[Study Aired June 26, 2022]

Jer 44:1  The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
Jer 44:2  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
Jer 44:3  Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.
Jer 44:4  Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending
them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
Jer 44:5  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.
Jer 44:6  Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.
Jer 44:7  Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
Jer 44:8  In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
Jer 44:9  Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Jer 44:10  They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.
Jer 44:11  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.
Jer 44:12  And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
Jer 44:13  For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
Jer 44:14  So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.

In this 44^th chapter of Jeremiah we have another commandment from the Lord to Jeremiah instructing Jeremiah to point out Judah’s sins and to warn them of the Lord’s impending judgments upon those sins. However, the sins of these Jews are being committed immediately after witnessing the punishment of Judah and Jerusalem.

Jerusalem had fallen to the Chaldeans on “the fourth month” of Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

2Ki 25:3  And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
2Ki 25:4  And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.

Gedaliah was made the governor of the land at that time, and he was assassinated in the seventh month of the same year:

2Ki 25:22  And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.

2Ki 25:25  But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
2Ki 25:26  And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.

All Judah, and even King Nebuchadnezzar, knew that Jeremiah had been prophesying for decades concerning  what would happen to the Lord’s people who wanted His name but did not want to wear the clothing He wanted them to wear, neither did they want the food He was serving them.

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

These “seven women” here typify the “seven churches of Asia” who in turn signify the completely apostatized church of Christ.

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;

These “seven churches” signify all Christianity who have the name of Christ and have endured so much persecution while serving the Lord. These seven churches are typified by the remnant Jews under Gedaliah, and then under Johanan, who had performed many commendable and good works, and yet they feared what the world would think of them and what the world would do to them if they obeyed the Lord. These remnant Jews, and the seven churches, feared men more than they feared what the Lord would do if they disobeyed Him. These Jews, in practical effect, “have lost [their] first love” and are being warned:

Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

These seven churches are called “the seven churches of Asia”, and this is what they have done to the Lord and to His apostles like Paul and John:

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

Paul had spent years ministering to these churches just as Jeremiah had spent so much time and energy in prophesying to the Jews who were carried away with Kings Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, and now to these Jews who were left in the land. Yet “all they which are in Asia” forsook the apostle Paul, and in doing so, they forsook the Lord Himself and went right back into the world just as these Jews before them went right back into Egypt:

Jer 44:1  The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Noph were prominent Egyptian cities of that day, and Pathros is just another word for Egypt, as these verses demonstrate:

Jer 44:15  Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,

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

Jer 44:2  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
Jer 44:3  Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.

The holy spirit inspires Jeremiah to point out that all these Jews “[had] seen all the evil that [the Lord] had brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah”. They could not deny that “this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells therein”. Nevertheless, because of their stubborn, self-righteous nature they cannot humble themselves to “acknowledge [their self-righteous] iniquity [and] transgressions against the Lord”:

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

Jeremiah himself typifies these “pastors according to [the Lord’s] heart”, but this story typifies how we all first receive the Lord’s spokespersons:

Jer 44:4  Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
Jer 44:5  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.

As Ezekiel puts it, the Lord answered these Jews, who are types of us, “according to the multitude of [their] idols”:

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.

When we approach the Word of God, we are coming to Christ. When we do that with a preconceived false doctrine, then we already have a made-up mind that will not be affected by the Lord’s Words, nor by those whom He sends to us to guide and persuade us concerning what His Word is telling us. When we refuse to believe the Lord through His proven leaders and speakers, we are actually living under His wrath, even if He is deceiving us by ‘answering us according to the multitude of the idols of our hearts’:

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

‘Believing on the Son’ entails believing those whom the Son has sent to lead and persuade us in His Words.

These words come straight out of the mouth of Christ Himself:

Luk 10:16  He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

What Christ tells us today about rejecting His prophets and leaders was just as true in Old Testament times:

Mar 6:11  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

Luk 10:16  He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

Knowing the voice of the True Shepherd is a matter of spiritual life and spiritual death:

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

When we listen to the voice of a stranger, and we don’t even recognize the voice of Christ, we are living under His wrath:

Jer 44:6  Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.
Jer 44:7  Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;

Just casually reading about how we see what the Lord has done to others, it does not seem possible that we could forget so quickly and cut ourselves off from Him and His people so soon after having witnessed what He did to our own people and His people after just a few months. However, that is what is written in the books of these Jews and in the books of all those who do the exact same things today.

Jer 44:8  In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

Offering incense typifies and signifies our prayers:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

Rev 8:3  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rev 8:4  And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

When the Lord takes from us that which we had, then everything we think we are doing to serve Him, and even our prayers, become an abomination to Him:

Pro 15:8  The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

Pro 28:9  He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.

