Prophets – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty Fri, 08 Apr 2022 18:23:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cropped-headerlogo-32x32.png Prophets – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com 32 32 Study of the Book of Kings – 1Ki 13:1-34 “…Let Him be Accursed” (Gal 1:8) https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/study-of-the-book-of-kings-1ki-131-34-let-him-be-accursed-gal-18/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-of-the-book-of-kings-1ki-131-34-let-him-be-accursed-gal-18 Thu, 07 Apr 2022 16:28:57 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=25555

1Ki 13:1-34 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8)

[Study Aired April 7, 2022]

1Ki 13:1  And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 
1Ki 13:2  And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee. 
1Ki 13:3  And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. 
1Ki 13:4  And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. 
1Ki 13:5  The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 
1Ki 13:6  And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before. 
1Ki 13:7  And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. 
1Ki 13:8  And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: 
1Ki 13:9  For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. 
1Ki 13:10  So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. 
1Ki 13:11  Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. 
1Ki 13:12  And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. 
1Ki 13:13  And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon, 
1Ki 13:14  And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. 
1Ki 13:15  Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. 
1Ki 13:16  And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: 
1Ki 13:17  For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. 
1Ki 13:18  He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. 
1Ki 13:19  So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. 
1Ki 13:20  And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back: 
1Ki 13:21  And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, 
1Ki 13:22  But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. 
1Ki 13:23  And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. 
1Ki 13:24  And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. 
1Ki 13:25  And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. 
1Ki 13:26  And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him. 
1Ki 13:27  And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. 
1Ki 13:28  And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass. 
1Ki 13:29  And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 
1Ki 13:30  And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! 
1Ki 13:31  And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones: 
1Ki 13:32  For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. 
1Ki 13:33  After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 
1Ki 13:34  And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. 

This section of Kings is an example of how we must be steadfastly about our Father’s business (Luk 2:49, 1Jn 4:17) which requires that we try every spirit whether it is of God or not, unlike the prophet in this story who fell away from his own steadfast spirit that was initially intent on obeying God’s command and was later deceived by a lying spirit (Psa 51:10, Col 2:5, 2Pe 3:17, 1Jn 4:1). Clearly it is God who has to create this steadfast spirit within us, otherwise we would not be about our Father’s business and moving with fear as Noah did to build the ark, which symbolizes the building of the body of Christ that is being “fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Heb 11:7, Eph 4:16).

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a rightH3559 spirit within me. 

Col 2:5  For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.

2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

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

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

We must examine ourselves, judge ourselves (1Co 11:31) and be given to grow in our ability to bring every thought into subjection to Christ if we are going to properly try the spirits outside ourselves, and this is the dying daily process God’s elect have been called to mature into (1Co 11:31, 1Co 15:31). Neither the young nor the old prophet in this story has his name mentioned as a symbol to us that God is doing away with our first adamic name and nature through judgment via the word of God that comes from the prophet, and then he gives us a new name in Christ (Rev 2:17).

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 

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

The fiery experience of being brought to repentance is not something we are to despise in our spirits and grow weary. Although our flesh does not enjoy the process (Joh 21:18), God has promised to shepherd us unto salvation via the good shepherd (Joh 10:11) who is “able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” and knows how to “confirm you unto the end” through the precious trial of our faith (1Co 1:8, Act 14:22, 1Pe 1:7) so that we may receive the reward of eternal life through Christ, the blessing to which we have been called (Rom 2:4, Heb 12:11, Heb 7:25, 1Pe 3:9).

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? 

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby [The elect are exercised through chastening, which is how we are received by the Lord (Heb 12:6)].

Heb 7:25  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them [Rom 5:10].

1Pe 3:9  Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

If not for that judgment upon the body of Christ today, which is consistent from a loving Father who does not change (1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17, Mal 3:6), we could not have our senses exercised to discern good and evil as we are dragged to Christ (Heb 5:14, Joh 6:44). Neither could we receive the strong meat which is the result of God’s forbearance and goodness which has been extended to those who are being received by Him today as His children. We are having both the beast and the false prophet burned out of us first in this life and not in the lake of fire as the rest of humanity will experience (Heb 12:6, Rev 20:10).

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 

Twice we are told in Galatians 1:8-9 “let him be accursed”G331 regarding those who “would pervert the gospel of Christ”. The prophet in this story, in type and shadow, is the one who perverts the gospel of Christ by ultimately disobeying God’s command, being deceived and turned away by a lying spirit from the older prophet, which was all according to the counsel of God’s own will and written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages is come (Eze 14:9, Eph 1:11, 1Co 10:11).

Gal 1:8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

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

It’s not another gospel being preached (Gal 1:7) that is being perverted but rather a gospel message that is not being spoken in love which is obedience to God’s commands. What naturally precedes from our hearts is a self-righteous spirit that naturally procures the wisdom of men and not the power of God about which we are the first in this life to come to learn as we grow in our ability to trust Christ through our fiery trials. These trials we are able to endure through God’s love that is shed abroad in our hearts as we preach the gospel to all men in this sinful world (Isa 3:1, 1Co 2:5-6, Eph 1:12, Rom 1:16, Rom 5:5, 1Jn 5:19).

1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

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

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [1Co 2:6].

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed [Col 1:27]; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

1Jn 5:19  And we know that we are of God, and the whole world [1Jn 2:16] lieth in wickedness [Both within and without – there is none good but the Father and so knowing this, our hope has to be in Christ alone! (Mar 10:18, Col 1:27)].

It is “My people” in (Isa 1:3) who “do not consider” telling us that it is the body of Christ who doesn’t consider (until we do). However, if God is working with us in this age, we are going to learn to discern spirits (1Jn 4:1-2) whether they are of the Lord or not, as we learn obedience through the things that we suffer (2Ti 2:12, Heb 5:8). That exercise of discerning spirits is of the utmost importance in order to become mature kings and priests. It will come at the expense of our life being lost and being hated by all men (Luk 21:17), which is how we will find the life of Christ and the peace of Christ which can give us the ability to endure unto the end to be saved (Mat 10:39, Mat 24:13).

Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

The verses we are looking at in this study apply to the elect today as we near the end of our age and overcome the spirit of antichrist through Christ “whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world”. That spirit which wants to rule over our hearts and minds is being destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming (2Th 2:3-4). “Let no man deceive you by any means” is a lifelong battle we are called to fight against together as the body of Christ. Through Him and through the wise counsel within Christ’s body, the manifold wisdom of God (Eph 3:10), we will be more than conquerors in this age as we continue in the truth that will set us free through patient continuance in well doing (Rom 8:36-39, Joh 8:32).

1Ki 13:1  And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 
1Ki 13:2  And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee. 
1Ki 13:3  And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. 
1Ki 13:4  And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. 

At the end of the story, we read a statement from the old prophet who deceived the younger prophet which reads: “And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones: For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.” (1Ki 13:31-32)

The positive meaning of this statement for God’s elect from the older prophet regarding the death and burial of the younger prophet symbolizes the initial death of our old man. So the desire to be buried with our bones beside the younger prophet while we are alive symbolizes our understanding that we must lay down our life and die daily, and endure until the end to see the prophecies fulfilled in our lives which prophecies forecast that God is “against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria,“ within us. His judgment in time “shall surely come to pass” in destroying all these idols.

Without getting too ahead of ourselves, let’s notice that after all these signs and wonders were performed for the unbelieving (Joh 4:48, Joh 20:29) that we will read of throughout this story, in the end “Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth“, showing us that no matter what miraculous signs happen in the earth, the greatest miracle remains the conversion of our hearts and minds which enables us to try the spirits whether they are of the Lord. The inability of the young prophet and Jeroboam to not be affected by those outward signs inwardly was a testimony of the unbelieving hearts that they and all of mankind have until we’re granted the grace through faith experience God’s elect have in this life which makes it possible for us to believe and do the work of God (Eph 2:8, Joh 6:28, Mat 13:16).

With this background in mind, it becomes more obvious why Jeroboam was reluctant to hear the prophecy which the young prophet brought, as it meant that he was going to be destroyed because of the idolatrous way he was conducting himself. Jeroboam was holding fast to his own righteousness, and this is symbolized by this verse: “And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him“. He could not lay hold on the things of God via the withered and cursed hand; the weapon formed that was against the prophet of God “he put forth his hand” was not going to prosper (Isa 54:17). The hand drying up is symbolic of the fruitless attempt of Jeroboam who was trying to control the nation of Israel through the idolatrous actions that were taking place at “the altar in Bethel“.

