When Does The Lord Begin Working With His Elect?

[Study Aired June 21, 2026]

Over many years of ministering to the Lord’s flock I have been asked on more than one occasion… ‘What have I done to cause the Lord to judge me so severely for so long?’ We all make that inquiry of the Lord in our own preordained time.

Here is King David, who typifies each of us:

Psa 10:1  Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

Like King David we look around ourselves and see others in this world who don’t even claim to be living for Christ and their lives are much less painful and much more physically prosperous than our lives:

Psa 73:2  But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
Psa 73:3  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psa 73:4  For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
Psa 73:5  They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Psa 73:6  Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
Psa 73:7  Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
Psa 73:8  They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
Psa 73:9  They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Psa 73:10  Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
Psa 73:11  And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
Psa 73:12  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world [H5769: ‘olam’, this age]; they increase in riches.
Psa 73:13  Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
Psa 73:14  For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
Psa 73:15  If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
Psa 73:16  When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;

Psa 94:3  LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
Psa 94:4  How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
Psa 94:5  They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
Psa 94:6  They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Psa 94:7  Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

Job, the author of the oldest book in scripture, expressed this same sentiment:

Job 9:24  The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

Job 10:1  My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Job 10:2  I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
Job 10:3  Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

Job 21:6  Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
Job 21:7  Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Job 21:8  Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Job 21:9  Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Job 21:10  Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
Job 21:11  They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
Job 21:12  They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
Job 21:13  They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
Job 21:14  Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
Job 21:15  What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

King Solomon noticed this phenomenon:

Ecc 7:15  All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

Ecc 8:14  There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

The prophet Jeremiah had the same complaint:

Jer 12:1  Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
Jer 12:2  Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

Habakkuk also has the same complaint:

Hab 1:13  Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

The prophet Malachi bears witness to this same rebellious spirit in the carnal minds of men:

Mal 3:13  Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
Mal 3:14  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
Mal 3:15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

The nation of Israel, which the Lord brought up out of Egypt, signifies us as “carnal babes in Christ.”

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

As a type of us, Israel witnessed all the plagues the Lord poured out on the Egyptians while sparing His own people. The Lord even killed all the firstborn of Egypt, both man and beast. That was the last plague, and it caused the Egyptians to cast out the Lord’s people and give them much gold and silver to leave in haste. Yet at the very first trial, when the Egyptian armies were bearing down on Israel with their back to the Red Sea they immediately accused God and Moses of bringing them into the wilderness to kill them:

Exo 14:11  And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12  Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

It happened time after time while Israel was in the wilderness and each and every time the Lord admonished Israel for their lack of faith in Him. It all serves to show us how weak our own faith is. Of course, the truth is that we, of ourselves, have no faith at all. Any faith we may appear to possess is “the faith of Christ”, bestowed upon us as “a gift of God”:

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

We have established by witness of the scriptures that we of ourselves have no faith in an invisible God. Yet we blame Him and blaspheme His name when our faith is tried.

Let’s go back to Psalm 73 and read the rest of that chapter. In the first part King David lamented how the wicked prosper in this world, while the righteous were constantly struggling. Then the Lord revealed their end:

Psa 73:17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
Psa 73:18  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Psa 73:19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. [Rev 18:10]
Psa 73:20  As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
Psa 73:21  Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
Psa 73:22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
Psa 73:23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Psa 73:24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Psa 73:25  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
Psa 73:26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Psa 73:27  For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
Psa 73:28  But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

Psa 92:6  A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
Psa 92:7  When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:

Even Zophar, one of Job’s ‘miserable comforters’, was given to see that in the end “the triumphing of the wicked is short.”

Job 20:4  Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
Job 20:5  That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
Job 20:6  Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
Job 20:7  Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

Now we see both sides of the issue of God’s judgment and His justice. God is a God of justice:

Deu 32:3  Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Deu 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

Col 3:25  But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

While it appears many times as though the righteous are punished while the wicked are rewarded in this present evil age, those outward appearances do not prove that God is an unjust God. It is by God’s design that our carnal-minded flesh be the first to prevail and rule over us. It is through the self-righteous rebellion of our flesh that the Lord is given the occasion He is seeking to destroy that dying, rebellious, carnal-minded “first man Adam” and replace him with “another vessel as it seemed good to The Potter.”

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

The “vessel He made of clay [which] was marred in The Potter’s hand” was “the first man Adam”, which The Potter “shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin” to give Himself the “occasion” He was seeking to destroy that ‘marred vessel’ and through that destruction bring forth a new “second man Adam.” This “new man” will, through the Lord’s justice, be put through “fiery trials” which will burn out all the rebellious, self-righteous iniquity and sin which is the very character of the marred vessel of clay with which the Lord has begun to make mankind into the image of His Son:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalms 51:5 is the Biblical definition of a “vessel of clay… marred in The Potter’s hand” (Jer 18:4). That “marred… vessel of clay” gives The Potter the occasion He is seeking to complete the creation of mankind into the image of His dear Son.

Two verses of scripture are essential to understanding when God began working with His elect. Those two verses are Genesis 1:27 and Romans 8:29:

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Now let’s examine what these two verses are telling us. We will begin with Roman 8:29.

“Many brethren” means all men of all time:

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

1 Timothy 2:4 does not tell us that God wishes all men would be saved. It tells us that is what He will do, and for all those who think otherwise, let God be true and every man, no matter how highly regarded he is in this world, be a liar when faced with what scripture says. Does God ‘desire’ that all men be saved? O.K. let’s see what the scripture teaches about the things God desires:

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

Job 23:13 comports with all the rest of scripture which teaches the exact same message of what is truly good news. In this same book of 1 Timothy, Paul reinforces this wonderful Truth:

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially [Not ‘exclusively’, but “the firstborn among many”] of those that believe.

That verse does not read “Christ would like to be the Savior of all men…” What it reads is that He “IS the Savior of all men!” That is what the Father sent Him to be, and that is what He IS.

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

I am not blind. I see verse 16 requires belief in Christ to be saved, but I also see these very little understood verses of scripture:

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.

Peter tells us the Lord’s firstfruits, the “firstborn among many” are being judged in this present time:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

“The house of God” is being judged at this very moment. It has been being judged for the past two thousand years, and at the appointed time “the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.”

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep.
1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
1Th 4:17  then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The only way anyone can be part of this “blessed and holy first resurrection” (Rev 20:6) is to be granted to be a part of the “house of God” whose judgment “has first begun” as Peter informed us in 1 Peter 4:17. But ‘judgment… first begins at the house of God.’ That statement infers that “when the Lord’s judgments are in the earth the [whole] world will learn righteousness” just as the firstfruits learned righteousness in this present age. God’s “firstfruits” are “the firstborn among many” only because “judgment has first begun at us” (1Pe 4:17). They are not the ‘only fruits.’ They are “ the firstborn” simply because judgment has begun with them:

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

That explains what Paul meant by “the firstborn among many.” The firstborn among many was “predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son.” The first man Adam was never “conformed to the image of His Son” simply because he was never predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ in this present age.

This raises the question, “Exactly when were the Lord’s elect predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son?” We need not guess because we are twice told exactly when the Lord made that decision:

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

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

To any thinking person, the fact that we were “called with an holy calling… given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” it becomes obvious that the Lord knew in advance exactly what Adam and Eve would do, and He had prepared Christ to redeem us from our sins “before the world began.”

Now we will examine what Genesis 1:27 actually says, but let’s first look at how it reads in the KJV:

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

That is not at all how the Hebrew reads. Yet, based upon this faulty translation of the original Hebrew and based upon Adam’s willingness to believe the serpent over putting His faith in Christ’s words, we have the whole world of Christendom believing that the first Adam was the Lord’s finished product. That’s right, Christendom for the most part believes that if only Adam and Eve had been obedient to the Lord’s commandment not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that the death of Christ would never have been necessary. Indeed Genesis 1:27, as it reads in the KJV and in many other versions, appears to tell us that the first Adam was originally created in the image of His Son.

However, when we look closely at how the Hebrew actually reads, we will see that the first Adam was not a whole man. He was not yet complete. Indeed, those who are given to discern the things of the spirit will notice that Adam’s creation on the sixth day signifies the fact that he is not yet complete. Not yet complete is the very significance of the number ‘six’. Here is the link to the study of that number:

                  https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/numbers_six/

Now, let’s read a much better translation of Genesis 1:27 and see how it really reads:

Gen 1:27 And creating is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them. (CLV)

The work of God with mankind is not completed on the sixth day, and that is exactly what we are told in the next chapter of Genesis and in the 4^th chapter of Hebrews:

Gen 2:2  And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (ASV)

The Lord’s work with mankind is not finished until mankind acknowledges that he has ceased from his own works as God did from His:

Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Anyone who still believes that his fabled ‘free will’ has anything to contribute to his salvation has not yet “ceased from his own works as God did from His”. This is the truth of how we are saved from our sins:

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

Indeed, we are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works”, but who is working our will to perform those good works? What  do the scriptures teach about our will?