Luk 8:18  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

If we have lost our ability to hear and discern the Lord’s voice, we have “cut [our]selves off” from Him, and He is now asking:

Jer 44:9  Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

It is a rhetorical question because the Lord Himself caused them to forget that just yesterday they were proclaiming their desire to please Him and obey Him, and just yesterday they saw what He had done to those who had forgotten His words and His commandments, and now they are doing the exact same thing and are turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to His words.

In our next study, we will see that these men and their wives in Judah and Jerusalem and even these remnant Jews and their wives, who had coalesced around Gedaliah, were “burning incense to… pouring out drink offerings unto… and making cakes to worship… the queen of heaven”.

Jer 44:17  But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

Jer 44:19  And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

This is what consistently afflicted the Lord’s people throughout their entire history until this very day. This is what has caused more people to leave the fellowship of the body of Christ in this generation, more that any of the other false doctrine of the enemy. What these words translate into is the observance of days, months, times, and years… the traditions of men”, against which we have been warned, but which warning from the Lord in His Word means less to most men and women than the fear of what this world, their families and friends and society as a whole will think  of them. We will cover this in more detail in next week’s study of the remainder of this 44^th chapter of Jeremiah.

Jer 44:10  They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.
Jer 44:11  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.

We do not just casually ignore the Lord’s words and get by with doing so. When the Lord warns us with this question:

Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

What are these “weak and beggarly elements whereunto the whole world desires again to be in bondage”?

Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years [praying to, pouring out drink offerings to, and baking cakes to observe days, months, times, and years]
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Gal 4:12  Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

Paul tells us, “Be as I am… as I follow Christ.” Christ did not even keep the weekly sabbath and not the holy days of His time. It is until this very day that this is the trigger which will make most of those who come to Christ decide that the way is just too taxing, and they will forsake Him to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink offerings and bake cakes to her, telling ourselves all the while that we are doing so to the Lord and not to the queen of heaven.

The Lord will have none of it when we are determined to go back into this world.

Jer 44:12  And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine:  they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

This is the same judgment pronounced upon their fathers who were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years until that generation, except for Caleb and Joshua, died there in the wilderness. It is in that sense, that these remnant Jews signify those who “find no place of repentance”. It is in the sense that we are told “they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest… as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

Jer 44:13  For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:

“As I have punished Jerusalem” refers to what the Lord had done just three months ago, when others of their own people and their own family were punished for refusing to listen to the Lord’s words from His prophets. Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in the fourth month of the 11^th year of Zedekiah. All these events involving the remnant that was left in the land, including the assassination of Gedaliah, happened in the seventh month of that same year:

Jer 39:2  And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.

Jer 41:1  Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.
Jer 41:2  Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

Gedaliah’s government lasted just three short months before it was terminated by one of the very people who had not gone to Babylon. Such is the fate of those who turn their backs on the Lord’s proven and faithful leaders like the prophet Jeremiah.

Eating with the Lord Himself, as the seventy elders of Israel did in the mount with Moses and Aaron, and living in the promised land, as these remnant Jews have lived, typifies having been “once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and [being] made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and having tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come”, and yet they fall away.

Exo 24:9  Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:
Exo 24:10  And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
Exo 24:11  And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.
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.

This remnant saw what the Lord had done to Judah and Jerusalem. They were right there all those years Jeremiah had been prophesying of the Lord’s impending judgments upon them if they continued rebuffing His judgments upon them. King Solomon had warned the Lord’s people many years earlier:

Pro 29:1  He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Having accepted the Truth that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” I used to think and teach that the word ‘impossible’ in Hebrews 6:4, simply meant that it was impossible for men. However, this is not ‘men’ speaking. This is the Lord himself speaking to us and telling us that it is impossible to renew to repentance those who have been so very blessed and are yet given to turn their backs on all those blessings.

Verse 18 of this same chapter reveals that this Greek word is being used to inform us of the Lord’s perspective. Those words are not from man’s perspective:

Heb 6:17  Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible [G102: ‘adunatos’] for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

This is the definition of the Greek word G102, ‘adunatos’, translated as ‘impossible’:

G102
ἀδύνατος
adunatos
ad-oo’-nat-os
From G1 (as a negative particle) and G1415; unable, that is, weak (literally or figuratively); passively impossible: – could not do, impossible, impotent, not possible, weak.
Total KJV occurrences: 10

This Greek word appears ten times in the New Testament, and it is most often translated as ‘impossible”:

G102
ἀδύνατος
adunatos
Total KJV Occurrences: 10
impossible, 6
Luk_18:26-27 (3), Heb_6:4, Heb_6:18, Heb_11:6
could, 1
Rom_8:3
impotent, 1
Act_14:8
possible, 1
Heb_10:4
weak, 1
Rom_15:1

The fact that this Greek word ‘adunatos’ is listed as ‘possible’ in Hebrews 10:4 demonstrates that computers cannot think, because the fact is that it is not translated as ‘possible’ at all. Rather, it is translated as “not possible” in:

