Led by the Hand of God

[Studies Aired December 2, 2025]

Introduction

Throughout Scripture, we encounter a truth that challenges modern notions of independence: mankind is entirely God’s creation, designed to be completely subject to His desires and purposes. Yet this complete subjection is not that of lifeless puppets mechanically moved by external strings, but rather of beloved children being led by the tender hand of a loving Father. We are His workmanship, fashioned by His hand from beginning to end, every step ordered by His sovereign will.

The Apostle Paul declares this foundational reality: “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11). This declaration establishes that everything—from cosmic movements to personal choices—operates under God’s sovereign direction. As Daniel proclaimed, “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35).

Understanding this complete sovereignty transforms how we view our relationship with God. We are not autonomous beings who occasionally receive assistance, but rather children held by the hand of our heavenly Father. The psalmist captured this intimate guidance: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way” (Psalm 37:23). Every footfall, every decision, every moment unfolds under His watchful care.

Created Subject to God’s Purpose

The Foundation of Creation

From the very beginning, Scripture reveals that mankind was created with a specific design and purpose. The prophet Isaiah records God’s own testimony: “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” (Isaiah 64:8). This imagery establishes the fundamental relationship between Creator and creation—we are entirely shaped by His hand according to His purposes. The Hebrew word for “work” (ma’aseh, H4639) denotes both the act of making and the thing made—we are both God’s creative process and His finished masterpiece.

Paul expands on this truth in Romans 8:20: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.” Mankind was not created in a state of perfection that was later lost, but rather was fashioned from the beginning to undergo a divinely ordained process of transformation. We were made subject to vanity—to the limitations of natural, earthly existence—by God’s deliberate design, not by accident or rebellion. The Greek word for “vanity” (mataiotēs, G3153) speaks of emptiness and purposelessness, yet this was a temporary state imposed for redemptive purposes.

This intentional subjection serves God’s redemptive purpose. David confessed, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). This is not an indictment of David’s parents, but rather a recognition that all humanity is formed from corruptible flesh, created “of the earth, earthy” as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15:47. We were fashioned this way by divine intent, for His redemptive purposes.

God’s Total Sovereignty

The extent of God’s sovereignty over creation cannot be overstated. Through Isaiah, God Himself declares: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). This sweeping declaration demolishes any notion that some aspects of existence operate independently of God’s will. Both light and darkness, peace and adversity—all proceed from His sovereign hand.

This absolute authority extends to every detail of existence. Solomon wrote, “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:1). Even our thoughts and words find their source in God’s working. Again he states, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

The prophet Jeremiah provides another powerful image of God’s complete control: “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” (Jeremiah 18:4). The potter deliberately creates vessels according to His purposes—some for honor, some for dishonor—all serving His ultimate design. As God continues through Jeremiah, “Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 18:6).

Paul develops this potter imagery in Romans 9:20-21: “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? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” The clay has no legitimate objection to the potter’s purposes.

The Purpose of Subjection

This universal subjection to God’s will serves a specific purpose—transformation from the natural to the spiritual. Paul explains, “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:46). God deliberately created humanity in a natural, corruptible state as the first stage of His redemptive plan.

This process culminates in conformity to Christ’s image. Paul declares, “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” (Romans 8:29). Everything about our creation and subsequent transformation aims at this singular goal—that we might bear the image of Christ. The subjection to vanity was never the end, but rather the means to this glorious purpose.

The natural creation itself groans under this design, awaiting its fulfillment. Paul continues in Romans 8:21-22: “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” All creation anticipates the revelation of the sons of God.

Not Puppets, But Children

The Nature of Divine Leading

While God’s sovereignty is absolute, Scripture consistently presents our relationship with Him not as mechanical manipulation but as intimate paternal guidance. We are not puppets on strings, but children being led by a loving Father’s hand. This distinction is crucial for understanding how total sovereignty coexists with genuine relationship.

The imagery of being led by the hand appears repeatedly in Scripture. Isaiah writes, “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:13). This is not the image of a puppet master pulling strings, but of a father steadying a child’s first steps. The psalmist Asaph declares, “Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory” (Psalm 73:23-24).

This leading involves genuine guidance rather than coercion. God does not force us as external objects but forms us as living beings. Paul explains God’s method: “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). The Greek word for “worketh” (energeō, G1754) means to be operative, to energize—God works within us, shaping our desires and actions from the inside. This is not violation of our personhood but rather the very formation of it according to His design.

Paul proclaimed this truth to the Athenians: “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Our very existence—every breath, every movement, every thought—occurs within God. We are not separate entities He manipulates from outside, but beings whose life is sustained within His life.

Jeremiah captures this internal working beautifully: “Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God” (Jeremiah 31:18). The prophet recognizes that even his turning to God must come from God’s own turning work within him.

Led by the Spirit

For those in Christ, this leading becomes even more intimate through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul declares, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). Being led by God’s Spirit is the very mark of sonship. This is not external compulsion but internal guidance, the Spirit working within our spirits to align us with God’s purposes.

Jesus described this Spirit-leading as essential for true worship: “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). The Spirit guides us into the truth, conforming our minds and hearts to God’s reality.

This leading by the Spirit involves communication and fellowship. Isaiah promises, “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21). The psalmist adds, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye” (Psalm 32:8).

The Intimacy of Fatherhood

This relationship transcends mere control to embody the intimacy of fatherhood. Paul declares, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). We are not slaves responding to a master’s commands from a distance, but children in intimate fellowship with our Father.

Jesus Himself modeled this relationship. He repeatedly referred to His Father’s will guiding His actions: “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38). Yet this submission to the Father’s will was not servile obedience but the natural outworking of intimate fellowship. Jesus declares, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).

Even Christ, the eternal Son, was led by the hand of the Father throughout His earthly ministry. He testified, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19). The Father guided every step, and the Son followed in perfect communion. This pattern becomes ours through union with Christ. John declares, “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). As Christ was led by the Father, so we are led—not as external compulsion but as beloved children walking in intimate fellowship. What was true of Him becomes true of us.

This father-child relationship involves discipline, but even discipline flows from love. Hebrews 12:6 explains, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” The writer continues, “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” (Hebrews 12:9).

Workmanship of His Hands

Created for Good Works

Paul’s declaration in Ephesians 2:8-10 provides a comprehensive picture of how divine sovereignty and human identity harmonize: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Even our faith is not of ourselves but is God’s gift. This eliminates any grounds for human boasting. Yet this complete dependence establishes us as God’s workmanship. The Greek word translated “workmanship” (poiēma, G4161) gives us our English word “poem”—we are God’s artistic masterpieces, His poems created with purpose and beauty.

The good works we perform were foreordained—predetermined—by God. He prepared these works in advance and created us specifically to walk in them. Isaiah confirms, “This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 54:17). Even our righteousness originates from Him.

Every Step Ordered

The comprehensive nature of God’s ordering of our lives is beautifully expressed in Psalm 37:23: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” The Hebrew word for “ordered” (kuwn, H3559) means established, confirmed, or prepared. God establishes every step before we take it.

This heavenly orchestration extends to both great and small matters. Proverbs 20:24 states, “Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?” Even the lot—the ultimate symbol of chance—operates under God’s direction. Solomon writes, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33). What appears random operates according to sovereign design.

James reinforces this truth: “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15). Our very existence from moment to moment depends on God’s will.

The Potter’s Purpose

The potter-clay relationship provides one of Scripture’s most powerful images for understanding God’s complete sovereignty over His creation. This imagery appears repeatedly because it perfectly captures the nature of His absolute authority.

Jeremiah received this revelation: “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” (Jeremiah 18:6). The clay possesses no independent agency. The potter forms it entirely according to his own purposes and design.

God’s will is irresistible not because it violates personhood but because it creates and sustains personhood. We cannot resist His will because our very existence and every faculty we possess originates from Him and depends upon Him. Yet this does not reduce us to lifeless objects. Clay in the potter’s hands becomes vessels with purpose and function. Similarly, God shapes us according to His purposes, forming us into vessels fit for His service.

From Beginning to End

Predestined According to His Purpose

Scripture repeatedly emphasizes that God’s work with us begins long before we are aware of Him. Paul declares, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:5). Our adoption as children was predestined—determined beforehand—according to God’s pleasure.

Romans 8:28-30 provides one of Scripture’s clearest statements of this truth, revealing an unbroken chain: foreknowledge leads to predestination, which leads to calling, which leads to justification, which leads to glorification. No link depends on human decision. God foreknows, predestinates, calls, justifies, and glorifies. From start to finish, salvation is entirely His work.

The purpose of this predestination is conformity to Christ’s image. Peter writes, “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:20). Christ Himself was foreordained, and we were chosen in Him before creation began. Paul adds, “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” (Ephesians 1:4).

David marveled at this predetermined design: “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:16). Before we drew first breath, God had written our complete story.

Called According to His Will

The calling that brings us into relationship with God originates entirely from His sovereign will. Jesus stated plainly, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:16). We did not choose Him; He chose us.

This calling operates through specific supernatural action. Jesus explained, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw (drag) him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). The Greek word for “draw” (helkuō, G1670) means to drag or pull, indicating active, irresistible drawing.

Paul experienced this drawing dramatically on the Damascus road. He was actively persecuting Christians when Christ confronted him. Christ’s words are revealing: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? … it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:4-5). “Kicking against the pricks” refers to an ox resisting the goad that drives it. Saul had been resisting God’s prompting by design, but God’s purpose prevailed.

This calling extends to all who will ultimately be saved. Jesus declares, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw (G1670 drag) all men unto me” (John 12:32). Paul confirms this universal scope: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). The “all” who die in Adam corresponds exactly to the “all” who will be made alive in Christ.

Guided Through Every Stage

God’s leading does not end with our calling but continues through every stage of our spiritual journey. David testified, “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). God Himself leads us in the paths we should walk, and He does so for His own name’s sake—for His glory and intent.

This continual guidance involves both direction and correction. Proverbs 3:5-6 counsels, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Acknowledging God in all our ways positions us to receive His direction.

Sometimes this guidance comes through difficult circumstances. Job testified after his trials, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). God knows our path even when we cannot see ahead. The psalmist adds, “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands” (Psalm 138:8).

This perfecting work continues until completion. Paul assures us, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). The same God who began the work will complete it.

The Certainty of His Purpose

Because everything depends on God’s sovereign will rather than human decision, the outcome is absolutely certain. Paul declares, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Nothing can separate us from God’s love because that love does not depend on our maintaining it. We are kept by His power. Peter writes, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5).

God’s purpose cannot fail because it depends entirely on His will. Isaiah records God’s declaration: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). God declares the end from the beginning because He has determined both.

Lamentations confirms this absolute sovereignty: “Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?” (Lamentations 3:37-38). Nothing happens that God has not ordained.

This certainty extends to the ultimate redemption of all creation. Paul reveals, “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” (Ephesians 1:10). God’s purpose is to sum up all things in Christ.

The universe itself awaits this completion. Paul explains, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God … Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:19, 21). All creation will be delivered because God subjected it to vanity with this very deliverance in view.

Conclusion

We stand before a profound mystery that Scripture presents without apology: mankind is entirely God’s creation, completely subject to His will in every respect, yet we are beloved children guided by His loving hand, not puppets manipulated by external strings. The universe itself operates entirely under His sovereign control, every atom moving according to His purposes.

This is not the picture of a distant deity who wound up creation like a clock and stepped back to watch it run. Rather, Scripture presents an intimately involved Father who works all things according to the counsel of His own will, who guides His children every step of the way, who shapes us as the potter shapes clay in his hands. From the moment of our creation through every stage of our transformation until our final glorification, God directs, sustains, and perfects us.

This complete sovereignty does not diminish us but rather establishes our true dignity and security. We are not autonomous beings struggling to find meaning in a random universe. We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Our steps are ordered by the Lord. Our lives unfold according to His design.

Understanding this truth transforms how we live. We no longer bear the impossible burden of creating our own meaning or securing our own future. We rest in the hands of the Potter who forms us according to His purposes. We trust in the Father who holds our right hand and says, “Fear not; I will help thee.” We walk the path knowing that He who began a good work in us will complete it.

The psalmist captured this rest beautifully: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters” (Psalm 23:1-2). This is the life of those who understand God’s sovereignty—not anxious striving but peaceful following, not independence but intimate communion with the One who leads us by the hand.

Paul’s great doxology in Romans 11:36 provides the fitting conclusion: “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” All things originate from God, proceed through God, and culminate in God. We exist from Him, through Him, and for Him. This is not constraint but liberation—the freedom of living in harmony with our created design, walking in the purposes for which we were made, guided every step by the hand of our loving Father.

May we rest in this glorious truth: we are God’s creation, subject to His will, yet cherished children led by His hand from beginning to end. In this complete dependence we find our true identity, our ultimate security, and our deepest joy. For His glory. Amen.

[Study Aired June 3, 2024]

Introduction

Today’s study is directed specifically to the Lord’s elect which is symbolized in this chapter as princes of Israel. It focuses on how we all started our walk with Christ basking in the Lord’s provision for our growth. However, we became marred in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ as our old man is attracted to the pull of worldliness signified by Egypt and that of serving the created things instead of our creator. As a result, we became entrapped in worldly pursuit and the worshiping of another Jesus and therefore ended up in Babylon. The study also shows us another scenario where we are likened to vines planted by the waters for our growth. However, we were plucked up by the Lord in His fury and became like a vine planted in the wilderness which is Babylon. As shown in the Book of Jeremiah, we must first be marred in the hands of our maker before we are made into vessels fit for the Lord’s purpose.

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 
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.

This chapter therefore shows us our deplorable state in Babylon or the churches of this world after we have been given all that is necessary for our growth in Christ. It shows us how the Lord has shown us mercy in spite of our failures. We must therefore learn to also show mercy in this life to qualify us to be merciful to all humanity in an age to come.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 

What is Lamentation?

Eze 19:1  Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

A lamentation is a prayer expressing sorrow, pain or confusion and is a request for God’s mercy. In other words, it is a prayer begging the Lord not to ignore the pain or abandon His people. In verse 1, this prayer is specifically for the princes of Israel. The princes of Israel represent the Lord’s elect during the time of their sojourn in Babylon when we were going through pain or sorrow as a result of our sins and needed the Lord’s intervention. The Book of Psalms and that of Job are filled with a lot of laments by the Lord’s people. The whole Book of Lamentations expressed the suffering and confusion the Lord’s elect went through after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. This is what Habakkuk has to say about the pain that he had gone through and his confidence in the fact that the Lord is merciful and will surely show up in his circumstance. 

Lam 3:19  Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 
Lam 3:20  My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 
Lam 3:21  This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 
Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 
Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 
Lam 3:24  The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 

Whatever pain we are going through, let’s not lose hope but trust in the Lord’s mercy which never fails. Since this lamentation was given to Ezekiel by the Lord, it expresses the pain the Lord goes through in this life when we do not measure up to His standard. The good news is that the Lord will show mercy to us His elect, the princes of Israel as He intervenes in our circumstances at the right time. 

