of as well (2Ti 3:1-4).

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 
2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Dan 11:7  But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail: 
Dan 11:8  And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north. 
Dan 11:9  So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.

The king of the South represents our fleshly life without the judgment of God that comes from the north, and in fact in this story the South dominates the North and takes vengeance for past offenses, which ends up just continuing the cycle of violence. The lesson for God’s people is to love our enemies, resist not evil, and forgive those who have trespassed against us or the unsettled dynasties will continue to rule in our heavens (Mat 5:44, Mat 5:39, Mat 6:14-15). Below is the historical confirmation of more wars and rumors of wars that are perpetuated in Satan’s kingdom as a result of Christ not being present in the hearts of mankind. 

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses [cycle of violence will continue in our heavens].

Dan 11:10  But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress.

The irony in this section of scripture is that the Holy Land is being taken back through war, and as we read the historical account of the battle, it was deemed to be furious. These actions typify for us how in our appointed time we violently took the kingdom by force, even as Babylon still does to this day even while saying, “Lord, Lord” but not doing the things He commands (Mat 11:12-15, Luk 6:46).

Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Mat 11:13  For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 
Mat 11:14  And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
Mat 11:15  He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

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

Dan 11:11  And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand. 
Dan 11:12  And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.

As these wars progress in the book of Daniel, it would be beneficial to answer the question of where all these wars are coming from (Jas 4:1-7), and how are they being instigated from God’s perspective (1Sa 16:14, Eph 1:11), and what the spiritual lesson is for God’s elect today, and eventually all the world. 

Jas 4:1  From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Jas 4:2  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 
Jas 4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 
Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 
Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

This battle of the South against the North goes in favor of the Southern empire who was “moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand.“

This overcoming of a great multitude and then after that “when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands” represents the power God gives us even while in Babylon to overcome very physical addictions and bad behaviors. However, as this verse concludes “but he shall not be strengthened by it” telling us that these physical victories of the empire from the South are more akin to what the disciples were so excited over when they realized that they had been given dominion over evil spirits outwardly that were now subject to them (Luk 10:17). Not having the holy spirit within them yet, Christ turned their attention to what would truly strengthen them; that being to have the spirit of God within them to gain dominion over the powers and principalities within themselves against which they would wrestle in this life (Luk 10:18-20). Christ was speaking of things as though they were not (Rom 4:17) when He told His disciples to rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven, which is synonymous with being sealed with the holy spirit of promise (Eph 1:13-14).

Luk 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 
Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Dan 11:13  For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. 
Dan 11:14  And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. 
Dan 11:15  So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. 
Dan 11:16  But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. 

I can’t guarantee that every part of the historical commentary throughout this study is one hundred percent accurate, but what I can say confidently is that the spiritual lessons we can take from all these battles and power struggles which have unfolded for our spiritual learning today are profitable to us in instructing us in His righteousness (2Ti 3:15-17).

2Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

This last section we will look at for this study represents for us how evil men will wax worse and worse, “the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches” (2Ti 3:13). Whether the time period for these events is happening as the historians suggest does not mean there is not an aorist, is, was and will be manner in which we can understand what we are reading, always applying what we read primarily inwardly, in the present ‘is’ manner, as this is the only place where the scriptures we are reading can become relevant for our dying daily sojourn in the Lord (Rev 1:3).

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

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.

These verses (Mat 24:12-14, Mat 10:21-23, 2Ti 3:1) correspond with the historical events that were taking place at this time in history. “And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall“, and we are reminded of Christ’s words to “be you not troubled” (Mat 24:5-8), as all these things must happen inwardly in our own heavens, but the end is not yet.

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

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. [from battle to battle, glory to glory (2Co 3:18)]

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows [from battle to battle, glory to glory (2Co 3:18)].

Next week, Lord willing, we will continue to break down more verses and possibly conclude with chapter eleven to bring us to a very hope-filled last chapter in the book of Daniel.