Heb 10:4  For it is not possible [G102: ‘adunatos’] that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

These Jews had witnessed the veracity and accuracy of the words of the Lord from the mouth of His prophet, Jeremiah. They had heard and witnessed the fates of all of King Josiah’s sons, King Jehoahaz, King Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim’s son, King Jechoniah, and King Jehoiakim’s brother, Zedekiah. They had witnessed how the false prophet, Hananiah, had died just three months after Jeremiah has prophesied that he would die that same year, and still they refused to be obedient to the Lord’s words forbidding them from returning to Egypt instead of submitting to the princes of the king of Babylon, and the Lord by the word of Jeremiah had commanded them to do.

It is in that sense that these remnant Jews signify those of whom the Lord tells us they will “be cut off and that without remedy”, and that “it is impossible to renew them again to repentance”.

Jer 44:14  So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.

They “have a desire to return there” in the same sense that the “seven women” have a desire to wear the Lord’s name, but they refuse to wear His garments or eat the food He supplies.

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.

The words “but such as shall escape” refer to those who, like Jeremiah and Baruch, and like Caleb and Joshua, were sent by the Lord to witness against the disobedience of those who find 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.

I’d like to end every study on a positive note because everything is indeed ‘yea’ in Christ:

2Co 1:18  But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
2Co 1:19  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

Heb 6:9  But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

Jer 1:1-10 To Build and to Plant- The Blessings of Obedience

[Study Aired November 29, 2020]

Because this prophecy of Jeremiah, taken as a whole, appears to our natural man to be so dire and so apocalyptic, our study today will be centered around the last part of the last verse of our last study. These words are designed to prepare our hearts to receive and even appreciate those parts of this prophecy which appear to our natural man to be so negative and seemingly lamentable. For the following couple of weeks, we will examine the curses which will come upon our old man for disobedience.

As we saw in our last study, Jeremiah is at this time a young man who is “set… over the nations”.  Notice what being placed in that position entails:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

As is typical of the Lord’s word, the number of verses concerning our judgment, both our judgment… “first upon the house of God” (1Pe 4:17) and the later the judgment of all mankind, are over twice as many as the words which concern our rewards for being judged in this present time or the consequences of being judged at a later time. In either case the number of verses concerning judgment for disobedience far outnumber the verses which concern rewards for obedience. Jeremiah, as a type of who we are as judges with Christ during the thousand year reign and also the judges of the great white throne judgment, is told that his calling is 1) to root out, 2) to pull down, 3) to destroy, and 4) to throw down. Those four things have a negative implication to our old man. As a type also of those who will become the conduits of the mercy we have been shown and will in return show to all the rest of mankind (Rom 11:31), Jeremiah is told in half as many words that it is also given to him 1) to build, and 2) to plant:

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

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

This ratio of verses and pages which occupy curses for disobedience, compared to the number of verses and pages of scripture enumerating the blessings of obedience, is first made evident in Deuteronomy 28. The first 14 verses of this chapter enumerate all the blessings for obedience, and that is the subject of this study. We will appreciate these blessings and look forward to “the redemption of the purchased possession” today. Then we will take note of all the curses of disobedience in future studies. There is a particularly good reason why the scriptures which occupy themselves with the curses for disobedience far outnumber the verses and chapters of scripture which concern themselves with the blessings of obedience.

Our study today will center around the function of the blessings for obedience as they are promised in the first 14 verses of:

Deu 28:1  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

We will digress today from our direct study of this prophecy of Jeremiah, a prophecy which is filled with stories of the disobedience of the physical nation of Israel, to analyze why the curses of disobedience occupy far more of the pages of scriptures than do the blessings we are promised for obedience to the Lord’s words. We will also learn what the function is of the blessings we are promised for being obedient to the Lord’s commandments. There is a good reason for why the promises occupy comparatively little space in scripture, and we need to know and understand why it is so.

The short answer for why this is so, it that the scriptures are designed to deal with the lifelong process of bringing us out of death and darkness, and into life and the light. That is why the curses for disobedience occupy so much of the scriptures. However, there must be an incentive to help us see beyond the fact that we are dying creatures who are actually living in total spiritual darkness to begin with. To this end we are given “exceeding great and precious promises”:

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The physical promises of blessings given to ancient Israel typify the spiritual blessings promised to “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16 – GWV). The promise to Jeremiah as a type of the Lord’s firstfruit saints, of being given to rule over all the nations of this earth, is exactly what we, too, are promised to incentivize us as it did Jeremiah:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

Both Jeremiah and Israel are merely types and shadows of the New Testament overcomers who keep the words and works of Christ to the end:

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.

