Isa 37:14-28 Whom Have You Reproached and Blasphemed? - Discussion

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Isa 37:14-28 Whom Have You Reproached and Blasphemed?

Isa 37:14  And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
Isa 37:15  And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,
Isa 37:16  O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
Isa 37:17  Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
Isa 37:18  Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
Isa 37:19  And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
Isa 37:20  Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.
Isa 37:21  Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
Isa 37:22  This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
Isa 37:23  Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 37:24  By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
Isa 37:25  I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
Isa 37:26  Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
Isa 37:27  Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
Isa 37:28  But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

It is of the utmost importance that we remember the Lord caused all of this to happen to Judah and King Hezekiah as types of us and for our admonition and for our correction, because King Hezekiah's lack of faith at first is a type of each of us. That is all part of what the Lord has ordained for all who He drags to Himself. This story typifies us and our relationship with our Maker and our Savior:

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

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)

Hezekiah, like all the kings before him and like every man, was formed of very weak flesh and blood. He was at first incapable of making faithful Godly decisions which were for the best for his own people. Hezekiah did not want to be weak and unfaithful, and neither do any of us. But that is exactly how the Lord has, at first, made us:

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

As we have seen, both Hezekiah and his father Ahaz had attempted to pacify the king of Assyria, and both voluntarily subjected themselves to his sovereignty of his kingdom. They did so as types of us while we are ruled over by our flesh even when we want to do what we know is right.

Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

All the kings of Israel knew that the the Lord had delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage through the ten plagues, culminating in the death of all the first-born of Egypt. They all knew about how their fathers had rebelled against the Lord while they were still in Egypt. All the kings knew about the parting of the Red Sea and how the Lord brought them safely through the sea and used the same waters to destroy the Egyptians. All the kings knew all the stories about how their fathers had rebelled against the Lord in the wilderness and under all the judges, even though the Lord never once failed to send them a deliverer in the form of a judge.

The judges typified the Lord Himself as Israel's king, and just like all of us, Israel was not satisfied with an invisible king who did not appear to the nations around themselves. Israel wanted a physical king just as we do until this very day:

1Sa 8:4  Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
1Sa 8:5  And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
1Sa 8:6  But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
1Sa 8:7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
1Sa 8:8  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
1Sa 8:9  Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

However, as types of us, Israel wanted to be like the nations around them who all had a physical king who ruled over them. So they were given King Saul, who also rebelled against the Lord and wanted to serve the Lord as he and the people thought best, instead of trembling at the words of God and doing exactly what He said to do.

All the kings of Judah knew how the Lord typically rejected His own anointed king and replaced him with His typically accepted anointed king, King David, "a man after [His, the Lord's] own heart".

1Sa 13:14  But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou [King Saul] hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

King Hezekiah knew he had sinned in seeking to curry the favor of the king of Assyria by taking the Lord's gold and silver and sending it to him when the king of Assyria demanded it. It all serves as a type of every man's very weak, earthy, composition of wood, hay and stubble, and the necessity of having it all burned up because:

Psa 14:3  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

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

There really is just "one event to all", and this is that "one event":

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.

Eze 7:3  Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.
Eze 7:4  And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

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

The Lord's "very elect", along with "the whole creation", must suffer the loss of the kingdom of their old man. His very elect, along with all men, must relinguish their own flesh and blood before they can inherit the kingdom of God. But those who repent in this age will not suffer the loss of being "the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb". The "very elect" will not suffer the loss of their "crown of life", which is given only to those for whom "the whole creation [is now] groaning and travailing":

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

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

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

When the scriptures speak of "the adoption... an inheritance... [being] given a kingdom" they are not talking about those who are cast into the lake of fire.  Those verses all refer to those who endure "the sufferings of this present time". All those scriptures are manifestly speaking of those "who first trusted in Christ... which have the first-fruits of the spirit", those who suffer the death of their old man now in this life who will "receive a reward... the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" as "the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb":

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 are the few who are granted to repent of giving the Lord's gold and silver to the king of Assyria, and that is what distinguishes Hezekiah from all the other kings of Judah and Israel. Hezekiah was given to repent, whereas most others were not. In repenting of his sins, Hezekiah typifies us as those who in this life are the first to trust in Christ and are the first to repent of transgressions against Christ and His Father:

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

As a type of "the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb", we read:

Isa 37:14  And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
Isa 37:15  And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,

As these words apply to us we must see all of this within us, and see the king of Assyria and Babylon and sin within us for which we humble ourselves and confess and "spread before the Lord". These threats from the king of Assyria are the words of our rebellious old man to our humble and submissive new man asking our new man:

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

If we substitute the word 'beast' with the words 'king of Assyria' we have the very essence of Rabshakeh's message to Judah from the king of Assyria:

Isa 36:18  Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? [our beast]
Isa 36:19  Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
Isa 36:20  Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? [our beast]

This scene was all played out between Christ and the devil when the devil tried to convince Christ He was nothing more than flesh and blood, just as he tells us with the same questions:

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6  And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Mat 4:7  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

If the adversary can just get us to doubt our calling, he has done his job. But if Christ is in us, we, too, will say, "Get thee hence, Satan."

Hezekiah was once too afraid of those questions by the adversary to withstand them as he is now doing in spreading the words of the king of Assyria before the Lord. This is what the Lord's very elect do when they are pressed by the Lord on every side:

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.

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:

None of us just naturally, at first, think of seeking the Lord to deliver us from our trials. We just naturally think of how we can deliver ourselves, and in doing so, we "stagger to and fro as a drunken man", attempting to do what only the Lord is capable of doing. But in time, if we are the Lord's elect, He brings us through our fiery trials by bringing us to "our wits' end" and humbling us to seek Him as our only way out of our troubles. As a type of the Lord's first-fruits King Hezekiah prays this prayer:

Isa 37:16  O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.