Jeroboam’s rejection of “a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel” was conclusive at the end of the story, just as Israel’s earlier rejection and rebellion against Moses, whose rebellious hearts were confirmed via their rejection of the signs and wonders God used Moses to bring to the people (Exo 4:6-9).

Exo 4:6  And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 
Exo 4:7  And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 
Exo 4:8  And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 
Exo 4:9  And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

The young prophet “cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee“. Josiah was a good king of Israel who typified Christ who would come and outwardly destroy the false prophets and idol worship as Christ does within the temple which we are today (Joh 2:14-15, 1Co 3:16). Josiah’s sign, which was of the LORD, was a dire prophecy that called for the altar to be rent, and the ashes upon it to be poured out, symbolizing the false worship within us that worships God at first at an altar made with men’s hands, men’s efforts and not by the power of God. His power can only manifest after Christ – symbolized by Josiah – offers “the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.“

1Ki 13:5  The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

As we noted, “the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD” represents our old way of thinking, our former conversation or way of life, at an altar that represents the self-righteous works of our flesh which must be destroyed. Even the ashes are an abomination to God telling us that no part of our past is accepted by Him. Only that which we give back to God through Christ is accepted (Jud 1:23-25, Eph 1:6, 1Ch 29:14).

Jud 1:23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 
Jud 1:24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 
Jud 1:25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. 

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 

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. 

1Ki 13:6  And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before. 
1Ki 13:7  And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. 

The restoring of Jeroboam’s hand is like the beast with the deadly wound that is healed in (Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12), and the first thing Jeroboam requests of the man of God after his wound is healed is to “Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.” Jeroboam represents our yet carnal old man who does not savor the things of God (Mat 16:23) but is like Satan offering creature comforts to “refresh thyself” and wanting to “give you a reward” in the earth (Mat 4:3, Mat 4:8), which in this case if followed through, with would be an act of disobedience to God on the part of the prophet.

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

Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 

Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 

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 4:8  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; 

1Ki 13:8  And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: 
1Ki 13:9  For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. 
1Ki 13:10  So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

The now obedient prophet explains to Jeroboam that even up to “half thine house“, half your creature comforts, is not going to entice me to go into your house and partake of your bread and drink. So far so good, this prophet sees in type and shadow there really is no stay of bread and water in this place (Isa 3:1), and whether it is a half or a whole amount that he receives, he recognizes the blessing he is after can only come through complete obedience to God’s word which commanded him to neither “eat bread nor drink water in this place.“

It was “charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest” is a reminder that God’s word is a book of addition, and that the sum of His word is truth and not the half (Psa 119:160), therefore we don’t backtrack once we have proven something via the council of elders (1Th 5:21). This is the positive symbolic meaning behind these words “he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.“

1Ki 13:11  Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.

God is the father of spirits to whom we are subject (Eze 14:9, Job 1:7), and He causes us to be subject to our old man in a positive sense at an appointed time as typified in Hebrews 12:9, although most of our life we are subject to our old man in a negative sense within, being in bondage to sin (Joh 8:34).

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 

Job 1:7  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? [Joh 19:11]

In this section of kings the prophet’s “sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel.” It is reminiscent of Satan coming to God to give a report of what was going on in the earth, just as these sons of the “old prophet in Bethel” are going to the prophet seeing they have been “going to and fro in the earth” and have been “walking up and down in it”.

1Ki 13:12  And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. 
1Ki 13:13  And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon, 
1Ki 13:14  And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

This section of scripture is a negative and reverse example of what Christ did when he came into Jerusalem on the “foal of an ass” (Zec 9:9). First of all, the father inquires where the prophet is, showing that he did not know where he was going unlike Christ who knew where He was going (Joh 8:14). He is leaving Judah on an ass going where his sons are telling him to go, taking his direction, in other words, from false doctrines represented by his sons. His sons are subject to him and provide the saddled beast needed, unlike the foal that was obtained for Christ and was loosed by two disciples who witness to us that this particular beast represents God’s elect who are going to be directed and freed by Christ. Putting our clothes upon the colt symbolizes our subjection to Christ and understanding our need to have Him wash our clothes from our own self-righteousness through His strength which guides us and leads us to repentance (Mat 21:1-7, Rev 7:14, Rom 2:4).

Joh 8:14  Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.

Mat 21:1  And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 
Mat 21:2  Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 
Mat 21:3  And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 
Mat 21:4  All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 
Mat 21:5  Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. 
Mat 21:6  And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 
Mat 21:7  And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. 

Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

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?

1Ki 13:15  Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. 
1Ki 13:16  And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: 
1Ki 13:17  For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. 
1Ki 13:18  He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. 

It’s hard to miss the symbolism here, as the young prophet is asked by the older prophet to “Come home with me, and eat bread” and it is the younger prophet being the one who is being enticed to yield himself to this older servant to obey him, specifically in matters of doctrine, which is what eating bread symbolizes (Rom 6:16). This is twice now he has told the older prophet “I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place,” but the spirit of a harlot is persistent and contrary to his witnessing twice that he must obey God, it is revealed that his yet carnal spirit is not able to discern the test which is before him (Pro 7:21), It is being illustrated for us here as the older prophet goes on to lie with these words that persuaded the younger prophet to go and eat with him against God’s commandment: “He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him” (Gal 1:8, 2Co 11:4, 2Jn 1:10). All of this is instructive for us as it shows us how God knows what is in our hearts, and it takes a miracle to be obedient as well as it takes a miracle to be deceived, both of which God is able to manifest according to the counsel of His own will. We are admonished to be obedient, but in the end it is God who gives us that power through Christ to discern and obey our Father through Christ, our hope of glory (Col 1:27).

1Ki 13:19  So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.

What it took for these actions of the younger prophet to transpire was a series of events which is explained for us in this proverb (Pro 7:21-23), that demonstrates how God’s sword can be wielded through the seductive lies of the devil via the prophet of God whom He can use to deceive another prophet (Eze 14:9-11, Psa 17:13).

Pro 7:21  With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 
Pro 7:22  He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 
Pro 7:23  Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. 

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; 
Eze 14:11  That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

Psa 17:12  Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. 
Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword  [The young prophet was not delivered from the lion who represents Satan who already had devoured the young prophet via the lie of the old prophet, and so we cry out to God through our Lord the stronger Lion of the tribe of Judah (Heb 5:7) “deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword“, in this case the old prophet was God’s sword that did His bidding]

1Ki 13:20  And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back: 
1Ki 13:21  And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, 
1Ki 13:22  But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. 

It’s important to notice that “the prophet that brought him back” was not the one who was seeking the occasion against the flesh of the young prophet. Rather “it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet” and then “he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD“. This section of the word of God declares it was the Lord who was coming to the prophet, and the same is true of the first part of the process where the Lord came unto the prophet by way of sending a lying spirit: “He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him” (Eze 14:9). In both instances it was of the Lord and all according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). Because of these actions of the prophet who “camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water“, his punishment would be that “thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers“, meaning our old man of sin – symbolized by this prophet – cannot be buried in “the sepulchre of thy fathers” which represents our baptism into Christ lineage. Eating the true bread of life, Jesus Christ, and drinking the true living waters of God’s truth is what is required to be baptized into Christ’s death (Rom 6:1-3).

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

1Ki 13:23  And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. 
1Ki 13:24  And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. 

Our own iniquity, which is self-righteousness (Eze 33:13), brings us to eat at an altar that is not the one where God’s elect will ultimately be dragged (Heb 13:10, Joh 6:44, Joh 21:18). In this story, it is another man, the older prophet, who saddled the ass for the younger prophet who he brought back, showing us that the younger prophet is not working out his own salvation, in type and shadow, but is being directed by the old prophet who represents the lying spirits of Babylon out of which we come. This path that the Nicolaitan spirit ruling over the laity within us has is “a lion in the way” who represents Satan who is going to keep us in the bondage of sin until Christ sets us free.