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

Our will and our actions are “both” the work of God and “Not of ourselves” (Eph 2:8).

As the depth of that Truth sinks into our heavens, it will become much easier for us to accept “all things” as the Lord’s work in our lives for our good:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

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

Once again, God’s elect are just the “first [to] trust in Christ.” God’s judgments continue right on through the “great white throne judgment”, when “the world will learn righteousness.”

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.

You and I as the Lord’s elect are those who will “judge angels” in that great white throne judgment. Those ‘angels’ (the word ‘angel’ means ‘messenger’) will include all who have peddled all the false doctrines of their father the devil. All men will be judged “according to their works”, and in the end “the world will learn righteousness.”

Judgment Before the Great White Throne

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [G86: ‘hades’, the grave] delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell [G86: ‘hades’, the grave]  were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The lake of fire IS the second death because those in the first resurrection were the first to  “die daily” (1Co 15:31), and were the first to be crucified daily with Christ (Gal 2:20), and they were the first to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice daily (Rom 12:1) in this present age. The ‘great white throne, the lake of fire, and the second death’ are one and all the same “judgment of God in the earth.”

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.

Being made aware of the extent of the sovereign work of God should help to keep us from comparing our sins or our good works, our accomplishments and our failures with those of others. The message Christ imparted to His apostles when He corrected their way of thinking about why a man would be born blind applies to all of His “all things [which He] is working after the counsel of His own will.” Apply these words to all the works of the Lord and you will be much less judgmental, and you will have much more peace of mind and the joy of the Lord:

Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

The Lord is “working all things after the counsel of His own will… for [our] good… that the works of God should be manifest…” in all of our lives and in the lives of all men.

Ezekiel 23:26-49  Aholah and Aholibah, Part 2

[Study Aired July 15, 2024]

Introduction

In order to understand the study for today, we have to go back to the earlier verses to understand the context. There were two sisters – Aholah and Aholibah. Aholah was the elder, and she played the harlot with Assyrians who invaded the ten tribes of Israel. As we indicated in the previous study, the two sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, represent the church of the Lord in different dispensations. Aholah represents the church when it was under the law of Moses, and Aholibah signifies the church after the coming of Christ. That is to say that Aholah represents our walk when we did not know Christ and walked in the churches of this world (Aholah) according to the law of Moses. Aholibah signifies our walk when we were still in the churches of this world when Christ started coming to us. The Assyrians represent the false apostles who come in the name of the Lord but are wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 

The ten tribes of Israel representing Aholah, or Samaria, who were taken into captivity by the Assyrians is a warning to the Lord’s elect represented by Aholibah that if she also played the harlot, she shall suffer the same fate. 

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 
1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 
1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 
1Co 10:5  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 
1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 
1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 
1Co 10:8  Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 
1Co 10:9  Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 
1Co 10:10  Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 
1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Unfortunately, Aholibah became worse than her sister in terms of her whoredom both with the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Spiritually, both the Assyrians and the Babylonians are the same. In summary, the abominations being committed by the church of the Lord (Babylon) of which we were part, are not different from the rebellion of the people of the world against their creator, the Lord. Today’s study continues with the sins of Aholibah, the younger sister who represents the churches of this world of which we were part during a certain period of our walk. We committed whoredom in the churches of this world or Aholibah or Babylon before Christ came to us with His judgment. Today’s study also shows us how the sins of Aholibah give the Lord the occasion that He is seeking to come and judge her.  

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

The Consequences of the Sins of Aholibah

Eze 23:26  They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. 

Verse 26 tells us that the Babylonians shall strip Aholibah of her clothes and take away her fair jewels. Garments or clothes spiritually signify righteousness. This implies that when we were part of the physical churches of this world or Babylon, we were stripped of our righteousness in Christ as the truth of the word of the Lord represented here by our fair jewels were taken away by the lies or false doctrines of the adversary.

Eze 16:17  You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.
Eze 16:18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 

Eze 23:27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. 

In verse 25 in the previous study, the Lord stated that in view of the whoredom of Aholibah, He shall deal with her in His fury. That means that the Lord will judge us, His elect, for our sins. 

Eze 23:25  And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. 

Verse 27 therefore shows us the outcome of the Lord’s judgment. Our lewdness or filthiness shall cease, and we shall stop our whoredom which we have carried along from the world even though we have come to know Christ. Our whoredom refers to our propensity to serve another Jesus through the false doctrines we imbibe. Through the judgment of the Lord, we shall cease from serving another Jesus as we come to know the Lord. In other words, through the suffering that we go through, we shall cease from sin as we learn righteousness. 

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 

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.

Eze 23:28  For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated: 
Eze 23:29  And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
Eze 23:30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

Verse 28 informs us of the Lord’s judgment of our old man, and in verse 30, we are given the reason why we are being judged. That is, we had gone whoring after the heathen, and as a result, we had been polluted with their idols. Whoring after the heathen means being enticed by man’s wisdom and tradition. As a result, we end up having idols of the heart which prevent us from knowing Christ and His words. 

Mar 7:13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. 

Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? 
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 

In verse 28, being delivered into the hand of them whom we hate and into the hands of them from whom our minds are alienated is the same as being handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. 

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
1Co 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

In verse 29, the evil one shall take away everything we have worked for. As we are aware, before the Lord came to us, we were serving Him in the power of the flesh. All our labors in the flesh regarding the kingdom of the Lord shall be destroyed through the Lord’s judgment. In Isaiah 60:5, we are told that during our early walk with the Lord when the glory of the Lord has risen upon us, we are helped in our walk with the abundance of the sea and forces of the Gentiles which refer to our flesh as it aids us in our initial walk with Christ. This was what happened to Abraham when the Lord first called him. He was helped by His father who brought him to Haran, just short of the promised land of Canaan. It was after the death of Terah, Abraham’s father, that Abraham was able to answer the Lord’s call appropriately by leaving Haran to enter Canaan. In verse 28, we are assured that through the Lord’s judgment, the labors of the flesh shall be destroyed as we mature in Christ. 

Isa 60:5  Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

Gen 11:31  Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, wife of his son Abram. They set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came as far as Haran, they stayed there. 
Gen 11:32 Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran. 

In verse 28, we are also told that through the Lord’s judgment, the shame of our nakedness shall be revealed. This implies that we shall come to see clearly our inability to stop sinning while the man of sin is still on the throne of our hearts and minds. 

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

We Shall Drink of Our Sister’s Cup

Eze 23:31  Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. 
Eze 23:32  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
Eze 23:33  Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
Eze 23:34  Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 23:35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. 

The fate of Aholah has painstakingly been written for our admonition. However, we did not pay heed to what happened to her but rather played the harlot more than our sister. As a result we shall suffer the same fate as our sister in terms of her judgment as we drink from her cup which is deep and large as shown in verse 32. Drinking from a cup deep and large means that our judgment shall be thorough and shall accomplish exactly the Lord’s agenda for our lives.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Being filled with drunkenness and sorrow in verse 33 means tasting of the evil experience of the Lord’s judgment. Drinking from the sister’s cup and sucking it out in verse 34 signifies receiving the full package of the Lord’s judgment which was meted out to Aholah. As indicated, the judgment shall be thorough such that the Lord’s purpose for our lives is accomplished. Breaking into pieces and tearing our breasts off our bodies means coming to our wits’ end as we go through the Lord’s judgment.

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

Again, in verse 35, we are given the reason for the Lord coming to judge us. It is because we have played the harlot and have cast the Lord behind our back. The Lord is always looking for an occasion to come and judge us as His elect. Our sins therefore give the Lord the occasion He is looking for to come into our lives to turn us around.

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.

Eze 23:36  The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations; 
Eze 23:37  That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. 
Eze 23:38  Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 
Eze 23:39  For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. 

In verse 36, the Lord was asking a rhetorical question about Ezekiel judging the sisters Aholah and Aholibah.  Ezekiel here represents the Lord’s elect, and since we shall judge the world as the Lord’s elect, the Lord here was reminding us of our role as judges. 

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?   

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. 

Before we are given to judge the world, we must know our sins. In verse 36, the Lord was asking Ezekiel to declare to the sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, their abominations. It is after we come to realize our sins that judgment follows. Knowing our sins is therefore a prerequisite before we are judged by the Lord. In this life therefore, the Lord is seeking for an occasion to cause us to know our abominations so He can judge us. Judgment therefore is a privilege the Lord is bestowing on us, His elect as we come to know our sins in this life. 

Verses 37 and 38 shows us our sins which gave the Lord the occasion to come and judge us. Although we say we are married to Christ, we committed adultery with another Jesus and therefore played the harlot. We also had blood on our hands for the way we treated the Lord and His elect sent to us. It is when the Lord comes to open our eyes and ears to understand the word of the Lord in spirit instead of the letter of the word that we come to know the sins of the church that we were part of and thought of it as the true bride of Christ. As our eyes are opened, we become aware that Babylon or the churches of this world was the one causing us to commit adultery with another Jesus and killing those sent to us. We have therefore stained our hands with blood.