Look at what King Hezekiah now admits: "Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth." Whether or not Hezekiah is aware of this Truth, which is coming through his own words, he is confessing in these words that the king of Assyria has been sent by the Lord to afflict him and his nation. As the Lord told Nebuchadnezzar many years later:

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.

None of us just naturally believed that the Lord has set the evil men we see as rulers over the nations of this world. Yet that is exactly what we are being told both here in Daniel 4 and in Isaiah 37:16. This revelation accords with the rest of the scriptures which teach from Genesis to Revelation:

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

But there is another revelation in this 16th verse which should encourage us to continue to "pray one for another" when we are brought into severe trials, which is exactly what this story of Hezekiah typifies. Notice that King Hezekiah informs us that "the God of Israel... dwells between the cherubims". Let's go to Revelation 5 and see exactly what that means and where the Lord truly "dwells":

Rev 5:6  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Rev 5:7  And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
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.

The Greek word translated as "us" in verses 9 and 10 is 'hemas'. It appears in 166 verses and is translated variously as 'us', 'we', and 'us-ward' in the King James Version. It is never once translated as 'they' or 'them', as the CVL and several other translations attempt to make this verse read. They do so for the simple reason that it is not given to them to accept the simple truth of these verses:

Joh 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

What we are being told is that the God to whom we pray "dwells in you" and in me. These "cherubims" between which our heavenly Father and His son dwell are merely Biblical symbols of the Lord's elect in whom He dwells. So it is entirely proper that we ought to keep our foot when we "go to the house of God and be more ready to hear [His counsel from] between the cherubims, than to give the sacrifice of fools" and refuse to 'care...for consensus' within the very place the Lord dwells.

Ecc 5:1  Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
Ecc 5:2  Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven [within His elect], and thou [our proud flesh] upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

When the king of Assyria comes to us and tells us we must obey him or die, then, only if we are the Lord's elect, do we repent of our past habit of ignoring the words which come out from "between the cherubims" and "then [we] cry unto the Lord in [our] trouble"

Isa 37:17  Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.

Absolutely anything and everything that is contrary to "that which is written", and is contrary to that which comes out from "between the cherubims", has been "sent to reproach the living God" by denying that His words are true and that He is our deliverer. The Truth is that we need never fear anything or any threats coming from those who teach contrary to "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)

Like Hezekiah, we must be dragged to see and confess that of ourselves we have no power at all to withstand the king of Assyria, typifying Babylon with all her power:

Isa 37:18  Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
Isa 37:19  And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
Isa 37:20  Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.

Don't expect the outward kingdoms of this present age to "know that you are Lord". At this time, this is true only of the nations within us. As Hezekiah points out to the Lord, there is no denying that outwardly Babylon, "the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations" and sits upon and "reigns over the kings of this earth":

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Hezekiah is withstanding King Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. The capital of the Assyrian empire was Nineveh, the great Gentile city to which the Lord sent the prophet Jonah to urge them to repent or be destroyed. Much to Jonah's dismay, Nineveh, typifying God's repentant elect, did repent and was spared. The city of Babylon is also in Assyria, and Hezekiah's experience with the king of Assyria typifies our struggles against what is later revealed to be "Mystery Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and of 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.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

"Mystery Babylon, as the revelation of Jesus Christ reveals, has deceived all nations and sits upon all the kings of the earth. Both Hezekiah and his father, Ahaz, had voluntarily placed themselves under the sovereignty of the king of Assyria. In that sense Hezekiah's rebellion against the king of Assyria is a type of our coming out of Babylon and declaring that we will no longer serve those false gods and bow down before all the false doctrines and idols of the heart, which underpin that spiritually adulterous system that places the adulterous bride of Christ and her false lying doctrines above Christ Himself and above His doctrines. Christ will not play second fiddle to the adulterous bondwoman and her son. He will not be second to anyone or anything. He is the husband of His freewoman wife, and she and her children will be faithful to Him or she will not be His wife. Only those who are faithful to Christ and His doctrine are His bride, and He will protect, provide for, and be a husband to His bride, as He did in type to Hezekiah when he repented for depending upon his own strength, and cried out to the Lord for His protection and His deliverance:

Isa 37:21  Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
Isa 37:22  This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

The virgin, the daughter of Zion," a type of us, did the same thing to a great Babylonian king less than a century later in the form of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego:

Dan 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Dan 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Once again our great boastful flesh is humiliated and destroyed by the strength of the True God who is ruling in the kingdoms of this earth:

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.

Isa 37:23  Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

Sennecharib thought the God of Israel was no different than the gods of all the other nations he had  so easily subdued and conquered. The Babylonian world thinks the same of the Lord and His Christ until they make the mistake of attempting to subdue the Lord's bride. The Lord asks the simple question, "Whom have you blasphemed? and against who hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel."

However, talking to Christ and talking to His Christ is not like talking to any other man, as the religious leaders of Christ's day discovered soon enough:

Joh 7:44  And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
Joh 7:45  Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
Joh 7:46  The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
Joh 7:47  Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
Joh 7:48  Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?

If we have the mind of Christ and if we do the things He tells us to do, then we, too, will be granted to withstand every storm and every false doctrine which beats against the Lord's house:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
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.

"Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on Him?" The Pharisees were the leaders of the established church of Christ's day. The Jewish religion of that day is a type of the great harlot churches out of whom we all must come as we have been commanded:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Isaiah tells us the king of Assyria has "laid waste all nations and their countries":

Isa 37:18  Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,

"Come out of​ her my people​"​ is not addressed just to Jews, Protestants and Catholics. As we just saw, the great harlot of Revelation 17-18 'sits upon many waters' and "reigns over the kings of the earth".​

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

When we are told "come out of her my people", these words are also addressed to the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists and even the a​theists of this world. If and when Christ comes to us and drags us to Himself,​ we must separate ourselves from all the false doctrines and idols of the heart which are "not subject to the law of God..." Every religion of mankind has rebelled against the words of their own Maker and absolutely insists that we partake of their riotous ways in rebellion against the law of Christ. This what Sennecharib's threats and demands upon King Hezekiah and upon Judah typify​. So we are told:

Isa 37:24  By thy [Sennecarib's] servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
Isa 37:25  I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

Christ tells us:

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.