The lion slaying the young prophet on the way is a shadow of the period of time in our lives when the deadly wound is not yet healed (Rev 13:12). Then “the ass stood by it” and “the lion also stood by the carcase” as a witness that this event represents the first deadly wound. If the prophet would have been eaten by the lion, his destruction would have been like Goliath being beheaded with the sword after he was initially killed by the stone that David slew him with (1Sa 17:49-51). The ass is just standing there, meaning there is no more direction to be given by this beast, unlike the beast that took Christ into Jerusalem triumphantly. It was there Christ would die for the sins of the world, so that God’s elect can now go without the camp “bearing his reproach” through Christ who gives us the strength to take this path (Heb 13:13, Php 4:13).

1Ki 13:25  And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. 
1Ki 13:26  And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him. 
1Ki 13:27  And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. 
1Ki 13:28  And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass. 
1Ki 13:29  And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 
1Ki 13:30  And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! 

Except by the grace of God go we (1Co 15:10), otherwise Babylon will have control of us from birth to death as typified for us in this section of scripture we’re studying. At first, after we were illuminated, we endured a great fight of afflictions (Heb 10:32) and “were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used” (Heb 10:33), which is what this typical statement is telling us: “And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt“. The young prophet is typical of our initial lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem, but when the old prophet gets word of this, “And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard“, he reiterates his sins and reminds everyone as a type of the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10) who this man was: “It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.“

He then reveals his desire to continue to take control of this dead man’s body as explained with these words: “And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass. And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.” Symbolically the young prophet had started to die daily but was taken back by the old prophet to be buried the way he wanted, under his terms and conditions, showing us that both men were ‘the dead burying the dead’ (Luk 9:60).

Luk 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

It wasn’t enough to just bury him anywhere: “he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!” He was his brother in spirit, being prophets who were subject to one another in the negative sense of prophets being subject to one another, and he mourned over him. However, he mourned as others and not as we do for the dying daily process we are blessed to endure together in Christ (1Co 14:32, 1Th 4:13).

1Co 14:32  And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 

1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

1Ki 13:31  And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones: 
1Ki 13:32  For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. 

What a strange homage coming from the mouth of the old false prophet who wants to be just like his deceived brother and asks his sons, who represent his false doctrine, “When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.” The old prophet is still discerning that the words the young prophet spoke were of the Lord, but does not see how they apply to his own life. We can have all knowledge of God’s word and plenty of wisdom but no love, which is obedience to the commandments of the Lord (1Co 13:1-10). He is inspired to say that these prophecies are true and right and will come to pass and marvels at that and wants his body to be buried next to the young prophet for this reason alone. He is not considering that the man was devoured by a lion which represents Satan and ultimately was deceived by the devil just as this old prophet is and is witnessing to that fact by wanting to be buried alongside his kindred-spirited younger prophet.

1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 
1Co 13:2  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

1Ki 13:33  After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 
1Ki 13:34  And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

All things are ours and are written for us (1Co 3:21-23, 1Co 10:11), and so when we read of how the old prophet acted toward the young prophet and how the younger prophet responded to the old prophet, we are looking at a progression in their lives that mirrors the progression of the false prophet within ourselves who is deceived and used by God to accomplish this deception that reveals what is in our hearts. What is there is rebellion and stubbornness and sin witnessing to us that we cannot turn from our evil ways, as we let our base nature rule over us, typified by consecrating “the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him“ and with all that evil communication around him, “he became one of the priests of the high places” (1Co 15:33-34).

1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 
1Co 15:34  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

When Christ is not ruling and reigning on the throne of our hearts, we will remain in bondage to sin, the powers and principalities that are ruling over our heavens stated this way: “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.” It is through that inability to try spirits by someone who is deceived  that God seeks an occasion against our flesh. These things that happened with Jeroboam and the two prophets were written for our sakes upon whom the end of the ages are come (1Co 10:11), and admonishes us to do this going forward, with the mind of Christ that keeps us unified in Him: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” These words cannot be fulfilled in our life unless God gives us to operate as a healthy body that continually tries the spirits within us whether they are of the Lord as we look well to the flock of God by looking well to ourselves first (Act 20:28-31).

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 

The end result of Jeroboam not being given to discern spirits correctly was “And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam“, and what those events we’ve read about demonstrate to us is how our old man is deceived by God, “even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth”, as was literally going to happen to “the house of Jeroboam” as a type of our old man that cannot inherit eternal life.

]]> The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 23:21-40 The Prophets That Prophesy Lies in My Name https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-2321-40-the-prophets-that-prophesy-lies-in-my-name/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-2321-40-the-prophets-that-prophesy-lies-in-my-name Sun, 14 Nov 2021 02:59:08 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=24709 https://www.dropbox.com/s/oyagcyayf53gk62/20211114-Study_MikeV-ProphesyLies.m4a?raw=1

Jer 23:21-40  The Prophets That Prophesy Lies In My Name

[Study Aired November 14, 2021]

Jer 23:21  I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
Jer 23:22  But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
Jer 23:23  Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 
Jer 23:24  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
Jer 23:25  I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
Jer 23:26  How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
Jer 23:27  Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
Jer 23:28  The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Jer 23:30  Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
Jer 23:31  Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
Jer 23:32  Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:33  And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:34  And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.
Jer 23:35  Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
Jer 23:36  And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
Jer 23:37  Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
Jer 23:38  But since ye say, The burden of the LORD;  therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;
Jer 23:39  Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
Jer 23:40  And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

In our last study we discussed the false doctrines of Hymenaeus and Philetus. These two men fancied themselves to be very spiritually-minded men. They were in fact so spiritually-minded that they could no longer acknowledge that the natural must precede the spiritual:

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

The doctrine of Hymenaeus and Philetus, teaching “the resurrection is past already” may seem so far from the Truth that it need not take our attention, but as the apostle Paul tells us, such a cavalier attitude toward guarding over the doctrine of Christ is not the diligent and vigilant spirit with which we must approach the Word of the Lord. Rather we are instructed to:

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.  And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Now let’s look at Strong’s definition of the Greek word translated as ‘study’ in 1Timothy 2:15. Here is that word and its definition:

It is by divine design that this word is used in connection with how we are to deal with the false doctrine of Hymenaeus and Philetus concerning the resurrection being only spiritual and with no physical application. What we are being told is that we must be speedy and make an effort to be prompt and earnest and give diligence to sorting out in a very timely manner what is the Truth and what is not the Truth whenever a question about doctrine arises in the body of Christ.

This 23rd chapter of Jeremiah makes us aware of how the Lord wants us to think about false prophets and their false prophecies. He certainly does not want us to simply say, “Okay, I was proven wrong… what’s the big deal?” as one brother told me. The big deal is that such a cavalier statement demonstrates there is no repentance whatsoever! It was not being dealt with a spirit of ‘spoudazo’.

Our last study ended with both a question and a statement from the Lord:

Jer 23:18  For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word?  who hath marked his word, and heard it?
Jer 23:19  Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

We ended our last study by pointing out that all those who ‘stand in the counsel of the Lord’ and hear and mark His Word do so only after having been swept away with the false doctrines of the great harlot and her daughters. We saw that no man enters the temple of God in heaven until the seven plagues of the seven angels has been “grievously [poured out] upon the head of the wicked” within each of us for our own ‘day of evil’.

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

“The day of evil” is the day the Lord judges us with His seven last plagues. Therefore, when Jeremiah says, “A whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.”  That is just an earlier way of saying:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

So, we will give diligence not to think that these words have no personal application to each of us. They do apply to us first, but they also apply those who are not given to repent of their false doctrine at this present time.

The following words of our Lord apply to each of us in every generation and to any and all who are in the process of speaking doctrines which the Lord Himself has not given them to speak:

Jer 23:21  I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
Jer 23:22  But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

It is a daunting task to ‘turn [us] from [our] evil ways’. The Lord alone can do so, and when He does “convict the gainsayer” within us it is only done through ‘much tribulation’ and through fiery trials. It is only done through His wrath upon the kingdom of our old man. It is only accomplished through the seven plagues of the seven angels:

Rev 15:6  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till  the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

To that end the Lord asks us:

Jer 23:23  Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

The Lord wants us to know that He is right here, right now! He is not on a fabled physical planet called ‘heaven’, which is so far from us that we cannot see it with our most powerful telescopes.