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Our Mother’s Provision for Our Growth

Eze 19:2  And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
Eze 19:3  And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

In these verses, the Lord is showing us His providential care for His elect through our mother, who represents the church. The church is therefore the lioness who is surrounded by many young lions as she takes care of our formative years in the Lord. The young lions represent evil men (sons of men) influenced by the devil as shown in the following:

Psa 57:4  My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

Jer 2:14  Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled? 
Jer 2:15  The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.

The Lord Himself told us that we are like sheep among wolves. Just like our mother taking care of us among young lions, who represent evil men, the wolves also signify evil men under the influence of the devil.

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 
Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

Our formative years in the Lord were spent in the churches of this world, which is Babylon. As we can see, our mother raised many whelps. However, if we are called and chosen, then we are the whelps that became a young lion and were taught how to catch the prey as we devoured men. Catching the prey means being given eyes to begin to appreciate the truth of the word of the Lord which would result in the devouring of men, which represents our old man.

The Attraction of the World

Eze 19:4  The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.

We need to understand what the nations represent if we are to understand verse 4. Remember that the Lord told Rebekah that two nations were within her, representing two different lifestyles. The older nation is our flesh which initially dominates us until the new man, after the image of Christ, comes on the scene when the Lord comes to us with His brightness.

Gen 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. 

The nations in verse 4 therefore refer to our flesh. In the Bible, the flesh is likened to a bottomless pit. Being taken in their pit in verse 4 therefore means being overcome by the pulls of the flesh. The land of Egypt signifies the world or worldliness. The fact that we are brought in chains to the land of Egypt after we are taken in their pit suggests that being dominated by the flesh is bondage to worldliness or the lust that is in the world. 

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. 

These verses also apply to Joseph who was reared among his brothers who hated him. In this case the nations refer to Joseph’s brothers. He was literally taken from a pit in which His brothers put him and was sold in chains to the Midianites who brought him to Egypt as a slave.

Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Gen 37:18  And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. 
Gen 37:19  And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 
Gen 37:20  Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

Psa 105:17  He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:
Psa 105:18  Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: 
Psa 105:19  Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.

The good news is that it is out of Egypt the Lord calls us. The mercy of the Lord never fails in spite of our depravity.  Our Lord Jesus Christ was also sent to Egypt because of the threat of the nations, which in this case was King Herod and his cohorts. However, in the fullness of time, he was brought out of Egypt.

Mat 2:13  And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 
Mat 2:14  When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 
Mat 2:15  And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

As we are aware, the world hates us and does not take kindly to our claim that we are the sons of God.

Psa 2:1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Psa 2:3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
Psa 2:4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

The Rearing of Another Whelp

Eze 19:5  Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. 
Eze 19:6  And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. 
Eze 19:7  And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. 

This second whelp, which was nourished to become a young lion, also represents the Lord’s elect. As indicated earlier, it is Christ through the church (our mother or the lioness) that we are taken care of in the midst of lions, which represent the sons of men who hate us, just like the brothers of Joseph who hated him.

Psa 57:4  My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 

As we are aware, the nation of Israel found itself surrounded by many nations which hated her. Israel was surrounded by the Philistines, Canaanites, Ammonites, Edomites, Moabites, etc. These nations represent lions in verse 6. It is in the midst of these lions that the Lord was taking care of the people of Israel to become a strong nation that destroyed its neighbors.  All these nations represent our old man, or the flesh, and we the Lord’s elect are signified by the people of Israel. Learning to catch the prey and devouring men all refers to the gradual destruction of the flesh which comes as a result of the fire of the word of the Lord that we have received. In verse 7, the laying waste of the cities and the desolation of the land all signify the continued destruction of our old man or the flesh within us. 

Verse 7 also shows us how the old man or the flesh is destroyed. It is through the noise of our roaring. This noise of our roaring is the word of the Lord that is likened to fire that destroys the old man or makes the cities and land within us desolate.

Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 

Being Brought to Babylon

Eze 19:8  Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. 
Eze 19:9  And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

Physically, the nations that were set against the people of Israel on every side from the provinces were the Canaanites, Ammonites, Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, etc. Spiritually, these nations represent our old man which fights against our spiritual growth in Christ. In verse 8, it is stated that these nations spread their net over the people of Israel. All these nations are characterized by the worship of idols or another Jesus, which is very attractive to our flesh. It is attractive to our flesh because their worship is centered on seeing before believing, which is not based on faith. In other words, the worship of idols or another Jesus relates to man’s wisdom and traditions which do not require walking by faith which is very attractive to the flesh. That is why we put a premium on signs and wonders during our time in Babylon. However, if we are to please the Lord, then we must pay heed to what the Lord told Thomas when He appeared to Him after His resurrection. 

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.

In verse 8, the spreading of the net of these nations over us, the Lord’s elect, resulting in us being taken in their pit means we end up embracing another Jesus. In other words, the spreading of the net over us is the serpent beguiling us through his subtlety. As a result, our minds become corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 

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.

When we read the Bible, one theme that runs through the Old Testament is Israel’s attraction to idolatry. Idolatry is not solely about worshiping statues made of wood, stone or gold. At its core, idolatry is about misplaced worship or devotion. It is about depending on or putting our trust in created things rather than the Creator. We all at a certain point of our lives had been entrapped in a pit of idolatry. First, it starts as an attraction, and then we become involved in idolatry or serving another Jesus. Then we move on to become entrenched in our idolatry or serving another Jesus. At this point, we have exchanged the fair jewels the Lord has given us for the traditions and wisdom of men. 

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, 
Eze 16:18  And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. 

Becoming entrenched in serving another Jesus is what is described in verse 9 as being put in chains and brought to the king of Babylon. Putting us in holds such that our voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel in verse 9 means that our stay in Babylon which is symbolized in verse 9 as mountains of Israel is likened to being put into prison where we are blinded and made deaf such that we cannot see or hear or appreciate the truth of the word of the Lord. This is what it means to be captured and brought to the rivers of Babylon or the physical churches of this world where we wept when we remembered Zion or our sweet fellowship with the Lord.

Psa 137:1  By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and cried as we remembered Zion. 
Psa 137:2  We hung our lyres on willow trees. 
Psa 137:3  It was there that those who had captured us demanded that we sing. Those who guarded us wanted us to entertain them. They said, “Sing a song from Zion for us!” 
Psa 137:4  How could we sing the LORD’S song in a foreign land? (GW)

Not being able to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land means that we are not able to worship the Lord in truth and in spirit during our time in Babylon, the strange land.

In summary, verses 5-9 show us how we end up in Babylon after we start our walk with the Lord. Paul, through the Holy Spirit, also gave us a synopsis of our journey to Babylon after we have started with Christ as follows:

Rom 1:18  God’s anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. 
Rom 1:19  What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. 
Rom 1:20  From the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse. 
Rom 1:21  They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. 
Rom 1:22  While claiming to be wise, they became fools. 
Rom 1:23  They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes. 
Rom 1:24  For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other.
Rom 1:25  These people have exchanged God’s truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen! (GW)

The Church as a Vine

Eze 19:10  Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. 

Our mother, the church, is likened to a grapevine planted near water, which is the word of the Lord. As a result of the availability of the truth of the word of the Lord, the church is able to bear fruit and produce many children (full of branches). Verse 10 is therefore a rendition of Psalm 1.

Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 
Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 
Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The church being planted by the waters means that every joint of the body of Christ speaks the truth of the word of the Lord in love which makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Eze 19:11  And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. 

Because its branches were strong, they were used to make scepters for kings. As we can remember, our Lord Jesus stated that He is the vine, and we are the branches. As long as we are planted by the rivers of water, we grow as branches in the strength of the Lord as we are given the keys of the kingdom of Heaven which prepares us for rulership as kings with Christ. 

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

Growing tall with many branches and becoming visible to everyone means that as we continue to grow in Christ, we become like light shining in darkness with our good works becoming visible to men who give glory to our Father in heaven.

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

Eze 19:12  But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
Eze 19:13  And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. 
Eze 19:14  And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. 

In spite of our growth in Christ, we are plucked up in fury and cast down to the earth. These verses do not give an indication of who plucked us up in fury. However, we know from the Lord’s words that it is the Lord who sends an east wind, and therefore it is the Lord who plucked us up.

Psa 78:26  He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. 

Jer 18:17  I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

Psa 48:7  Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

These verses therefore show us that we were marred in the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ and as a result, He makes us into another vessel fit for His purpose. 

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 
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.

Our marred state reflects our lives in Babylon or the churches of this world where we were planted in the wilderness (verse 13), in a dry and thirsty environment where we experienced famine of the word of the Lord. As a result, we did not bear fruit. In other words, we could not produce the fruits of the spirit.  Our lives also did not reflect our role as future rulers of the world, and therefore we were not the light of this world. 

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 
Amo 8:12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 
Amo 8:13  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 

As we said in the beginning of this study, lamentation is a prayer begging the Lord not to ignore our pain or abandon us. In His mercy, the Lord heard our prayer of desperation and came to our aid. Although we were marred in His hands, He has made us again into another vessel fit for His purpose. Amen!!  

Zec 11:1-17  “The wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Rev 18:3)

[Study Aired August 10, 2023]

In the last chapter of Zacharias, we saw how the elect will water and plant God’s word during the thousand-year reign of the saints (Rev 20:6, Rev 12:5), and how God never intended to give any spiritual increase regarding all those labors in Christ (1Co 3:6-7). That is the main witness left for us in chapter ten of Zacharias, and in chapter eleven we will see how the initial baptisms of the water of God’s word will play out for the world during the reign of our Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15). 

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.

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

That rod of iron spoken of in Revelation 12:5 will burn away the wood, hay and stubble that is taken from man, but this process does not change the inner man who can only be renewed with Christ’s spirit within him that makes it possible for the gold, silver and precious stones to be purified within him (Heb 6:1-3, 1Co 3:12, Tit 2:13-15, 1Pe 2:9).

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. 

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 [Rom 11:30-32].

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Dan 3:20-22) are a type of the elect who go through the entire process of judgment in their flesh [3 men] with Christ in their midst who symbolizes the spirit of God abiding in us through that judgment upon us today. Lord willing. The world, which will have the Lord and His Christ in their midst outwardly during the symbolic time frame of one thousand years, will ultimately be consumed by the word of God in the negative sense as were the men that brought Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to the fire (Dan 3:22, Rev 20:8-9) 

Dan 3:22  Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

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 [This event parallels what happens to those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego].

God willing, we will move forward and be baptized with fiery trials in this age that will purify the faith of Christ within us, which is what happens when we are crushed under the stone (1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 1:7, Mat 21:44).

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 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 

Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

A rod of iron expresses the unbending and unwavering way in which the elect will not compromise any part of the word of God during that rulership, regardless of the fact that mankind is not capable of doing what is required, nor able to change the corrupt nature we are all given when born into these vessels of dishonor, which can only be changed through Christ (Rom 9:18-21, 2Ti 2:21).

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? 

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these [Tit_2:13-15], he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 

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.

Zec 11:1  Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 
Zec 11:2  Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down. 
Zec 11:3  There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.
Zec 11:4  Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 
Zec 11:5  Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
Zec 11:6  For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.
Zec 11:7  And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. 
Zec 11:8  Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 
Zec 11:9  Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
Zec 11:10  And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 
Zec 11:11  And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. 
Zec 11:12  And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
Zec 11:13  And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. 
Zec 11:14  Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 
Zec 11:15  And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 
Zec 11:16  For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. 
Zec 11:17  Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. 

Zec 11:1  Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

In order for our own self-righteousness to be destroyed, which is iniquity (Eze 18:20), we must be granted to have our minds opened (“open thy doors“) to the reality that the ministries in which we put our trust in this world were all part of a self-righteous harlot system that must be devoured within us by our ‘coming out of her, my people’ (2Co 6:17-18). The doors are open by God’s grace as the son of man sets us free by cleansing us from all self-righteousness, typified by the word Lebanon^H3844 which means whiteness, our own righteousness, in other words.

H3844 lebânôn
BDB Definition:
Lebanon = “whiteness”

The cedar is a tree that produces no fruit and must be cut down and put in its proper perspective in order to benefit the temple of God which we are today. The cedar represents the ministries of Babylon throughout the ages; those who serve the elect in the court as Levi who is joined to the elect in that service (Num 4:17-20, 1Co 3:16). When we can honestly and without any guile admit that we are coming out of Babylon and can see the blind state we were in, we are at that moment opening “thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.” The elect experience this cleansing first so that the rest of humanity can be ministered to through the saints (1Th 5:23).

Num 4:17  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 4:18  Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites: 
Num 4:19  But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:
Num 4:20  But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die [Heb 13:10].

During the reign of the saints, the world will recognize the lies of the harlot, as many do even today, the beast then making war with the harlot as a result of those revelations (Rev 17:16). That stance without God’s spirit within us (Rom 8:9) just translates into more self-righteousness and further deception as we become convinced, “If someone had just shown me these things, I would have figured it out and rejected the churches of this world” (Mat 23:29-30). That may be true, but again, rejecting Babylon and continuing in Christ are two separate events, one which is a very wood-hay-and-stubble experience in its nature [coming out of Babylon] and the other requiring the miracle of God’s holy spirit within so we can be disciples indeed of Christ continuing in the truth (Joh 8:30-32).

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 

Mat 23:29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him. 
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Zec 11:2  Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

“The cedar is fallen” is another way of saying “Babylon is fallen, is fallen” of Revelation 14:8, meaning the influence of Babylon’s tall and fruitless trees in the earth has come to an end “because the mighty are spoiled“, and the howling fir tree demonstrates the great burden this judgment brings upon humanity, represented by the “fir tree” who is seeing Babylon fall (Rev 18:19). They are being spoiled by their previous life of lies and deception that Babylon produced (2Pe 2:17-20, Eph 2:2). The elect will fell all these mighty trees that represent men, to the glory of God. If we are judged in this age, we will be used by God to tear down all the false spiritual temples of mankind and begin to feed the world the words of life that spring forth from the true temple of God, which typifies Christ’s body (1Co 3:16, Mar 8:19-20, Exo 36:36-38). 

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 18:19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 

The positive use of the cedar is found in these verses (Lev 14:4, Lev 14:6, Lev 14:49), which demonstrate how our life in Christ as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1) is founded upon cedar wood where we lay down our life with Christ by going without the camp, being bound to the altar where Christ was sacrificed for us (Gal 2:20, Heb 13:13).

Lev 14:4  Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

Lev 14:6  As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:

Lev 14:49  And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

“Bashan” is an area that is east of the Jordan and the “oaks^{H437 = great tree or other strong tree} of Bashan^{1316 = fruitful, fertile”} represent more powerful religious scholars and leaders in the world who are also missing the mark (Jos 13:12, Jos 17:1, Jos 17:5), not being yet baptized in the Jordan which symbolizes our being baptized into Christ’s death where that mark is found (Rom 6:3-4). 

Jos 13:12  All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out [Num 14:9].