When Christ tells us that without Him we can do nothing, He means 'nothing'. He means that we cannot even sin without being "in Him" as Paul makes so clear when speaking to the pagan Athenians using this very phrase, "in Him":

Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

The very clear message to Sennecharib, as a type of our old man,​ is that in spite of all of his and our pride in our wickedness, the fact remains that even in our wicked state we really are nothing more than an instrument in the Lord's hands. Long before the days of Sennecharib the Lord had demonstrated how Pharaoh was nothing more than an instument whose heart He could harden at His will, as He does with all wicked men, and He is not shy to let us all know this Truth:

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

So we are also informed that it is only by His mercy that we are crushed to powder and made to repent and to be​c​o​me a vessel of mercy instead of remaining as a vessel of wrath:

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.

That is exactly what the Lord is telling Sennecarib through the words of Isaiah:

Isa 37:26  Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
Isa 37:27  Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

The Lord is reminding Sennecharib of​ the same thing He told 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." Through His words to Sennecharib, the Lord is speaking to our old man,​ and He is telling us how He has used our own time in Babylon to "lay waste [our] defenced cities into ruinous heaps".​ That is what Babylon does to us. It ruins us,​ and it is through that ruin we can now partake of the reward of being given to be humbled in this life:

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.

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.

When we see words like "inheritance... reward...  prize... crown of life... kingdom... first trusted... [and] firstfruits unto God and the Lamb", these words are all referring primarily to the benefits of the honor we are given for suffering​ with Christ in "this present time" and to be blessed to be in 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.

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 firstfruitsunto God and to the Lamb.

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

1Co 9:24  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

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

Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Col 3:24  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

2Jn 1:8  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

It is true that "every man's works... will be tried by fire", but not every man is tried "first", and not every man is "the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb".

Isa 37:28  But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

The Lord knows our abode, because He knows every hair of our heads, and He knows every sparrow that falls:

Mat 10:29  Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Is the Lord really concerned about the hairs of our heads and sparrows that fall? The point He is making is​, "You are of more value than many sparrows.​" He knows our abode, our going out and our coming in, and He knows how our flesh and our carnal minds "rage against Him". But if we are in Christ, and if we have been granted to repent, and if we are granted to "suffer with Christ [and] overcome the wicked one [in] this present time", then we are typified by Hezekiah who we will see in our next study is shown God's mercy, and is delivered from his troubles after being brought to his wits​' end during "this present time":

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, [Sennecharib, typifying our own hopeless trials] 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!

Like Hezekiah, we must come to our wits' end. We have attempted to appease the beast,​ and we have seen just how merciless our beast is​. Now we are blessed to be one of the few who is given the gift of repentance, and we are given the faith to now depend upon the Lord for our deliverance from that devouring beast within us. This story of Hezekiah is an outward picture of an inward, spiritual battle, and it is a battle that only the Lord can win for us.

In our next study we will see how the Lord is able to "work all things after the counsel of His own will... together for good to them that love Him and are the called according to His purpose". "All things" are at His disposal to be "worked after the counsel of His own will".

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

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

Here are the verses which give a view of the tools the Lord has at His disposal to bring about our salvation if we love Him and keep His commandments:

Isa 37:29  Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
Isa 37:30  And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
Isa 37:31  And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
Isa 37:32  For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
Isa 37:33  Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.
Isa 37:34  By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
Isa 37:35  For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
Isa 37:36  Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
Isa 37:37  So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
Isa 37:38  And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Psa 115:1  Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.

This Psalm 115 expresses the process and the struggle that all flesh must endure to come to the point where we can understand in our hearts that “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty”.

1Ch 29:11  Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.

All glory in heaven and earth is given unto God and “not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but rather “unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth‘s sake.”

Psa 115:1 Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth‘s sake.

This phrase “not unto us” is uttered twice in the opening verse of our Psalm 115 to remind us that whatever glory does occur within us, as we go from glory to glory in this life is being accomplished by God through Christ who is showing mercy unto His people, unto his “name” or “for thy truth’s sake”.

2Co 3:18  But we all [the body of Christ], with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The only one who can lay up treasure in  heaven (that is to glorify God), our heavens being represented by our hearts and minds,where the kingdom of God resides, is Christ, who gives us the power to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal“.

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent 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.

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

Christ is the reason “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent” representing our fleshly carnal minds that must be changed in order to no longer glory in that which God does through us, as though we had something to do with it. Taking this glory unto ourselves is another way of saying our treasure or talent will rust in the earth and be corrupted by our own deceitful and desperately wicked hearts that are likened to the very temporary and flighty existence of a moth that eats the fabric of Christ’s righteousness which is likened to linen (Rev 19:8), thereby taking that glory unto ourselves. The rust as well eats away at the ruddy man, Adam, whose glory is fading and is temporary like the grass, or like rust that destroys the base metal of iron which flesh represents.

1Co 4:7  For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

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.

Psa 103:15  As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

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. 

Unless we are caused to give glory to God for all that He accomplishes through us, showing “thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all” (1Ch 29:11), our treasure will remain buried in the earth. We are initially the thieves as well in Matthew 6:19 who want to break through or receive our reward in this earth and steal the glory from God by not acknowledging that everything we do, the good and the evil, the light and the darkness, are all accomplished to His glory and to the end that men may learn that they are beasts. Everything we learn from God starts off in our naturally carnal minds, and if we are being sanctified in this age by God’s holy spirit, the end result will be that the seed of Adam will die and the light of Christ will break forth in our heavens.

Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
Mat 25:26  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
Mat 25:27  Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

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

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.

Mat 27:51  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

Joh 12:23  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. [in God’s elect as well as Christ]
Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

It is only with the mind of Christ that our changed hearts will “unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth‘s sake”. If His words are important to us, His commandments, if that is “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” and then we will be witnessing that “the kingdom of God is within you”.

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

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.

Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

The increase which is manifest to the glory of our LORD through the church bears witness that we are God’s predestined workmanship from the foundation of the world and that Christ is the one giving us the strength and the power to go from glory to glory so we can accomplish these works which have been predetermined.

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

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:

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, [Luk_12:32]
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Christ and His Christ are the one true light and witness who has come into the earth to reveal our Father. Our Father’s life and Christ’s life was revealed and is revealed on this earth today through the life of Christ in us causing Christ’s body to be the light of the world.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Joh 5:31  If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

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:

Joh 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
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.

That virgin work which Christ is doing within the body of Christ is accomplished by the new blood of Christ revealed in the type and shadow event of the true virgin wife, who has not been defiled as shown in these verses (Deu 22:13-21). Once a woman is impregnated it normally takes the complete nine months of gestation within the womb for the child to be born. Mary, who is a type of the church, sees the Son of God born through a typical nine-month period of gestation or judgment (9 months) on the house of God which brings about Christ just as the manchild can only be brought to term (the manchild – Rev 12:5) in our lives through those symbolic nine months of judgment upon the church that will lead to the first resurrection.

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 [Rom 8:14-16]. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

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.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Mat 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Mat 11:26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Isa 66:9  Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. [“therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” is what we are being told in this verse of Isaiah Rom 8:1]

Joh 14:11  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

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:

Joh 16:21  A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

We cry out to God in our spiritual birth pangs “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake” knowing that if we start in the spirit and finish in the flesh, not giving all glory to God for this life-long process of judgment that brings us unto perfection on the symbolic third day, we will in essence have labored (pun intended) in vain.

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

Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4  Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
Gal 3:5  He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham [Heb 10:38-39].

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 

This Psalm 115 is an admonition against not acknowledging God as Sovereign over the whole process of our growth, in the light and the darkness which He has created and is using to bring about His new creation. God’s elect are likened unto pillars because those pillars represent the strength God has given us through Christ to be able to bring the rest of the world (4 pillars in the temple which represent all of humanity who shall be saved) into a right relationship with our Father and Christ through grace and faith (5 first pillars of the temple). Together those pillars add up to 9, which we know represents judgment, a judgment which begins at the house of God (1Pe 4:17) and concludes in the lake of fire for the rest of humanity.

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. 

God has purposed these ordinal events of his workmanship in the earth in the parable of the vineyard (Mat 20:1-16) to His glory and each man in his appointed time (1Co 15:23) will be saved and all mankind will eventually witness and understand, “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty.”

Psa 115:1 Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.

I mentioned the verses in Hebrews 10:38-39 earlier, and I want to encourage us to remember that “we are not of them who draw back unto perdition”. Our goal in this life is very singular; the dream is one, and there is a simplicity or singleness in Christ where there is no condemnation (Rom 8:1) which we have been blessed to understand together in Him as we strive for the mark of the prize of the high calling in our Lord together.

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 

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. 

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Everything we do as we press toward that mark and even fall seven symbolic times (Pro 24:16) is something which God has ordained so we can learn of His righteousness. Unlike the men of old who typified that overcoming process in the Lord, like king David and others, we are also left with examples of those who have fallen short of the mark of the prize, and this falling short will also be to the glory of God in our hearts and minds, if we can be among those who acknowledge today that it is God who is working all of these events according to the counsel of His will, the light and the darkness, the good and the evil (Ecc 1:11, Isa 45:7).

A strong man, a great man in the earth, will tell us that it was by his principled life that he was able to overcome, and that he had no plan B. This is true, at least in the realm of the physical, but it is very few who understand that it is God alone who is working all things according to the counsel of His own will and that it is He who does not have a plan B for any part of His creation; not for the overcomer in this age, and not for those who were not granted to overcome in this age.

We see our calling simply because God has opened our eyes, and it is our battle cry as the body of Christ to say, “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.”

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 

We will fall seven times, but the righteous will get up, and God will finish what He has started in us through Jesus Christ, and these words are true “but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake” as we see clearly stated in these verses below.

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 [“but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy“].

We can learn many things from the mighty men and woman of old, and our modern King David types, and those lessons will serve us greatly if we are granted to remember that our ability to overcome and endure until the end is a complete gift from God as He has proclaimed the end from the beginning and has told us that it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom, even knowing that we are predestined to fall seven times and get back up and continue to forget what is behind us as we press ahead through Christ.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Isa 46:10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 

Exo 15:11  Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 

Luk 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

How glorious it is that God can call the weak of the world and demonstrate His strength and longsuffering spirit in us as we persevere and overcome in this age, witnessing that only Christ can be Christ. To truly overcome in the spirit is to put off the mind of Adam which is enmity against Christ as we overcome the beast and the number of his name, through Jesus Christ alone.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 
Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 
Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 
Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 

Next week, Lord willing, we will look more closely at some other verses in Psalm 115 as we learn how God blinds the world and keeps us from seeing the beast that we are, spoken of in Revelation 13:1 and :15.  It is through the destruction of our old man, typified by both of those beasts which are the same beast at different stages, that we will learn “Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all”. The true riches, as always, are found in coming to know that God is working with you, destroying that man of sin and creating a new vessel of honour by his “power and might”!