These are His own words concerning where He is at this very moment. This is what He had King David to ask:

Psa 139:7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence art there:
Psa 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Psa 139:9  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

All men are always in “Thy presence”. We are at all times in the Lord’s very presence. That being the Truth, the Lord asks us:

Jer 23:24  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

The phrase “The Lord” here is the Hebrew name, ‘Yahweh’, the God of the Old Testament. Yahweh, for any who are not yet aware, is Jesus Christ Himself. Here is a link to an article which gives numerous scriptures proving that Christ was the God who was seen, heard, enjoyed meals with, and wrestled with the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament:

Is Christ the Yahweh of the Old Testament

Psa 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Very few orthodox Christian ministers know that the ‘Yahweh’ of the Old Testament was Christ, “The Word” of the New Testament:

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Therefore when Yahweh says, “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” it is Christ posing that question, and the obvious answer is, “Yes indeed. Christ, through His Father’s spirit ‘fills heaven and earth’.” Heaven and earth and all things consist in Christ:

Col 1:15  Who [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be  thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Since there is nowhere we can go from His presence, He sees and hears everything including all the lies that are being prophesied in His name:

Jer 23:25  I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
Jer 23:26  How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
Jer 23:27  Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

All false doctrines are empowered and inspired by the great red dragon, Satan, that old serpent, the devil. It is he who gives our beast his power:

Jer 23:28  The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Jer 23:30  Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.

The Lord is warning us against stealing His words which He gave to another man then “wresting” and twisting those words around the idol of their heart, and claiming those words are given to them from God. The scriptures reveal this was done to both King David and the apostle Paul:

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:
Psa 55:13  But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
Psa 55:14  We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

Psa 56:5  Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
Psa 56:6  They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

You and I are called to be conspired against by this world. All the Lord’s prophets have been conspired against, and it will continue to be so. “All their thoughts are against me for evil”, but “God is for me”, and He is for you:

Psa 56:9  When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.

Psa 55:18  He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.

2Ki 6:15  And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
2Ki 6:16  And he answered, Fear not: for they that  be with us are more than they that be with them.
2Ki 6:17  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

It is not a good idea to say “thus saith the Lord” if indeed the Lord has not said so, yet that is exactly what comes out of the mouths of the ministers in Babylon, who continually speak “above that which is written”, saying “Thus saith the Lord…”:

Jer 23:31  Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
Jer 23:32  Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

I have had people who were once a part of this fellowship, people with whom I went up to the house of the Lord and with whom I enjoyed sweet counsel, who have turned against me and all of you, and have prophesied of the impending end of this ministry. The first of the prophecies were that… ‘You will have no one to fellowship with if you keep teaching what you teach.’ The last of those prophecies were via dreams which the Lord had sent an evil spirit to give those false prophets. One told me that the Lord had revealed to this person that within six months, there would no longer be an iswasandwillbe.com ministry. My answer to that person was, “You have painted yourself into a corner. Six months will come and go and then we will know who the real false prophet is.” That was several years ago, and the pride of the beast within simply cannot find place for repentance, even though they have proven themselves to be false prophets in all four of those prophecies.

The last dreamer who shared his dream of our demise was also several years ago. He told me of his dream in the hearing of others. This person said he was instructed to tell me that I had a year left, and then this ministry would be destroyed. I’m not certain of the exact amount of time, but I am certain that it came and went, and that person had the audacity to challenge me again in the presence of those who had heard his false prophecy. As always is the case he denied that he had set a date and those who had heard him do so reminded him of exactly what he had said, yet he, too, “found no place for repentance”:

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble  you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

There is “no place for repentance” in any of “those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance”:

Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

The Lord knows those who are His, and He also knows when He has deceived us.

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

False prophets are always iniquitous, self-righteous false prophets, and they will “bear the punishment or their iniquity” just as we have borne the punishment of our iniquity:

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

All men of all time are full of pride and self-righteous iniquity. That is what “corruption” is:

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

However, very few are granted to repent of that corruption in “this present time”:

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find 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.

The Lord knows those who are His:

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Jeremiah continues revealing what is our experience:

Jer 23:33  And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:34  And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.

“His [spiritual] house” is all those who seek to that false prophet to be led of him instead of being led of the Word of the Lord. As we just quoted Ezekiel:

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him

This is what the Lord told Ezekiel when the followers of the false prophets feigned respect for the Lord’s true prophet:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh  according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

What “I will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols” means is this:

Psa 18:26  With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

The Lord’s answer to those who come to Jeremiah is the same:

Jer 23:35  Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
Jer 23:36  And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

“Every man’s word will be his burden” means we need to be very careful and let the Lord speak for us, and let our words be very few. Here is another way of making this statement:

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

Is it true that the Lord is “an austere man, taking up that [He] laid not down, and reaping that [He] did not sow”? Of course not! The Lord had invested a talent, a year’s wages, in this “wicked servant”, but this bum did nothing with it and then accuses His Lord of being a thief.

The servant who received one talent is a “froward”, presumptuous, lazy bum:

Psa 18:26  With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

If we think God is “an austere man” who will burn His creatures in eternal fire for all eternity, then that is how He will show Himself at our judgment in this present time and at the great white throne judgment.

Here is how Jeremiah tells us the same thing earlier in this same prophecy:

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

Teachers and prophets have been given to know the Lord’s words more than most, and for that reason they are judged more harshly than those who are not given to know so much. Here are the Lord’s words to us as we spend our own time in the churches of Babylon twisting, wresting, and wrapping His gold around the idols of our hearts:

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

That is why we are admonished:

Jas 3:1  My brethren, be not many masters,  knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

False prophets come to Christ and His Christ tempting Him and tempting us all the time:

Mat 16:1  The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.

Mat 19:3  The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

Mat 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

Mar 8:11  And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

Mar 10:2  And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

Luk 11:16  And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven.

Joh 8:6  This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground…

Such false prophets come to the Lord’s true prophets as if they are seeking counsel, or seeking help in interpreting a dream. However, when the answer or interpretation is not what they want to hear, they simply disagree with the person whose counsel they feignedly are seeking.

It happened to Ezekiel while He ministered to the Lord’s people in Babylonian captivity:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Eze 14:8  And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

Jeremiah endured this two-faced, hypocritical, feigned appreciation for his connection with the Lord, time after time as this prophecy has already revealed and as it will continue to be revealed in the remaining 29 chapters. Our old man is not the least bit interested in what the Lord wants us to do. He wants only to please himself and do what he wants to do, but he still wants to have the Lord’s name even as he wears his own apparel and eats his own food:

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

Considering all of this, let’s read verses 35-36 again before we go on to the last four verses of this chapter:

Jer 23:35  Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
Jer 23:36  And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

As Ezekiel 14 demonstrated, the Lord becomes fed up with our feigned faith in His word, while in reality we have our minds already made up to follow our own wicked heart. For that reason, the Lord inspired Jeremiah to tell us the same thing He instructed Ezekiel to tell His people many years later:

Jer 23:37  Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
Jer 23:38  But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;
Jer 23:39  Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
Jer 23:40  And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

Our old man is beyond hope. He is self-righteous and stubborn, and He was “made to be taken and destroyed”:

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

If we are blessed to endure the destruction of our own rebellious, self-righteous old man in this present time, then we are those blessed and holy few who will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him a thousand years:

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.

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

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study:

Jer 24:1  The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
Jer 24:2  One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
Jer 24:3  Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Jer 24:4  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 24:5  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
Jer 24:6  For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
Jer 24:7  And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Jer 24:8  And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
Jer 24:9  And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jer 24:10  And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

]]> The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 11:13-23 Pray Not for This People https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-1113-23-pray-not-for-this-people/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-1113-23-pray-not-for-this-people Sat, 19 Jun 2021 21:17:19 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=23752 https://www.dropbox.com/s/djsv2mwspuy3zun/20210620-Study_MikeV-BringingUsOut.m4a?raw=1

Jer 11:13-23 Pray Not for This People

[Study Aired June 20, 2021]

Jer 11:13  For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
Jer 11:14  Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
Jer 11:15  What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.
Jer 11:16  The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
Jer 11:17  For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
Jer 11:18  And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
Jer 11:19  But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
Jer 11:20  But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
Jer 11:21  Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:
Jer 11:22  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:
Jer 11:23  And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

Here are the last two verses of our previous study and a few words of that commentary:

The “gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble” refers to our heart’s idols (Eze 14:1-9). The false doctrine of a secret rapture or a place of safety will not save us from the day of the Lord’s wrath upon the kingdom of our old man.