Rev 17:3  And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 
Rev 17:4  The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 
Rev 17:5  And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 

Luk 11:49  Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 
Luk 11:50  so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 
Luk 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

As if that was not enough, the churches cause us to offer our children to pass through the fire. That is to say that through false doctrines, we make those who have just come to know the Lord worse off or spiritually dead. 

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

In verses 38 and 39, we are told that we defiled our sanctuary and profaned our sabbath. We defiled our sanctuary when we had our man of sin or our old man sitting in the throne of our hearts and claiming himself to be God through the false teaching of man having his own will. 

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. 

Through the same false teachings of man having his own will and that we make our own decisions, we profane the Lord’s sabbath as we do not come to know how to rest in the Lord. 

Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Eze 23:40  And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments, 
Eze 23:41  And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil. 
Eze 23:42  And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 
Eze 23:43  Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them? 
Eze 23:44  Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women. 

In our quest to influence the world, we brought in the multitude to worship with us in the churches of this world. In verse 40, the multitude are described as men from afar. Verse 42 also refers to these men as carefree multitudes, men of common sort and drunkards from the wilderness. The multitude refers to ungodly men who crept into the churches of this world secretly as prophesied by Jude as follows:

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jud 1:8  Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 
Jud 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 
Jud 1:10  But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 
Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 
Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 
Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. 

Apostle Paul warned us of these multitudes during his farewell speech to the elders of Ephesus as follows: 

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 

In verses 40 and 41, washing herself, painting her eyes, decking herself with ornaments, sitting on stately beds and having a table set before her with incense and oil are the church’s way of making herself attractive to the people of the world who come in as sheep in wolves’ clothing to devour her. This is what the Lord says about the churches making themselves attractive:

Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 
Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 
Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

In the final analysis, the churches of this world, represented by Aholah and Aholibah, become worse off as they indulge in harlotry, leaving behind the simplicity that is in Christ and go after another Jesus through the agency of these multitudes or false apostles.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.   

Eze 23:45  And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 

Here in this verse, we are assured of the elect, represented here as righteous men, judging the churches of this world in an age to come. 

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Eze 23:46  For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled. 
Eze 23:47  And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 
Eze 23:48  Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. 
Eze 23:49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 

Inwardly, Babylon within us shall be destroyed through the judgment of our old man. This judgment is qualified in verse 47 as a company coming to stone us with stones, dispatching us with the sword, slaying our sons and daughters, and burning up our houses with fire. As we are aware, according to the law of Moses, the sin of adultery is punishable by death through stoning. Being stoned with stones is therefore to remind us that the judgment we are going through for our adulterous lifestyle against our Lord is to put our old man to death. 

Joh 8:4  They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 

The sword as an instrument of judgment refers to the negative words spoken against us which is one of the tools that the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Jdg 7:22 And the three hundred [men with Gideon] blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host [of the Midianites]: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

The slaying of our sons and daughters refers to the destruction of our false doctrines in our hearts and minds through the hail of the Lord or the truth of the word of the Lord.

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 

Our houses being burnt with fire means the destruction of our old man or flesh through the word of the Lord such that we can offer our bodies (houses) as living sacrifices to the Lord. 

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

In verses 48 and 49, we are made aware that the result of our judgment is to cause our lewdness to cease and to know who the Lord is. That is to say that through judgment, we learn righteousness as we get to know the Lord better. In summary, this is what the Lord is doing in our lives:

Psa 107:9  For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. 
Psa 107:10  Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 
Psa 107:11  Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: 
Psa 107:12  Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. 
Psa 107:13  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:14  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. 
Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

May His name be Praised. Amen!!

[Posted Januay 10, 2023]

Hi Mike,

It’s been a while since I sent an email, but I continue to read, reference, and research IWWB regularly. Thank you for all the work you (others) do to keep the site going.

God has me digging deeper into your Sequence of Events in Scripture article. The major events are clear to me, but one point seems to be nagging at me. I suspect it’s my flesh and it’s probably miniscule in the realm of things because God has already worked it out.

I’m confused about what’s happening with the population on Earth during the millennium:

If Jesus returned today and the elect rise to meet Him in the air, there will still be some called and unbelievers alive on the earth (According to 1a, 1b, & 1c in the Sequence of Events). For those who are alive during the millennium, how do they deal with a relative, friend, or colleague (an elect) suddenly missing? Will they know we are gone?

In the FAQ, “Will Christ Himself Return to This Earth,” you mentioned that during the millennium, Christ and the elect will “rule with a rod of iron,” outwardly. What does that look like since there won’t be an inward ruling and reigning in the inhabitants of the Earth? Where will Christ and the elect be on Earth? And will the millennium population be aware of Christ and the elect’s presence?

Thank you for your time and consideration of my questions.

YSiC, D____

Hi D____,

It is good to hear from you again. Thank you for your questions concerning life during the “thousand years” reign of “the Lord and His Christ”. Here is where I get those two phrases:

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

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

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

The Lord Himself informs us that there are just two resurrections:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto [1st] the resurrection of life [at the beginning of the thousand year reign]; and they that have done evil, unto [2nd] the resurrection of damnation [“When the thousand years are expired”, and the nations rebel against the Lord and His Christ, and all flesh is destroyed by God. (Rev 20:7-10)].

Since there are but two resurrections, anyone not in the first resurrection… “the resurrection of life”, will be in the second resurrection… the resurrection of judgment”.

The Greek word translated as “damnation” in John 5:29 is ‘krisis‘, and it means ‘judgment’.

I tell you this just to demonstrate that one-thousand years of being ruled over by God’s elect obviously was never intended to convert anyone. Conversion of humanity is not the function of that period of time. Its ordained function is to give God the occasion He is seeking to “devour… the nations in the four quarters of the earth” and thereby “destroy death.”

Your questions are questions we all have when we think of our families and friends who will live over into that dispensation. You seem to be aware that when Christ returns and we are caught up to meet Him in the air, we don’t go away so that we are never seen again. ‘The air’ symbolizes the spirit realm, and the only ‘up’ there is in the spirit realm is its superior status over this physical realm.

This natural, physical realm is subject to death, and the realm of the spirit is not subject to death. When we read:

Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

What this verse tells us is that our spiritual understanding is diminished and “darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” ‘The smoke’ is all the lies and false doctrines which have deceived the whole earth. ‘The air’ is the realm of the spirit as Christ made clear to Nicodemus:

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8  The wind [air] bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Christ was spirit before He came to this earth as “the seed of Abraham”. When He was resurrected from the dead He “was raised a spiritual body” which could and did appear as “flesh and bone”:

1Co 15:44 it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Everything we see is ‘made of things that do not appear’. In other words, even the physical realm is made of things of the spirit realm.

Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

That being so, the spirit realm has the advantage of being capable of appearing physical while in fact being “a spiritual body” just as the risen Christ did by appearing in the midst of His disciples while they were hiding in a locked room and then He simply disappeared:

Joh 20:19  Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:20  And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Joh 20:22  And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Joh 20:23  Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

The apostle Thomas was not there at that time and refused to believe that Christ had appeared to the other disciples. So, Christ appeared again for Thomas and for our sakes:

Joh 20:24  But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
Joh 20:25  The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Joh 20:26  And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:27  Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
Joh 20:28  And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Joh 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

That is what Christ meant when He told Nicodemus:

Joh 3:8  The wind [air] bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

That is how the Lord’s risen elect and those who are “changed in a moment” will function during the thousand-year reign of Christ on this earth. They will appear when and where they are needed to deal with whatever needs to be dealt with.

Satan will be in a spiritual prison, but the carnal mind will still be alive and well within every living person during that thousand-year reign. It is that carnal mind which necessitates a “rod of iron” in the hands of God’s elect. God’s elect will not tolerate rebellion against themselves and the Lord for that period of time. Any hint of rebellion and the Lord’s elect will simply appear in the room and tell those so foolish, “That is not a good idea at all. Don’t even think about going there.”

With all of this in mind I think I have answered your first question which was:

For those who are alive during the millennium, how do they deal with a relative, friend, or colleague (an elect) suddenly missing? Will they know we are gone? (End Quote)

“…Those alive during the millennium” will know we are NOT gone and will be very aware that our very words will be that ‘rod of iron’:

Isa 11:4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Christ tells us that we will be “the rod of His mouth and the breath of His lips” as He informed us of this Truth when He appeared to His disciples in that locked room:

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

Your second question was:

In the FAQ, “Will Christ Himself Return to This Earth,” you mentioned that during the millennium, Christ and the elect will “rule with a rod of iron,” outwardly. What does that look like since there won’t be an inward ruling and reigning in the inhabitants of the Earth? Where will Christ and the elect be on Earth? And will the millennium population be aware of Christ and the elect’s presence? (End Quote)

I have answered this question above. The Lord’s elect will be the judges and rulers of this earth after that “blessed and holy… first resurrection.”