Jos 17:1  There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh; for he was the firstborn of Joseph; to wit, for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead: because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan. 

Jos 17:5  And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan;  [Deu 31:2 , Jos 1:2]

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

The oaks, like the fir trees, are also howling at the thought that all their deep-seated roots of intellectual endeavors have missed the mark (Isa 2:13, Eze 27:6, Hos 4:13, Amo 2:9), “the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day” (Isa 2:17).

All will come to know that they were sacrificed for the elect’s sake; some to be trees that would bear much of the burden of the temple, the physical revealing the spiritual (Rom 1:20) shown in the support beams that these beloved servants of God represent (Rom 11:28, 1Ki 6:9, Mat 7:22).

1Ki 6:9  So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.

1Ki 6:15  And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.

The statement “for the forest of the vintage^H1208 is come down” also reminds us that ‘old’ does not mean it is ‘correct’, and what comes to mind are the three ancient scholarly works of “Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus” (Isa 3:1, Isa 2:11).

H1208 vintage baw-tsore’ From H1219 (related to being inaccessible by height or fortification; clip off); inaccessible, that is, lofty: – vintage [by confusion with H1210].

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.

Zec 11:3  There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

This verse makes it clear that the trees previously talked about which are howling are in fact the shepherds who are howling because “their glory is spoiled.” The voice “of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled” is again another way of saying and realizing “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” which wine represents another gospel and not the “the everlasting gospel” of Revelation 14:6.

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

The “pride of Jordan” represents the pride of life that brings forth “another gospel” (2Co 11:4, Gal 1:6-7). In Babylon, Christ’s death does everything. It is substitutionary and not exemplary as it should be, leaving no way for us to be baptized into His death and dying daily so we can fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh, which is Christ’s body (1Co 15:31, Col 1:24). It is another gospel, one that has been perverted by only knowing Christ after the flesh and not by considering the singleness that is in Christ and His body which makes up the church. The context of Satan’s subtle deceiving is centered around a false gospel, the leaven of the Pharisees that speaks smooth things, drawing us away from carrying our cross and filling up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (2Co 11:3, Mat 16:6, Col 1:24).

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.

Gal 1:6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Gal 1:7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of 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 simplicityG572 that is in Christ.

G572 haplotēs hap-lot’-acenn   From G573; singleness, that is, (subjectively) sincerity (without dissimulation or self seeking), or (objectively) generosity (copious bestowal): – bountifulness, liberal (-ity), simplicity, singleness.

It is our pride that prevents us from standing in the Lord, and it is only God Who can destroy that “pride of Jordan” which represents the way we naturally serve the Lord in our yet carnal minds and not as those who have been granted to be broken and contrite in our spirits (Isa 66:2) through His hand dragging us to be baptized into the Jordan representing where we become dead to sin and alive in Christ (Rom 6:3, Rom 6:11-12).

Zec 11:4  Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;
Zec 11:5  Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

God has called the elect as a body to be shepherds, to be kings and priests, who will “feed the flock of the slaughter” (1Pe 2:9). The statement “flock of the slaughter” and “they that slay them” is talking about those who ruled over the laity and took advantage of God’s people by killing their potential relationship with Christ by monetizing the gospel “and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich” and preaching Christ for their own advantage, thinking nothing of it “whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty.“

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: 

This spirit of avarice we’re reading represents what is inside all of us until the Lord burns it out. We all, in our appointed time, see ourselves as rich and increased with good not knowing we are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev 3:17) and so lacking in His compassion and love. Lord willing, we go from being self-centered to other-people-centered, with Christ’s mind that tells us “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Psa 103:8-10, Psa 145:8-10, Php 2:3-4).

Zec 11:6  For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

This verse speaks of how God will deliver and receive every son in time (Heb 2:14-15) through His chastening grace that is His favor upon us (Heb 12:6) as it transforms our thinking so that we are no longer conformed to this world but rather are looking to God to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom 12:2). 

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 
Heb 2:15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

It does feel at times (1Pe 4:12) like God is not showing any pity to the inhabitants of the land within us when we are going through a severe trial (Mat 27:46, 1Jn 4:17) and likewise for the people during the rule with a rod of iron “For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.” God will use every means at His disposal to accomplish that chastening leading up to the ultimate destruction of the man of perdition on the throne of mankind’s hearts in the lake of fire (2Th 2:8). This is what we are reading about here: “I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.” It is these actions of God that demonstrate His love toward us, and in the end He will show great pity and kindness to all His creation, whose mercy starts with the elect who are first judged (Heb 12:6-7, Mal 3:17, Jas 5:11).

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?

Zec 11:7  And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. 
Zec 11:8  Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 

The two staffs or rods God takes represent the elect, who are typified by the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3, who will be used by God to “feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock.“

These two staves or staffs or rods, Beauty^{H5278 (Grace)} and Bands^H2256(Union), have names that represent what God has already done in the lives of those who endure until the end in this life (Mat 24:13) and are then used by God to feed the world with the truth of God’s word. At the same time that the elect are feeding the masses with God’s word, they are also cutting off, through a process of judgment, the false prophets and shepherds of the world, “Three shepherds also I cut off in one month” who we are told “and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.”

God is destroying the old carnal man who is against Christ, “and their soul also abhorred me“, through those who have already been judged and gone through the process of judgment (1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17). God’s resurrected elect bride comes up in the first resurrection with agreeable spirits that are childlike and humble in nature that is what all these words tell us of the pleasant and beautiful bride of Christ who has become a teachable child of God (Mat 18:3) “agreeableness, that is, delight, suitableness, splendor or grace: – beauty, pleasant (-ness)”.

H5278 nô‛am no’-am   From H5276; agreeableness, that is, delight, suitableness, splendor or grace: – beauty, pleasant (-ness).

The bride’s role during the reign of the thousand years will be to measure the nations by ruling over them with a rod of iron. The two staffs represent the life of Christ within the elect who will have the power to execute that judgment in the earth so that men will learn of God’s righteousness (Isa 26:9). God’s elect go from being witnesses of these things in the earth today with the earnest of our inheritance within, to receiving an inheritance that will be ruled over with a rod of iron represented by the witness of two staffs called ‘Beauty’ and ‘Bands’. The definition of the staff or rod called ‘Bands’ demonstrates that there will be judgment in the earth during the thousand-year reign of the united-in-Christ saints, the “company (as if tied together)” that is also defined as:

H2256 chêbel kheh’-bel, khay’-bel   From H2254; a rope (as twisted), especially a measuring line; by implication a district or inheritance (as measured); or a noose (as of cords); figuratively a company (as if tied together); also a throe (especially of parturition); also ruin: – band, coast, company, cord, country, destruction, line, lot, pain, pang, portion, region, rope, snare, sorrow, tackling.

Zec 11:9  Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

God’s word is rejected because God has not given the world a hunger and thirst to retain His word as He has done for the elect (Mat 5:6). The word goes forth throughout the thousand-year reign, however long it needs to as a witness that His word will not return void (Isa 55:11). It will not be sown in vain even though the world will once again reject Christ and crucify Him afresh as we all do in our appointed time. God’s outlook is clear. He has no intention of giving spiritual life to this lifeless generation which is still being nourished by “the flesh of another” and not by the body and blood of Christ (Joh 6:54-56, Eph 5:30).

The flesh and the blood both represent the word of God; the blood being more connected to the word that should be coursing through us (Col 3:16) to keep us alive as blood does, and the flesh being more representative of the works that a healthy fleshly body can produce.

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: [Joh 6:54-55, Eph 5:30] for they shall be filled.

Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. [1Co 10:16]

Zec 11:10  And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 
Zec 11:11  And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. 

The famine of the word will progressively come upon the world during the thousand-year reign because God will cause that to happen, which is what this statement means, “And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.” It is when God’s word and His favor is taken away from us that we stand up and take notice (Deu 31:21), whether that is today as those who first experience the rejection and hunger that the prodigal son went through or among those who initially are captivated by the many wonderful works and miracles that the Lord and His Christ will achieve at the onset of their reign on this earth, only to later reject that gospel and be turned to hoping in their own flesh (Gen 6:5). This cutting asunder of the people is what will naturally happen as Christ and His Christ will be rejected when the world comes to understand the true gospel message that does not include their rulership in the great white throne judgment, also revealing to themselves that there is judgment yet to come to those who are being reserved to that day (Rev 20:11-12, 2Pe 3:7). 

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 [more or less stripes].

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment [Rev 20:11] and perdition of ungodly men. 

There will always be those who are left as a witness that these things were so, and they will have a heart to wait upon the word of the LORD in type wanting to attain to a better resurrection as others have (Heb 11:35). “And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.” John the Baptist was just such a person, who pointed to Christ yet still the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John who did not have God’s spirit within him (Luk 7:28, 1Co 10:11).

Zec 11:12  And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

When we acknowledge our sins, we are acknowledging the weight of the judgment that must come upon the body of Christ while in these earthen vessels. The thirty pieces of silver [3×10] represent the process of judgment that must come upon us. If we despise that judgment, which is God’s goodness and forbearance unfolding (Rom 2:4), we will be judged later in the lake of fire, which is what the “and if not, forbear” part of this sentence means. 

The world will learn that it was by grace through faith that both Christ and the body of Christ, the church, were able to endure to the end and be saved. The thirty pieces of silver represent Christ’s redemptive process (Mat 26:15) and the twenty pieces of silver of Joseph represent the redemptive process that the body of Christ experiences (Gen 37:28). The combination of the 30 pieces and the 20 pieces of silver that add up to 50 [5×10] reveals to us how, as the scapegoat and the second dove, God’s elect are connected to the salvation process toward all the world through Christ (Oba 1:21).

Zec 11:13  And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

It is the LORD who tells us to cast our cares upon our Father for He cares for us, and our communion is in the house of God where we learn of the body and blood of Christ (1Co 10:16). This is what we do when we obey God and cast our cares upon the Master Potter, bringing our pricked hearts to our Father of whom it was declared, “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” All of this is for our sake so we could be cleansed from all unrighteousness (Act 4:27-28 , Isa 53:10, 1Jn 1:9). 

Casting it “to the potter” is another way of saying bring the whole tithe into the house, which is accomplished by the grace through faith process we just looked at [5×10=50] (Luk 11:51, Mal 3:10). The symbolism of casting the silver into the house of the potter is the same as acknowledging what sinful flesh is and what we are guilty of, expressed with the sentence, “And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD“. The “thirty” reveals the need for the process of judgment to unfold so we may go onto perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32).

Also noteworthy is the sarcasm in the way this verse is written, as seen in other versions (LITV and ERV for example), showing us how little regard our flesh has for the holy things of God. God’s spirit within us is only able to make that change (Eze 22:8, Eze 44:8), so that the natural enmity of flesh does not rule over our hope of glory within (1Jn 4:4, Col 1:27):

Zec 11:13  And Jehovah said to Me, Throw it to the potter, the magnificent price at which I was valued by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it to the potter in the house of Jehovah. [LITV]

Zec 11:13  Then the Lord told me, “So that’s how much they think I’m worth. Throw that large amount of money into the temple treasury.” So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury at the Lord’s temple. [ERV]

Mat 27:9  Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; 
Mat 27:10  And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.

Psa 118:22  The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 

1Pe 2:4 Whom approaching, a living Stone, having been rejected indeed by men, yet chosen by God, held in honor, [CLV]

1Pe 1:18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 
1Pe 1:19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 

Zec 11:14  Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 

The false sense of unity in the churches of this world is being talked about in these verses; the company of believers joined in a lie that will soon be parted (Pro 14:18, Pro 14:24). 

God has allowed for the ecumenical spirit of this world to thrive, the mantra that says ‘unity in the essentials and tolerance in the non-essentials and love in all things.’ Love is not defined as obedience to God’s words in Babylon (1Jn 5:2, 1Co 14:37-38). 

The world would rather be united in a lie than divided by the truth, and during the thousand-year reign of the saints, the Lord will use the body of Christ to “break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” meaning the false relationship between the religions of the world between themselves and God, typified by “Judah and Israel” who say they are Jews and are not (Rev 2:9, Rev 3:9). 

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. [God knows the works in the body of Christ]

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. [God knows the unholy works in the synagogue of Satan]

Zec 11:15  And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 

The elect are represented by both Beauty and Bands that represent Christ in us who makes it possible for us to be a rod of iron that will use the words of Babylon against themselves to judge them: “And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd” (Luk 19:22). 

Luk 19:22  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

The world will not learn of war anymore (Isa 2:4), and physically there will be a forced compliance to that effect via the elect. As time progresses however, the world will, by whatever means God has ordained, come up against the camp of the saints with the intention of destroying God’s people (Rev 20:7-9)

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.

Zec 11:16  For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

While the world will consider this verse to be speaking of the antichrist (Albert Barnes et al) or the likes of Antiochus (F. B. Meyer) or scribes and Pharisees (Matthew Henry) or the bishop of Rome (John Gill), the dispensational view of this verse is also speaking of how the Lord will raise up the church as a shepherd in the land, meaning the elect will be in the midst of all the living on the earth, and no conversion will be accomplished in the land, which is what this means: “shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still“.

The world will stand still when God’s elect are resurrected and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15), and we will take away the power the world has, the corrupt spiritual influence from Babylon which promotes the traditions of men in the churches of Babylon, along with the multi-trillion dollar industry of war. God’s elect during the thousand-year reign will “eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces“, which is another way of saying they shall be bread for us (Num 14:9), and their power will be taken away from them symbolized by tearing “their claws in pieces.” The claws which are used by the wild beast to tear at the word of God and not rightly divide it is what we are being told. That power will be taken away due to the rod of iron, Beauty and Bands that are in the hands of God’s people, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the oceans are filled with water (Hab 2:14).

Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 

Hab 2:14  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Zec 11:17  Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

All of this chastening of Israel that represents the world is the natural chastening that precedes the spiritual chastening (Heb 12:6) which will happen in the lake of fire. It will be accomplished during the thousand-year reign to demonstrate to all the world of that time and all who will come up in the second resurrection how God disdains the false shepherds of the world, “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock!“

It is impossible for any of us to understand in an immature state why God would cause these shepherds to err and then punish them for those caused actions. The punishment is described with this verse, “the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” This punishment is upon the iniquity the self-righteousness, that naturally cleaves to us unless the Lord chastens us, driving that out of us and bringing us to see and believe and lay hold of the strength of His arm, having lost our self-righteous definition of what it means to see. When our arm is dried up and our right eye, representing our own righteousness and spiritual perception, then and only then will we see (Joh 9:41).

Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Lord willing, God will continue to bless us to acknowledge in this age our blindness, and in so doing we can grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ as Babylon falls within us and Christ increases as we die daily (Joh 3:30).