We concluded that study with the recognition that it is through the Lord’s judgments we learn righteousness:

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

The only way we “will learn righteousness” is “in the way of [our Lord’s] judgments”. We are told that all the judgments of the Old Testament are types of our own judgment:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [G5179: ‘tupos’, types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Here is how this Greek word ‘tupos’ is translated in the Concordant Literal Version of verse 6 of this same chapter:

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

Being “types of us” obviously does not mean that we must literally eat of the physical tree of the knowledge of good and evil, commit physical adultery and then literally murder a man to cover up our adultery as King David did with Bathsheba. Nor does it mean that we each must literally kill the prophets or literally nail Christ to the cross. So, what is the meaning of “the way of thy judgments”?

Christ answers this question for us and makes clear “the way of [His] judgments”. First, He poses a couple of questions for us to contemplate:

Luk 13:1  There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2  And Jesus answering said unto them,  Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4  Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Our Lord’s words, “Suppose ye…” indicate that is exactly what those who were telling Him of what Pilate had done to these men were “supposing”. That is just the way we all just naturally think. Why in the world would the Lord consider you or me to be worthy of the same deaths as those whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices? Why would He consider you or me to be worthy of dying as untimely a death as those on whom the tower in Siloam fell?

The scriptures answer that question, and in doing so reveal the meaning of “the way of [His] judgments”.

This is “the way of His judgments”:

Mat 23:29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31  Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that  ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

There it is! The reason we are just as worthy of death as the men whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, and the reason we are just as worthy of death as the eighteen men upon whom the tower in Siloam fell is that we are no better than any of them, and “all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias… may be required of this generation” reading these words, as Luke tells us:

Luk 11:48  Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Notice that the word ‘some’ is in italics in the King James Version. Italics in the King James indicates that the word is not in the original Greek manuscripts and was added by the translators. I have emboldened that word to make the point that it simply does not belong in the 34th verse of Matthew 23, or in the 49th verse of Luke 11. As we will see in a few moments, Young’s Literal Version leaves out the word ‘some’ in Matthew 23:34, but even Young’s fails to catch this mistake in Luke 11:49.

Before we read Young’s version of these verses containing the word ‘some’, let’s look at this question which the first Christian martyr, Stephen, posed to this very same ‘generation’:

Act 7:52  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them  which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

The obvious implied answer to Stephen’s question is that there was not one single prophet of God who had not been rejected and persecuted by the established religious leaders of their day. It certainly was not “some of them”. No, it is every single true prophet who is always rejected and persecuted by the religious establishment of their day.

I used to read these verses stating that the blood of all the prophets would be required “of this generation” and I thought, “Wow, that must have been an exceptionally wicked generation into which Christ was born over 2,000 years ago!” Such thinking is that of a spiritual babe who has missed the entire point the Lord is making. That point is that the sins of all men of all time, from Adam to the great white throne judgment, are found within the flesh of every one of us who are “in Adam”. In that sense we are one and all guilty of the blood of all the prophets and the blood of Christ Himself. It is in that sense that you and I, along with all the rest of mankind, are guilty of all evil done from Adam to the great white throne judgment:

Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

That is “the way of [His] judgments”.

It is you and I who say, “If I had lived in the days of our fathers, I would not have partaken of the blood of the prophets…. I am not as wicked as those men whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifice, nor the men on whom the tower in Siloam fell. If I had lived in Christ’s day, I would not have crucified Him.” Nothing is further from the Truth. All the wickedness that has happened from Adam until now, and all the wickedness which will happen from Adam to the great white throne judgment, is in your flesh and in my flesh, and it is in that sense we are all guilty of all of those sins, including a self-righteous spirit which tells us we would never in a thousand years be that wicked when this is the Truth of the Lord’s very elect before “judgment… begins with us”:

Lam 1:8  Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her,  because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
Lam 1:9  Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully [“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…”]: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.

“Jerusalem [the Lord’s very elect] has [at first] sinned grievously… therefore she came down wonderfully [and] she had no comforter”. It was not “some of them” whom she had persecuted and killed. It was all the Lord’s Truths and all His prophets telling us of His judgments that we have rejected and killed. Young’s Literal Version caught the fact that the word ‘some’ did not belong in Matthew 23:34:

Mat 23:29  `Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous,
Mat 23:30  and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31  So that ye testify to yourselves, that ye are sons of them who did murder the prophets;
Mat 23:32  and ye–ye fill up the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33  `Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?
Mat 23:34  `Because of this, lo, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and of them ye will kill and crucify, and of them ye will scourge in your synagogues, and will pursue from city to city;
Mat 23:35  that on you may come all the righteous blood being poured out on the earth from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar:
Mat 23:36  verily I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. (YLT)

The religious world loves its own false prophets who speak only smooth things:

Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

This world loves its own, but it is “of them”, of those few who are ‘faithful to the end’ to the Lord’s words, of whose blood we have all “taken part” in our own time, when we reject and persecute and hate them and their uncompromising fidelity to the Truth, “the way of [His] judgments” (Isa 26:8-9).

However, Young’s Literal Version fails to correctly translate this exact same Greek phrase in Luke:

Luk 11:49 Therefore, also, God’s Wisdom said, ‘I shall be dispatching to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will be killing and banishing,'”
Luk 11:50 that the blood of all the prophets which is shed from the disruption of the world may be exacted from this generation,
Luk 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the house. Yea, I am saying to you, It will be exacted from this generation!”

No, no, it is not ‘some of them’:

Act 7:52  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Act 7:53  Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

What happened to Stephen for simply pointing out that the rejection of “the ways of the Lord’s judgment” is a complete and total rejection from those who claim His name and claim to be His people:

Act 7:54  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
Act 7:56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon  God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Are you and I above stoning Stephen? No, of ourselves we are not. Had we been on that Sanhedren council, you and I would have been the ones doing this vile act. “This generation” is not just the generation into which Christ was born:

Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come  upon this generation.

No, it is rather “this generation…. whoso readeth [in every generation] let him understand”:

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

With that understanding, we will continue to ask the Lord to help us to appreciate the depth of our apostasy and deception and “the [loving] way of His judgments” as revealed in today’s study:

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

The Lord has made us err from His ways and has hardened our hearts from His fear for this very purpose:

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

This is the depth of our apostasy. This is just how hard He has made our hearts to be. This is just how little we fear our own Creator:

Jer 11:13  For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.

According to “the number of your cities [and] according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem” is just another way of saying that our apostasy is complete and thorough to this extent:

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff,  the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

“The… bread… and… the water” are both types and symbols for the Words and doctrines of Christ. We all apostatize just that thoroughly while we are in the grip of the great whore, Babylon.

As we read in our last study, God knows just how to deal with us at this point:

Jer 11:14  Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
Jer 11:15  What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.

There is a time in our lives when the Lord puts us out of His presence for the destruction of our flesh. It is a time of being tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.

This time of our judgment is called “the patience of the saints”. It is called the keeping of His commandments [to read, hear and keep the things written in this book (Rev 1:2)] and the faith of Jesus”:

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

If we are His very elect in this present time, the Lord will “look on [our] affliction” and rebuke the adversary who exalts himself against us. These words of Jeremiah 11 are setting the stage for what this same prophet reveals to us about ourselves in the book of Lamentations, which I repeat:

Lam 1:8  Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
Lam 1:9  Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction:  for the enemy hath magnified himself.

Even our own old man despises the hypocrite we have become at this point in our lives. Thank the Lord for “the ways of [His] fiery judgments” (Isa 26:8-9):

Jer 11:16  The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
Jer 11:17  For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
Jer 11:18  And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.

“Their doings” are our doings. Until the day Christ brings us to appreciate our need for “the ways of [His] judgments”, we will continue to self-righteously place the blood of all the prophets upon others and deceive ourselves that we would never have partaken of their blood, nor ever refused the Lord’s words and doctrines, even as we do just that. That is why this next verse must first be required of you and me:

Jer 11:19  But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

This is essentially what we first do to Christ when He sends His prophets to witness us of “the ways of [His] judgments”:

Mat 21:38  But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
Mat 21:39  And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
Mat 21:40  When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
Mat 21:41  They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Mat 21:42  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43  Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

When Jeremiah is speaking these words, he is applying them to “the men of Anathoth”, his home town:

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah,  of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

The men of Anathoth, like the men of Nazareth, symbolize our self-righteous, carnal-minded, Babylonian old man.