The true “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16) is an inward spiritual kingdom which is promised rulership over the kingdoms “on the earth”. This promise does not say, “He that overcomes… to him will I give power over the nations within.” These “overcomers” are those who have already been given that inward blessing, and that is why they are now proclaiming, “We shall reign on the earth.”

Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

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

The twentieth chapter of Revelation reveals more details about those who are destined to “reign on the earth”:

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.

Only those who are blinded by the Lord Himself to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will fail to see that it is only those who keep the works of Christ to the end in this present time, who will be given a part in the first resurrection to rule with Christ for a thousand years, after which there is “the resurrection to judgment”.

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; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [The Greek word translated ‘damnation’ is ‘krisis’, and it is much better translated as ‘judgment’].

“The resurrection of judgment” in this twentieth chapter of Revelation is called the “great white throne… judgment”. The fact that the second resurrection follows the first is as obvious as the fact that this is the second group who are only now dying to their old man for the first time, follows those who died to their old man first in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). Those in the first resurrection will rule with Christ for a thousand years:

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

This “thousand years” is without a doubt as much a spiritual signification of a time period as the ‘slain… Lamb’ is of a spiritual signification of death. However, a lamb is not used to signify a period of time and a thousand years is not used to signify a living creature. Both are signified by a counterpart of the same sort.

So, it is with the subject of resurrection. Both are symbolized by a counterpart. As Christ tells us there are only two resurrections – One is to life and the other to judgment. The first resurrection is symbolized by life, while the second resurrection follows the judgment which is now on “the house of God” and is symbolized by judgment.

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

Peter knew very well where any who are not being judged in this age would appear. They will appear at the second resurrection, “the resurrection of judgment” (Joh 5:27-29), the “white throne judgment”, which we are told is the lake of fire, of which it is written:

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

This “lake of fire” symbolizes the judgment which must take place at this symbolic “great white throne”:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. [“The books” signifies the many who are not the “one seed” (Gal 3:16) while “the book” signifies those who are that “one seed” in the “one Christ” (1Co 12:12)]
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Yet another name for this second judgment is “the second death”:

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years “on the earth”] was cast into the lake of fire.

Getting back to demonstrating that both Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, and indeed the whole of the Lord’s Word, emphasize the process of judgment much more than the reward for being judged in this present time, here are the rest of the first 14 verses of the 68 verses of this 28^th chapter of Deuteronomy:

Deu 28:2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deu 28:3  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:4  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:5  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:6  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Deu 28:7  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deu 28:9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
Deu 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

All these blessings “in the land which the Lord gives [us]” are ours even now spiritually in down payment form.

Here are Christ’s words as they relate to all these promises of blessings:

Mat 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Demonstrating the spiritual downpayment form of these blessings, Mark adds the words “now in this time” and “with persecutions” to those words of Christ:

Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

These spiritual realities here in Matthew and Mark are in complete accord with the shadow and type which are the promises of Deuteronomy 28:

Deu 28:13  And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deu 28:14  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Those 14 verses give us the types and shadows of all the “great and precious promises we are given in Christ:

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

We are given “all that pertains to life and godliness “through the knowledge of Him”, and it is only “by these… exceeding great and precious promises” that we are “partakers of the divine nature”. That makes our understanding of these promises the conduit for the “grace and peace [which comes to us only] through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Therefore it is expedient that we get to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, and familiarize ourselves with the promises we are given, through Christ, because that is the very definition of “life eternal”:

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

These “exceeding great and precious promises” being so very important, we will do well to take note of what they promise us. So, let’s look at what we are being promised in our knowledge of Christ and His Father:

Deu 28:2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deu 28:3  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

“The city” is contrasted with “the field”, but we are blessed in both because:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

“The city” signifies “the city of our God” whereas “the field” signifies all that which is outside the city… “the field is the world”:

Psa 48:1  A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

Psa 48:8  As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah [We are “Jerusalem above… the city of our God” (Gal 4:26-27)].

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

“The fruit of thy body” is the increase of the kingdom of God within us, the “few chosen” who appear to this world to be as barren as all the wives of the ancient patriarchs:

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.

Neither Paul nor Christ nor His Christ hold back from acknowledging who they are… “Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”

Joh 10:34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Joh 10:36  Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

Our next promise is:

Deu 28:4  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

The Lord’s blessing is upon us as it was upon Joseph as a slave in Egypt, both in the house of Potiphar and as the servant of the keeper of the prison:

Gen 39:2  And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
Gen 39:3  And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

Gen 39:21  But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Gen 39:22  And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
Gen 39:23  The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.

Joseph’s suffering in Egypt typifies all our suffering in these clay vessels. Both Joseph and Job were exceptionally good men. We are all first self-righteous Job before we are crushed and humbled to become repentant Job.