]]> The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 15:10-21 I Will Cause the Enemy to Entreat Thee… https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-1510-21-i-will-cause-the-enemy-to-entreat-thee/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-1510-21-i-will-cause-the-enemy-to-entreat-thee Sun, 15 Aug 2021 02:45:57 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=24136 Jer 15:10-21  I Will Cause The Enemy to Entreat Thee Well in the Time of Evil and in the Time of Affliction…
[Study Aired August 15, 2021]

Jer 15:10  Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
Jer 15:11  The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
Jer 15:12  Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
Jer 15:13  Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
Jer 15:14  And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.
Jer 15:15  O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
Jer 15:16  Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
Jer 15:17  I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.
Jer 15:18  Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
Jer 15:19  Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.
Jer 15:20  And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Jer 15:21  And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

As we study the words of the prophets, we must keep in mind that “these things happened to them, [but] they were written for our admonition [because it is we] upon whom the ends of the ages have come”:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: ‘tupos’ as types of us]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Jeremiah typifies the Lord’s elect who are “born again” of “Jerusalem above, the mother of us all” (Gal 4:26). It is this ‘mother’ to whom he refers when he says:

Jer 15:10  Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

The ‘mother’ whose ‘son’ is “a man of strife and a man of contention… cursed [by every] man” is our new mother, spiritual “New Jerusalem”.

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children [The self-righteous “great whore” of Rev 17-18].
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

We must first be born of a harlot before we can be “born again [of] Jerusalem which is above…”

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

Our first ‘mother’ is a harlot whom the Lord is in the process of destroying. The Lord had the prophet Hosea marry a harlot and bear children by that harlot just to tell us that our first spiritual mother is a spiritual whore, who is not faithful to Christ and His doctrine.

Hos 1:2  The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
Hos 1:3  So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
Hos 1:4  And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
Hos 1:5  And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

“The bow of Israel” here is Israel’s weapon for her defense, but our rejected ‘Israel’s bow is her own rebellious self-righteousness, and Jeremiah will mention later in our study what the Lord will do to Israel for her rebellion against Him.

Jeremiah’s complaint to his ‘mother’ is exactly what Christ tells us is the lot of all who are faithful to Him and to His doctrine:

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.

“Jerusalem above” is our new “mother” who births us again for the very purpose of being hated of all men for Christ’s name’s sake, and for being obedient to Him and to His doctrine:

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

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

As children of “Jerusalem above” we must expect to be “hated of all men”. Yet as this study will reveal, the fact remains that God’s elect really are “the apple of His eye”, and it is not advisable for our old man to touch the Lord’s anointed to do them harm. King David acknowledged this solemn Truth even while his own life was being threatened by the Lord’s rejected anointed, King Saul:

1Sa 24:1  And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.
1Sa 24:2  Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
1Sa 24:3  And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
1Sa 24:4  And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily.
1Sa 24:5  And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.
1Sa 24:6  And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
1Sa 24:7  So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.
1Sa 24:10  Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’S anointed.

David, for our admonition, was given a second opportunity to disobey the Lord and kill the Lord’s rejected anointed, and again he feared God more than he feared his own men who he reminded:

1Sa 26:11  The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’S anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go.
1Sa 26:23  The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’S anointed.

Notice that the Lord’s elect acknowledge that “the man of sin” is ordained and “anointed” of the Lord. As such there is no animus proceeding from the Lord’s accepted anointed towards the Lord’s rejected anointed. Our flesh wants to hate our old man, but our new man knows that the dominion of our flesh is a necessary evil for a time, and he willingly and humbly acknowledges this fact.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

This Truth is demonstrated for us when Jacob bowed himself seven times to Esau, calling him “My lord Esau”:

Gen 32:3  And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
Gen 32:4  And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
Gen 33:3  And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

We do well to acknowledge that the flesh has no power to be anything of itself but go into death and corruption. To think we do anything at all to save ourselves is nothing less than denying that the Lord makes us wicked for our own day of evil, that He creates both good and evil, and we were made subject to vanity. The Lord will have none of it:

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

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

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.

As evil as the wild beast within us is, it is not in the purview of our flesh to change itself, and as Jacob and his entire family demonstrate we must “bow down” to the Truth that the Lord Himself has made us all “subject to vanity”:

Gen 33:1  And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
Gen 33:2  And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.
Gen 33:3  And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
Gen 33:4  And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.
Gen 33:5  And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
Gen 33:6  Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
Gen 33:7  And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

The fact that “Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept” is an example of the truth of the second verse of our study today:

Jer 15:11  The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

Esau, the twin brother of the Lord’s accepted anointed, knew that he was destined to be supplanted and replaced by the Lord’s accepted anointed, just as King Saul was made to know that King David was destined to replace and supplant him, and these words make that fact clear:

Gen 27:35  And he [Isaac] said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.
Gen 27:36  And he [Esau] said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
Gen 27:37  And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?
Gen 27:38  And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

Twin brothers have much more in common than do the earlier half-brothers Ishmael and Isaac. It is much easier to distinguish between an anointed and an unanointed, between Isaac and Ishmael respectively than it is to distinguish between two twin brothers who are both anointed; one being the accepted anointed and the other being the rejected anointed:

1Sa 10:1  Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his [Saul’s] head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?