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

1Ch 29:12  Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
1Ch 29:13  Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. [Heb 13:15]
1Ch 29:14  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
1Ch 29:15  For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
1Ch 29:16  O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

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:

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.

Psa 108:10  Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? 
Psa 108:11  Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts? 
Psa 108:12  Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 
Psa 108:13  Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. 

The conclusion of this Psalm 108 study is not surprisingly going to be focused on how we can, as the body of Christ, be witnesses of the valiant work which Christ is doing through each of us (Rev 11:3-4, Zec 4:10-14) “both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Php 2:13, Php 3:3). 

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth. [As God’s eyes we are blessed and privileged to learn of his sovereignty through the whole earth that enables us to stand, and we are Christ’s eyes and ears for each other (Mat 13:16, Eph 6:13). The phrase “the whole earth” is the symbol for the church (Jer 22:29, Eph 1:22-23, Eph 5:30, Heb 10:20)]
Zec 4:11  Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? 
Zec 4:12  And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? [Eph 4:16] 
Zec 4:13  And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. [1Co_3:16]
Zec 4:14  Then said he, These are the two anointed ones [I will give power unto my two witnesses (Rev 11:3)], that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. 

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. [those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD (1Co 12:1-25)] These following verses explain what “those seven” are accomplishing within the complete work of God which He is working in His workmanship, the body of Christ, the church (Eph 2:10).

1Co 12:1  Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 
1Co 12:2  Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 
1Co 12:3  Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 
1Co 12:4  Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 
1Co 12:5  And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 
1Co 12:6  And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 
1Co 12:7  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 
1Co 12:8  For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 
1Co 12:9  To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 
1Co 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 
1Co 12:11  But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 
1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 
1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many. 
1Co 12:15  If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 
1Co 12:16  And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 
1Co 12:17  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 
1Co 12:18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 
1Co 12:19  And if they were all one member, where were the body? 
1Co 12:20  But now are they many members, yet but one body. 
1Co 12:21  And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 
1Co 12:22  Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 
1Co 12:23  And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 
1Co 12:24  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 
1Co 12:25  That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 

Php 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. [(Mar 10:18) It is God’s judgment upon us that brings us to no longer have confidence in our flesh, or in the strength of any man, as He brings us into the “strong city” and into “Edom” which represent the place of our trials ‘the body of Christ’ (Col 1:24) which is going to have to endure much tribulation in order to learn obedience as Christ did and enter into the kingdom (1Jn 4:17, 2Co 5:16, Heb 5:8, Act 14:22)].

God has predestined our life, our evil experience, which is meant to humble us. That humbling experience is the key to letting go of the “confidence in the flesh” so that we can be led by the spirit of God (Rom 8:14, Pro 3:5-7). The role of the body of Christ [the church] in regard to putting off the flesh is to have every joint supply (Eph 4:16) what we need so that we can be strengthened by each member, endure unto the end, and be saved. The verses in (1Co 12:1-25) remind us of the Godly order and structure that God has given us so this strengthening can occur within each of our lives.

Psa 139:16  but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do. [CEV]

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 

Ecc 1:13  And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised (ענה ‛ânâh – afflicted, busy, occupied, humbled – MKJV, LTV) therewith.

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

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted [knit together] 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. 

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ [and his body the church Col 1:24] which strengtheneth me.  

To be those inward Jews whose praise is not of men but of God, we must go through a process in this life which brings us to put off our confidence in our flesh. That circumcision of the heart is speaking expressly of putting off the works of the flesh mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21, which is what happens when Galatians 2:20 is being accomplished in our heavens.

Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

Pure religion won’t manifest in our lives until Christ prays for us to have the faith mentioned  above. We need patience and faith to joyfully bear the burden that He gives us. Simon of Cyrene, who carried the cross of Christ, typifies the burden that we bear for each other in order to fulfill the law of Christ. Our Father in heaven is the one who gives us the true hunger and thirst for righteousness as He drags us to Christ and Christ in His body  where we will be able to overcome and carry our cross. That carrying of our cross is the symbol for the works which He has ordained from the foundation of the world to be accomplished within the church through Christ.

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 

Luk 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Psa 55:22  Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. 

Gal 6:5  For every man shall bear his own burden. 

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 

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. 
Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

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

1Pe 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

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

Eph 1:11  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: 

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 

We are pressing toward “the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” knowing that Christ can and will complete that which He has started within us. Paul’s mindset described in Philippians 3:13-15 needs to be understood in the context of the sum of God’s word where it should become apparent that when Christ tells us that we indeed will drink the cup, He is not telling us that there is any chance that we won’t, rather he is telling us we will endure to the end, or said another way, Christ is reminding us that He is the author and finisher of our faith and that God is working a work in our life that will bring us to have every confidence in that reality and no confidence in our flesh. 

Paul telling us “I count not myself to have apprehended” in no way negates the fact that Christ could finish the work in Paul’s life which was predestined to be so, but rather reminds us that Paul knew that his enduring until the end and apprehending for those things before him and forgetting those things behind him were all witnessing to what Christ was working in his life both to will and to do. Therefore he didn’t look at his flesh as the means by which he was going to hopefully obtain to the first resurrection, but rather knew that if it were written in his book he would obtain it. This verse is an admonishment for us therefore, and we pray that God will give us to heed it and work in us the zealous and determined spirit that we are going to need to endure unto the end.

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

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, 

Php 3:14  I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you: 

Psa 119:160  All you say can be trusted; your teachings are true and will last forever. [CEV]

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

Mat 20:23  He saith unto them, My cup indeed ye shall drink: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left hand, is not mine to give; but it is for them for whom it hath been prepared of my Father. 