Solomon was given to tell us why we must be evil before we can become righteous:

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

We all first contend with, reprove, disannul the Lord’s judgment and condemn His ways before we are dragged to repentance through fiery trials, as the book of Job and the book of Revelation demonstrate clearly (Rev 14: 6-12):

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

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.

These “blessed” are only those “who died in the Lord” in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). They are the first, who “by these… great and precious promises, [will be made] partakers of the divine nature [and be given] part in the first resurrection:”

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

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.

What exactly is “the first resurrection”? It is quite easy for the Lord to blind the eye of the multitudes from perceiving what we were just told. The first resurrection is for those who are being judged in this time, “who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12) and who are given a part in the first resurrection which Christ called “the resurrection of life” (Joh 5:27-29). The first resurrection are those who are the firstfruits of them who have died in Christ and are raised up from the dead at the beginning of the thousand years to “live… and reign with Christ a thousand years”.

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

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
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 [The “blessed and holy first resurrection” at the beginning of the thousand year reign]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920: ‘krisis’… ‘judgment’… “When the thousand years are expired”].

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

This is not “the resurrection to life” to which Christ referred in John 5:29. This is the resurrection of “the rest of the dead” of Revelation 20:5. This is “the resurrection to judgment” before the great white throne of John 5:28. This the resurrection of all the rest of mankind who did not have part in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Let’s now go back to the promises by which those who obey the Lord are given to “partake of the divine nature [in] this present time”:

Deu 28:5  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:6  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

“[Our] basket” includes what we bring in sacrifice to the Lord in His service:

Deu 26:1  And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;
Deu 26:2  That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.
Deu 26:3  And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.
Deu 26:4  And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.
Deu 26:5  And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:
Deu 26:6  And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
Deu 26:7  And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
Deu 26:8  And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
Deu 26:9  And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deu 26:10  And now, behold, I have brought [“in a basket”] the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:

Our “going out and coming in” is also speaking of our service as the Lord’s soldiers in His army:

Jos 14:11  As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.

King Solomon acknowledged his inadequacy as a soldier because he was a “little child”:

1Ki 3:7  And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

Whatever the phrase “go out and come in” means, it certainly includes being a good soldier in the Lord’s service of which the apostle Paul instructs us:

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Our means of “partaking of the divine nature [and] escaping the corruption that is in the world” continues:

Deu 28:7  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

The flight of the enemies of the Lord “seven ways” signifies the complete and total defeat of all the false doctrines which are the “arrows” of our enemies.  The Lord’s arrows will nullify any and all of the ‘arrows’ of the lies of the adversary:

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

Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

“Their arrows” are helpless against the Truth, the Lord’s ‘arrows’:

Psa 21:12  Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

Psa 45:5  Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.

Psa 64:7  But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
Psa 64:8  So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.

Hab 3:11  The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

We are blessed with great spiritual reserves in the Lord’s service. We have so much in reserve that we can give freely to others:

Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

The Hebrew word for ‘storehouses’ is:

H618
אָסָם
‘âsâm
aw-sawm’
From an unused root meaning to heap together; a storehouse (only in the plural): – barn, storehouse.

This word appears only in one other place in the Old Testament, where it is translated as ‘barns’, demonstrating that the “blessing of [our] storehouses” speaks to our service to the Lord through our giving freely of our store to our brothers:

Pro 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Pro 3:10 So shall thy barns [H618: ‘asam’] be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Eph 4:28  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give [from our “storehouses, our barns] to him that needeth.

The Lord Himself fights our battles for us, and as “partakers of [His] divine nature:

Deu 28:9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

That is how the Lord Himself provides for His elect, who are now partaking of His divine nature through these great and precious promises. God makes our enemies to both fear us and live in peace with us:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Yes, of course Revelation 11:11-12 has a ‘will be’ application. I am certainly not of that school which is telling you “the resurrection is past already”:

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.

That is a lie of our enemies who have internalized and spiritualized away your crown of life, your rulership with Christ for a thousand years, and your hope of “the redemption of the purchased possession”. Our enemies want you and me to settle for what is nothing more than the downpayment of the “redemption of the purchased possession”.

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

This is not a new false doctrine. It is one of the earliest lies taught in the New Testament church, and Paul warned us against falling for this false doctrine:

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.

I am well aware that Revelation 11:11-12 has a glorious “will be… redemption of the purchased possession” future application. However, there is also a present inward application which does not teach “that the resurrection is past already”:

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them [the Lord’s “two witnesses” in every generation], and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

“…And their enemies beheld them… and great fear fell upon them which saw them.” These two verses, Revelation 11:11-12, are the ultimate fulfillment of:

Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

Two verses earlier in Revelation 11 we read:

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.

We are at this very moment ‘lying dead in the streets of the great city wherein our Lord was crucified’. Our death of 3½ days is being fulfilled at this very moment. “The spirit of life from God entered into them” and “great fear fell upon them which saw them” are both in the aorist tense, because this is all the process of the revelation of Jesus Christ within us as our old man dies daily and our new man is being raised up from the dead… [to] walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:1-4).