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

1Sa 15:28  And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou [His accepted anointed].

1Sa 16:13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

1Samuel 24 and 29 reveal that King Saul, the Old Testament type of the Lord’s rejected anointed, Babylon, knows who the Lord’s accepted anointed is, and it torments him and them to know that we are destined to supplant them, as Esau understood that Jacob would supplant him. Our rejected anointed  knows he is to be supplanted by our new man, our accepted anointed:

Mat 21:45  And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

When we say, “We see” what we are saying is that we prefer our false doctrines and “smooth things” to His fiery words. Our old man identifies with the Lord’s rejected anointed, and our rejected anointed identifies with this world and is at war with Christ and His Christ who twice tell us:

1Ch 16:22  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

Psa 105:15  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

The Lord, through humbling fiery trials and by giving His elect eyes that see and ears that hear, has given His elect the strength to do as David did. David had already been anointed to replace King Saul by the same prophet who anointed King Saul, but he feared the Lord’s words concerning His anointed.

King Saul typifies the beast within us who comes up out of the earth and is anointed for the purpose of being taken and destroyed:

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.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts [our self-righteous “man of sin… in the temple of God” (2Th 2:3-4)] made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

If the Lord is in the process of taking and destroying our own “man of sin [in] this present time” (Rom 8:18), He will preserve and protect us through every trial. He provides Pharaoh’s own daughter and Saul’s own son to protect and preserve His elect when it seems His elect about to be destroyed by the powers that be, and by the Lord’s rejected anointed in times of great stress and great tribulations.

As the Lord’s elect, we must endure the “great tribulation” which is also spoken of as “much tribulation”:

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

When we are enduring our own “great tribulation” it is indeed “much tribulation”, and while we are enduring “much tribulation” it seems, from our fleshly perspective, to last a lifetime, and we along with all the prophets cry out:

Jer 15:10  Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

This verse is part of the foundation for this statement made by our Lord concerning “His anointed”:

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.

Now look at what the Lord has to say about His anointed:

Jer 15:11  The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

This is what happened when Esau met Jacob while Jacob was returning to the Lord from Laban and company from ‘Babylon’.

Notice how abruptly the Lord goes from speaking of our new man to speaking of our old man:

Jer 15:12  Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
Jer 15:13  Thy substance and thy treasures [of the kingdom of our old man] will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
Jer 15:14  And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.

The question to us is, “Can your self-righteous, rebellious ‘steel’ break the ‘steel’ of those I am sending to administer judgment upon you?”

The mention of “the north” lets us know that it is the Lord’s judgment which is under discussion:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate,  which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.

These next verses are the foundation for the words from the mouths of “the souls under the altar” in:

Jer 15:15  O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
Jer 15:16  Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
Jer 15:17  I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.
Jer 15:18  Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

Verse 18 here is Jeremiah’s version of these words of King David. They both felt forsaken of the Lord in their own appointed time:

Psa 22:1  To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

Being ‘as Christ in this world’, we live out these words in the New Testament. We are not calling the Lord a liar, but like Christ Himself, we do feel that He has turned His back upon us and has forsaken us:

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

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.

We are spiritual martyrs who are spiritually “slain… killed… [and] beheaded for the word of our testimony” and because the Lord’s words were “the joy and rejoicing of [our] heart”. Yet it seems at a certain point, when we are “at [our] wits’ end” (Psa 107:27), that the Lord has forsaken us:

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

In Revelation 20 we read of this same group of people but under different far more favorable circumstances:

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.