Jer 11:20  But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously,  that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
Jer 11:21  Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:

As ‘the men of Nazareth’ demonstrate, our self-righteous, judgmental old man wants Christ to “die… by our hand”. This is what you and I have done to Christ:

Act 8:32  The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

This is the story of Philip’s witness to the Ethiopian eunuch, who was reading this verse of Isaiah when Philip approached his chariot:

Isa 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

In this verse of Jeremiah, the holy spirit is simply building upon what it had already revealed to King David of “the ways of [His] judgments”.

Psa 44:22  Yea, for thy sake are we  killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

This theme will carry over into next week’s study:

Jer 12:3  But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

Paul refers to just how thoroughly we reject the judgments of Christ and His Christ:

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

This brings us to our last two verses of this 11th chapter of Jeremiah and “the ways of the Lord’s judgments” against the self-righteous kingdom of Babylon within us:

Jer 11:22  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:
Jer 11:23  And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

There will be no ‘remnant’ left to the kingdom of our self-righteous, carnal-minded old man who is enmity against God and “the ways of His judgments” (Isa 26:8-9).

That concludes our study for this week. In our next study we will “talk with [the Lord] of His judgments”:

Jer 12:1  Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
Jer 12:2  Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
Jer 12:3  But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
Jer 12:4  How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.
Jer 12:5  If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
Jer 12:6  For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.
Jer 12:7  I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
Jer 12:8  Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.
Jer 12:9  Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.

]]> Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 54:1-8 In a Little Wrath I Hid my Face From you for a Moment https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-541-8-in-a-little-wrath-i-hid-my-face-from-you-for-a-moment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-541-8-in-a-little-wrath-i-hid-my-face-from-you-for-a-moment Sun, 09 Feb 2020 02:51:03 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=20248 Isa 54:1-8 In A Little Wrath I Hid My Face From You For A Moment
[Study Aired February 9, 2020]

Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Isaiah chapters 52-54 are the most quoted chapters of the Old Testament which concern the prophesied sufferings endured by our Lord to “bear the sins of many”. The scriptures of the prophets, who were of Abraham’s own physical seed, prophesied that just as they had hated and sought to kill Joseph, David and all the prophets, they would also hate and even kill their own messiah, the Christ.

Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Here are the last two verses from our last study in chapter 53:

Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

“He shall… bear their iniquities… and He shall bare the sin of many… because He has poured out His soul unto death”. This sacrifice which is the subject of these three chapters of Isaiah, is not being offered for the iniquities of the Gentile nations who are sinning against and persecuting the Lord’s people, as the Jewish scholars would have us to believe. These chapters are not speaking of the iniquities of the Gentiles committed against the Lord’s people. 

This is the specific iniquities  and transgressions for whom this sacrifice is being made:

Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

In the anti-type, Isaiah is telling us that it is those who have for so very long considered themselves to be the Lord’s spiritual bride who have “rebelled against [Him]” and have gone after other gods and have believed the doctrines of other gods. It is they for whom this sacrifice is primarily being made. 

The Lord is a jealous God and will not share His wife with another:

Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 

Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 

Deu 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

We must therefore be made aware of what became of all the churches in Asia which Paul had been given to raise up. This is what happened to the apostle Paul and to the apostle John before they died:

2Ti1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

“All they which are in Asia” include “the seven churches of Asia” to whom the apostle John addresses the book of Revelation (Rev 2-3). ‘Seven’ is the number which signifies completion, which is why we are told “He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the [seven] churches”. A link to a study on the number 7 is here.

Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

The reason John addresses the book of Revelation to the seven churches is that they, too, had forsaken him. Notice what the Lord reveals to us:

3Jn 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 
3Jn 1:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

It is the Lord’s own people, it is you and I, those who have known Him and then have lost our first love, that have fallen prey to the doctrines of Balaam, the doctrines of those who Lord it over the Lord’s flock. We have all fallen for the false doctrine of the Nicolaitans, the doctrine of Jezebel, and those who have committed spiritual fornication, all the while telling ourselves that we are spiritually rich and in need of nothing. 

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

That is what “Judah and Jerusalem” typify at the very beginning this prophecy:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Israel, just like Christians, considered themselves to be the Lord’s wife. A rebellious wife has become a harlot and has come to be the very people whom the Lord has sent to carry them away from Him. His own people have become “Babylon the great”. His own people are a “great whore”, and in spiritual anti-type, in spiritual reality it is the Lord’s own people who kill His prophets and His witnesses.

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. 

The Lord’s faithful witnesses are at this very moment dead in the streets of Babylon the great:

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Who is “spiritual Sodom”? We need not guess:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Who is the great whore of Revelation 17 and 18, who kills the Lord’s prophets? Again, we need not guess:

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers

The Lord died “for the transgressions of His [own] people”, but as Isaiah reveals to us:

Isa 44:18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

It is the Lord’s own spiritually blinded people, those who want His spiritual name but do not at first want to eat His spiritual food or wear His spiritual apparel, you and I who are the very people who have killed and offered up our own sacrifice for our own sins:

Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women [The ‘seven churches’ of Rev 2-3] shall take hold of one man [Christ], saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel [our own doctrines and our own works]: only let us be called by thy name [‘Christians’], to take away our reproach.

These “seven women” typify the entire nation who, as the Lord’s wife, have turned on Him and have become a harlot (Isa 1:21). They are the unfaithful wife which persecutes the righteous men and the prophets who are sent to the Lord’s apostate people. The other side of the same coin is the few faithful righteous men and faithful prophets who typify ‘the barren wife’, which is typified by all the barren wives of scripture, by Abraham’s beloved wife, Sarah, Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, Samson’s mother, and Hannah the loved but barren wife of Elkanah, the father of Samuel (1Sa 1:5). All these women were beloved by their husbands but were at first barren and could not conceive children.

We have no record of Hannah conceiving again after the birth of Samuel. All we know for certain is that she had one child, and yet this is what she is inspired to say when she dedicates her only son to the service of the Lord:

1Sa 2:1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 
1Sa 2:2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 
1Sa 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 
1Sa 2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
1Sa 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

“The barren has born seven” is a spiritual statement because Samuel was just weaned when Hannah gave him to the service of the Lord’s tabernacle under Eli, the high priest. 

According to Matthew, Christ’s generation was the 42nd generation from Abraham. Christ was not physically married, and He was crucified having no physical offspring.  In the previous chapter Isaiah therefore poses this question concerning the Lord’s family:

Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isaiah 53 is the section of Isaiah the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when he was approached by Philip: 

Act 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
Act 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

Hannah’s words are the answer to the question, “Who shall declare His generation? for His life was taken from the earth.”

1Sa 2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
1Sa 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

“The barren… desolate” wife is the bride of Christ who is plainly stated to be the antitype of the barren wife of Abraham:

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

There it is again in verse 27-29:

Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 
Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

Those ‘Christians’ who demonstrate their love for their fellow man by being obedient to Christ’s commandments to ‘speak evil of no man” (Tit 3:2); love your enemies (Mat 5:44); resist not evil but turn the other cheek (Mat 5:39), will never be found speaking evil of, persecuting or killing or crucifying anyone but themselves, and that is being done daily in the spiritual manner we are commanded to consider ourselves (Rom 6:1-4; 1Co 15:31; Gal 2:20, Col 1;24, and Heb 12:1).

Galatians 4 tells us Christ has a wife whose son is bound by the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9-10), by the fear of what men might think of him, and by the flesh, and cannot be heir with the children of the wife whose children are of faith and of promise and are not children of the works of the law for the lawless:

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

A righteous man will never, under any circumstance ever hate, speak evil of, or murder his fellow man. Those who claim Christ but are willing to murder those they deem worthy of death are the children of the bondwoman. The righteous man, on the other hand is the son of the freewoman and is free of the fear of men. However, the son of the freewoman is comparatively barren in this age. Nevertheless, the son of the free woman, the righteous man, in the end, will have far more children than “she that has a husband” and bears many children in this age, because she is the bride of Christ “who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth” (1Ti 2:4), through the mercy which the children of the free woman, the righteous man, will be given to pour out on all men of all time:

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

As the mother of the few in this age, we are encouraged:  

Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Judaism was the church of Christ’s day, and the church of Christ’s day typifies the church of today which would, and still does, spiritually crucify Him and His doctrines until this very day. 