The phrases “they heard a great voice from heaven” and the phrase “come up here” and the phrase “they ascended up to heaven in a cloud” and “their enemies beheld them” are all in the aorist tense because all of this is the revelation of Jesus Christ taking place within us even as we “wait for… the redemption of the purchased possession”… that “blessed and holy first resurrection” where we will be made to rule and reign with Christ for a symbolic thousand years.

Deu 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

The ‘rain’ is the Lord’s “words [which] are spirit” (Joh 6:63). This blessing with rain in our land in due season, signifies an abundance of growth in understanding the things of the spirit. “You shall lend unto many, and you shall not borrow” signifies the fact that Babylon has nothing to offer you, but you have an over-abundance of good sound doctrine to offer them, as our next verses demonstrate:

Deu 28:13  And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deu 28:14  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Being “the head and not the tail” are words selected by the holy spirit to signify that the blessings of obedience and strict adherence to and trembling at the words of our Lord, makes us the possessors of “The Truth”. Being the head means we possess the Truth, and being the tail signifies that we have been deluded by “the refuge of [the] lies [of the false] prophets” of this age. Isaiah gives us this key to the kingdom of heaven:

Isa 9:15  The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

The apostle Paul took close and careful notice of the three ‘ifs’ in this section of scripture, in verses 1, 9 and 13… “if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God”…”If you listen unto the commandments of the Lord…” and… “if you go not aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right hand or to the left…” neither adding to nor taking away from His words:

Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

“The Lord shall make you the head and not the tail” tells us that if we are granted to be obedient to the words of our Lord we will be Him, in the sense that we agree completely with Him.

These are His words concerning what He means by “You shall be the head…”:

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

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.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

That, too, is just another “great and precious promise” which is beyond the ability of the natural man to appreciate the depth of its significance. The holy spirit helps us to take hold of this truth with these, our closing words for today:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment [‘Now on the house of God’ (1Pe 4:17)]: because as he is, so are we in this world.

In our next study we will examine and analyze why the curses of Deuteronomy 28 occupy 54 verses, exactly 4 times the number of verses which these 14 verses of “great and precious promises” occupy.

Here are the verses we will begin with which concern the curses the Lord will bring upon us to humble us:

Deu 28:15  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deu 28:16  Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:17  Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:18  Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:19  Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Deu 28:20  The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
Deu 28:21  The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 28:22  The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
Deu 28:23  And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
Deu 28:24  The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Deu 28:25  The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Deu 28:26  And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
Deu 28:27  The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
Deu 28:28  The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
Deu 28:29  And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
Deu 28:30  Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
Deu 28:31  Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
Deu 28:32  Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
Deu 28:33  The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:
Deu 28:34  So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
Deu 28:35  The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
Deu 28:36  The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Deu 28:37  And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
Deu 28:38  Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Deu 28:39  Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
Deu 28:40  Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
Deu 28:41  Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

[Study aired August 11, 2019]

Isa 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
Isa 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Isa 44:23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
Isa 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
Isa 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
Isa 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:
Isa 44:27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
Isa 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

In this study we will see how the Lord uses a Gentile king as a “shepherd” to care for His people while He delivers them from their Babylonian captivity and has this Gentile King to help His people to begin to build His Temple. This is not the first time the Lord has used a pagan king to work His will.  The fact is that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who carried the Lord’s people away into captivity is also called by the Lord, “Nebuchadnezzar, My servant”, when the Lord uses Nebuchadnezzar to carry His spiritually adulterous people into Babylonian captivity for their apostasy.

In other words, our own flesh is the Lord’s servant to make us to err (Isa 63:17), just as Nebuchadnezzar symbolizes our old man, “the beast” who rules over all men (Rev 13:16-18):

Jer 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
Jer 27:8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD , with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

Babylonian captivity is not optional. She rules over all the kings of all the world… “all nations shall serve” Babylon (Jer 27:7). Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth, also rules over all kings and all kingdoms:

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

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

Hosea tells us the same thing:

Hos 11:5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian [Babylon] shall be his king, because they refused to return.

When the Jews which Nebuchadnezzar had left in the land refused to obey the Lord’s commandment to submit themselves to the king of Babylon, they instead fled into Egypt. When they rebelled and did so then the Lord simply gave Egypt as a gift to the king of Babylon. The Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar “[His] servant” down into Egypt to destroy them right there in Egypt.

Jer 42:7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.