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

We are given to know “What that looks like” in the experience of Israel living with the Lord as their boss for forty years in the wilderness. The Lord appeared each and every day of that forty years as a cloud that shaded them from the sun by day and then transformed into a pillar of fire which led them by night:

Exo 13:21  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

The people of Israel quickly adjusted to this miraculous phenomenon to the extent that they actually rebelled against the Lord time and again. “Ten times” is just a way of saying ‘time and time again’:

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

Job 19:3  These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.

When Miriam and Aaron rebelled against the Lord, He struck Miriam with leprosy. When Korah rebelled, the earth swallowed him and those who rebelled with him. When the whole camp rebelled the day after Korah being swallowed up, fire went out from the Lord and destroyed thousands, etc.

Ananias and Sapphira died for lying to the apostles about giving the money for their land to the apostles. Christ let the apostles out of prison when the priests planned to prosecute them for preaching in the name of Christ.

All those events demonstrate how spirits can appear and disappear as needed during that thousand-year reign. The very rulers of this earth will adjust to our presence and will in time submit or die. Like the “captains of fifty” who died at the hands of Elijah, they will be replaced with the next person in the line of authority, and perhaps by the third loss they, too, will see the futility of attempting to fight with a powerful, invisible foe:

2Ki 1:9  Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.
2Ki 1:10  And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
2Ki 1:11  Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.
2Ki 1:12  And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
2Ki 1:13  And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.
2Ki 1:14  Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.
2Ki 1:15  And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.
2Ki 1:16  And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

You ask:

Where will Christ and the elect be on Earth?” (End Quote)

We are told:

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

The answer to your question… “where will Christ and the elect be on earth” is… “on the breadth of the earth”. In other words, they will be everywhere all the time. The phrase “encompass the camp of the saints” just tells us that Satan has been given to once again unite all of mankind against the Lord and His Christ, fulfilling the very purpose for the thousand-year reign, which entire purpose is to give the Lord the occasion He is seeking to destroy death, by the destruction of all flesh and ushering in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death which will teach men righteousness:

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. 

No mention of eternal torment here. Rather “as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1Co 15:22)

No monstrous physical flames of fire, but “the propitiation… for the sins of the whole world” (1Jn 2:2), and a hundred other verses which say the same thing, like…

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

Notice that the exact same language… “fire… from heaven”, is used to tell us how death is destroyed by the destruction of “the nations in the four quarters of the earth”, as was used to describe the destruction of the two “captains and their fifties”:

2Ki 1:10  And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
2Ki 1:11  Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.
2Ki 1:12  And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

We all have the same questions about life during the thousand-year reign of “the Lord and His Christ.” That is because we fail to realize that we all quickly adjust to a miracle when it becomes rather commonplace. The miracle of a person suddenly appearing in a locked room, when that is needed to keep the peace, is as easy to adjust to as the rising of the sun, the birth of a child, and a worm becoming a beautiful butterfly. These are all miracles we take for granted because they happen on a regular basis. Just as the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night became a routine to ancient Israel, the dominance of the Lord’s elect and their ability to appear when and where they are needed to keep the carnal mind in check will also become routine during the thousand-year reign of the Lord’s elect.

I hope this helps you to better understand what our rulership here on this earth ‘looks like’ during that time.

Your fellow inquisitive brother in Christ,
Mike

[Study Aired August 16, 2021]

Jdg 18:1  In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. 
Jdg 18:2  And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. 
Jdg 18:3  When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 
Jdg 18:4  And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 
Jdg 18:5  And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 
Jdg 18:6  And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go. 
Jdg 18:7  Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. 
Jdg 18:8  And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? 
Jdg 18:9  And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 
Jdg 18:10  When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. 
Jdg 18:11  And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. 
Jdg 18:12  And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim. 
Jdg 18:13  And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. 
Jdg 18:14  Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. 
Jdg 18:15  And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. 

The theme which runs through the Book of Judges is that because there was no king in Israel at that time, everybody did what was right in his own eyes. Being without a King means being ruled by the flesh. In the previous review, we mentioned, using 1 Samuel 8:10-17, that when Christ ascends on the throne of our hearts, this is what happens to us:

1Sa 8:10  And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
1Sa 8:11  And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
1Sa 8:12  And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
1Sa 8:13  And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
1Sa 8:14  And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
1Sa 8:15  And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
1Sa 8:16  And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
1Sa 8:17  He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.

Verse 11 means that when Christ becomes King or sits in the throne of our heart, then it shows that we have been appointed or elected by Christ before the foundations of this world. Being his horsemen and running before his chariots means we shall go before the Lord to prepare the way of the Lord which is to give the knowledge of salvation to his people.

Luk 1:76  And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
Luk 1:77  To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Luk 1:78  Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
Luk 1:79  To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Verse 12 of 1 Samuel 8 shows us that we shall be appointed as captains over thousands, which signifies that we shall be rulers of the world. We shall ‘reap his harvest’ refers to us being His instruments to bring salvation to all humanity. Making our Lord ‘instruments of war’ is the same as we being His battle axe.

Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

Verse 13 which says we shall be His cooks and bakers suggests that we shall do our Lord’s will and finish the work He gave us to do, as shown by the following statement of the Lord:

Joh 4:32  But Jesus told them, “I have food that you don’t know anything about.”
Joh 4:33  His disciples started asking each other, “Has someone brought him something to eat?”
Joh 4:34  Jesus said: My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do.

Verse 14-17 means that we shall be our Lord’s servant and work in His vineyard.

On a negative note, these same verses in 1 Samuel 8:10-17 reflect the conditions we find ourselves in when we do not have Christ as King in our hearts, but are therefore ruled by the flesh. The first verse in Chapter 18 of Judges sets the tone for our miserable condition without a king in Babylon as follows:

Jdg 18:1  In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.

Where there is no king in our hearts, we go astray. We become oppressed by the flesh that rules us, and we end up becoming slaves to sin.

Gal 4:25  Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. (ESV)

Verse 1 here tells us that where we do not have Christ as King in our hearts, we do not have an inheritance. We enter Babylon looking for our inheritance, as did the people of Dan, but end up having no inheritance. The question is, “What is our inheritance in Christ?”

1Pe 1:4  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The Lord Jesus is our inheritance.

Psa 16:5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Psa 16:6  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

Our inheritance is shown to us clearly by the promises we are given if we overcome. All these promises refer to Christ as shown below:

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Both the tree of life and the paradise of God refer to Christ.

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Christ is both the hidden manna and the white stone. So possessing our inheritance is actually coming to be found in Christ. We, like the Danites, were also looking for our inheritance, which is Christ, but where the flesh rules as king in our lives, there is no way of us coming into our inheritance, which is knowing Christ or being found in Christ.

Our heritage for belonging to the tribe of Dan according to Jacob’s blessing of his son Dan is as follows:

Gen 49:16  Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
Gen 49:17  Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

It is Christ who has been given the authority to judge His people. So this is to confirm to us that our heritage is Christ. If we are found in Him, then we, too, shall rule with Him.

Act 10:42  And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

Psa 98:9  Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

It is Christ who, like a serpent, had thrown the horse and the rider into the sea when the Israelites were being chased by the Egyptians when they left Egypt. The horse and the rider here represent the worldliness in us which is part of our sea of flesh. It is only Christ who like a serpent can bite a horse’s heel to make both the horse and its rider fall backwards. In other words, it is Christ who destroys the worldliness in our lives.

Exo 15:1  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Jdg 18:2  And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. 

We, the elect, are the five able men chosen from the tribe of Dan to search out our inheritance, which is coming to know Christ. The number five means grace through faith. So it is through the chastening grace of our Lord and His faith operating within us that we are called and chosen to pursue our inheritance.

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

The five men from the tribe of Dan came from Zorah and Eshtaol to pursue their inheritance. According to Strong, Zorah means is a type of wasp called a hornet. In the scriptures, there are only two places that the word “hornet” were used and it was in relation to the defeat of the enemies of Israel as follows:

Deu 7:20  Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

Jos 24:12  And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

The name “Eshtaol” means to enquire, pray or request. So what we are being told is that it is by grace through faith that we are called and chosen to answer to the Lord’s request for us to defeat our enemies or the old man.

The five men were commanded to go and explore the land for their inheritance. To explore the land is to search out the word of God to know of our inheritance. This was Paul’s request to God for the Ephesian church to be given the ability to explore the land of their inheritance:

Eph 1:15  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Eph 1:16  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

From these verses, it becomes clear that being given eyes to see and ears to hear is what enable us to explore the land of our inheritance which is Christ.

As we are told in the scriptures, we are carnal when we start our journey in Christ.