Jer 15:19  Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

Being ‘slain’ and being ‘beheaded’ are two different forms of murder, and this is the ‘slaying,’ and the ‘beheading’ to which we are more commonly submitted:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

These are extremely sober words of warning to each of us because it is so easy for the Lord to give the adversary the ability to allow a spirit bitterness to spring up against a brother or a sister whom the Lord has placed in our midst to show us just how much our flesh is still corruptible flesh. It is sobering when the Lord reminds us of how weak our flesh is from time to time.  So, we are very solemnly warned:

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

A root of bitterness has “defiled… many”, and taken them out of the body, family, house, and temple of the Lord. If and when this “root of bitterness” takes hold of us, we are essentially placing the responsibility of a brother or sister’s offense upon them, and we are bitter toward them, instead of remembering that it is the Lord who is working “all things after the counsel of His own will”. These next verses should help us to look within when a spirit of bitterness attempts to set up house within our “temple of God”:

Psa 119:164  Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
Psa 119:165  Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

The Lord is not judging this world at this present time. It is us He is judging now, and the sin and self-righteousness which is still within us, and that is where our focus must be.  If we truly believe the Lord is judging us in this present time, then “nothing will offend [us]”, because we know that all things are being worked after the counsel of His own will.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

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:

We are told “all things are for your sakes”, and “all things” includes “the day of evil” (Pro 16:4). We are all predestined to experience our own personal “day of evil”, and that “day of evil” is custom made for our own “wicked… man of sin”. These things are all an integral part of the “all things [which] are for [our] sakes:

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

It is through our spirit of gratitude for the Lord’s chastening spirit… “through the thanksgiving of many” for our trials, that God is glorified.

Knowing that all things are for our sakes (2Co 4:15) gives us confidence in these very reassuring and encouraging words of the last two verses of our study today:

Jer 15:20  And I will make thee [you and me] unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Jer 15:21  And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

It is no accident that Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel all say the same thing.

Eze 3:1  Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
Eze 3:2  So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
Eze 3:3  And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness [Rev 10:10].
Eze 3:4  And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
Eze 3:5  For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
Eze 3:6  Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
Eze 3:7  But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Eze 3:8  Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
Eze 3:9  As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

Ezekiel 3:3 is the foundation for these words in the book of Revelation:

Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

All the Lord’s prophets have this same experience in common. They rejoice to learn the Truth, but being faithful to that Truth is a bitter pill to swallow. It is the Lord’s people who have turned against Him, and when that takes place the Lord turns against His people, and He is at this very moment in the process of judging us by bringing every conceivable enemy against us until the kingdom of our old man is utterly destroyed:

Isa 6:1  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Isa 6:2  Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Isa 6:3  And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isa 6:4  And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isa 6:5  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Isa 6:6  Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Isa 6:7  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Just like Jeremiah, Isaiah is sent as a type of each of us, to be a witness against the kingdom of our old man whose self-righteous rebelliousness make him fit right in with the kingdoms of this world:

Isa 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Jeremiah is following in Isaiah’s footsteps declaring that the Lord will judge and is judging His people and will destroy the kingdom of our rebellious old man within us all:

Isa 6:9  And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Isa 6:10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

Jeremiah makes this same declaration when he tells us in the first verses of this chapter:

Jer 15:1  Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
Jer 15:2  And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
Jer 15:3  And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
Jer 15:4  And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

“Manasseh” typifies our own rebellious ‘man of sin’ sitting in the Lord’s temple and demanding that we worship him and do what he demands of us. To which the Lord always replies:

Jer 15:6  Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

Isaiah said the very same thing concerning how the Lord deals with our carnal-minded old man. He gives him no quarter and shows him no mercy:

Isa 6:11  Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

This 15th chapter of Jeremiah starts with the Lord declaring His opposition to His own people who have turned their backs to Him. He declares “Therefore will I stretch out my hand against you and will destroy you”.

The Lord’s message to us through Jeremiah, who is prophesying over 70 years after Isaiah’s prophecy, has not changed in the least. Repeatedly, the Lord declares that it is He who is judging His own people first before He will judge the nations of this world:

Notice how the 29th chapter of Isaiah parallels this 15th chapter of Jeremiah. Both chapters begin with the Lord declaring that He will first punish and destroy all that offends within His kingdom.