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

Jer 48:32-47  Yet Will I Bring Again the Captivity of Moab in the Latter Days

[Study Aired August 21, 2022]

Jer 48:32  O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.
Jer 48:33  And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.
Jer 48:34  From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.
Jer 48:35  Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods.
Jer 48:36  Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished.
Jer 48:37  For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
Jer 48:38  There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD.
Jer 48:39  They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.
Jer 48:40  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.
Jer 48:41  Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Jer 48:42  And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.
Jer 48:43  Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.
Jer 48:44  He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
Jer 48:45  They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
Jer 48:46  Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives.
Jer 48:47  Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Sibmah is an area of Moab known for its vineyards and for the treading of its grapes. Jazer is similar to Sibmah and has already been broken and destroyed by the Babylonians. “Thy plants” signify the people and doctrines of Sibmah which have held dominion over us for so long and are now being judged and destroyed by the spoiler.

Jer 48:32  O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.

As we saw with the stories of Abraham mourning the loss of Ishmael and King David mourning the death of King Saul, it is proper that we never rejoice when we see our enemy fall, and that we mourn with those who mourn.

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

2Sa 1:17  And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
2Sa 1:18  (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)

Rom 12:15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

The ‘summer fruits and…vintage’ of both Jazer and Sibmah are the fruits of her proud lies and false doctrines to which we have attached ourselves with so much pride that we of ourselves cannot humble ourselves to let go of their deadly affect upon us. Therefore:

Jer 48:33  And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.

“Their shouting shall be no more shouting” is the same as saying:

Mat 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Luk 11:34  The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
Luk 11:35  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

If we think that darkness within us is light, then our shouting will not be shouting. Rather it will be weeping and mourning for the loss of the kingdom of our old man. Our own wickedness will correct us:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Moab within us claims he fears the Lord, yet he ignores the Lord’s word and the Lord’s ways.

As an example of light being darkness, anyone who thinks that the modern ‘Book of Jasher’ is anything but spurious heresy is in deep darkness while thinking they are in the light. When we read:

2Sa 1:18  (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)

“…It is written in the book of Jasher” should never be understood and meaning ‘…it is written in the modern, spurious ‘book of Jasher’. The same goes for the Book of Enoch which is not in our view at this moment. For any who think the book of Jasher is authentic just take the time to read chapters 53-54 which purport to give us the story of Joseph and his brothers. The book of Jasher chapters 51-54 retell the story of Joseph’s brothers appearing before him in Egypt, and in this retelling, these chapters add much to “that which is written” in the True written word of God.

Here is a short cut and paste from chapter 51:

“37 And Joseph went out from them and came into the chamber, and wept a great weeping, for his pity was excited for them, and he washed his face, and returned to them again, and he took Simeon from them and ordered him to be bound, but Simeon was not willing to be done so, for he was a very powerful man and they could not bind him.
38 And Joseph called unto his mighty men and seventy valiant men came before him with drawn swords in their hands, and the sons of Jacob were terrified at them.
39 And Joseph said unto them, Seize this man and confine him in prison until his brethren come to him, and Joseph’s valiant men hastened and they all laid hold of Simeon to bind him, and Simeon gave a loud and terrible shriek and the cry was heard at a distance.
40 And all the valiant men of Joseph were terrified at the sound of the shriek, that they fell upon their faces, and they were greatly afraid and fled.
41 And all the men that were with Joseph fled, for they were greatly afraid of their lives, and only Joseph and Manasseh his son remained there, and Manassah the son of Joseph saw the strength of Simeon, and he was exceedingly wroth.
42 And Manassah the son of Joseph rose up to Simeon, and Manassah smote Simeon a heavy blow with his fist against the back of his neck, and Simeon was stilled of his rage.
43 And Manassah laid hold of Simeon and he seized him violently and he bound him and brought him into the house of confinement, and all the sons of Jacob were astonished at the act of the youth.” (End Quote)

I do not believe that I am the only one who hears “the voice of a stranger” in these words of this obviously spurious ‘book of Jasher’. According to this book, Judah took a stone ‘the weight of 400 shekels’ (ten pounds) and threw it up in the air with one hand and caught it with the other hand and then sat upon it and crushed it to powder. Then Joseph had Manasseh his son to do the same trick. Then Judah and Simeon threaten to destroy all of Egypt. Here is verse 35 of chapter 54:

“And Joseph was greatly afraid at the words of his brethren lest they should destroy Egypt…” (End Quote)

It is a book of total fantasy wrapped up in many verses taken right out of the Bible and millions of nominal Christians are deceived by such spurious heresy. Equally false stories abound throughout this book and throughout the equally spurious Book of Enoch. The books mentioned in scripture are not those which have been invented by unprincipled men to masquerade as books of scripture. Christ’s sheep know His voice, and none of these books, regardless of their antiquity, have the voice of Christ within them:

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.

As ‘proud Moab’ all our lying false doctrines are revealed for what they are, and yet it is proper that we mourn the death and destruction of Moab just as King David mourned the death of King Saul recounting King Saul’s many wonderful works:

2Sa 1:17  And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
2Sa 1:18  (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)
2Sa 1:19  The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!
2Sa 1:20  Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
2Sa 1:21  Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.
2Sa 1:22  From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
2Sa 1:23  Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
2Sa 1:24  Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
2Sa 1:25  How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.
2Sa 1:26  I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
2Sa 1:27  How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

Three times King David laments “How are the mighty fallen”, and he does so regarding the Lord’s rejected anointed.

King Saul has a closer relationship to Abraham’s seed than Moab has, nevertheless both are of Abraham’s family, and both must be judged. King Saul’s judgment will be more severe than Moab because he typifies those who were given more and therefore are expected to produce more:

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

We have “all sinned and come short of the glory of God”, and His fiery words will try every man’s work of what sort they are:

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

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.

Jer 48:34  From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.

Isaiah 15 contains this same lamentation for Moab and Zoar:

Isa 15:5  My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.

Zoar is the very city to which Moab’s father Lot, and his mother, Lot’s oldest daughter, and her younger sister, Lot’s two daughters fled before leaving Zoar to live in a cave:

Gen 19:15  And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
Gen 19:16  And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
Gen 19:17  And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Gen 19:18  And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
Gen 19:19  Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
Gen 19:20  Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
Gen 19:21  And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
Gen 19:22  Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [meaning ‘little’].

Isa 15:6  For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
Isa 15:7  Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
Isa 15:8  For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beerelim.
Isa 15:9  For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.

“An heifer of three years old” is a mature cow with a strong voice, whose lowing can be heard by all who are anywhere near. The Lord Himself will bring ‘lions’ upon Moab in the form of the merciless Chaldeans.

Jer 48:35  Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods.

In terms to which we can relate, the Lord will cause all the holidays which were celebrated in the pagan ‘high places’ to no longer be tolerated, and the gods of the holidays of Moab will be destroyed. Chemosh will be destroyed and “caused to cease”.

Jer 48:36  Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished.

Pipes were sounded at funerals and at times of great mourning, and Kirheres had been a very wealthy city which is now “perished” with all her riches. Our riches are our doctrines, and that is where our hearts are:

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Jer 48:37  For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

All these are rituals associated with a great mourning. Moab is so far from God that cuttings were common even though the Lord had told Israel:

Deu 14:1  Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
Deu 14:2  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

Jer 48:38  There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD.
Jer 48:39  They [You and I] shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him. [We come to loath our own shame (Eze 20:43)]
Jer 48:40  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.
Jer 48:41  Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Jer 48:42  And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.
Jer 48:43  Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.
Jer 48:44  He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
Jer 48:45  They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.

“Fire shall come forth out of Heshbon” is the same prophecy Gideon’s son made against his brother, Abimelech, who was of the city of Shechem and who had slain 70 of his brothers, the sons of Gideon:

Jdg 9:20  But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech.

Jdg 9:23  Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:

Jer 48:46  Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives.

Chemosh is the god of the Moabites. This is what we read earlier in this same chapter:

Jer 48:7  For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.

Chemosh has been letting Moab down for many years, including many years before Israel came up out of Egypt. This is what Moses had to say of Chemosh and his people, Moab:

Num 21:25  And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.
Num 21:26  For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.
Num 21:27  Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:
Num 21:28  For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon.
Num 21:29  Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.
Num 21:30  We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.

Chemosh is called “the abomination of the Moabites when listing the gods to whom King Solomon built temples in Jerusalem:

1Ki 11:7  Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
1Ki 11:8  And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

The Lord had given King Solomon more than He had given the Moabites; more riches, more knowledge and more carnal wisdom, and yet we read:

1Ki 11:1  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
1Ki 11:2  Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
1Ki 11:3  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
1Ki 11:4  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.
1Ki 11:5  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
1Ki 11:6  And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.

Moab is our proud flesh which is being judged in this age. King Solomon in his old age typifies those who become the same as King Saul who was the Lord’s rejected anointed, for whom it will be worse ‘in that day’ than it will be for Sodom:

Luk 10:10  But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Luk 10:11  Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:12  But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.

Here is the Lord’s conclusion after all this denunciation and destruction of Moab:

Jer 48:47  Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

‘Bring Again The Captivity’

This phrase “bring again the captivity” is found in reference to several nations in scripture. It is most often mentioned in reference to Israel being brought back to their God, but it is also used in referring to other nations:

Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you [“captives from Jerusalem], saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Jer 30:3  For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

Jer 30:18  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.

Jer 31:23  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.

Jer 33:11  The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.

Jer 48:47  Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Jer 49:6  And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

Jer 49:39  But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

Eze 16:53  When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

Eze 29:14  And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.

Eze 39:25  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;

Joe 3:1  For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

Amo 9:14  And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

Zep 3:20  At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.

Here we have 13 verses with the words ‘bring again the captivity’ in them. Of these 13 verses, 9 of them refer to the Lord’s people Israel. The remaining four refer to Moab, Ammon, Elam, and Egypt. Applying the principle of living by every word, we must acknowledge that Moab, Ammon, Elam, and Egypt are also within the first man Adam who is within every man, especially ourselves first and foremost. Like the seven churches with their various sins and transgressions, at the end of each admonition we are told:

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.

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

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.

Rev 2:29  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 3:6  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 3:13  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 3:22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

‘Hearing’ and ‘seeing’ are two ways of saying the same thing:

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )

We simply cannot understand unless we are given eyes that see and ears that hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God:

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

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

When Christ tells us “Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them”, He is telling us that all the prophets and righteous men of the Old Testament weren’t even ministering to themselves. Instead, they were all ministering to us, and they “have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them”.

It is given to the apostle Peter to place our salvation in the period following Christ’s coming to die for our sins. For that reason, salvation was completely unavailable to anyone in the Old Testament until they come up in the great white throne judgment:

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

The fact that the holy spirit tells us the Old Testament prophets prophesied of the grace that would come to us, “Not unto themselves, but unto us…” makes clear the primary meaning of that oft repeated phrase “bring again the captivity” refers first and primarily to those who are in Christ in this present time who will be revealed as “the manifestation of the sons of God” at the resurrection of life, which is also called “the… blessed and holy… first resurrection”, which “manner of time” is at the end of this dispensation of grace, and at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of “our Lord and His Christ… with a rod of iron”:

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.

Psa 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

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

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

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

We live in faith those words are true, and we give our lives in service to the Truth of this promise:

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.

With all of this in mind it becomes clear that ‘bringing again the captivity of Moab’, yes, even ‘Moab’, applies primarily to the Lord’s elect first and foremost. It is our false God ‘Chemosh’, the man of sin within us, whom we worship, and who must be the first to die to himself. Through that death and destruction come forth unto life “more abundant” and not ‘bring again our captivity… with Sodom and her daughters’ (Eze 16:53) just to be “a base nation… there”.

Eze 29:14  And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.

Therefore, in closing it is very important that we realize that ‘bringing again the captivity’ of some nations reveals the “manner of time”, and the glory of the particular resurrection which is under consideration (1Co 15:41-42).

1Co 15:41  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

If Sodom is brought back from her captivity and also Samaria, and we are told that ‘Jerusalem and her daughters’ are among those of Sodom and her daughters, then that is a qualifying statement which tells us that this ‘Jerusalem’ is the ‘Jerusalem’ which is now and is in bondage with her children and who answers to Hagar the bondwoman and to her son “the son of the bondwoman” who will “not be made heir with the son of the free woman”.

To state this as clearly as possible:

Eze 16:53  When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them: [“Thy captives” referring to “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children… not… made heirs with the children of the free woman” (Gal 4:30-31)]

Both the 144,000 firstfruits unto God and the Lamb and the great multitude which no man can number are brought again from their captivity and wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. However, the great multitude is not the firstfruits to God and the Lamb, and the great multitude which no man can number are instead “the rest of the dead” of:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them [144,000 firstfruits], 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 [verse 4] 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.

Here is the earlier prophecy of those who will reign with Christ for a thousand years:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh [in “this present time” Rom 8:18], and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

It is the “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” who will rule with Him a thousand years:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

These “firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” are numbered as 144,000, to be contrasted with:

Rev 7:9  After this [After revealing to us the 144,000 firstfruits] I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation [the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death], and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

Being “before the throne of God” and sitting with Christ in His throne are two very distinct rewards, and it is our hope to be with, and sit with Christ in His Father’s throne and not suffer the loss of that blessing, while still being saved through the fire of His Word:

1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

We are the children of the freewoman, and those who are not the children of the freewoman will not be made heir of the kingdom of God which will reign over the kingdoms of the world for a thousand years and then “judge angels” in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death.

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.

Jer 35:1-19 The Obedience of the Rechabites

[Study Aired April 10, 2022]

Jer 35:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,
Jer 35:2  Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.
Jer 35:3  Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;
Jer 35:4  And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:
Jer 35:5  And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine.
Jer 35:6  But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:
Jer 35:7  Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.
Jer 35:8  Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;
Jer 35:9  Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:
Jer 35:10  But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
Jer 35:11  But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.
Jer 35:12  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 35:13  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD.
Jer 35:14  The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me.
Jer 35:15  I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.
Jer 35:16  Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me:
Jer 35:17  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.
Jer 35:18  And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:
Jer 35:19  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.

Our study today takes us back over eleven years to the time of King Jehoiakim, the son of King Josiah, and contrasts the obedience of the sons of Rechab to the commandments and precepts of their patriarch, to the disobedience of Judah and Jerusalem to the commandments and precepts or the Lord who had supernaturally delivered them from the bondage of Egypt:

Jer 35:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,
Jer 35:2  Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.

The Lord places great value on us keeping our word. He puts so much value on it that even if we commit ourselves to a situation which will cost us dearly, He will bless us simply because we gave our word and kept it even to our own hurt. This is the mind of the Lord concerning what we are to do under such adverse circumstances:

Psa 15:4  In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

“A vile person is condemned; but… them that fear the Lord… sweareth to his own hurt, and changes not”. The Lord speaks to us through contrasts. A person who swears to his own hurt and changes not is contrasted with “a vile person” who swears to his own hurt then changes his mind rather than absorb the loss or the pain of keeping his word. “A vile person” who does not keep his word is a self-centered, always self-righteous person who will always justify the need to tell a blatant lie. We self-righteously call our lies ‘white lies’. We reason that we had to tell a lie, therefore it is ‘a white lie’, and if we had kept our word or if we had told the truth, it might have been worse and it might even have cost us our lives and who in this world wants to die???

Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

The death of our old man should be the goal of every one of us so our new man can increase in us as John the Baptist told his disciples:

Joh 3:30  He [Christ, the new man within us] must increase, but I must decrease.
Joh 3:31  He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

It is not natural for us to see Christ as coming from heaven. It is certainly not natural to see Christ within us as coming from heaven. We all just naturally prefer hearing a sermon with smooth words to hearing the judgment of the Word of God upon our self-righteous old man.

Isa 30:8  Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

‘Smooth things [are] deceits’ and that is what we all just naturally prefer to hear from those who minister to us.

That is why this chapter concerning events that took place well over eleven years earlier is being brought up at this juncture in this prophecy of Jeremiah. In our previous chapter, in the last year or two of the reign of King Zedekiah, who was the last king of Judah, Jerusalem and Judah were being besieged by the king of Babylon. Under the pressure of such severe judgment, which judgment was prophesied to come upon them by the prophet Jeremiah, the people of Judah and Jerusalem went into “the house of the Lord” and made a covenant with the Lord to let their Hebrew servants and handmaids go free, and as long as the siege endured they actually kept their word and granted their Hebrew servants their liberty, as we read in the previous chapter about the siege of Jerusalem under King Zedekiah by King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon:

Jer 34:8  This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
Jer 34:9  That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.

The people of Judah and Jerusalem had given their word while under the siege to let their bondservants go free. However, immediately after the siege was lifted because the Lord had sent the king of Egypt to help Judah fight against the king of Babylon, the people of Judah and Jerusalem no longer felt the need to keep their word to those servants, and they demanded that they continue serving them, and went back on their oath and brought their Hebrew servants back into bondage.

Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

All of this is an actual historic fact which happened to Judah and Jerusalem, and it all “Happened to them and it is written for our admonition…”:

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

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

This whole story of the fidelity of the Rechabites, contrasting their fidelity to the commandment of their father with the infidelity of Judah and Jerusalem to the commandments of the Lord, is a type of each of us. We all agree to serve the Lord when He puts a heavy trial upon us, but as soon as the trial is resolved and our lives return to their normal state, we immediately and conveniently forget the covenant we made with the Lord to submit to His Words, represented by the covenant Judah made with the Lord to let their Hebrew servants, their own brothers and sisters, go free. The “Hebrew servants” represent each of us whom the Lord Himself has moved heaven and earth to deliver from the heavy oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Jer 34:10  Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

Mat 5:37  But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

When we grant liberty to our Hebrew servant, we are typically being set free from our own bondage. That bondage is our own righteousness “which is of the law”:

Php 3:4  Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Php 3:5  Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

“The righteousness which is of the law [is] mine own righteousness which is of the law.” “Mine own righteousness” will rob me of my salvation “if [I] trust in [my] own righteousness, and commit iniquity” as opposed to “the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ”:

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
Eze 33:14  Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;
Eze 33:15  If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity [“trust in his own righeouness” (vs 13)]; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

The Lord delivers us from the bondage of our own self-righteousness, and we still struggle to give Him the credit for all we do, good or evil. Nevertheless, that is what the scriptures teach consistently:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

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

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

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.

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.

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

I have emboldened all the evil which the Lord is working in the kingdom within us because every verse quoted is telling us what the Lord is working within each of us. We have all sold our brother into the slavery of the self-righteous sins of this world. We are all King Saul who is sent an evil spirit from the Lord. We are the wicked whom the Lord has created for our own day of evil. It is the Lord who hardens our hearts so He can make us err from His ways. We are the city in which the Lord has worked so much evil.

Place any of these verses outside of yourself and you have self-righteously attempted to reprove, contend with, and condemn the Lord for His sovereign position:

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?

None of these things surprise our Lord because He is the One conducting all the affairs of this age:

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

The Lord was not unaware of what would happen when He sent the armies of Egypt to help Judah to fight against the king of Babylon. He knew what He had “written in [their] book, even the days He had ordained for [them] before there were any of them”:

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

Jer 35:3  Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;
Jer 35:4  And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:
Jer 35:5  And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine.
Jer 35:6 But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:
Jer 35:7  Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.
Jer 35:8  Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;
Jer 35:9  Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:
Jer 35:10  But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

These Rechabites typify those who live by the faith of Jesus Christ as typified by all the Old Testament principles named in Hebrews 11:

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

The Rechabites lived the lives of ‘strangers and pilgrims on the earth’, and they are commended of the Lord for being faithful to their father Jonadab’s covenant to live that kind of life.

Jer 35:11  But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.

These Rechabites who are faithful to their covenant with their patriarch Jonadab to live as pilgrims in the promised land and to refrain from drinking wine and keeping that covenant even when tempted by the Lord’s certified prophet Jeremiah to drink wine, typify the Lord’s elect who are faithful to the covenant they have made with the Lord. In contrast to this spirit Christ poses this question to you and me:

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

The Lord knows that He Himself has made us all to err from His ways. He knows that He made us wicked first to endure our own day of evil, yet He poses this question to us, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?” He gives us the knowledge of the benefits of being obedient to Him, and then He contrasts those blessings with the curses which come upon us as “the wicked” who He first made us to be for our own “day of evil”:

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

What the Lord does not tell us right here is that He first gives every man “an experience of evil, [and He then brings every man] to his wits’ end”. What the Lord does not tell us right here is that all men must first “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, including these words:

Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

The scriptures reveal that we all call Christ “Lord, Lord” and do not the things He says, and we build our houses on the earth without Christ as our foundation before we hear and do His Words and build our house on Him as the Rock of our foundation:

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!

Therefore, because the Lord Himself is orchestrating all we do, good and evil, these next verses are referring to our old man who is being brought to his wits’ end before he can be brought to his desired haven:

Jer 35:12  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 35:13  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD.
Jer 35:14  The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me.
Jer 35:15  I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.
Jer 35:16  Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me:
Jer 35:17  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.
Jer 35:18  And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:
Jer 35:19  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.

These obedient Rechabites typify the Lord’s faithful elect who “tremble at [His] Words”:

Isa 66:1 thus saith the lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2 for all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Before we do what the Lord says, and before we are given to “tremble at [His] Word”, the Lord always first provides Himself “an occasion” to destroy our old man and all the self-righteous pride of His kingdom.

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.

As Samson later demonstrated, it is the Lord’s own elect who first after being cleaned return to their own wallow in the mire. It is instructive that the Proper Names Bible renders this verse in these words:

Jdg 14:4 but his father and his mother knew not that it was of the lord, that he sought an occasion against the (wallowing) for at that time the (wallowing) had dominion over (he will rule with god)

Only “then”, after returning to our wallowing in the mire, after bringing us to our wits’ end, does He bring us to our desire haven. That method of operating is the “means” the Lord has “devised [by which] His banished be not expelled from Him”:

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.

“God so loved the world” is not in contradiction to the admonition to us to “Love not the world”. The Lord, and the Lord alone, is able to ‘gather up ‘the world as a “new heavens and a new earth”. He certainly is not in the process of ‘gathering up again’ our disobedient, self-righteous, old first man Adam.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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.

At this time, we are in “corruptible, marred, vessels of clay”, and while in this state this is what the Lord Himself, through this same apostle John, admonishes us:

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

After healing the man who had been infirm for thirty-eight years, this is what Christ told Him and what He is telling us:

Joh 5:14  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

Because the Lord loves us, “a worse thing” is in the aorist tense and is ‘coming unto us’ when we return to ‘our own vomit or our wallow in the mire’. The very fact Christ admonished the infirm man ‘sin no more’ was done because He knew that was exactly what would take place in that man’s life and in our lives. When we think that Israel was incredibly forgetful and disrespectful and just plain stupid for accusing the Lord of bringing them into the wilderness to slay them with thirst after a mere three days without water, try going three days without water and see how grateful you feel. All of Israel’s rebellions typify us:

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

We are not the spiritual giants we might think we are when the flesh acts like flesh, and the fiery trials of life are sent to try our faith:

1Co 10:7  according as they also lust. Nor yet be becoming idolaters, according as some of them, even as it is written, “Seated are the people to eat and drink, and they rise to sport.
1Co 10:8  Nor yet may we be committing prostitution, according as some of them commit prostitution, and fall in one day twenty-three thousand.
1Co 10:9  Nor yet may we be putting the Lord on trial, according as some of them put Him on trial, and perished by serpents.
1Co 10:10  Nor yet be murmuring even as some of them murmur, and perished by the exterminator.
1Co 10:11  Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained.
1Co 10:12  So that, let him who is supposing he stands beware that he should not be falling. (CLV)

If we think we are ‘standing’ in our own strength, we are “falling”, and we aren’t even aware of our own iniquity. The Lord wants us to know that we ‘stand’ only in Him and He is the only sovereign:

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

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:

The Lord wants us to know that He is working both the good and the evil “after the counsel of His own will” having devised means to bring even His banished to Himself (2Sa 14:14) thereby saving all men of all time:

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Isa 45:8  Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

The Lord wants us to know that all the days of our lives were determined to be as they are “before there were any of them”:

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

The Lord even wants us to know that our sins are not really our sins at all. Rather, our sins are His work in our lives, hardening our hearts against His fear… after the counsel of His own will:

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.

He even anticipated our natural reaction to being informed of all of this:

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
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?

When facing the far superior numbers of troops of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, and Syrians united to fight against Judah and Jerusalem, King Jehoshaphat prayed this prayer to which Paul refers when he asks, “Who has resisted His will?”

2Ch 20:4  And Judah was gathered to inquire of Jehovah; also they came in to seek Jehovah from all the cities of Judah.
2Ch 20:5  And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Jehovah, at the front of the new court,
2Ch 20:6  and said, O Jehovah, the God of our fathers, are not You the God in Heaven? Yea, You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is power and might; and there is none able to withstand You.

As little as it appeals to our flesh, this is the answer Paul was inspired of the holy spirit to give us to his rhetorical question, “Why does He yet find fault [when it is He who is working all things after the counsel of His own 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?

The Lord wants us to know that we have no right to be questioning our Creator, asking Him “Why have you made me thus?” He does go on to explain that the Potter is making one vessel to honor and another to dishonor. Then, lest any of us think that because we are the vessel made unto honor, therefore ‘enduring with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction’ has nothing to do with the vessels made unto dishonor, the Lord informs us that both vessels come from “the same lump”. Another way of making this statement would be to tell us that our new man comes out of the same lump from which our old man was made. This same apostle was inspired to inform us that all men are “sown in corruption [and] dishonor”:

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
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.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

The revelation “That was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual” lets us know that the Lord makes both the vessel of honor and the vessel of dishonor of “the same lump”. The scripture is not referring to one individual versus another individual. Rather, the reference is to our old man, a “vessel… unto dishonor”, versus our “new man… [a] vessel unto honor… Christ in us… this treasure in earthen vessels… of the same lump”. All these references to being a vessel made unto honor reveal that we are one and all first the old man, first an earthen vessel, first a corruptible vessel of clay before “of the same lump” being “made unto honor”.

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?

That is part of the hidden wisdom found throughout scripture. Our old man is decreasing daily as our new man increases. Those two men are the basic subject of every story in scripture. That includes this story of the Rechabites who remained faithful to the covenant they had made with their father, Jonadab, the son of Rechab who had commanded them, saying, “Ye shall drink no wine.” Abstaining from wine is not the point being made. Fidelity to the Lord and our covenant with Him which He is working in us is the point being made by this story:

Jer 35:18  And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:
Jer 35:19  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.

These faithful Rechabites typify all who are given to repent of their self-righteous rebellion and disobedience and return to the Lord. They typify the “few… chosen” while Judah and Jerusalem in this story typify our self-righteous, rebellious old man who is still refusing to repent of his transgressions and his iniquity.

There are “great and precious promises given to our new man which make any suffering endured in this present time unworthy of being compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us:

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.

This world doesn’t know it, but the fact is that all men of all time are awaiting the appearing of our Lord when He will make manifest to all men those who are His obedient sons in this age.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
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.

Matthew 27:1-10, John 18:28

[Study Aired February 22, 2022]

Luke 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.
Mark 14:72 And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luke 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. 
Matt 27:1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
Matt 27:2 And when they had bound him, 
John 18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: 
Matt 27:2 and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
John 18:28 and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
Matt 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Matt 27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
Matt 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Matt 27:6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
Matt 27:7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
Matt 27:8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
Matt 27:9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy (Zechariah) the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; 
Matt 27:10 And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me. 

In our last study, Peter denied that he knew Christ three times before the cock crowed two times.

Luke 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.

Mark 14:72 And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.

Luke 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. 

This represents our time in Babylon thinking we are living with Christ in us. We are still of our father the devil, and we still care for the things of the world and deny Christ’s doctrines. The parable of the sower explains our position.

Matt 13:18-23 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

At this stage of our walk, the first two parts of this parable are fulfilled in us. The third part, receiving the seed in good ground, is yet to come. We must experience the upcoming events in our lives to become the “good ground”.

Matt 27:1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
Matt 27:2 And when they had bound him, 
John 18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: 
Matt 27:2 and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
John 18:28 and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.

The elders of the Jews have passed judgment but are unable to fulfill the sentence of death without the governor’s approval. This will be covered in a future study. Tonight’s study will focus on Judas.

Matt 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Matt 27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
Matt 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

Judas was given the ability to see he had made a mistake. This of course was done so the scriptures could be fulfilled. Though he recognized his mistake, Judas was unable to fully repent of his sin. Judas represents our old man who must be put to death.

Deut 27:24 Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Just as Judas, our old man is cursed and can only take reward to slay an innocent person. We are all guilty of passing false judgment on Christ until He causes us to die to our old ways. We are given the truth in Babylon, but it is polluted with the lies of our father, the devil. We must repent and come out of Babylon. Here is an FAQ from the website that gives clarity of our repentance.

 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/need-to-repent-and-for-what/

“Hi Mike, My question is: God tells us to come out of Babylon, so why do we have to repent, and what must we repent of? 

H____

Hi H____,

Thank you for your question. Babylon the great is “the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.”

Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

This entire book is addressed to “he that has an ear” in the seven churches.” We are told so seven times in chapters 2-3:

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

This is a book of signs and symbols:

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:

The signifying of the number seven is the complete church system. So these words are being sent to every Christian on earth of all time.

You ask: “God tells us to come out of Babylon, so why do we have to repent, and what must we repent of?”

Read the second and third chapters of Revelation, and you will know what we are to repent, if you have been given eyes to see and ears to hear. What you will read in the second and third chapters is what makes God’s own people the great harlot of Revelation 17 and 18. It is in God’s own church that we “lose our first love, allow the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews when they don’t even know what is a Jew, but are the synagogue of Satan.

It is in the orthodox Christian church that Satan has his “seat”, or as the Greek has it, his ‘throne’. It is in the church that we have the “doctrine of Baalam who seduced Israel to commit fornication, and to “eat things offered to idols.”