Jer 42:11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD : for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
Jer 42:12 And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
Jer 42:13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Jer 42:14 Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
Jer 42:15 And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
Jer 42:16 Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

When “[we] say, We will not… obey the voice of the Lord [then the very things we] feared shall overtake [us]…” When our own will becomes our God and we do what we want rather than trusting the Lord to protect us, at that point all of our protection has been removed, and we are a sitting duck for the adversary. When we trust in the Lord in spite of all the outward circumstances which make us want to lean to our own strength, then the Lord promises to keep and to save us:

Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD , and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

The whole world was against the Lord and His Christ, but He, and they in Him, were given to remain faithful to the end, and because of that gift for those who remain faithful to the end will be given a part in the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Exactly what that “bless[ing]” is, and what the phrase “marriage supper” means is explained for us in the very next chapter:

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The “marriage supper of the Lamb” is the first resurrection. The point being made in every Old Testament story of how the Lord delivers His people is that because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, and because Babylon must be destroyed before the Lord’s kingdom can be establish, it is therefore in the destruction of Babylon we are told, “You shall go… to Babylon: there shall you be delivered”.

Mic 4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

There really is an order in which the Lord is working His plan in the lives of every one of His elect “in this present time” (Rom 8:18). So it is counter-productive for us to get weary in well doing and just give up and return to Egypt. Our lives will follow the Lord’s order of events which He has laid out, and the idols of our hearts will not subvert that order. It is in Babylon that we will be delivered, and it is there the Lord will redeem us from the hand of our enemies:

Hos 11:5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian [Babylon] shall be his king, because they refused to return.

Mic 4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

Those who depend on the Lord for their deliverance do so with no regard whatsoever for their physical lives. Whether it was Isaiah, Jeremiah, the three Hebrew children, or Daniel, or any other Old Testament type of those who are faithful to Christ, they one and all demonstrated that their fidelity and fear was toward the Lord and not toward men.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego expressed this mindset eloquently with these words before a furious king Nebuchadnezzar when he demanded they worship his golden image:

Dan 3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.
Dan 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
Dan 3:15  Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Dan 3:17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

These men are types of us if we remain faithful to the Lord to the end. As with us, this part of the “cloud of witnesses” of the Old Testament knew there was to be a resurrection, and they were given the desire of “a better resurrection”, even if they are ordained to come up in the great white throne judgment

Heb 11:32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Heb 11:33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
Heb 11:34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Heb 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Heb 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

The “better thing” was not provided for those who were the symbols of the true men of faith. The true men of faith are those who place the words of Christ above all the words of all the ministers of all the religions of Babylon.

It is very little understood, but the fact is that both Hebrews and 1st Peter teach us that this “better thing for us” is “not unto them… but unto us” as Peter so clearly tells us:

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

“The angels desire to look into… the glory that should follow… the sufferings of Christ”.

This is how our last study ended:

Isa 44:19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
Isa 44:20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Everything that will burn up is the same as “ashes”. When all of our doctrines are false lies, then all of our spiritual nourishment is “ashes”. The Lord would have us to ask ourselves if we would be so foolish as to craft our own doctrines, and He poses the question for us:  “Is there not a lie in my right hand”.

But He tells us “a deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul”, and He also tells us:

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;

Then He tells us:

Isa 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

He tells us “remember these, O Jacob and Israel” because we just naturally forget that our thoughts are not His thoughts, and that is exactly what we have all done, and yet, in spite of our sins against Him, He still informs us of what He is doing with us. [We] are [His] servant [simply because that is what He] has formed [us] to be. We may indeed forget Him but “[We] will not be forgotten of [Him]”.

Paul says the same thing in these verses:

2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
2Ti 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

Look at the harmony of Isaiah with Paul. Through Isaiah the Lord tells us:

Isa 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

Through the apostle Paul the message is the same:

2Ti 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers…

2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

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

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

This being true, we will indeed deny the Lord just as Peter did. Peter typifies all of the Lord’s elect in that he denied the Lord, and the Lord denied Peter’s fearful, unfaithful, old man, but Peter himself was not forgotten by the Lord, and the Lord abode faithful. He could not deny Himself, He could not deny His entire body, which is what Peter’s denial typifies. Peter typifies all of us:

Luk 22:54 Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
Luk 22:55 And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
Luk 22:56 But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.
Luk 22:57 And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.
Luk 22:58 And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.
Luk 22:59 And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilæan.
Luk 22:60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
Luk 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luk 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

The bitter tears of repentance are the fire which will try every man’s works:

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

Works which are burned up have an application to us in this present time as well as those whose works are destined to burned up in the lake of fire. But “in this present time”, Christ will not forget His elect, and we will be made to know that our salvation is completely His work in spite of us, and we will be made to know that we accomplish nothing of ourselves:

Isa 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Isa 44:23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

Where is our righteousnesses in those verses?

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Where are any of our “idols of [our] hearts”? It is the Lord who redeems us, and we will “hold [our] peace”:

Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Exo 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.
Exo 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

The Lord does all of our fighting for us, and the least we can do is to shut up and watch Him work His work. But even the ability to do that must be given to us.