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Being carnal means that there was no king (Christ) sitting on the throne of our hearts in the early part of our walk with Christ, and so our steps lead us to the house of Micah or Babylon where we are introduced to another Jesus with a different inheritance agenda.

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

Jdg 18:3  When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 
Jdg 18:4  And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 

In the house of Micah or Babylon, we identify with what our fleshly leaders say since we were like them – ruled by the flesh.

1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world (we) heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

In Babylon, our relationship with Christ is driven by making ends meet as stated by the Levite that Micah has hired him. Our relationship with Christ becomes a business. We, like Balaam, ran greedily after reward.

1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

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

Jdg 18:5  And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 
Jdg 18:6  And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go. 

When we are under the influence of the flesh in Babylon, we do not have the ability to know whether whatever we are doing is under the counsel of God. Instead of asking God directly, we depend on our “priests” in Babylon to tell us what we should do as we see the five men enquiring from the Levite about their journey. Our priests in Babylon act as intermediaries between us and God which is what the doctrine of Nicolaitans is all about. The Nicolaitans doctrine regard the priests as being above the congregation, who are called the laity. It is an extension of the Levitical priesthood order in the Old Testament which we practiced in Babylon. In the Levitical priesthood order, the priests act as intermediaries to the congregation. However, as Peter declared, we are all a royal priesthood and are required to appear before God in the inner sanctuary.

Rev 2:6  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Rev 2:15  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

We are not saying that depending on God’s children for guidance is wrong. As we are aware, in the multitude of counsel, there is safety. What we are talking about here is our dependence on a “man of God” who then acts as an intermediary between God and man instead of our High Priest, Christ.

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

Jdg 18:7  Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

According to Strong, Laish means a lion whose destructive blows have been crushed.

H3919
לַיִשׁ
layish
lah’-yish

From H3888 in the sense of crushing; a lion (from his destructive blows): – (old) lion.

On a positive note, this verse tells us about the characteristics of those who have an inheritance. Firstly, they have overcome the flesh who is powered by the old lion (the devil). This is done through the crushing of the destructive works of the devil (lion) in our lives (meaning of Laish). This is emphasized by the fact that the people at Laish lived far away from the Zidonians or Sidonians. These people were inhabitants of Sidon (Deut 3:9) and the Israelites were required to drive them out of the land but failed to do so.

Jos 13:6  All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

So these Zidonians represent the enemies within (the old man that we have to subdue or drive out). Being far from them means that one of the characteristics of the elect is that they have subdued the old man and therefore are not influenced by the dictates of the flesh.

Secondly, they live in security (Meaning of ‘dwelling careless’ according to Strong) as they are protected by the high walls of Jerusalem. The high walls represent God’s thoughts and ways which transcend human understanding which serves as our protection.

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 21:12  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:

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

The meaning of the word ‘quiet’ in verse 7 means ‘rest’ according to Strong’s dictionary. So the third point is that they have found rest in Christ and have therefore ceased from their own strivings.

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

According to Strong, “there is no magistrate” means there is nothing to dispossess or impoverish them. So the fourth point about those who have found their inheritance is that they lack nothing in their spiritual development.

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

On a negative note, these people living in Laish represent the way we lived in Babylon. We thought we had no need of anything, but we did not know that we were an easy prey for the enemy.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

The people having no relationship with anyone, including the Sidonians who were living closer, shows us the independence or divisions of various groups in Babylon. This divisions attest to the fact that we had indeed failed while in Babylon and therefore were an easy target for the enemy.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Jdg 18:8  And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? 
Jdg 18:9  And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 
Jdg 18:10  When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. 

These verses suggest that those of us whom God is helping to see the joy that is set before us (our inheritance) should encourage our brothers and sisters to also see this glory to be revealed. All those ahead of us have talked about this glory to be revealed, which does not compare with our current suffering.

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

Isa 60:18  Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. 
Isa 60:19  The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 
Isa 60:20  Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Isa 60:21  Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 
Isa 60:22  A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

Peter, John and James caught a glimpse of the glory to be revealed when they were with Jesus at the mount of the transfiguration. We also, are seeing this glory as our eyes are being opened and our ears are hearing.

Mat 17:1  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 
Mat 17:2  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 
Mat 17:3  And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 
Mat 17:4  And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 

Apostle John talks about his experience as follows:

1Jn 1:1  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 
1Jn 1:2  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 
1Jn 1:3  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Paul also had this to say:

2Co 12:1  I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 
2Co 12:2  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 
2Co 12:3  And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 
2Co 12:4  and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 

Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ has gone ahead of us to tell us of His experience and how we should conduct ourselves to take possession of our inheritance.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

Jdg 18:11  And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. 

The six hundred men represent the elect in every generation who are appointed by the Lord with weapons of war to wage war against the flesh in order to possess their inheritance. The weapons of war are the whole armor of God that Paul told us about in Ephesians chapter 6 as follows:

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Jdg 18:12  And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim. 

The six hundred men lodged at Kirjathjearim in Judah. According to Strong’s Dictionary, Kirjathjearim means a city of forest. One characteristic of a forest is that one can easily get lost. In addition, forests are filled with wild beasts that can tear us apart. So here we are talking about our journey here on earth.

1Co 15:32  If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

So what we are being told is that in seeking for our inheritance, we can easily lose track of following the footprint of our Lord Jesus in this forest of wild beasts. The scriptures reminded us of a young man named Demas who looked very promising in inheriting the promise during the early part of Paul’s ministry but ended up following after the world.

2Ti 4:10  For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

These things are written for our admonition so that we may war a good warfare.

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

Jdg 18:13  And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. 
Jdg 18:14  Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. 
Jdg 18:15  And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. 

As we indicated earlier, the early part of our walk with Christ is characterized by carnality. We are therefore led straight to Babylon (Micah’s house) as we find Babylon very attractive because she speaks in a language we understand. In modern language, we say that going astray is in our genes.

1Jn 4:5  They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 

‘The world listens to them’ refers to us at a certain point in our walk with Christ.

Remember that all the six hundred men turned to the house of Micah. This means that the elect from all generations must go into Babylonian captivity before they are delivered. This experience of evil is to humble us and give our Lord the occasion to come into our lives to judge us.

Jer 9:7  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people? 
Jer 9:8  Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him. 
Jer 9:9  Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? 

Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 
Mal 3:4  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. 

May the Lord deliver us from all that pertains to our Babylonian captivity in our lives as we seek to possess our inheritance. Amen!!

[The next study in this series is here

[Study Aired August 23, 2020]

Isa 64:7  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
Isa 64:8  But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Isa 64:9  Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
Isa 64:10  Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Isa 64:11  Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
Isa 64:12  Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

The Lord here tells us the reason He “has hid His face from us”:

Isa 64:7  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

The Lord here tells us that He hides His face from us “because of our iniquities.” Throughout scripture we read that it is our sins that cause the Lord to “hide His face from us.” The reason the Lord gives us for destroying all life in the flood of Noah’s time is:

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Gen 6:7  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

The reason we are given us for the destruction of Sodom is:

Gen 18:20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
Gen 18:21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

The reason given for the Lord rejecting King Saul is:

1Sa 15:10  Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
1Sa 15:11  It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.

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.

The reason we are given for the sword not leaving King David’s house is:

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

Was it true that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” and this led the Lord to repent of placing mankind on this earth? Of course, that is true! Every imagination of mankind’s heart really was only evil continually.

Was it true that because “[the] sin [of Sodom] was very grievous” that the Lord destroyed Sodom? Yes, that was true! Sodom’s sin was very grievous.

Was King Saul rejected by God because He had rejected the words of the Lord? Yes, of course that was true. King Saul had indeed rejected the Lord’s words.

Had King David really despised the Lord when he took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be his wife? Obviously, King David had despised and disobeyed the word of the Lord.

We could go chronologically through every evil king of both Israel and Judah and show that the reason the Lord was displeased with every one of them was:

1Ki 15:30  Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

No one can or should deny that our sins separate us from our God:

Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Isa 59:3  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

Look at how similar the words of this 64^th chapter are to these words from the 59^th chapter:

Here is our next verse in this 64^th chapter:

Isa 64:7  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

These are the very next verses in chapter 59:

Isa 59:4  None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Isa 59:5  They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

There is no denying that the Lord punishes us for our sins. Here are a few of the verses which drive this Truth home:

Isa 10:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish [H6485: paqad] the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

Isa 13:11  And I will punish [H6485: paqad] the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

Isa 24:21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish [H6485: paqad] the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

Isa 26:21  For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish [H6485: paqad] the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

Isa 27:1  In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish [H6485: paqad] leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

There is no denying that the Lord punishes us for our sins, but there are also two other Biblical doctrines which are little understood, and those two Biblical doctrines are: 1) the “Lord… makes us to err from His ways, and He hardens our hearts from His fear, and 2) He does so for the very purpose of giving Himself the occasion He is seeking to destroy the kingdom our old man.