>In the church is “that prophetess Jezebel who does the exact same things Balaam does. Jezebel “teach[es] and to seduce[s] my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” The “depths of Satan” are right in the middle of God’s own people according to this warning. If God has granted you “eyes to see and ears to hear”, then you will know that God’s orthodox church “has a name that it lives, but in reality it is dead”.

To sum it all up, God’s church does indeed do and accomplish many wonderful works, all of which are named right alongside all of these sins. When it is all said and done, God’s orthodox Christian church is neither cold nor hot. God prefers that we be either cold or hot, consequently He has spued His own church out of His mouth.

Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
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:

These are the works in God’s church for which we must all repent. If we can’t even see that this is our state, then as Christ told the church in His day, “they that are well do not need a physician.”

“Why do we have to repent, and what must we repent of?” The first thing we need to repent of is our blinded condition. However, only those who have been “given… eyes to see” can even see their blind condition. I pray that you can see your blindness and can see and hear what the spirit says to the churches:

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.

Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

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.

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star. Rev 2:29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Rev 3:6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name.
Rev 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev 3:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

These are great and precious promises made to “he that overcomes.” The orthodox Christian church is the largest religion on the face of the earth. They all have physical eyes and physical ears. Nevertheless, there are few indeed who have ears to “hear what the spirit saith unto the churches.” I hope you are just such a person, and that this has answered your question “why do we have to repent, and what must we repent of?”

Mike”

Here are the final verses of tonight’s study.

Matt 27:6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
Matt 27:7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
Matt 27:8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
Matt 27:9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy (Zechariah) the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; 
Matt 27:10 And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me. 

Just as the chief priests bought the potter’s field to bury strangers, today’s chief priests, you and me in our appointed times, have done the same. Babylon is full of “dead strangers” having no truth in them.

Jer 30:1-12 The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

[Study Aired January 30, 2022]

Jer 30:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 30:2  Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
Jer 30:3  For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
Jer 30:4  And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
Jer 30:5  For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Jer 30:6  Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
Jer 30:7  Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Jer 30:8  For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
Jer 30:9  But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
Jer 30:10  Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 30:11  For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
Jer 30:12  For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.

The first three verses of this chapter speak of our ultimate salvation and the blessings of returning to the Lord from our rebellious ways. Until verses 10 and 11 we are being shown what it means to go through the fiery sword which guards the way of the tree of life.

Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

It is the uncorruptible Word of God which keeps the way of the tree of life, the way of Christ, who is The Word of God:

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This study brings to mind a couple of earlier verses in this prophecy of Jeremiah:

Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

The Lord has been married to us “before the world began”. ‘Before the world began’ we were called to be His wife: (2Ti 1:9 and Tit 1:2)

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.

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2Ti 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
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 1:1  Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Tit 1:3  But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;

The Lord, being our Maker, knows that we are mere clay in His hands, and therefore He is patient and kind to the work of His hands:

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.

“So He made it again…” is in the Qal stem which tells us that the Lord is in the process of forming a “new man… another vessel” within us. The words of this entire prophecy of Jeremiah are also “the Words of the Lord” concerning how He is dealing with and ‘making again another vessel’ of His unfaithful wife:

Jer 30:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 30:2  Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
Jer 30:3  For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

“I will bring again the captivity of My people” is repeating what the Lord inspired Moses to tell us in:

Deu 30:3  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

In Jeremiah 30:3 and in Deuteronomy 30:3 the same Hebrew word, the word ‘shub’, H7725, appears twice in each verse. In Deuteronomy it is translated both as ‘turn’ and as ‘return’. In Jeremiah it is translated as ‘bring again’ and as ‘return’.

Jer 30:3  For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again [H7725: ‘shub’] the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return [H7725: ‘shub’] to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

Deu 30:3  That then the LORD thy God will turn [H7725: ‘shub’] thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return [H7725: ‘shub’] and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

Now let’s read the preceding two verses in Deuteronomy 30:

Deu 30:1  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;

These words were written by Moses. The holy spirit inspired Moses to prophesy of Israel’s apostasy and captivity before they had ever entered the promised land.

Jer 30:4  And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

It is here in Deuteronomy, before Israel ever entered the promised land, that Moses was inspired to write “for our admonition” (1Co 10:11) “It shall come to pass, when all these things come upon thee, the blessing and the curse…” This was not written for their admonition. No doubt they were being admonished, but it all really happened to them for our admonition (1Co 10:11).

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: ‘tupos’, types of us (vs 6)]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

In other words, ‘Israel and Judah’ are us, and it is us whom the Lord knew before we were born, “before the world began” who are being addressed (Psa 139:16, 2Ti 1:9, Tit 1:2). It is us upon whom both “the blessing and the curse” must come.

The Lord desires a wife who is faithful and dedicated to Him just as any husband would desire. By nature and by His design we are unfaithful, but He loves us so much He is willing to take us back if we will only repent:

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

We do not come back to the Lord without being judged, corrected and chastened for our infidelity. As we will read in this chapter, the Lord will “correct [us] in measure; yet will [He] not leave us wholly unpunished”. That statement is repeated in:

Jer 46:27  But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 46:28  Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

When the Lord tells us “I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee…” what He is telling us is that He will destroy the kingdom of our old man and his self-righteous iniquity, and use that destruction and dissolution as the catalyst for making us into “a new vessel as it seemed good to the Potter to make [us]” (Jer 18:4). The Lord simply desires a faithful wife through whom He will bring many children into His family, and what the Lord wants, the Lord gets, to the point that He even tells us that “He performs the thing that is appointed for [us]”:

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.

If, and when we do repent and turn back to our spiritual husband, it will be because “He performs the [repentance] that is appointed for [us]”. ‘The thing appointed for me” is “I will… correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished” (Jer 46:28). This is the punishment prescribed against us:

Jer 30:5  For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Jer 30:6  Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
Jer 30:7  Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

“The time of Jacob’s trouble” is the time of our judgment in “this present time”. Christ called it a time of “great tribulation” and promised that His ‘Jacob’, His elect, would be delivered out of it:

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

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 [of Jacob], 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.

Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

“But he shall be saved out of it” applies to both the elect and those who come up in ‘the resurrection of damnation’, better translated as ‘the resurrection of judgment’ (Joh 5:29). This statement here in Jeremiah 30 brings this confirming verse in the New Testament to mind:

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 ‘any man’ of this verse is the same as the “every man” of the previous verse:

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.

All those who are saved, both in “the resurrection of life” and in “the resurrection of damnation (Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment)”, are saved through “fire”, through ‘fiery punishment, correction, and judgment’ – “Every man”!

Jer 30:8  For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
Jer 30:9  But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

“David their king” signifies “the Lord [Himself along with] His Christ”, “kings and princes”:

Jer 17:25  Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.

Jer 22:4  For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

Mat 21:5  Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King [Christ] cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne [G2362: ‘thronos’] were four and twenty seats [G2362: ‘thronos’]: and upon the seats [G2362, ‘thronos’] I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

This is what these “four and twenty elders” tell us of themselves and of the four beasts which are in the midst of and around the throne of God:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

These four beasts and these four and twenty elders are types of the Lord’s elect, His bride, with whom He will reign on the earth a thousand years and then become the judges of all who will be in the resurrection of judgment/the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death/great multitude which no man can number.

Jer 30:10  Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

‘Israel’ here signifies “the [true] Israel of God” and not physical Israel, just as manna was called “bread from heaven” while it was simply a type of “the true bread from heaven”:

Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

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]

The Lord “will have all men to be saved”, and that which He desires, “even that He doeth”:

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

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

It is His sovereignty which brings us back to what He is doing with us as His “married… wife” whom He will use to bequeath to Him “all men” as His children:

Jer 30:11  For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

This is the first time we read these words in this prophecy of Jeremiah. The holy spirit repeats this promise as we quoted earlier in this study:

Jer 46:28  Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

We are given this promise even as we are reminded that the kingdom of our old man is marred and cannot inherit the kingdom of God:

Jer 30:12  For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.

Here is this same statement “in the demonstration of the spirit and of power” (1Co 2:4-5):

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.

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

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

1Co 2:4  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

“In demonstration of the spirit” simply means that we are seeing for ourselves and showing others “that which is written”:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other. (ACV)

This prophecy of Jeremiah happened to Judah and Jerusalem, and it was written for our admonition:

Jer 30:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 30:2  Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
Jer 30:3  For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

All the words of the judgments of this prophecy of Jeremiah happened, and they are written not for Jeremiah himself nor the people of his time. It was all done for us:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened to those men for examples, and they were written for our admonition, to whom the ends of the ages came. (ACV)

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

What an incredible statement! The entire Old Testament history and economy, and everything the prophets ministered, was really for our benefit and “not unto themselves”! That statement includes these words which “minister… not to them… but unto us”:

Deu 7:6  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

Here are our verses for our next study:

Jer 30:13  There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
Jer 30:14  All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.
Jer 30:15  Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.
Jer 30:16  Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
Jer 30:17  For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Jer 30:18  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
Jer 30:19  And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
Jer 30:20  Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.
Jer 30:21  And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD.
Jer 30:22  And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Jer 30:23  Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
Jer 30:24  The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.

Dan 7:9-28  And the Kingdom and Dominion Shall be Given to the Saints of the Most High

[Study Aired January 3, 2022]

Dan 7:9  I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 
Dan 7:10  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 
Dan 7:11  I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 
Dan 7:12  As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 
Dan 7:13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 
Dan 7:14  And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. 
Dan 7:15  I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 
Dan 7:16  I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. 
Dan 7:17  These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. 
Dan 7:18  But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. 
Dan 7:19  Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; 
Dan 7:20  And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. 
Dan 7:21  I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 
Dan 7:22  Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 
Dan 7:23  Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 
Dan 7:24  And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 
Dan 7:25  And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. 
Dan 7:26  But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 
Dan 7:27  And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. 
Dan 7:28  Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart. 

This part of the chapter shows us that, through Christ, we have been given the dominion to overcome everything that opposes and exalts itself against the knowledge and growth of Christ in our lives.

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

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

Today’s study also explains the meaning of Daniel’s vision regarding the four beasts which he saw. However, the explanation of the vision given to Daniel pertains to the vision’s outward manifestation. Daniel, like all the prophets of the Old Testament, was not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

Dan 12:9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

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

Dan 7:9  I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

Before we can understand this verse, we need to know what had taken place earlier. Daniel had a vision, and he saw four beasts. The fourth beast was diverse from the other three and had ten horns which we understood to represent ten kings. The ten kings are the ruling false doctrines in our heavens which resist the word of God when it comes to us. It is when the seat or thrones of these ten kings or horns, or the ruling false doctrines in our heavens are cast down, that we see Christ as the Ancient of Days coming to sit in the throne of our hearts. The term “the Ancient of Days” is a way of describing our Lord Jesus Christ as the beginning and the end. It is another way of saying:

Rev 1:8  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

The garment of the Ancient of Days being white as snow represents Christ being clothed in the righteousness of His Father. As our Lord comes to take His seat within our hearts, we are also given the righteousness of Christ.

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

The hair of our Lord being like pure wool is to let us know that our Lord coming into our lives is for the purpose of delivering us from our sins to clothe us with His righteousness.

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

His throne being like the fiery flame and His wheels as burning fire shows us that our Lord’s coming into our lives to take His seat in the throne of our hearts is through judgment.

Rev 19:11  Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (ESV)

This vision of the Ancient of Days is the same as the revelation of Jesus Christ to John on the Island of Patmos.

Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 1:13  And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

Rev 1:14  His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
Rev 1:15  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Dan 7:10  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

The fiery stream issuing from before the Ancient of Days is the fire of the word of Christ which judges us and, as a result, is able to give us an inheritance among them that are sanctified. This fiery stream is the same as the pure river of water of life emanating from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Thousands and thousands ministering to Christ are the elect who speak this fiery word of God to one another. As we minister the word of God to one another, we are actually ministering to our Lord.

Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

The other group of ten thousand times ten thousand represents those who are not given in this life to become part of the elect. This includes all humanity except the elect. This group standing before the Lord to be judged indicates that all humanity will be saved through judgment, as the purpose of judgment is to bring righteousness.

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 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 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.

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.

Dan 7:11  I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

As we indicated in the previous review, the horn that was speaking great words, on a positive note, is the eighth horn which represents a new beginning or the new man.

In this horn were eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things (Dan 7:8). What this means is that with the coming of the new man in our lives comes the opening of our eyes to see the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven and to make known or speak about the great and mighty things the Lord is doing.

1Ch 17:19  O LORD, for thy servant’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.

2Ki 8:4  And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.

It is these great words of the Lord that destroy or slay the beast within us. This is affirmed by the statement that the beast’s body is destroyed and given to the burning flames. The burning flames are the fire of the word of God which destroys the raging beast within.

Jer 5:14  Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.

Dan 7:12  As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

This verse is written to let us know that when this evil beast within is revealed, the Lord comes with His brightness to take away the dominion of the beast.

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

The lives of the beasts being prolonged for a season and a time means that the taking away of the dominion of the beasts is a process which lasts for a period of time that the Lord had appointed. This period of time is signified by a season and a time.

Ecc 3:1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Dan 7:13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 
Dan 7:14  And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

One like the Son of Man is Jesus Christ, and the clouds of heaven represent His elect. As we have indicated earlier, the Ancient of Days is also our Lord Jesus Christ. So, what is being said here in verses 13 and 14 is that if we are blessed to be part of the first resurrection, then our Lord Jesus will lead us to Himself, and we shall be given the kingdoms of this world to rule for a symbolic thousand years.

Mat 26:64  Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

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.

Verses 13 and 14 of Daniel chapter 7 are therefore to show us the reward for overcoming the composite beast powered by the devil.

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

Dan 7:15  I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 
Dan 7:16  I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.

These verses are to remind us that at certain periods of our lives, we were ignorant and lacked understanding of the words of the Lord, just like the Ethiopian eunuch. That is the period during which we grieve in our spirit like Daniel because we were not given to understand His words.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

In the fullness of time, however, the Lord leads us to His angels (our brothers and sisters who are called and chosen) to open our eyes to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. For example, Paul was also blind spiritually for a period of time in which he thought he understood the Lord’s words. It was not until the Lord sent Ananias that Paul, who used to be called Saul, started to see or understand the mysteries of the kingdom.

Act 9:9  And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
Act 9:10  And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
Act 9:11  And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
Act 9:12  And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Act 9:13  Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14  And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
Act 9:15  But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 9:16  For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

Dan 7:17  These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. 

The number four deals with the whole issue under consideration. In this case, therefore, the four beasts represent the whole of everything that resists the Lord’s words that rises from within us. The fourth beast making up part of the four beasts has ten horns as shown in Daniel 7:7.