Php 3:3  for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh:

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, [what is before is the promise that we can endure until the end and that Christ will author that victory for us “Through God we shall do valiantly”-He is the joy of victory that is set before us that we look to, our eyes fixed on the Lord (Heb 12:2, Psa 108:1)]
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 

With these verses in mind which declare the certainty of God’s plan to finish what He has started in each of us, it should become clear why God is exercising our senses through the trials of this life which He brings upon us in a “strong city” as He leads us “into Edom”, the symbols of the flesh which remind us that God is able to, and does, use the light and darkness, the good and the evil (Isa 45:7), that comes into our city within us (Amo 3:6) to demonstrate to ourselves and to all the world in time that “Through God we shall do valiantly”.

Psa 108:10  Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? 

The prophesies in this list below point to the details surrounding the crucifixion of Christ and reveal that it was God who made all these valiant events unfold exactly in the time and order in which they were ordained to happen. God is the one “Who will bring me into the strong city” and “who will lead me into Edom“, and God is the one who will deliver us out of all of our afflictions.

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. 

Psa 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

Bible Prophecy: Isaiah 53:3 says, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Fulfillment: John 1:10-11 says, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” 

Bible Prophecy: Psalm 41:9 says, “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”
Fulfillment: Mark 14:10 says, “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.” 

Bible Prophecy: Zechariah 11:12 says, “I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.”
Fulfillment: Matthew 26:14-16 says, “Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty silver coins.” 

Bible Prophecy: Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
Fulfillment: Mark 15:5 says, “But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.” 

Bible Prophecy: Psalm 22:1-2 says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.”
Fulfillment: Matthew 27:46 says, “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’- which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'” 

Bible Prophecy: Psalm 22:7-8 says, “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.'”
Fulfillment: Matthew 27:41-44 says, “In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, I am the Son of God.’ In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.” 

Bible Prophecy: Psalm 22:15 says, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.”
Fulfillment: Matthew 27:48 says, “Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.” 

Bible Prophecy: Psalm 22:17-18 says, “I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
Fulfillment: John 19:23 says, “When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.”

Psa 108:11  Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts? 

God is the one who rejects or “cast us off”^H2186 our flesh, and that is what He will eventually do with all flesh or all carnal nature typified by the action of circumcision.

Exo 4:25  Then Zipporah took a sharp stone (Heb_4:12), and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter [Surely a bloody husband art thou to me]; whose praise [Judah] is not of men, but of God [Gal_6:16]. 

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

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root [a type of the law of Moses (Gen 2:9, 1Ti 1:9)] nor branch [knowing Christ after the flesh via the schoolmaster (Gal 3:24) that extends as a branch from the root which is the law of Moses and teaches us obedience in the letter that kills (2Co 3:6) and not the circumcision of the heart that comes by the destruction of the man of perdition on the throne of our hearts by Christ’s spirit (2Co 5:16, 2Th 2:8). The negative root is Moses and the positive root and branch is Christ in the spirit. We are also told to not boast against those natural branches that are broken off for our sakes (Rom 11:18). Those broken off branches are going through an important process and Christ tells us that we all must be established through that schoolmaster relationship before we can, God willing go unto perfection in the spirit in this age (2Co 4:15, Mat 5:17)].

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. [10×12=120 telling us the fleshly foundation will be done away.]

H2186   zânach   zaw-nakh’: A primitive root meaning to push aside, that is, reject, forsake, fail: – cast away (off), remove far away (off).

If God will “cast us off” He will also “go forth with our hosts”^H6635 and that is the good news which we are promised throughout scripture, that God is faithful to complete the process of humbling the flesh of man and then creating the new vessel of honour, each man in his appointed time (Heb 9:27, 1Co 15:23).

H6635  tsâbâ’  tsebâ’âh  tsaw-baw’, tseb-aw-aw’: From H6633; a mass of persons (or figurative things), especially regularly organized for war (an army); by implication a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically hardship, worship): – appointed time, (+) army, (+) battle, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, war (-fare).

Psa 108:12  Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 

We start off in complete need of our physical parents or guardians as we grow up into adulthood, and the Lord leads us in a very specific way as His children so that we learn that all is vanity, including “the help of man”. 

Ecc 1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 

Psa 27:10  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. 

God also lets us experience the betrayal from mankind in our flesh which Christ also experienced so that we learn deeply that God alone is the one who can “give us help from trouble”. Christ in us gives us that help, and we witness to the world how His spirit is working true discipleship within us.

Job 19:14  My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. 
Job 19:15  They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

Psa 41:9  Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. 

Psa 55:12  For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: 

Mat 26:38  Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 

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

Pro 17:17  A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. 

Joh 13:34  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 
Joh 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 

Psa 108:13  Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. 

Our hope is in the Lord, our hope of glory, that we will do valiantly, and together as the body of Christ typified by Gideon’s army, we will be more than conquerors through Christ and do valiantly as we “tread down our enemies” within. 

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: 

Treading down the enemies within us is another way of saying we can keep all the diseases of Egypt from our gates by “diligently hearken[ing] to the voice of the LORD thy God”. God caused 300 soldiers to not go on their knees but to rather lap from their hands. God caused this action as a symbol of diligence that He has called the elect to have at the end of this age so that we are not caught unaware when our Lord returns with our heads to the ground but rather looking up and being ready for our redemption draws near.  The men in this story of Gideon’s army were selected to do battle just as we are for the Lord (Eph 6:12) who has put a spirit within us that is diligent and attentive to the enemy who is trying to destroy us. 

Jdg 7:4  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 
Jdg 7:5  So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 
Jdg 7:6  And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: [symbolic of God’s elect] but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 
Jdg 7:7  And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. 

Exo 15:26  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Luk 21:36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. 

Pro 4:23  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. 