Isa 29:1  Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Isa 29:2  Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
Isa 29:3  And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
Isa 29:4  And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
Isa 29:5  Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Isa 29:6  Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire [Jer 5:14, the Lord’s chastening words].
Isa 29:7  And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
Isa 29:8  It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
Isa 29:9  Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
Isa 29:10  For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
Isa 29:11  And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
Isa 29:12  And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
Isa 29:15  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Isa 29:16  Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

To our natural mind it seems impossible, but the Lord is ‘calling light out of darkness’, and He is saving us “few” now to become the saviors of all the rest of mankind at a later resurrection of the dead:

Isa 29:17  Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
Isa 29:18  And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
Isa 29:19  The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 29:20  For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
Isa 29:21  That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
Isa 29:22  Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.
Isa 29:23  But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
Isa 29:24  They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

I hope to have demonstrated in this study that all the words of judgment, which are so dire and destructive to our old man, are the darkness out of which we are called. That is why Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all the Lords prophets, go from speaking of the destruction of our rebellious old man to the blessing of our obedient new man in the same breath. This method of operating is summed up in these few words:

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

That is the theme of the prophets, and that is our study for today. We will begin chapter 16 next Sunday if the Lord wills. Rest assured we will come to know our Lord a little better, but it will be through the same Modus Operandi.

Here are the verses for our next study:

Jer 16:1  The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
Jer 16:2  Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
Jer 16:1  The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
Jer 16:2  Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
Jer 16:3  For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
Jer 16:4  They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
Jer 16:5  For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
Jer 16:6  Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
Jer 16:7  Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
Jer 16:8  Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
Jer 16:9  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
Jer 16:10  And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
Jer 16:11  Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
Jer 16:3  For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
Jer 16:4  They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
Jer 16:5  For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
Jer 16:6  Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
Jer 16:7  Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
Jer 16:8  Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
Jer 16:9  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
Jer 16:10  And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
Jer 16:11  Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

]]> Awesome Hands – part 58: “The Lord of the North” https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-58-the-lord-of-the-north/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome-hands-part-58-the-lord-of-the-north Wed, 11 Jun 2014 23:54:52 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=7870

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Awesome Hands – part 58

“The Lord of the north”
June 11, 2014

As we start this study today, we have been gathered together by the work of the Lord in our lives for whatever purposes He has gathered us together.

When we think about that, we can compare those thoughts to what it might have been like for the Israelites as the Lord worked it in their lives to be where we find them in Exodus 14, the focus of this study.

Where we find the Israelites is firmly in the palm of the hands of our mighty Lord.  The Hebrew word “yad” is mentioned six different times in this chapter alone in verses Exodus 14:8, 14:16, 14:21, 14:26, 14:27 and 14:30.

What we can know from this simple observation is that the Lord wants to show us the power that He possesses to control the reins and the bridle of our mouths i.e. our hearts.

Mat 15:11  Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

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

Psa 32:9  Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

Psa 39:1  To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

Isa 30:27  Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

Isa 30:28  And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.

Jas 3:2  For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

Indeed, the Lord is causing all things to work after the counsel of His own will and we can glean a little bit more about His will as we examine what He causes the Israelites to experience and do in Exodus 14 and throughout the scripture.
“Pihahiroth”

Exo 14:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 14:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
Exo 14:3  For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Exo 14:4  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.

There are many revealing things contained within these four verses but I am only going to be able to cover them briefly due to time constraints. I encourage you to study these things to see if they be so as you are able to find time.

First, we are told that the Lord tells Moses to speak to the children of Israel to encamp at the third and final location before finally crossing the Red Sea.

At the end of chapter 13 we are told the 1st and second locations together.

Exo 13:20  And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.

Succoth is interesting because this is the first stop the Israelites made when the left Egypt. This is also where Jacob made booths for his cattle and built a house for himself.

Gen 33:17  And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

Yes, isn’t it interesting that the first place we find refuge as Israelites is where Jacob first builds his house after he had “seen the face of Esau as though he had seen the face of God”.

Gen 33:10  And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.

Jacob then journeys on to buy a piece of a field and erects an altar to God. The Israelites encamp in Etham which means “with them: their plowshare”.

The likeness in what Jacob and his sons do in Shalem in Gen 33/34 and the Israelites now finding themselves in the same place is that their second stopping point in Etham is that they are given God’s commandments while being in relative peace.

“Shalem” means “complete, safe, peaceful, perfect, whole, full, at peace”. Of course the sons of Jacob slew a whole town there due to Dinah being defiled, but God leads them from there to journey on to Bethel all the while protecting them. Jacob his house bury their false idols under an oak and they make their journey.

Gen 35:3  And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

Now, in Etham God leads His people day and night through the wilderness to their third place of rest in Pihahiroth.

Exo 14:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.

I covered those points to bring us to where we now can see that God has undoubtedly led the Israelites to where we find them.

Where we find them is in the land of judgment, and for us today, this is a type of where our old man is brought directly to the judgment seat of God.