The book of Judges and the story of Samson state this Truth very clearly. Contrary as it was to the Lord’s own instructions for the men of Israel never to seek a wife from among the heathen with whom they lived, this is what we are told of why Samson wanted to take a wife of the Philistines:

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.

This is not a story which is out of character for God. To the contrary, this is a story which reveals the character of our God. So what is it in this story “that… was of the Lord”? Well, what did we just read?

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.

Didn’t the Lord command Israel not to take wives of the nations around them? Well, yes, He certainly did:

Gen 24:3  And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

Gen 28:1  And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

Exo 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Exo 34:15  Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
Exo 34:16  And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

Ezr 9:10  And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
Ezr 9:11  Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
Ezr 9:12  Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

Neh 13:25  And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

Samson’s parents knew what Abraham and Isaac had said about marrying the daughters of the land in which they sojourned as strangers. It was strictly forbidden, and yet we are being told of Samson’s desire to marry a Philistine woman… “it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.”

In other words, what Judges 14 tells us about Samson’s sins is the same message King Solomon was inspired of the holy spirit to give us long before Isaiah:

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

‘Evil’ and ‘corruption’ are very similar, and we are all “corruption” by virtue of being “shapen in iniquity and… conceived… in sin”:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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

So, when we read:

Isa 64:7  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

We now must acknowledge that the sum of the Lord’s word reveals that the ultimate cause for the fact that “none calls upon [the Lord’s] name, [nor] stirs up himself to take hold of [the Lord]” we really do so “because you have hid your face from us and have consumed us, because of our iniquities, [which like Samson’s lust for a Philistine wife were] of the Lord [who] is seeking an occasion against [our own carnal-minded old man] for at that time [by the Lord’s design, our rebellious, carnal-minded old man] had dominion over [us]”.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Only if we are given to acknowledge that the Lord “creates evil… yes, even the wicked for the day of evil” in our own lives, and that it is He who puts a bridle in our mouths with which He “makes us to err from [His] ways and hardens our hearts from His fear [in] this present time”, that His mercy upon us “is not of him [us] who wills”; only if we acknowledge all of this in this time will we be given to pray this next verse with any degree of conviction:

Isa 64:8  But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Being a ‘puppet’ is too far from “the Potter’s hand” to be the symbol of how the Lord works His work in the affairs of mankind. Being a puppet is not a Biblical type or shadow of the extent of the Lord’s sovereign work with mankind. The type and shadow of the extent of the Lord’s sovereign hand in our lives is “clay in the hand of The Potter”:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

This is confirmed in the New Covenant:

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

If any of this is true, then our election has nothing to do with our own power or our own will. The fact is that our election was known to the Lord before the world began, and the scriptures twice plainly state:

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

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

If we are blessed to be made aware that our God is actually a loving heavenly Father who, like any father who loves His children, will correct and chasten them when it is needed, then we will cry out to our Father:

Isa 64:9  Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

Knowing that it is the Lord who is working all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11) gives us hope and helps us endure because we know that our trials are all for a good purpose; the purpose of chastening us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly lives in this present age.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: paideuo, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [G165, aion, age];
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Knowing all of that does not make the pain of dying to our old man any the less painful, neither does it make it any less essential that we must endure to the end the pain of losing our life if we really want to find it.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world [G2889: kosmos] shall keep it unto life eternal.

As we endure the loss of our lives, we cry out to our heavenly Father:

Isa 64:10  Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Isa 64:11  Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
Isa 64:12  Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

“Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste…” This essentially was King David’s refrain also when his own son, his closest counselor, and most of the entire nation, turned on him and sought to kill him:

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?
Psa 22:2  O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
Psa 22:3  But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Psa 22:4  Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
Psa 22:5  They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
Psa 22:6  But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Psa 22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Psa 22:8  He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

From the time we also are “carnal babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4), we are “in Christ” who is our “beautiful house”:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

All those words of Isaiah 64: 10-12 are the essence of Christ’s own words while He, too, felt forsaken of His own Father when He was offered up for our sins upon the cross. Notice the parallel here in Matthew 27 with King David’s words in Psalms 22:

Mat 27:39  And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
Mat 27:40  And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Mat 27:41  Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
Mat 27:42  He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

Mat 27:43  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

Compare these words to King David’s words:

Psa 22:7  All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Psa 22:8  He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

This is what Christ told us the night of His apprehension by the Jews:

Joh 13:16  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
Joh 13:17  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Joh 13:18  I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
Joh 13:19  Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
Joh 13:20  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

The way we “receive whomsoever [Christ has sent] is by knowing His ‘voice’, meaning His doctrine:

Joh 10:2  But he that entereth in by the door [Christ, verse 7] is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3  To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Joh 10:6  This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
Joh 10:7  Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

The ‘voice’ of Christ has informed us in advance that if we ‘trusted in Him’ then we, too, as He was, will be hated of all men:

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.

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Christ knew that obedience to His Father’s words would be much better in the end than giving in to the temptation to avoid the death of the cross.

Joh 15:21  But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

Christ knew who it was who had sent Him, and we, too, must know who has sent us. He knew full well the sufferings of this present time were not worthy to be compared to the glory which would be revealed in Himself and in His Christ:

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

We read and believe this chapter of Isaiah because we know:

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

However, just as Christ told Satan to get behind Him when Satan offered Him the kingdoms of this world in exchange for His worship of Satan, we, with Christ within us will follow in His steps because we also:

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

That is our study for today, and we will begin chapter 65 next week, Lord willing:

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

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 50 Discussion

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Isa 10:20-26 Mine... Indignation Shall Cease... In Their Destruction

Isa 10:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
Isa 10:21  The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
Isa 10:22  For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
Isa 10:23  For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
Isa 10:24  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
Isa 10:25  For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
Isa 10:26  And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

We must remember that our study today concerns the revelation of the judgment of the king of Assyria, which is also the judgment of Babylon in its outward, future, 'will be' application. "As his rod was upon the sea" of the flesh of all men, so he will lift up his hand against the Lord's elect, just as the Egyptians lifted up their hands against God's people who had gone into Egypt to find refuge. This outward judgment of the king of Assyria, the king of Babylon, begins only after the Lord has "performed His whole work upon" us. When He has judged "great Babylon" within His own people, then the Lord will use us, "His Christ", to judge Babylon within others. That is the qualifier for this study:

Isa 10:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
Isa 10:13  For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

We have demonstrated that the kings of Assyria, Babylon, and Tyre, are one and all types of the religious, self-righteous second beast who rises up within all men.

Here is the king of Assyria as he is revealed in the book of Revelation:

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

The first beast comes "up out of the sea" (Rev 13:1), which we have demonstrated is the symbol of the flesh of all men (Psa 104:24-26 and Isa 27:1 and Isa 57:20). But the second beast does not rise up out of the sea. Instead he "com[es] up out of the earth" with two horns like a lamb, but speaking as a dragon, doing great wonders... in the sight of men, decieving them that dwell on the earth by the means of the miracles he has been given the power to do in the sight of the beast.

Later in the book of revelation this same second beast, who is empowered to 'work miracles before the beast' is also called "the false prophet":

Rev 16:13  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Because we have been granted to know that we, as part of mankind, must "live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4), we now know that "the revelation of Jesus Christ" includes the revelation of Him within us, and that the book of Revelation is a "signified" story of that revelation within those who are His.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Knowing we are to live by the "signified... things written [herein]" gives us the ability to appreciate the knowledge that "the revelation of Jesus Christ" necessitates the judgment and utter destruction of the flesh of Christ Himself as well as "the stout heart of the king of Assyria" within every man, ourselves included as those whom Christ has sent to save this world.

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

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

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.

We have demonstrated that this book of Revelation is rooted and grounded in the Old Testament prophecies, especially this prophecy of Isaiah. We now rejoice to know that "judgment must begin at [us] the house of God" (1Pe 4:17).

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

It is only the spiritually blind who deny that our sufferings make us "partakers of Christ's sufferings... for His body's sake, which is the church":

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

Paul's and our sufferings make us "partakers of Christ's sufferings... [which, like Christ's own sufferings was] for His body's sake, which is the church".