Dan 7:7  After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

As we indicated in the previous review, the ten horns are ten kings. The mention of the number four of the kings refers therefore to the whole or all of the kings, which in this case are equal to 10.  These four kings signify the whole of the ruling doctrines within us which resist the word of God when it comes to us. In verse 13 of Revelation 17, we are told that the ten kings, or the whole of the kings, have one mind of giving their power and strength to the beast which in this case is the dragon or Satan. This means that the aim of these ruling false doctrines in our lives is to make us servants of the devil or our father. As we are aware, at a certain stage of our walk, the devil was indeed our father until Christ came to us with the brightness of His coming.

Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Rev 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

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

Dan 7:18  But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

In this dispensation, the kingdom of God is within. In a time to come, the kingdom of God will be outward as the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. The saints taking the kingdom, therefore, means that the elect will overcome the beast within to possess the kingdom of God within.

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

Dan 7:19  Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;

The fourth beast is significantly different from all the other beasts and is characterized by ten horns. This description is the same as the dragon with seven heads and ten horns in Revelation 12:3. So, the fourth beast here represents the dragon, also known as Satan.

Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

The dragon’s most effective instrument as shown in verse 7 is his iron teeth which devours its prey and breaks them into pieces. The teeth of the dragon symbolize the sword, which is the lying words and false doctrines.

Pro 30:14  There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

Its teeth are described as that of iron because iron is an instrument of death. In other words, the dragon’s iron teeth signify the lying words and false doctrines which result in our spiritual destruction or death.

Num 35:16  And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

By his iron teeth, the Devil has deceived the whole world including us at a certain stage of our walk with Christ.

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

The Devil stamping his feet on the residue symbolizes the bruising of the heels of the elect. The bruising of his heels means that the devil will influence our walk with Christ. The bruising of the head has to do with the elect overcoming the evil one.

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Dan 7:20  And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.

As we have said earlier, the ten horns symbolize the ten kings, which in turn stands for the ruling doctrines within us which resist the word of God when it comes to us. In the previous study, we mentioned that the other horn that came up is not the eleventh horn, as the sum of God’s words shows us there are only ten horns of the beast. However, this horn is actually the eighth as its appearance resulted in the plucking up of three of the horns, leaving only seven horns together with this new little horn as the eighth. The number eight stands for new beginning or the new man, and so this little horn represents the new man.

Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

The three horns plucked up by the roots is to let us know that it is through the process of judgment that the horn representing all that resists the Lord in our lives is pulled down. This judgment is effectuated through the fire of the word of God in the mouth of His elect.

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

In this horn were eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things. What this means is that with the coming of the new man in our lives comes the opening of our eyes to see the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven and to make known or speak about the great and mighty things the Lord is doing for us, the elect first and later the rest of mankind.

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

1Ch 17:19  O LORD, for thy servant’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.

2Ki 8:4  And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.

Dan 7:21  I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;

Here we are looking at a negative application of this horn, that is, the horn making war with the saints and prevailing against them. Another place where the scriptures say the same thing is in Revelation chapter 11:7.

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

So, we can say that the horn here is the same as the beast within us. All of God’s elect or saints had been overcome by this beast within them at a certain time of their walk with Christ, including us until Christ came to us with the brightness of His coming.

Dan 7:22  Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

Inwardly, this verse is showing us that the words in the mouth of the elect are what judges the beast within and causes us to possess the kingdom within. Outwardly, when Christ comes, that will be the time when the elect will be given rulership over the kingdoms of this world. This shall be followed by judgment of all humanity except the elect who had been judged first. The judgment shall be executed by Christ and His elect.

Rev 11:15  Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

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

Dan 7:23  Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

As indicated in the introductory part of this study, Daniel, being part of the prophets of the Old Testament, is not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. The interpretation of his vision by an angel therefore pertains to the outward manifestation of the vision. As we are aware, the fourth beast represents the fourth kingdom. The number four as we have explained earlier has to do with the whole issue under consideration. So, what is being said here is that the whole, or all, of the kingdoms of this world are furthering the course of the evil one, or the fourth beast, which results in all humanity becoming worse off.

Going back to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel chapter 2, we realized that the fourth kingdom is the Roman empire which was diverse from all kingdoms and is described as follows:

Dan 2:40  And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
Dan 2:41  And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
Dan 2:42  And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
Dan 2:43  And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Dan 2:44  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

We should take note that this Roman empire comes just before Christ comes to set up His kingdom. Although the Roman empire is no more, its effect is still being felt all over the world, and so technically, we are still in the Roman empire age. This means that we are basically at the end of the ages when Christ’s coming is at the door!!

Dan 7:24  And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 
Dan 7:25  And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

As we indicated earlier, the horn and the beast are interchangeable as they play the same role as shown below:

Dan 7:21  I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Verse 25 says the same as what is said in Revelation 13:5.

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

The statement that they shall be given into his hands until a time and times and the dividing of time is the same as being given power to continue for forty and two months. The great words against the most High are the great swelling words of man’s wisdom spoken by these false men of God, which make us worse off than when we started our journey with Christ.

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

2Pe 2:18  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.

Dan 7:26  But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

This verse is making us aware that it is through the judgment of God’s elect that the dominion of the beast within us is destroyed. This judgment is the fire of the word of God which destroys the beast.

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

Dan 7:27  And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Again, we are being assured by the fact that, if we overcome the beast within, we are ensured of reigning with Christ.

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

Dan 7:28  Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart. 

A simpler rendition of the verse above is as follows:

Dan 7:28  Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart. (ASV)

This verse is another way of saying the following:

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

Therefore, we must not take for granted our eyes seeing and our ears hearing!!

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

May the Lord grant us the grace to continue to pay heed to this sure word of prophecy until the day dawns and the day star rises in our hearts!! Amen!!

Jer 19:1-15  I Will Bring Evil Upon This Place That Will Make The Ears Tingle

[Study Aired October 3, 2021]

Jer 19:1  Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
Jer 19:2  And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
Jer 19:3  And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
Jer 19:4  Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
Jer 19:5  They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
Jer 19:6  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
Jer 19:7  And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
Jer 19:8  And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
Jer 19:9  And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
Jer 19:10  Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
Jer 19:11  And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Jer 19:12  Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
Jer 19:13  And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
Jer 19:14  Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’S house; and said to all the people,
Jer 19:15  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

The Lord is very clear that the “evil in the city” comes at His hand and with His “foreknowledge”. Here are just two of many examples given in scripture:

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Amo 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

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

What Amos 3:7 is saying is that the Lord always reveals His judgments to His servants the prophets. The “evil in the city”, regardless of its apparent cause, is the fruit of our sins, and the fruit of our sins is the result of being made of dust, being “marred in the Potter’s hand”.

Pro 26:2  As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

“The first man Adam” was “made to be taken and destroyed” by the judgment of the Lord.

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  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.

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;

‘Babylon’ is the Biblical symbol for the Lord’s apostate people, and in that sense this 19^th chapter of Jeremiah introduces the Lord’s fiery judgments upon that corrupt, rebellious, apostate system which has deceived the whole world. The Lord uses a very graphic depiction of what He is doing to that hypocritical system within us and what He will do to Babylon when He appears to rule the kingdoms of the world:

Jer 19:1  Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;

As we saw in the previous chapter, the “potter’s earthen vessel” is all mankind who are “marred in the Potter’s hand”. The point the Lord is making is that the clay and the pot are in the Potter’s hand, and this clay has absolutely nothing to do with what the Potter is doing with the clay that is in His hand:

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
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.

There is no room for the Babylonian false doctrine of “free moral agency” in the symbolism of clay in the hand of a Potter. In this 19^th chapter we are being shown what the Lord intends to do to the “the vessel of clay [which] was marred in the hand of The Potter”, and the Lord is demonstrating the purpose for which He created this “marred… vessel of clay”. Jeremiah is instructed to “get a potter’s earthen bottle [and take along] the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests” and go to the valley of Tophet with these witnesses to hear the words of the Lord concerning the judgment He is bringing upon His apostate people.

Jer 19:2  And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,

“The valley of the son of Hinnom” is called ‘Tophet’ earlier in this prophecy:

Jer 7:31  And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Jer 7:32  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
Jer 7:33  And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
Jer 7:34  Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

This entire chapter is really just repeating what the Lord told Jeremiah in chapter 7. This same message concerning the judgment upon the apostate sins of His people… that would be each of us… was repeated earlier in:

Isa 30:33  For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

Look at those words! “Tophet is ordained of old”. What is Tophet’s ordained function? For God’s (“the king’s”) preordained judgment of our old man. If we take the words “the king” to be our rebellious old man who sits in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God, the message is the same. Taken either way, the message is the same. It is “ordained of old” by the Lord… “made deep and large” to consume all the ‘wood, hay and stubble’ that is our flesh. The fire and brimstone, which kindles the consuming of all the wood, hay, and stubble of our flesh, is “the breath of the Lord”, His “inspired…God breathed” Word.

Here is the meaning of the name ‘Tophet’:

H8613

– Original: תּפתּה
– Transliteration: Tophteh
– Phonetic: tof-teh’
– Definition: Tophet = place of fire

1. a place in the southeast end of the valley of the son of Hinnom south of Jerusalem
2. same as 8612

– Origin: probably a form of H8612
– TWOT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Location
– Strong’s: Probably a form of H8612; Tophteh a place of cremation: – Tophet.

This is what we see when we look up H8612:

H8612
תֹּפֶת
tôpheth
to’-feth
The same as H8611; Topheth, a place near Jerusalem: – Tophet, Topheth.
Total KJV occurrences: 9

This Hebrew name appears in three different forms all meaning the same thing… “a place of burning”.

The Hebrew word for ‘breath’ here in Isaiah 30:33 is:

H5397
נְשָׁמָה
neshâmâh
nesh-aw-maw’
From H5395; a puff, that is, wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration,  intellect or (concretely) an animal: – blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.

This word is not ‘ruach’, the Hebrew word for spirit, yet we are told in Psalms 18 that this ‘neshamah’ comes “of the breath (Hebrew: ‘ruach’, spirit) of Thy nostrils”:

Psa 18:15  Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast [H5397: ‘neshamah’, physical “breath of life” (Gen 2:7)] of the breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] of thy nostrils.

This is what “the breath of His nostrils “discovers” to be our judgment:

Jer 19:3  And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.

These are the same words the Lord used to describe the effect of His judgment upon the house of Eli the priest many years earlier:

1Sa 3:11  And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
1Sa 3:12  In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
1Sa 3:13  For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.

Then the Lord reiterates the list of our sins:

Jer 19:4  Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
19:5  They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it;  neither came it into my mind:

This is the second time the Lord has made this statement… “neither came it into my mind”. Here is the first time earlier in this same prophecy of Jeremiah:

Jer 7:31  And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

This statement, like many others in scripture, appears to our natural mind to make the scriptures contradict themselves. If indeed it is God who “works all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11) how can He then tell us “neither came it into my mind… to burn their sons… and their daughters… with fire for a burnt offering unto Baal”?

The answer is the same in every case where the scriptures appear to contradict themselves. The Lord had to give Himself an adversary, a ‘Satan’, in order to have an evil foil against which to contrast the goodness of His heart and His intentions for all of mankind. He must let us know He is sovereign and full of mercy even as He works all the evil in this world “after the counsel of His own will”:

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

‘The sum of the Lord’s words’ (Psa 119:160 ASV), reveals that everything, including every “power… and principality” were created by and consist only in Christ:

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

This sovereignty of Christ extends to “the fruit of [our] lips” which comes from “the abundance of [our] heart”:

Isa 57:19  I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.

Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

The Lord Himself ‘makes us to err from His ways’ so He can judge us and drag us through that fiery judgment to Himself:

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.

The Lord sends evil spirits to incite our rebellion against Him and His ways, so He can tell us, “neither came it into My mind… to burn [our] sons unto Baal”.

Here are a couple more examples of how the Lord is orchestrating all things after the counsel of His own will:

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

Knowing it is all of God does not make it any less of a fiery trial requiring the Lord’s judgments upon us:

Jer 19:6  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
Jer 19:7  And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
Jer 19:8  And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
Jer 19:9  And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.

The sword is the Word, and the Word is “the sword of our enemy” just as the Lord was Job’s enemy when Job ignorantly made this self-righteous statement:

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

This was Job’s iniquity which brought these fiery words of the Lord down upon him:

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?

Here is how the Lord inspired Jeremiah to describe what God did to Job. Here is what the Lord is doing to each of us:

Jer 19:10  Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
Jer 19:11  And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Jer 19:12  Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
Jer 19:13  And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

This ‘burning of incense unto the host of heaven’ is the keeping and observing of the traditions of all the men about us in this world and in this present society. This is what the Lord says to us concerning our strong desire to be accepted by this world by keeping its traditions:

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

But we do ‘add to’ and ‘diminish from’ the Words of the Lord to make them conform to the idols of our hearts. So, the Lord sends Jeremiah back to the capital of Judah to reaffirm His impending judgments upon us and all our ‘towns’… all the idols of our hearts.

Jer 19:14  Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’S house; and said to all the people,
Jer 19:15  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

Again, it is simply undeniable that when the Lord says, ‘because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words”, “they” do so because:

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

Joh 12:40  He [the Lord] hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

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.

It is natural that we all react to this knowledge with the question: “Why have you made me thus?”

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?

We just naturally despise the Lord’s answer to this question:

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 [our old man]:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy [our new man], 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?
Rom 9:25  As he saith also in Osee [Hosea], I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
Rom 9:26  And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Rom 9:27  Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

Outwardly Israel is physical Israel. Inwardly ‘Israel’ is spiritual religion in opposition to Christ and His Truth. The doctrines of outward ‘Israel’ are “as the sand of the sea”, whereas the Truths of Christ are comparatively few. Truth stands firm in itself, whereas lies require more lies to bolster the original lies. That is why the curses of Deuteronomy 28 are almost four times more numerous than the blessings.

That chapter has 68 verses in it. The first 14 verses give us the blessings for obedience to the Lord. The remaining 54 verses give us the curses which come upon us for being disobedient to the Lord.

Rom 9:28  For he will finish the work, and cut  it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
Rom 9:29  And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
Rom 9:31  But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness [Physical Israel, “the son of the bondwoman” (Gal 4:25-26)].

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.

Rom 9:32  Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
Rom 9:33  As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

“Jerusalem above” signifies “the mind… of Christ” within “the children of the freewoman”.

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

“The son of the bondwoman” is our own flesh and blood which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”:

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

Our own old man, and the same carnal mind of others, will always hate and persecute our new man, “Christ in [us] the hope of glory”.

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:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

That is our study for today, and these are our verses for our next study:

Jer 20:1  Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
Jer 20:2  Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
Jer 20:3  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
Jer 20:4  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
Jer 20:5  Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
Jer 20:6  And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
Jer 20:7  O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jer 20:8  For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jer 20:9  Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jer 20:10  For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
Jer 20:11  But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
Jer 20:12  But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
Jer 20:13  Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
Jer 20:14  Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Jer 20:15  Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
Jer 20:16  And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
Jer 20:17  Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
Jer 20:18  Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Jer 18:1-12  The Vessel Made of Clay was Marred in the Hand of the Potter

[Study Aired September 19, 2021]

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jer 18:7  At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
Jer 18:8  If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Jer 18:9  And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
Jer 18:10  If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
Jer 18:11  Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
Jer 18:12  And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

The last chapter contained the oft quoted ninth verse:

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

Our study today reveals clearly why we have all been given a deceitful heart. As is always the case, the Lord makes us to know that we have nothing to do with what He is doing, other than doing the things He causes us to do. In our study today, Lord willing, He is going to cause us to understand that when we “Hear [His] words” we do so only because He “caused [us] to hear [His] words”.