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 

These last few verses in Peter very succinctly describe the whole process we have looked at throughout this Psalm 108 study and reveal the pattern to us of how we can and will be able to do valiantly through our Lord who loves us. How can we, as the body of Christ, be witnesses of the valiant work that Christ is doing through each of us: Peter tells us!

1Pe 5:6-11  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 

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The prize of the high calling

By Steven Crook

June 24th, 2015

Often times when we see a prize or hear about a reward we naturally think about what it would be like to win said prize or reward.

How would it change our lives? What would we do with the reward?  Who would be our family and friends after obtaining a grand reward?

While these questions are applicable to earthy based prizes which can be used to better our lives now, how do these same questions apply to the prize of the HIGH CALLING found in Philippians?

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

In this study, we are going to examine just what this prize is and what the qualifications are to even start the race that has this prize given to the victors.

Enemies of the Cross

Before we can ever hope to obtain to the level of “pressing toward” the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, we must realize that we are all enemies of the cross. Yes, we are all enemies of the cross of Christ Jesus.

This may seem like a harsh reality and even untrue to those who believe they are “true Christians”, but we all inherently have flesh battling the Spirit of God each day.

The book of Philippians is a collection of scriptures given to us as a guidepost on how to mark our walk in Christ but to also remind us of who we are in Jesus.

Notice, the “high calling of God” is “in Jesus Christ”. If the “high calling” is in Jesus Christ, then what does it mean to be in Jesus Christ in this regard, so that you can press toward this mark?

We do not have to go very far outside of the book of Philippians to realize what Paul is telling us.

Php 3:1  Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Php 3:2  Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
Php 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Indeed, writing and speaking the same things, speaking the same mind as what scriptures lay out to us, is SAFETY for those being spoken to.

What then is then does Paul choose to start off with as “things written for safety”?

Beware of dogs)

Thayer’s greek definitions defines this Greek word as:

G2965
kuōn

Thayer Definition:
1) a dog
2) metaphorically a man of impure mind, an impudent man
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: a root word
Citing in TDNT: 3:1101,

“Dogs” as spoken about in this context are those who have an impure mind i.e. anything not the mind of Christ, and speak offensively boldly about scripture and about the mind of God of which they have NO CLUE about.
Here are the other 4 times (5 in total) that these dogs are spoken about:

G2965
kuōn
Total KJV Occurrences: 5
dogs, 4
Mat_7:6, Luk_16:21, Phi_3:2, Rev_22:15
dog, 1
2Pe_2:22

Mat 7:6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Mat 7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

A “dog” is NOT someone seeking to know Christ or His Christ and they certainly are not looking to find answers to their questions. In fact, their questions are asked in pretense.

Luk 16:20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
Luk 16:21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

It is “dogs” who lick the sores of flesh which Lazarus is full of. Lazarus is the one who is in the bosom of Abraham due to what he experienced in this “tabernacle of flesh”.

Have you ever asked yourself why it is the dogs tend to the flesh of Lazarus? They do so to EASE the pain that Lazarus is in. Since we are talking about a parable, we know we are talking about the kingdom of heaven.

What we are being told spiritually about the dogs who lick the sores of Lazarus is that Lazarus, though “in the bosom of the Father” still but contend with those who want to concentrate on the flesh. Dealing with physical flesh and its pains are NOT the focus of this parable.

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

“The dog is turned again to his own vomit” spoken about here is not speaking about them that are out there in the world who do not know the holy commandments of God but rather are those who HAVE KNOWN them but rather choose to go BACK to the pollutions of the world.

So, it is clear that there are dogs WITHIN us and WITHOUT us. There are dogs who are “of the world” and simply seek to please the flesh and then there are “domesticated dogs” who have learned about and from their Master but have AGAIN become entangled with the “pollutions of the world”.

Beware of evil workers)

Being aware of “evil workers” may seem like an easy thing to discern, but it is in fact something that can be hard to detect at times.

The surface “evils” are easy to detect and judge but it is those evils which lurk “below the surface” that we are to beware of.

G2040
ergatēs
Total KJV Occurrences: 17
labourers, 8
Mat_9:37-38 (2), Mat_20:1-2 (2), Mat_20:8, Luk_10:2 (2), Jam_5:4
workers, 3
Luk_13:27, 2Co_11:13, Phi_3:2
labourer, 2
Luk_10:7, 1Ti_5:18
workman, 2
Mat_10:10, 2Ti_2:15
work, 1
Act_13:41
workmen, 1
Act_19:25

A worker, workman or laborers are all interchangeable in the context of who Paul is telling us to beware of. To understand what “type” of workman we are referring to, I will use a few verses to present it from scripture.

Mat 9:37  Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Mat 9:38  Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Jas 5:4  Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

Luk 13:26  Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
Luk 13:27  But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

2Co 11:12  But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

These are workers which appear to be angels of light but are themselves deceitful workers.

What do these deceitful workers do whether or not they are aware of it?

Beware of the concision)

G2699
katatomē
Total KJV Occurrences: 1
concision, 1
Phi_3:2

G2699
katatomē
kat-at-om-ay’
From a compound of G2596 and τέμνω temnō (to cut); a cutting down (off), that is, mutilation (ironically): – concision. Compare G609.

There aren’t many other verses which use this exact Greek word but we do not need to go any further than the next verses to know who those “of the concision” Paul is referring to.

Php 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Paul is specifically telling us to beware of three specific groups. Gentiles (dogs), false apostles / workers of iniquity (Christians who say they are Jews but are not), and those who are “of the law” (concision).

The true focus of all these groups is COMMON. We worship in Spirit and Truth and they worship in the FLESH.

Here is what Paul has to say, as inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, to have written for our “safety”.

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:

Paul doesn’t mince words when he tells us that all things he was according to the flesh were counted as LOSS so that he could obtain the EXCELLENCY of the KNOWLEDGE of Jesus Christ our Lord.