When I say that ‘Christendom would and does crucify Christ today’, that is easily demonstrated by the fact that all the leading ministers of all the major churches, both Protestant and Catholic, encourage their members to get involved in the affairs of this age and join the militaries of their respective nations and be willing to die physically fighting to preserve the lives of their families and their countries, knowing that these words are the doctrine of our Lord:

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

Those who are faithful to Christ are indeed truly few, fulfilling the Lord’s Words:

Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Luk 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 
Luk 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

The Lord’s children are also called His wife. We are betrothed to “one husband”:

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

We are also called “the sons of God”:

1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

“The world” which did not know Christ was the deceived religious world of His day, and things certainly have not gotten any better: 

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

Christ and His followers were very few and greatly despised. The church of His day was in deep dark deception, and here He is telling us that the deception of that time would only get worse and worse. In spite of these very clear words of warning, our flesh tells us that all these very educated religious men leading the churches of our day cannot all be wrong. What we are taught is that instead of getting “worse and worse” the Christian world grew to dominate most of the world and is even today the largest religion on earth.

However, the Truth still remains:

Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

“He that was born after the flesh” is not speaking of the pagan world. It is referring to the rejected “seed of Abraham” who hates and mocks the Lord’s elect, and who say of His elect, “We will not have this man to rule over us.” (Luk 19:14) It is the Lord’s rejected elect anointed who hate those whom the Lord has sent to replace their old man and to be used as their saviors:

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

It was all prophesied here in Isaiah:

Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 

The shame of our youth and the reproach of our widowhood are both from the perspective of the unbelieving, rejected seed of Abraham, “the son of the bondwoman”. We are “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”, and while the rejected seed of Abraham has physically killed our husband, death could not hold Him, and He rose on the third day to become the propitiation not just for our sins but for the sins of the whole world:

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

‘The son of the bondwoman’ is the rejected ‘seed of Abraham’. ‘The son of the bondwoman is also our rejected old man who simply is not given to know Christ and therefore cannot receive His doctrine:

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

How can we know we do hear His Word and that we are His children and not the children of the bondwoman?

1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 
1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Christ is both our Creator and our Husband:

Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 

These words detail the circumstances of our calling. If we are not forsaken, grieved in spirit, and if we have not been refused by the children of the bondwoman, “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, then we are not the freewoman bride of Christ.

If indeed we are that ‘forsaken, grieved in spirit’ son who is refused by the children  of the bondwoman, then we will be blessed to endure the excruciating loss of the dominion of our flesh and experience the same feeling of being forsaken even of our husband Himself just long enough to experience His wrath upon the kingdom of our old man and to experience the death of our old man to the fear of what men can do to us and to the fear of what others think of us:

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

This experience is what elicited these words from the mouth of our dying Lord as His corruptible flesh and blood were being offered up as the sin offering for the sins of all men of all time:

Mar 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

A very interesting thing about…

Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 

…Immediately followed by:

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

…Very clearly demonstrates that just as we have seen we are both “the sons of God” as well as “His bride” who comes out from Him, even so Christ who also “came out from the Father” and is both the Son of His Father, as well as a wife to the Father as His head…

Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

Joh 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Joh 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Just as the first physical ‘wife’ is called ‘the mother of all living’, so we are told that the Father used Christ to be the womb by which He conceived and brought into being everything in heaven and in earth:

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

Christ is following the example of His Father who sent Him “that the world through Him might be saved.”

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

Then, for those who are given to receive it, Christ tells us:

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

Contrary to all the smooth-talking prophets of Babylon (Isa 30:10), ours is not a calling to a life of ease and luxury, or as I quote one Babylonian minister, ours is not a calling to a life of “coffee and doughnuts”. We are called to “offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), die daily (1Co 15:31), and to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and “fill up in [our] bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24), but if we are given to endure to the end this is what we are told:

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.

Just as the whole creation has waited for the manifestation of Christ, it now waits for the manifestation of Him and His generation, His Christ:

1Jn 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

I pray we are all given to understand that “knowing Him that is true [includes] we in Him that is true” and that having been given that understanding “is the true God, and life eternal.

John makes this exact same revolutionary statement in:

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

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

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

Finally, I also pray we are all granted to “have respect unto the recompense of [our] reward”, because very few indeed do.

Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

That is our study for today, and here are our verses for next week’s study:

Isa 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 
Isa 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. 
Isa 54:11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 
Isa 54:12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. 
Isa 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 
Isa 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 
Isa 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 
Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

]]> Why We do Not Call Ourselves ‘Apostles’ or ‘Prophets’, and How do We Live by Every Word of God? https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/why-we-do-not-call-ourselves-apostles-or-prophets-and-how-do-we-live-by-every-word-of-god/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-we-do-not-call-ourselves-apostles-or-prophets-and-how-do-we-live-by-every-word-of-god Wed, 14 Aug 2019 17:53:27 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=19220 Why We Do Not Call Ourselves ‘Apostles or Prophets and How do We Live by Every Word of God?​

Hi M​___,

Thank you for your question concerning how ‘living by every word’ applies to the ‘functions’ of the body of Christ, which some refer to as ‘offices’ in the church.

Before I answer your question about these different ‘functions’ of the body of Christ, I want to list all the verses you reference, which each state that we are to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” and deal with what that really means.

Here are all the verses you reference:

Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. 

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. 

Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Now we need to ask the question, “​What does ​’​Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God​’​ mean???

It might help if we begin by demonstrating what it does not mean. For example, here​ are some words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God which are not referring personally to you or to me:

Gen 1:1  In​ the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Neither you nor I “In the beginning… created the heaven and the earth.” ​However, if I am granted the faith to believe those words, then I will live my life accordingly​, and I will fear and obey my very Creator.

Here is another example of words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God which have no personal application to you or me:

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD , and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD , and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

I am not “the Lord, and there is none else”. I cannot “make peace and create evil”,​ b​ut if I am granted the faith to believe these words​, then I may also be given to live by the knowledge that “there is [but] one God the Father, of whom are all things, and… [besides this “one God, the Father”] there is [also] one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things…”:

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Here are a couple more examples of how we are to understand what “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” means:

Moses was sent by Christ to speak to Pharaoh to secure the release of His people from Egypt. He asked Christ who he was so he could tell the people who it was who had sent him. This was the answer Moses was given:

Exo 3:13  And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
Exo 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exo 3:15  And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

Moses did not go to deliver Israel from Egypt in his own name, and neither you nor I are “the Lord God of our fathers”. Yet if we are given the faith to believe these words,​ then we may also be given the strength to endure the rejection of this world and be faithful to “the Lord God of our fathers” to the end because:

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.
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.

I must live by all the words which are actually proceeding out of the mouth of God via the writings of the apostle Paul, because:

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

I am to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, but I personally do not ‘foreknow’ or ‘predestinate’ or ‘call’ or ‘justify’ or ‘glorify’ anyone (Jas 4:13-17). I have ‘called’ no one into the Lord’s service because:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [Greek: ‘drag’] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:45  It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

What does all of this tell us about what it means to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”?

I think I have demonstrated that it does not mean that I personally must do every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I am not “the Head of the body”, even though those words “Head of the body” have “proceeded out of the mouth of God”:

Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

“He” is referring to Christ, who, by His Father and for His Father’s pleasure, has been given to “have the preeminence… in all things”:

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

If I am part of the Lord’s “very elect”, and I am given the faith to believe those words,​ then I will also be given the spiritual strength of Christ to “endure to the end” and hold fast to the crown of life I have been given, but I will never be “preeminent in all things”:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

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.

So, here we are again. These words are proceeding directly out of the mouth of Christ. How do I “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God?​” How do I work the works of God as those works relate to living by every word that proceeds out of His mouth?

Let’s let the Lord Himself answer that question for us:

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 

‘Living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ (Deu 8:3 and Mat 4:4) is to “work the works of God”. The work we must do to “work the works of God [is to] believe on Him whom He has sent”. What does “believe on Him whom He hath sent” mean? Again, we need to let Christ Himself answer that question:

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.