I named this study “The Lord of the north” but our God is the One True God, and among other things,  He is a God of judgment and biblically speaking, judgment comes from the north.

Where does judgment begin? It begins at house of God. What does Bethel mean? It means “house of God”, which is this third stop for Jacob and his house that we are comparing today.

In this type and shadow of where we find the Israelites, they are now “over against Baalzephon” in Pihahiroth.

Baalzephon means “the master or Lord of the north” and is actually another name given to Zeus by the Greek Hellenes, but this is where we find the Israelites? So, what can we glean from this?

Just look at what the Lord has caused in that He is going to bring final judgment on the King of Egypt i.e. our old man.

He brings the Israelites “over against the Lord of the north” and He does so as to:

Exo 14:3  For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

Pharaoh will think that Israel has been brought to the base of this mountain and on the shore of the sea to be destroyed by him. The Truth however for the “god” on the throne of God (a type and shadow) is that the Pharaoh is being brought to “the Lord of the north” to be destroyed!

Exo 14:4  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured (H3513) upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.

After all that has happened with the plagues and the death of the first born to cap it off, the Lord is once again going to harden the Pharaoh’s heart to follow after the tribes of Israel.

I find it quite revealing that Jacob was pursued by his twin brother Esau in what looked like a certain peril to Jacob and his entire house with him. Now, fast forward many hundreds of years and you find the tribes of Israel facing the SAME situation of being pursued to their apparent destruction.

Thankfully, the Lord doesn’t change. He is Faithful.

These stories were played out to show us, the Jews which are one inwardly, that no matter the amount of time that passes, no matter the circumstances, the Lord has proven to us that He will deliver us.

In fact, the Lord BRINGS us to place of deliverance to DELIVER US. He literally causes us to be where we NEED to call out to Him in our distresses so that He “will be honoured upon Pharaoh”. So what does that mean?

H3513

kâbad  /  kâbêd

BDB Definition:

1) to be heavy, be weighty, be grievous, be hard, be rich, be honourable, be glorious, be burdensome, be honoured

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to be heavy

1a2) to be heavy, be insensible, be dull

1a3) to be honoured

1b) (Niphal)

1b1) to be made heavy, be honoured, enjoy honour, be made abundant

1b2) to get oneself glory or honour, gain glory

1c) (Piel)

1c1) to make heavy, make dull, make insensible

1c2) to make honourable, honour, glorify

1d) (Pual) to be made honourable, be honoured

1e) (Hiphil)

1e1) to make heavy

1e2) to make heavy, make dull, make unresponsive

1e3) to cause to be honoured

1f) (Hithpael)

1f1) to make oneself heavy, make oneself dense, make oneself numerous

1f2) to honour oneself

Part of Speech: verb

A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root

Look at the times it is used other places:

H3513

kâbad  /  kâbêd

Total KJV Occurrences: 115

honour, 23

Exo_14:17-18 (2), Exo_20:12, Num_22:17, Num_22:37, Num_24:11, Deu_5:16, Jdg_9:9, Jdg_13:17, 1Sa_15:30 (3), 2Sa_6:22, 2Sa_10:3, 1Ch_19:3, Job_14:21, Pro_3:9, Pro_4:8, Isa_29:13, Isa_43:20, Isa_58:13, Dan_11:38 (2)

heavy, 16

1Sa_4:18, 1Sa_5:6, 1Sa_5:11, 2Sa_14:26, 1Ki_12:10, 1Ki_12:14, 2Ch_10:10, 2Ch_10:14, Neh_5:18, Job_33:7, Psa_38:4 (2), Isa_6:10, Isa_24:20, Isa_59:1, Lam_3:7

honourable, 13

Gen_34:19, Num_22:15, 1Sa_9:6, 1Sa_22:14, 2Sa_23:19, 2Sa_23:23, 1Ch_4:9, 1Ch_11:21, 1Ch_11:25, Isa_23:9, Isa_43:4, Isa_58:13, Nah_3:10

glorify, 7

Psa_22:23, Psa_50:15, Psa_86:9, Psa_86:12, Isa_24:15, Isa_25:3, Jer_30:19

glorified, 6

Lev_10:3, Isa_26:15, Isa_66:5, Eze_28:22, Eze_39:13, Hag_1:8

glorious, 5

Deu_28:58, 2Sa_6:20, Psa_87:3, Isa_49:5, Isa_60:13

hardened, 5

Exo_8:15, Exo_8:32, Exo_9:34, Exo_10:1, 1Sa_6:6

honoured, 5

Exo_14:4, Pro_27:18 (2), Isa_43:23, Lam_1:8

honoureth, 4

Psa_15:4, Pro_12:9, Pro_14:31, Mal_1:6

heavier, 3

Job_6:3, Pro_27:2-3 (2)