We have seen that the great harlot of Revelation 17-18 is none other than we ourselves, as the Lord's own unfaithful wife, while we are yet steeped in the deceptions of the doctrines of that great harlot and her "false prophet" who symbolize all the doctrines and the ministers of this great harlot system. We have been blessed to know that being in Babylon and being deceived by the false prophets of Babylon and worshipping the beast, receiving the mark of his name and enduring the day and night torment this experience produces is, in truth, simply exercising the patience of the saints and is keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, who endured the very same fiery trials which are an integral part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, all of which are also but a part of "the things written therein" (Rev 1:3). Let's read it with our own eyes which can, Lord willing, perceive:

Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [And what is the holy spirit telling us?]
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Once again we discover that all we have been told to avoid and to deny and resist is in fact nothing less that "the patience of the saints... that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus", through which "fiery trials" "all men... all the world" must walk, each in his own appointed time:

Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

"All the world" is qualified so we cannot miss just how all inclusive the holy spirit is in making that statement:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Verse 18 is much better translated:

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind, and its number is six hundred sixty-six. (CVL)

The Greek for the word 'a man' in the King James is 'anthropos', and there is no article in the Greek language. 666 is the number of mankind who was created on the 6th day along with all other beasts, and the scriptures make clear that mankind in indeed a beast, thereby forever associated with the number 6:

Gen 1:25  And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Which means:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [Hebrew: ruach - spirit]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

The kingdom of this beast is portrayed in this chapter of Isaiah as the king of Assyria, and the Lord tells us He will use a "remnant of Israel" to judge the kingdom of the beast within all of mankind

Isa 10:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
Isa 10:21  The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
Isa 10:22  For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

"The remnant of Israel" is mentioned in all three of these verses. We will completely miss the meaning and significance of this "remnant of Israel" if we are intimidated by all the teachers of Babylon who have been blinded to the truth of these verses of scripture, make up the very essence of the gospel of Christ, who Himself began His ministry with these words:

Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a [Gentile] woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the [Gentile] Syrian.

Christ was the very first of the hated so-called "replacement theologians". Here we have Him telling us what He intends to do with His ministry. And what was the reaction of those in Israel who are not part of "the remnant of Israel" who heard these words of Christ? Here is the reaction of those very people who grew up with Christ and His parents and His brothers and sisters:

Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

It was Christ Himself who first took His gospel to the Gentiles when He was received of the Samaritans via the testimony of the Samaritan woman who Christ met at the well in Samaria.

Joh 4:25  The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
Joh 4:26  Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
Joh 4:27  And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
Joh 4:28  The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
Joh 4:29  Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
Joh 4:30  Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

Joh 4:39  And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
Joh 4:40  So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
Joh 4:41  And many more believed because of his own word;
Joh 4:42  And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Christ and His gospel were preached and received by the Gentile Samaritans before He was received by His own family, His own city or His own country men. Again we see that Christ Himself was the original 'replacement theologian'!

Physical Israel was called the Lord's fig tree. It was Christ who symbolically cursed His own fig tree and pronounced upon it that His own physical nation would not bring forth fruit in this age:

Let's establish the Biblical significance of a fig tree:

Hos 9:10  I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

Joe 1:7  He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

Mat 21:19  And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever [Greek: the aion]. And presently the fig tree withered away.

There were "many things [which Christ's disciples] could not bear" while He was yet in His physical body, the rejection of physical Israel being just one of those "many things".

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

But later He revealed "many things" to them; things like:

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 modern Pharisees utterly despise those verses of scripture. They read them, but they do not perceive what they are seeing. Of course that also causes them to be blinded from seeing these verses also:

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

The holy spirit informs those with eyes to see that Hagar "answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children". Speaking to Gentile Galatians, Paul informs us "we are not the children of the bondwoman but of the free". This accords with this 'replacement theology' doctrine of the entire New Testament. This teaching is at the close of the previous chapter:

Gal 3:27  For as many of you [Gentile Galatians] as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

There it is! Paul, like Christ was one of the original "replacement theologians", and he went to great lengths to make this teaching clear when at last, in prison, he was shown that not even the letter from the apostles in Acts 15 was any longer in effect and that from this time forward, Christ is "making of twain one new man, so making peace":

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; [The letter to the Gentiles of Acts 15]
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Now we know that "the remnant of Israel" is speaking of "the Israel of God [which is] neither Jew nor Greek... for [we] are all one in Christ Jesus". Paul makes this statement in Galatians 6:

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

This is the 'Israel of God" of whom a remnant will fulfill this prophecy:

Isa 10:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
Isa 10:21  The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
Isa 10:22  For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

As we saw earlier, the king of Assyria within us "stayed upon" his own strength, and his own wisdom, and it is this self-righteousness which necessitates his destruction at the hand of "the remnant of... the Israel of God".

Isa 10:13  For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
Isa 10:14  And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

"Yet a remnant of them [The elect, "the Israel of God"] shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness", because when God destroys anything, it is done "with righteousness", simply because He is love, and what He does is all done "for good to them that love [Him]".

This 'consumption' of our rebellious "first man Adam" was predestined from "before the world began". Therefore the destruction and "consumption" of the beast within all men is a work of His righteousness:

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

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

This brings us to our next verse, which accords with this revelation that all things are taking place just as they were predetermined to occur, all in accordance with the plan of God:

Isa 10:23  For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
Isa 10:24  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.

We are told that the consumption is determined, and we are told that it is determined that the king of Assyria will smite us with his rod "after the manner of Egypt". It is commonly understood that the Egyptians soon forgot the blessing Joseph had been to Egypt, and they had enslaved Joseph's people:

Exo 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
Exo 1:9  And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
Exo 1:10  Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Exo 1:11  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Our old man knows that Christ is mightier than our flesh, but our flesh has been given to enslave us to our own destructive ways. Our old man and his Babylonian harlot are merciless task masters who have no mercy, yet we "love to have it so":

Jer 5:31  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

It is for this reason "few are chosen" out of the "many called". Christ is very honest and straight forward with us when He speaks to us about the calling He has placed upon us. He tells us "you shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of..." Right up front He tells us "[we] shall be hated of all men" including our very families:

Mar 10:39  And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:

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.

It is the king of Assyria and the Babylonian system who are within our own old man. But that same spirit is also in our families and in this world, and it is the religious Babylonian system which the Lord will use to "chasten and scourge" His elect whom He is preparing as His instrument for the destruction of that very same Babylonian spirit and system. Only then will the Lord's anger cease.

Here is the answer to Isaiah's question, "...what will ye do in the end thereof?" (Isa 5:31):

Isa 10:25  For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
Isa 10:26  And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

The destruction of the Babylonian system which so hates the doctrines of Christ will be accomplished "according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb". 'The rock of Oreb' is so called because it was there that "the Lord set every man's hand against his fellow", and it was there that Gideon slew the Midianite king, Oreb:

Jdg 7:22  And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
Jdg 7:23  And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.
Jdg 7:24  And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.
Jdg 7:25  And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.

King David implores the Lord to destroy the enemies of His elect in the same manner:

Psa 83:9  Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:
Psa 83:10  Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.
Psa 83:11  Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
Psa 83:12  Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

The formula we are learning is that the Lord uses the doctrines of the kings of Assyria and Babylon to give Himself an occasion to destroy the kingdom of Babylon within His elect. Then He uses His elect to both judge this world and then to judge angels in the lake of fire:

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

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

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.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will learn that while the destruction of Babylon at the hands of God's elect, causes the anger of the Lord to cease, it also removes the yoke of the enslavement to our Egyptian and Babylonian taskmasters "because of the anointing" upon the Lord's anointed, His Christ.

In other words, the salvation of all men, even those in Babylon, will be accomplished by Christ via His Christ, His anointed:

Isa 10:27  And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
Isa 10:28  He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
Isa 10:29  They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
Isa 10:30  Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
Isa 10:31  Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
Isa 10:32  As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
Isa 10:33  Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
Isa 10:34  And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 23 Discussion

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Isa 5:24-30 They Shall Come With Speed Swiftly:

Isa 5:24  Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 5:25  Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 5:26  And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
Isa 5:27  None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
Isa 5:28  Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
Isa 5:29  Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
Isa 5:30  And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

The theme of all the Old Testament prophets is the judgment of God's people for their sins and the deliverance of God's people through that judgment. That theme continues with these verses we are covering today.

Paul sums up the theme of the Old Testament prophets with these words:

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

The first verse of today's study gives us this same message of salvation through the judgment and destruction of the kingdom of our rebellious old man:

Isa 5:24  Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

The rottenness of the root of the seed of the serpent within us is equated with "the fire [which] devours the stubble, and the flame consum[ing] the chaff" of the kingdom of our old man.

"The day" spoken of by Paul is the same as "the day of the Lord" spoken of so many times here in Isaiah and throughout the Old Testament prophets:

Isa 2:11  The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

In Judges 14 we learn how the Lord always gives Himself an occasion that justifies the destruction of our old man and His kingdom. He provides for Himself a very good reason to take the brute beast we are and destroy that beast, and He takes away the dominion of our old man, the dominion of the beast within us all.

The humbling of the lofty looks of our old man and the bringing low of everyone that is lifted up does not mean the Lord will save our old man. Nothing could be further from the Truth. Our salvation comes only to a new man who begins his life in these clay vessels, but that new man comes to Christ only through the death and destruction of our old man just as new fruit comes only through the rotting away of the seed of the old fruit.

Here is what Isaiah has already told us:

Isa 1:28  And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

There is no attempt at all to salvage the rebellious flesh and blood of our old man. He and his kingdom within us are slated "to be taken and destroyed".