Christ tells us to teach what He taught and to do what He did and to say what He says:

Mat 5:19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Based on these words, if I “do the things which [Christ] says”, and I teach His words and His doctrine which promises us… “He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death”, then I “will be called great in the kingdom of heaven”. On the other hand, if I tell you, ‘The resurrection is past already, it has all already taken place within you, and you have already been through the lake of fire which is the second death, because you must live by every word of God within you, and there will be no outward kingdom of God ruling over the outward kingdoms of this world’, and if I teach you that ‘living by every word means you must know the purifying fire of the second death as well as the purifying fiery trials of being the first to die to your old man…’ If I teach that false doctrine then Christ tells me that I will be “called least in the kingdom of heaven” because I am not “doing and teaching” the things He said, namely:

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

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

If I teach you that ‘living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ (Mat 4:4) can be stretched to mean that you, and all men, must live out both the first and second death and experience being raised up in both the first and the second resurrection then I am doing exactly what Hymeneaus and Philetus did and taught, and I am twisting and rending the Words that have proceeded out of the mouth of God into something that it does not say, and I am nullifying the promises given to those who are the Lord’s elect and who are promised that they will “not be hurt of the second death” (Rev 2:10-11 and Rev 20:6)

“The second death… is the lake of fire”:

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 

The promise given to the Lord’s elect is that they, not just anyone, but only they “shall not be hurt of the second death/ lake of fire… on such the second death/lake of fire has no power”.

But here is what Hymeneaus and Philetus were teaching,​ and it is still being taught by some until this very day:

2Ti 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

For decades I have been unable to understand how anyone could possibly teach “that the resurrection is past already”, but now I understand clearly how that is done. It is done by twisting Deu 8:3 and Mat 4:4 and Luk 4:4 and rending the meaning of “living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” into making every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God personally applicable to oneself within, without regard to the previous verse which reads:

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

If every word applies to every person, then why would we be told to “rightly divide the word of Truth”?

Obviously those who are granted to partake of the “blessed and holy first resurrection” (Rev 20:6), to which Christ refers as “the resurrection to life” (Joh 5:28-29), will not be called “ye cursed, [and] cast into hell (Greek:​ Gehenna) fire prepared for the devil and his angels”:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [a thousand years prior to all others, Rev 20:4-6]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek:​ ‘judgment’, to take place after the thousand year reign of the Lord’s elect, Rev 20:1-6].

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. 

If we “rightly divide the word of Truth” then we will teach the things Christ taught. Only then will we “work the works of God”. Christ’s doctrine is that those in the resurrection to life will be raised up to life and rulership with Him in His kingdom, whereas all others will be raised to judgment.

I have gone over all of these verses which show that we are to “rightly divide the Word of Truth” for the purpose of answering your question about how the functions of the body of Christ are to be understood in light of the statement that we are to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Deu 8:3,​ Mat 4:4,​ Luk 4:4).

Here are the verses you quoted in asking that question:

1Co 12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
1Co 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29  Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30  Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
1Co 12:31  But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

You quote these verses​, and then you ask:

As you say here, these titles are “the case in Babylon”, and the reason why the titles “Apostle” and “Prophet” are given by ministers to themselves in Babylon is because those in Babylon have no use for these words of our Lord:

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27  And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Mat 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. 

No minister with the attitude and spirit of Christ expressed in these words is going to insist on being addressed as ‘Reverend’, which means, “to be feared”. Neither will he insist on being called an Apostle nor a Prophet.

Now let’s look at the meaning of these two words, and how they are used in scripture.

G652
ἀπόστολος
apostolos
ap-os’-tol-os
From G649; a delegate; specifically an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ (“apostle”), (with miraculous powers): – apostle, messenger, he that is sent.
Total KJV occurrences: 81

Who has been given “miraculous powers”, and who is a true “delegate” of Christ today? The answer is the very meaning of this word which is “he that is sent”.

This Greek word, apostolos‘,​ appears 81 times in the New Testament. Of those 81 entries it appears in the plural, ‘apostles’, 53 times, and in the singular, ‘apostle’, 19 times. It is used in the possessive form, ‘apostle’s’ five times.

But that leaves four more entries,​ and these entries will demonstrate that any and all who are sent by the Lord into His service are both ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’. The first of these three entries is the first word translated as “sent” in:

Joh 13:16  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent [Greek:​ ‘apostolos‘] greater than he that sent him.

The word ‘apostle’ simply means “to be sent”.

Here is the next verse where this word is translated as “messenger”:

Php 2:25  Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger [Greek:​ ‘apostolos’], and he that ministered to my wants.

A “messenger” is, of course,​ ‘one who is sent’ to deliver a message.

Here is our third and final entry for this Greek word, apostolos:

2Co 8:23  Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you: or our brethren be inquired of, they are the messengers [Greek:​ ‘apostolos‘] of the churches, and the glory of Christ.

Titus is called a “fellowhelper”, and the other brothers traveling with Paul and Titus, are called “apostolos“… “messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ”.

So while there were indeed 12 original apostles, signifying the foundation of the church of Christ, Paul, James, the brother of Christ, and Barnabas, are all also called apostles, as well as anyone who was helping Paul to spread the gospel.

Now let’s examine how the holy spirit defines a ‘prophet’, and just exactly what it means to ” prophesy”:

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
1Co 14:4  He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
1Co 14:5  I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

There is no denying that there are teachers who are not as gifted at comforting the Lord’s flock as​ some​ others who are gifted at doing that. But there is not a single ‘apostle’ or ‘prophet’ who does not teach those to whom they are sent. A ‘teacher’ edifies his students, and a prophet teaches those whom he edifies and comforts.

So while no one person is gifted with all the gifts in the verses you reference:

1Co 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
1Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

Yet there is very much overlapping of these various functions within the body of Christ. While no one person has all these functions to himself, yet every member of the body of Christ has been sent out into this world as sheep among wolves, to witness to the Truth of the Word of God. In that sense we are all teaching others if we are faithful to Christ and His Words and His ways.

The ‘miracles’ we perform are “greater works than [Christ Himself]” performed while on this earth in a body of flesh and bone, inasmuch as the ‘miracles’ we perform are spiritual, whereas all of His miracles were physical. He is still here on this earth in a body of flesh and bone in the form of “His body which is the church”:

Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

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:

Our function as the body of Christ is to fulfill all the services mentioned in 1Co 12:27-30 and to do so without “exercising dominion over… the Lord’s flock”:

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 

1Pe 5:3  Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

That is why we do not give each other high-sounding titles which were​ never meant to be used as they are in the churches of Babylon. We are sent by the Lord (‘apostolos‘), and we do indeed speak to men​ to edification, exhortation, and comfort (prophets), but we need not stroke each other’s egos with such titles, which are really nothing more than descriptions of the various functions within the body of Christ.

I exhort you as one of the Lord’s ‘prophets’ to read the study in the essential reading section of the website entitled The Head of Christ Is God. It will help you to see that we are one and all being betrothed to our Head, Christ, as our husband and as our head. As His bride we are expected to bring forth much fruit and to show mercy to all who are not in that “blessed and holy first resurrection” (Rev 20:6).

That blessing will put all the ranks and titles which the ministers of Babylon bestow on each other into their proper inconsequential perspective.

Here is how the spiritually healthy body of Christ functions in service to itself, and to all whom​ the spirit drags to Himself. Notice especially verses 15-16:

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Notice that in all the functions mentioned in verse 11, there is no mention of “leaders, elders, or bishops”, simply because there are so many ways to describe the functions within the body of Christ.

I hope this helps you to understand why neither ​we, nor any of the apostles of Christ, insisted on being addressed as a person of higher rank among other members of His body.

Indeed, Paul did defend his apostleship and​ the fact he was sent by Christ.​

Act 9:15  But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

He did this only when “false apostles” were altogether denying his apostleship as we learn in 2nd Corinthians:

2Co 11:1  WOULD to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
2Co 11:5  For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
2Co 11:6  But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.
2Co 11:7  Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
2Co 11:8  I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
2Co 11:9  And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
2Co 11:10  As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
2Co 11:11  Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
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.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Notice he also had earlier referred to himself as ‘one born out of season… the least of he apostles’:

1Co 15:7  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
1Co 15:8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
1Co 15:11  Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

In closing I will use some of Paul’s words here. ‘Whether it were​ by an apostle, a prophet, a leader or an elder, so we preach and so you believed’, not because we have any authority over anyone, but because we have demonstrated the power of God via the Truths of His Words, and have be given to “persuade” you to see Christ, both in us and in His Words:

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you. (CLV)

That is the extent of the influence any minister has over the Lord’s flock. For that reason, we have no need or Biblical basis for assigning positions of power to each other.

I hope this serves to explain why we do not call each other ‘apostle’ or ‘prophet’.

Your brother and “fellow servant” (Now, that is a Biblical function), Mike

Col 4:7  All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord: [No ‘rank’ nor ‘title’ for “a beloved brother… Tychicus. Just a “fellowservant”.]

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