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
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.

“The Potter’s house” is the ‘house’ of the Master Potter. It is the Lord’s temple (1Co 3:16). The Master Potter makes no mistakes. As we just learned in our last study, “the first man Adam” was created on the sixth day, and the Lord deliberately made the first Adam of ‘clay’. Both the number ‘six’ and the composition of ‘clay’ cry out to all those who are “caused to hear” that we are incomplete and made of corruptible clay in the form of ‘corruptible… flesh and blood’, which was never intended to “inherit the kingdom of God”:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood [“The vessel that He made of clay”] cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

All the thousands of sermons by all the thousands of false prophets to the contrary will not make a creature which was formed on the sixth day anything more than a beast, a creature made of flesh and blood which can never inherit the kingdom of God. Repeatedly using the phrase “immortal soul” will not place that phrase anywhere in scripture. It simply is not there, but this is in scripture concerning what happens to us at the time of the resurrection and not before that time:

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

As the rules of Hebrew grammar demonstrate, the process of creating mankind in His image is not yet complete:

Gen 1:27  So God created [Hebrew Qal stem… ‘is creating’] 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.

A “very good” tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a “very good… crooked serpent”, and a “very good… vessel of clay” in the form of “corruptible… flesh and blood”, are not, and were never intended by the Creator to be “the new man which after God is [being] created in righteousness and true holiness”.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created [Greek: aorist tense… ‘is being created] in righteousness and true holiness.

This is what “the vessel that He made of clay” is designed to show us of ourselves in our present unfinished condition:

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

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 [“the vessel of clay”] is vanity.

Sadly, for most nominal ‘Christians’ church doctrine will always trump scripture, and most ‘Christians’ will continue to believe that man was given an “immortal soul”, a phrase found nowhere in all of scripture because that doctrine is a lying spirit which has ‘gone out into the world to deceive many’:

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

When we try that spirit which teaches us that the phrase “very good” means spiritually perfected, we discover that Hebrew and Greek tenses are completely ignored in most of our English translations so false church doctrines can continue to be foisted off on all those who have not yet been given “eyes that see nor ears that hear” (Mat 13:9-15):

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. [Hebrew reads ‘creates He them’, the Qal stem]

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.

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

The two verbs in Genesis 1:31, the verbs ‘saw’ and ‘made’, are both in the Qal Stem, which equates to the Greek aorist tense. What this tells us is that the process of ‘seeing’ and ‘making’ is ongoing and unfinished. Six “is the number of mankind” (Rev 13:18) because mankind is unfinished, as his creation on the sixth day indicates. Mankind must “enter into His rest” to be completed, and Christ is our ‘rest’:

Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Heb 4:1  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest [into Christ], as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in [“Entered not” into Christ] 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 [Christ, our rest, our sabbath] 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 [in Christ].

Hebrews 4:1-11 is the completion of the process of the creation of mankind. No one is complete until he has entered into Christ and confesses that he can do nothing of himself:

Here are those two verses in Genesis 1 in a much more accurate translation:

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)

Gen 1:31 And seeing is the Elohim all that He had made [Same Qal stem as the verb ‘seeing’ and should read ‘is making’], and, behold, it is very good. And coming is it to be evening and coming to be morning, the sixth day. (CLV)

The Concordant version renders ‘seeing’ in the Qal stem, but it misses the fact that the phrase “had made” is also in the Qal stem and should have been translated as ‘all that He is making’. In other words, the creation is at this very moment an ongoing process which requires this “experience of evil” in this “vessel that He made of clay” before we can enter into Christ, “enter into His rest” on the seventh day, the day of completion and perfection, the day of rest from  our works:

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

Notice that the Concordant translators who miss the Qal stem in translating ‘had made’ in Gen 1:31 catch the Qal stem in translating:

Jer 18:4 and marred is the vessel that he is making, as clay in the hand of the potter, and he has turned and he makes it another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make. (CLV)

We should begin to get the message of the book of Job and all the rest of scripture. The message of all scripture is about two men – the old man and the new man. However, it is about how the old man must begin to die before the new man can begin to enter into Christ, our “sabbath”, our “rest”. When we are being brought into that rest, we begin to see and understand that even our “experience of evil” is of the Lord, and that we have no more to do with our sins than we have with our good works.

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

That is right! If there is “evil in the city… the Lord hath done it” (Isa 45:7)

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

“Clay… in The Potter’s hand” is as basic as the Lord’s work with mankind can be explained. The clay has no say at all about what the Potter will make of it. The hand of a puppeteer can be concealed, but the hand of a potter must be seen as He shapes the clay “after the counsel of His own will”. “As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine hand…” is not an endorsement of the lie of ‘free will’. Rather it is the exact opposite. “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it” is not an endorsement of free will. It is the exact opposite. To clarify this fact, and to make the Potter’s hand even more apparent, we are very plainly told:

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.

The Biblical definition of a ‘hardened heart’ is a heart which cannot obey the words of the Lord.

Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Does the Lord’s use of the word ‘if’ indicate that you and I have been given a will that is free from His influence?

Jer 18:8  If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Jer 18:9  And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
Jer 18:10  If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

In our innate desire to be the captain of our own fate we latch on to verses like these and tell ourselves that these verses prove that we have the ability, through our own fabled ‘free will’, to change the Lord’s mind. We must never forget that ‘key to the kingdom’ which teaches us that Truth is never to be found in just one verse or one section of scripture, rather:

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances  endureth for ever.

Therefore, it behooves us to read on, and come to see that even though the Lord offers us the opportunity to repent, He already knows that we will at first reject Him and His offer to accept our repentance. If anyone doubts that the Lord already knows what mankind will do just read the next couple of verses:

Jer 18:11  Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
Jer 18:12  And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

Does that sound as if the Lord has any doubt about what we will do? These two verses confirm the message of verse 4:

Jer 18:4  And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Yes, indeed, the Lord admonishes us to “return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good”, and with the same breath He tells us “Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you”, followed by a description of that “evil device” He has devised against our old man. That device is to prepare the heart of our old man to say, “There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.”

Where does the heart of our old man get such a thought:

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

Then the Lord goes on to tell us plainly that His sovereignty extends to our own wicked man:

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

When you and I, or anyone else, sin and do wickedly, why do we do so? If God is sovereign over all things, then He must inform us that it is He who facilitates the most wicked of all acts, including the death of His own Son, and that is exactly what He does. It simply cannot be made more clear:

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.

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

He even admits to being the “one lawgiver” which includes giving us “the law of sin… which is in [our] members”:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Whence comes this “sin that dwells within [our] members”?

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

How did that happen? How did this “law of sin” come to be in our members? Let us “let God be true and every man a liar” and believe these words of God:

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

That is exactly what the Sovereign God is in the process of doing. He is in the process of destroying our old man, who by His design is first “marred in [His] hand”, and through that dissolution of our old man He is saving our new man, just as the worm of a caterpillar is dissolved and comes out of the death of a cocoon as a beautiful butterfly no longer bound to crawl on its belly. It can now mount up to the heavens on beautiful wings, confirming that:

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

What we are being told is that “the law of sin and death” is part and parcel an integral part of being made of the dust of the ground, being “the… marred… vessel made of clay… in the Potter’s hand”:

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.

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

What we are being told is that the new vessel… “another vessel”, the Potter is making, is dominated by “another law” other than “the law of sin”. That new law, “the law of my mind”, in that new man is “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus”:

What is the meaning of the word ‘marred’? Exactly what is it about ‘the vessel of clay’ that makes it “marred” and unacceptable to the Potter?

Here is Strong’s definition of the Hebrew word translated as “marred”:

H7843
שָׁחַת
shâchath
shaw-khath’
A primitive root; to decay, that is, (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively): – batter, cast off, corrupt (-er, thing), destroy (-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, X utterly, waste (-r).

‘Shachath’ is the same word translated as ‘corrupt’ when it first appears in:

Gen 6:11  The earth also was corrupt [H7843: ‘shachath’] before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

It appears twice in the next verse:

Gen 6:12  And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt [‘shachath’]; for all flesh had corrupted  [‘shachath’] his way upon the earth.

Notice how the translators have rendered this same word in the very next verse:

Gen 6:13  And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy [‘shachath’] them with the earth.

Here is how this word is variously translated in the King James Version:

H7843
שׁחת
shâchath
Total KJV Occurrences: 146
destroy, 68
Gen_6:13, Gen_6:17, Gen_9:11, Gen_9:15, Gen_18:28 (2), Gen_18:31-32 (2), Num_32:13-15 (4), Deu_4:31, Deu_9:26, Deu_10:10,
Deu_20:19-20 (2), Jos_22:33, Jdg_6:5, 1Sa_23:10, 1Sa_26:9, 1Sa_26:15, 2Sa_1:14,
2Sa_14:11, 2Sa_20:20, 2Sa_24:16,
2Ki_8:19, 2Ki_13:23, 2Ki_18:25 (2),
1Ch_21:15, 2Ch_12:7, 2Ch_12:12,
2Ch_21:7, 2Ch_25:16, 2Ch_35:21,
Psa_106:23, Isa_36:9-10 (3), Isa_51:13, Isa_65:8 (2),
Isa_65:25, Jer_5:10, Jer_6:5,
Jer_11:19, Jer_13:14, Jer_15:3,
Jer_15:6, Jer_36:29, Jer_48:18,
Jer_49:9, Jer_51:11, Jer_51:20,
Lam_2:8, Eze_5:16, Eze_9:8,
Eze_22:30, Eze_26:4, Eze_30:11,
Eze_43:3, Dan_9:24-26 (4), Hos_11:9, Mal_3:11
destroyed, 22
Gen_13:10, Gen_19:29, Jdg_6:4,
Jdg_20:21, Jdg_20:25, Jdg_20:35,
Jdg_20:42, 2Sa_11:1,
2Sa_24:16, 2Ki_19:12, 1Ch_21:15,
2Ch_24:23,
2Ch_34:11, 2Ch_36:19, Psa_78:38,
Psa_78:45, Isa_14:20, Isa_37:12,
Jer_12:10, Lam_2:5-6 (2), Hos_13:9
corrupt, 11
Gen_6:11-12 (2), Deu_4:16, Deu_4:25, Deu_31:29,
Psa_53:1 (2), Pro_25:26, Eze_20:44,
Eze_23:11, Mal_1:14
corrupted, 11
Gen_6:12, Exo_8:24, Exo_32:7,
Deu_9:12, Deu_32:5, Jdg_2:19,
Eze_16:47, Eze_28:17, Hos_9:9,
Mal_2:7-8 (2)
destroying, 5
1Ch_21:12, 1Ch_21:15, Jer_2:30,
Jer_51:1, Eze_20:17
mar, 4
Lev_19:27, Rth_4:6, 1Sa_6:5,
Jer_13:9
destroyer, 3
Pro_28:23-24 (2), Jer_4:7
marred, 3
Jer_13:7 (2), Jer_18:4, Nah_2:2
corrupters, 2
Isa_1:4, Jer_6:28
destroyeth, 2
Pro_6:32, Pro_11:9
spoilers, 2
1Sa_13:17, 1Sa_14:15
waster, 2
Pro_18:9, Isa_54:16
battered, 1
2Sa_20:15
cast, 1
Amo_1:11
corrupting, 1
Dan_11:17
corruptly, 1
2Ch_27:2
destroyers, 1
Jer_22:7
destroyest, 1
Jer_51:25
destruction, 1
2Ch_26:16
lose, 1
Pro_23:8
perish, 1
Exo_21:26
spilled, 1
Gen_38:9
wasted, 1
1Ch_20:1

This is the same word used back in chapter 13 in reference to the linen girdle which Jeremiah buried in the banks of the Euphrates River:

Jer 13:6  And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
Jer 13:7  Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred [‘shachath’], it was profitable for nothing.

The linen girdle was ‘ruined and destroyed’ because it was made of a corruptible composition. Destruction, corruption, and ruin are the thought behind this Hebrew word ‘shachath’.

Why would the Lord first make man of such a corruptible composition? If “the first man Adam”, ‘the vessel of clay’, (1Co 15:45) was marred (‘shachath’) in the Potter’s hand, then he was made of a corrupting composition which was deliberately designed to lead him into his own destruction “in the Potter’s hand”, just as the scriptures reveal:

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

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.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

All the great sermons to the contrary, “the first man Adam” was not spiritual first. Rather:

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy [“The first man Adam… of the dust of the ground… the vessel that He made of clay…”], such are they also that are earthy [“flesh and blood… corruption”]: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; [Pray tell, why cannot flesh and blood inherit the kingdom of God?] …neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

What the Lord says must be “first” will be ‘first’. That which the Lord declares is “not first” will not be first. If we cannot accept those qualifying words, then we simply do not yet know Christ or His Father (Joh 17:3).

If we fail to see the order in which the Lord is completing and perfecting His creation, we can and we will miss the spiritual message in all those verses of scripture which qualify that order in which the Lord is working to bring about the salvation of all.

The previous chapter of Jeremiah, chapter 17, revealed to us that we are cursed with a deceitful heart which we should never, ever trust:

Jer 17:5  Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jer 17:6  For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Jer 17:8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat [or “thief”] cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Chapter 18 confirms that a “deceitful heart” is simply a natural heart which is “marred… in the hand of the Potter”, and that this “marred” corruptible composition is the device which the Lord has devised against the kingdom of our old man to destroy it.

All these words of God are simply the fire which tries and burns up the wood, hay, and stubble of the works of our old man. These words are the judgment which begins when our “first man Adam” begins to die and begins to be judged. It is all designed to take place “first”, and it is all integral to the salvation of all men. This is the sequence of events which the Lord desires, and what the Lord desires He is doing:

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.

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
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.

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

The word ‘appointed’ is in the present tense. The judgment which begins after we begin to “die” is in the aorist tense, and is now on the house of God:

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?

The works of our old man are being burned up yet we ourselves, our “new man… shall be saved”. Being given a deceitful heart (Jer 17:9), and being “marred in the hand of the Potter” (Jer 18:4) are just the necessary corruptible beginnings of the Lord’s process of salvation for “every man” (1Co 3:13-15).

That completes our study for today. These are our verses for our next study:

Jer 18:13  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
Jer 18:14  Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
Jer 18:15  Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
Jer 18:16  To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
Jer 18:17  I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
Jer 18:18  Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
Jer 18:19  Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
Jer 18:20  Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
Jer 18:21  Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
Jer 18:22  Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
Jer 18:23  Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.