What is the knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Tit 1:14  Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
Tit 1:15  Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Tit 1:16  They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

Joh 17:2  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Counting all things loss, according to Paul, means things which are LOSS cannot then be used as his own righteousness.

In other words, if I lose a $20 bill I cannot later then use a lost $20 bill to pay for goods. It simply isn’t there to be used. What Paul could and did use was the FAITH OF CHRIST which is RGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.

Want to be righteous with God? Keep the Faith. Need faith? Ask for it.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Mat 21:22  And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Joh 16:24  Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Jas 4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

The father of the child in Mark 9 had lived with a terrible spirit living within his child. Do any of you know of anyone around you, any family and friends or YOURSELF who may have an evil spirit causing them or you to do what that spirit commands?

Listen to Jesus’ advice to them and you.

Mar 9:21  And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22  And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE to him that believeth.

Do you believe your Lord? Do you think He changes? Is His power still alive and well today within His people?

Ask Him for His compassion and help and await His answer, but BEWARE of those who are all around you who will not be able to resist standing in your way to DENY your FLESH its DESIRES.

I am confident everyone reading or listening to this study wants to know Jesus Christ. We all want eternal life. However, life comes through death!

Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

In order to know him, the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings and to be made conformable to His death so that we can ATTAIN unto the resurrection of the DEAD is for us to DIE to the things that DRAW on us the MOST while in this tabernacle OF DEATH.

Last study I spoke about the pulls of the earth on the “cloud of great witnesses” and we are ALL the EARTH. We all contend with this flesh JUST LIKE Jesus did.

We cannot be perfect in this point in our walk just like Jesus had not yet gone one to perfection while in this flesh. First He has to die and be resurrected to go on to perfection (Luke 13:32/John 20:17).

We are to be as Paul an apprehend that which Jesus Christ apprehends in us. Here is what is apprehended.

Php 3:14  I press(G1377) toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

The Greek word G1377 translated as press here in the KJV is very concealing. Indeed, the Lord willed that this be the case. However, we are not left in the dark, so to speak, about the meaning of “pressing” toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

G1377
diōkō
dee-o’-ko
A prolonged (and causative) form of a primary verb δίω diō (to flee; compare the base of G1169 and G1249); to pursue (literally or figuratively); by implication to persecute: – ensue, follow (after), given to, (suffer) persecute (-ion), press toward.

G1377
diōkō
Thayer Definition:
1) to make to run or flee, put to flight, drive away
2) to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after
2a) to press on: figuratively of one who in a race runs swiftly to reach the goal
2b) to pursue (in a hostile manner)
3) in any way whatever to harass, trouble, molest one
3a) to persecute
3b) to be mistreated, suffer persecution on account of something
4) without the idea of hostility, to run after, follow after: someone
5) metaphorically, to pursue
5a) to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavour to acquire
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: a prolonged (and causative) form of a primary verb dio (to flee; compare the base of G1169 and G1249)
Citing in TDNT: 2:229, 177

Here are the other times this Greek word “deoko” is used in scripture.

G1377
diōkō
Total KJV Occurrences: 48
persecuted, 13
Mat_5:10, Mat_5:12, Joh_15:20, Act_7:52, Act_22:4, Act_26:11, 1Co_4:12, 1Co_15:9, 2Co_4:9, Gal_1:13, Gal_1:23, Gal_4:29, Rev_12:13
follow, 8
Luk_17:23, Rom_14:19, 1Co_14:1, Phi_3:12, 1Th_5:15, 1Ti_6:11, 2Ti_2:22, Heb_12:14
persecute, 8
Mat_5:11, Mat_5:44, Mat_10:23, Mat_23:34, Luk_21:12, Joh_5:16, Joh_15:20, Rom_12:14
persecutest, 6
Act_9:4-5 (2), Act_22:7-8 (2), Act_26:14-15 (2)
persecution, 3
Gal_6:11-12 (2), 2Ti_3:12
suffer, 3
Gal_6:11-12 (2), 2Ti_3:12
followed, 2
Rom_9:30-31 (2)
after, 1
Rom_14:19
ensue, 1
1Pe_3:11
given, 1
Rom_12:13
persecuting, 1
Phi_3:6
press, 1
Phi_3:14

Here are a few of these verses conveying the idea of “pressing toward”:

Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

1Co 4:12  And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

1Ti 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Rom 14:19  Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

The word used as “press” in Philippians 3:14 is spiritually obvious to those with eyes to see and ears to ear to mean persecute or persecuted.

What does this mean then? What is being persecuted?

Php 3:14  I persecute toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

What WE “persecute toward” in order to hit the mark, is instead of lackadaisically proceeding toward the mark, we PERSECUTE the flesh in us and all of those around us who would have us mind the things of the flesh and not the thing of the spirit.

Does anyone think that when Paul was Saul and he was persecuting the church, he was doing killing people without really caring about it that much?

Here are Paul’s own words found in the same chapter of Philippians and a confirmation of it found in Galatians.

Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Gal 1:23  But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

Yes, we will be persecuted by others but before we can be persecuted by others we should be JUDGING ourselves and PERSECUTING those things that keep us from HAVING Faith in God.

Luk 21:12  But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

We are to suffer persecution at our own hands as well as at the hands of others byt judging ourselves according to the Words which live in us.

To bring this point home and to make sure we understand this, Paul finishes Philippians 3 this way.

Php 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Php 3:17  Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, WHO MIND EARTHLY THINGS.)
Php 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Php 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

As we need help in our walk, we have witnessed that we can ask for Faith to endure in this process. The Lord tells us that He has overcome the world and we too will be given the strength to do so, but it will come with persecutions and sufferings. If we are not willing to suffer with Christ then we are enemies of the Cross in our walk. Lord, help our unbelief. Amen.