promote, 3

Num_22:17, Num_22:37, Num_24:11

sore, 3

Jdg_20:34, 1Ch_10:3 (2)

chargeable, 2

2Sa_13:25, Neh_5:15

many, 2

Nah_3:15 (3)

abounding, 1

Pro_8:24

afflict, 1

Isa_9:1

boast, 1

2Ch_25:19

bring, 1

Pro_4:8

dim, 1

Gen_48:10

get, 1

Exo_14:17

glorifieth, 1

Psa_50:23

glory, 1

2Ki_14:10

grievous, 1

Gen_18:20

grievously, 1

Isa_9:1

harden, 1

1Sa_6:6

heavily, 1

Isa_47:6 (2)

honourest, 1

1Sa_2:29

more, 1

Gen_34:19

nobles, 1

Psa_149:8

prevailed, 1

Jdg_1:35

rich, 1

Gen_13:2

stopped, 1

Zec_7:11

I want to focus in on a few key verses which deal directly with the topic we are discussing today. Those verses are:

hardened, 5

Exo_8:15, Exo_8:32, Exo_9:34, Exo_10:1, 1Sa_6:6

Exo 8:14  And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.
Exo 8:15  But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

Exo 8:32  And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

Exo 9:34  And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Exo 10:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:

The Hebrew word used here as hardened is the same Hebrew word used to “be honoured upon Pharaoh”.

Exo 14:4  And I will harden(H2388) Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured (H3513) upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so
The Hebrew word used as “harden”, which is found in the same verse is a DIFFERENT Hebrew word and means to “fasten upon, to seize, to be strong”.

In other words, the Lord is going to strengthen the Pharaoh’s heart so that the Lord can make known the abundant power He has over all the nations of the  world. This is the honour, the glory and the richness that this process brings out to everyone.

As a perfect example of that, we will finish up this part of the study with the last example found which is listed as “hardened” but many other times as “honoured” or “glorified”.

The verses is 1 Sam 6:6, but I want to read it in context to give as a grasp of what the Lord is working in Exodus 14, and by extension, in us to this very day.

1Sa 5:9  And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
1Sa 5:10  Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
1Sa 5:11  So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
1Sa 5:12  And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

Continuing in chapter 6:

1Sa 6:1  And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months.
1Sa 6:2  And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.
1Sa 6:3  And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.
1Sa 6:4  Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.
1Sa 6:5  Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.
1Sa 6:6  Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
1Sa 6:7  Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them:
1Sa 6:8  And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.
1Sa 6:9  And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.

And the confirmation verse that proves this was a work of the Lord:

1Sa 6:12  And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.

The point of this story is to bring about the end result of the people of God turning or “preparing” their hearts towards God. That is accomplished ONLY BECAUSE the Lord put them in the situations that they were in which required supernatural intervention.

1Sa 7:3  And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

Indeed, the Lord is going to need a sacrifice to bring about freedom as a result. In the case of this story in Samuel, the Philistines were going to be healed of the emerods by providing a sacrifice.

There is also the number 5 mentioned, twice which witnesses to the grave of God but ALSO to the fact that this whole lesson is about the “completeness of the flesh” i.e. the work the Lord is working in us all to bring about the ushering in of the new man as the old man is slain.

Jacob stopped in Succoth, then Shalem, then on to Bethel to show us this process. The tribes of Jacob go to Succoth, Etham and then Pihahiroth to show us the Lord doesn’t change and He takes His people through this same process.

What this process concludes with is that the old man pursues us to what appears to be utter destruction only to be the one who is destroyed.

Before that happens though, we have the old man who is given a puffed up and glorified “honorable” heart that what he is doing is what needs to be done. Only problem is, that this link of logic and reasoning leads to his destruction.

What happens as a result is that the new man is brought to live by having a “new heart” in that the Lord provides deliverance as we prepare our hearts unto the Lord.

In the next study, we are going to continue in the 14th chapter of Exodus and come to the climax of the work the Lord does for us in the “first baptism” of the Red Sea.

 

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