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

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

Our carnal-minded, rebellious, old man was "made to be taken and destroyed", but God wants us to know why that is so. To that end He uses the corruption which we are for "an occasion against" the kingdom of our rebellious, carnal-minded, old man, as revealed to us in the story of Samson's struggles against 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.

Because we have been granted to understand that mankind must "live by every word that proceeds out of the  mouth of God" (Mat 4:4), we now are given to know that we are both Samson and the Philistines against whom he struggled. We now understand this is not a 'one shot event'. This historical event reveals to us that God had this all planned out in advance, and He already knew exactly how Samson would react to the Philistines, among whom God had sent Samson to dwell when He made Samson to marry a Philistine woman. "It was of the Lord [because] He sought an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines [our self-righteous old man] had dominion over [God's people] Israel."

But like Pharaoh many years earlier, Samson's rebellious, carnal mind had to be destroyed, and it was through that destruction that Samson was given the victory he could not attain while still alive in a dying body of rebellious flesh and blood:

Jdg 16:28  And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 
Jdg 16:29  And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
Jdg 16:30  And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

It is for "the eyes of [our] understanding" that we, too, are willing to die daily, and be crucified with Christ. Only with spiritual eyes and spiritual understanding will we be given to know God and His Son, which is what life eonian is:

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

We are not given eyes that see except through the death of our old man. Pharaoh typifies our carnal-minded old man, who refuses to let the Lord's people go so they can serve Him.

This is what the Lord told Moses, before he ever sent Moses down into Egypt to deliver His people:

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. 

Exo 7:3  And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

God's "signs and wonders in the land of Egypt" were the ten plagues He poured out upon Egypt by the hands of Moses and Aaron. Those plagues, according to Pharaoh's servants' own account, 'destroyed Egypt' even  before the firstborn were taken from every home:

Exo 10:7  And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

But God continued to harden Pharaoh's heart, even after He let Israel leave Egypt, and this again provided God with the "occasion [He] sought" to destroy Pharaoh and His kingdom:

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.

Exo 14:17  And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

A 'hardened heart' is a heart which is in rebellion against God and His ways. A hardened heart gives God the occasion He is seeking to destroy our self-righteous, rebellious, old man. So we are told:

Isa 5:25  Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

What are these '"hills [which] did tremble"? These hills are Pharaoh's servants who informed Pharaoh "Egypt is destroyed". These 'hills' are the "imaginations, and... high things... [the] thoughts... that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God" within our hearts and minds.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

That is what "the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets" means. Our carnal-minded old man is rebellious to the bitter end. It was after the destruction of Egypt's first born and after the carcasses of the firstborn "were torn in the midst of the streets" of Egypt that Pharaoh still pursued Israel into the Red Sea to finally be swallowed up and destroyed.

The lesson for us is that "the man of sin" is sitting in "the temple of God" within our hearts and minds, and he is loathe to give up his throne, and he will not do so except he be destroyed from within us. He was never intended to inherit the kingdom of God. He was made to be taken and destroyed:

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

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

Here is how Christ is in the process of judging and destroying that "natural brute beast" within each of His children, and this is how He will also judge this outward world:

Isa 5:26  And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

In the book of Psalms these "nations from far" are likened to spiritual 'bees':

Psa 118:10  All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
Psa 118:11  They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
Psa 118:12  They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

When we are obedient to Christ, He sends hornets to drive out the giants in our land, and when we rebel against Him "[we are] chased... as bees do, and [they] destroy [us]" (Deu 1:44).

Here is how God uses spiritual 'bees' to do His bidding:

Deu 1:43  So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
Deu 1:44  And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.

When we, like King David, are 'compassed about by all nations', it is because we need to fight against and overcome these nations within the kingdom of God within us (Luk 17:20-21). God uses spiritual 'bees' to judge us for our sins, and in doing so He also 'teaches us righteousness', as He uses these spiritual 'bees' to destroy our enemies:

Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before 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 [your spiritual 'bees'] are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

The point being made with all these verses is the same as the message of the book of Job where Satan himself and the evil deeds he entices us to perform and the evil the adversary brings upon us, are all called 'the Lord's hand':

Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand [Christ's hand] now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand [Satan's hand]. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:5  But put forth thine hand now [Christ's hand], and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand [Satan's hand]; but save his life.

That lesson of the book of Job, and the lesson we are being taught concerning these nations which the Lord is 'hissing' and calling to come and judge us, is that if these 'bees' are working for us, they are driving out the giants in our land, for the good of our new man, or if they are working against us, it is for the destruction of our old man. When we are granted to understand that the 'land' occupied by these giant Canaanites is our carnal-minded physical bodies, then we can understand that these spiritual 'bees' are nothing more or less than evil spirits which are instruments in our Lord's hands. These spiritual 'bees' at times work at driving out the Canaanite giants in our land, working against our old man, while simultaneously working for the good of our new man. It all serves to demonstrate how Christ is working "all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph 1:11), 'working all things together for good to them who love God and are the called according to His purpose' (Rom 8:28).

Notice closely the strength and stamina of these "nations"(vs 26) who Christ sends to "compass [us] about like bees" (Psa 118:12).

Isa 5:27  None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

'Girding one's loins' is to prepare for battle, and to loose one's loins is to be conquered and to lose the battle:

Isa 45:1  Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
Isa 45:2  I will go before thee [Cyrus], and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

These very same 'nations... like bees' are likened to locusts and are called the Lord's "army" in the prophecy of Joel.

Joe 2:25  And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

In typical "line upon line" manner this very same army of locusts is likened to horses and "a great people and a strong" earlier in this same chapter:

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
Joe 2:2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
Joe 2:3  A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Joe 2:4  The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Joe 2:5  Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Joe 2:6  Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

Again "None shall be weary nor stumble among them;" (Isa 5:27):

Joe 2:7  They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
Joe 2:8  Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
Joe 2:9  They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
Joe 2:10  The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

When the time comes for the self-righteous kingdom of our old man to be destroyed, it is accomplished in short order by an enemy who is strengthened by the Lord Himself. It is accomplished by "His army".

Isa 5:28  Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

When our Creator says it is time for the kingdom of our self-righteous, rebellious, old man to be humbled and to be destroyed, then he will simply cause that to happen. But just as He destroyed Egypt with His own words coming out of the mouths of His "two witnesses", Moses and Aaron (Zec 4:3-6 and Rev 11:3-4), He will also destroy the kingdom of our old man through His own Word coming from those who are faithful to those words. But Pharaoh typifies our old man, and we, too, resist His chastening to the bitter end. As the Old Testament type of our old man Pharaoh is destroyed by ten plagues, and the seven last plagues of Revelation 16 is just the New Testament account of those same plagues which were poured out upon Egypt. Both the plagues of Egypt and the plagues of Revelation 16 first take place spiritually within "every son He receives" (Heb 12:6), and this is how we all first just naturally respond to "the brightness of His coming" within us:

Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire [These very words of judgment].
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness [Total spiritual darkness]; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

The fruit of the fourth and fifth vials is that we "blaspheme the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and [we] repent not to give him glory [and we] repent not of [our blasphemous] deeds. We are told (Rev 1:3) that "the time is at hand [to] read, hear and keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book", and the seven vials of Revelation 16 are an integral part of "the sayings of the prophecy of this book".

The book of Job interprets Revelation 16 for us. We just naturally react as Job reacted, and we deny that we have ever at any time blasphemed the name of God even as we condemn Him to make ourselves righteous:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Those are not my words. It is Christ Himself who tells us Job was guilty of "condemning [God, to make himself] righteous". It is Christ Himself who informs us that Job's self-righteousness was the same sin as the sin of Judas within us. It is we who have condemned and crucified Christ. It is integral to the sin of self-righteousness to condemn Christ for not recognizing our superior righteousness. So we must therefore 'contend with the Almighty... reprove... and disannul [His] judgments. We must condemn Him to make ourselves righteous'.

But this spirit is dealt with swiftly as we read earlier in this study:

Isa 5:26  And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

 Notice the speed with which Christ judges this self-righteous spirit within us:

Job 1:13  And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
Job 1:14  And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
Job 1:15  And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:16  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:17  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:18  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
Job 1:19  And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:20  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
Job 1:21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job knew who was working against him whether anyone else knew it. Job knew that God is a sovereign God who was working all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11).

Isaiah tells us the same thing:

Isa 5:29  Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
Isa 5:30  And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

"Their roaring... like a young lion" is the roaring of those nations God sends against us, His own rebellious people. It is His own people who are the prey which are carried away by these roaring young lions, and it is the kingdom of our self-righteous, rebellious, old man who is "the land [which is now covered with] 'darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.'

But it is all working together for our good simply because:

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

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Yes, we are saved by God's sovereign grace, but grace chastens and scourges us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts and judges the kingdom of the man of sin within each of us.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
Tit 2:12  Teaching [Greek:  paideuō -chastens] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

In the end it all works together for good to them who love God and are the called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28) because:

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.