Isa 44:24 Thus saith the LORD , thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

That is right. The very thoughts in our ‘heavens’ as well as our words and works on this earth “are of the Lord”:

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

The Lord “knows our thoughts” because He gives them to us. The preparations of our heart takes place in our thoughts, and those thoughts, good and evil, are a work of the Lord.

So, it behooves us to know that these next words also apply to the Lord’s elect as well as all the rest of mankind:

Isa 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

The Lord delights in making our old man, and mankind as a whole, to be manifested for the ignorant fools we are by nature:

Psa 53:1 To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

Pro 1:25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Pro 1:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

These words here in Isaiah 44:25 are just filling in some of the details of what we are made to know by these words which were written several generations prior to Isaiah:

Pro 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The liars and diviners of verse 25 are the so-called wise men whose supposed wisdom is revealed by the Lord for the foolishness it really is.

These words are addressed to us first and foremost. It is the Lord who makes our old man ‘wicked’ for our own “day of evil”, and there is no way to short circuit the way in which He is working inside each of us. When He makes us to err from His ways, we will err from His ways:

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.

Isaiah 63:17 confirms:

Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isa 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Isa 28:12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isa 28:13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

“That they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” is also confirmed by:

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 next verse explains why we must first be deceived and be made to err from the Lord’s ways and fall backward and be snared:

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.

If we don’t even “think above that which is written” (1Co 4:6), the Lord’s word will always confirm itself, as the Lord assures us:

Isa 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:

The Lord “confirms the word of His servant, and [He] performs the counsel of His messengers” simply because:

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

“His messengers” do the same because we are very careful never to think above that which is written:

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

We are as Christ is in this world (1Jo 4:17). Therefore, like Him we can never “think above that which is written”. We are very careful to speak only His “words [and His] counsel”. If we never “think above that which is written”, then like Christ we will “of [our] own selves do nothing” and we will never “seek… [our] own will”. It is our own will and our own idolatrous words to which “the deep” and “[our] rivers” refer in our next verse:

Isa 44:27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

The Hebrew word translated ‘deep’ in this verse is:

H6683
צוּלָה
tsûlâh
tsoo-law’

From an unused root meaning to sink; an abyss (of the sea): – deep.
Total KJV occurrences: 1

‘Tsulah’ is one of those few words which is a root word but is not used anywhere else in scripture. But considering the negative context this word, it has very much in common with the ‘deep’ found in these two verses in Proverbs:

Pro 22:14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.

Pro 23:27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

“Strange women [and] a whore” are both types of false religions with false doctrines. So when the Lord tells us:

Isa 44:27 [He] saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

Right after telling us:

Isa 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

It is obvious that the Lord is telling us that any false doctrines within us, and even the religions of this world, will in His timing be subdued by those who are serving Him and His purpose.

Just as our old man is used by the Lord as the man of sin who sits in the temple of God saying he is God, and is even now being judged, so the Lord uses the wicked of this world to work as His servants to rule over the nations of this world and to do and to work His purpose in the kingdoms of this world:

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

In Job 1 and 2, Satan is called “Thy hand”, meaning the Lord’s hand:

Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD , and Satan came also among them.
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.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD , and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

In the second chapter this whole process is repeated, and the Lord sends Satan to afflict Job with boils “from the sole of his foot unto his crown”:

Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD , and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

The Lord simply uses the Devil, and those who are “of [their] father the Devil”, to work out His plans for us and for all of mankind.

The Lord plainly tells us that “even the wicked” men are the work of His hand:

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

He tells us that “the wicked [are His] sword”:

Psa 17:13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

He calls wicked King Nebuchadnezzar “My servant”:

Jer 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

And here He calls another pagan king “[His] shepherd [who] shall perform all [His] pleasure”:

Isa 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

So Nebuchadnezzar was used to punish the Lord’s people for their sins, and when that was accomplished, He used another wicked man to punish Nebuchadnezzar and rebuild His temple. All these wicked men are one wicked man, the man of sin, whom the Lord uses both to destroy our old man, and in that destructive process He uses our corruptible flesh to begin the process of rebuilding and producing in us, our new man, a rebuilt temple, “another vessel”, conformed to the image of Christ.

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 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

But it all begins much earlier in our lives than we tend to think. The fact is, God knows each of us before we are ever born:

Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

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

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

What an all powerful, loving, heavenly Father we serve! Nothing is left to chance; not the hairs of our head, not the sparrows that fall (Luk 12:4-7).

Our God is love, and He has devised means that even His banished be not forever expelled from Him:

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

That “means… He has devised… that His banished be not expelled from Him” is you and me, and the mercy we will show to all who are cast into the lake of fire if indeed we are His “very elect”:

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.

In our next study, we will continue to see how the Lord works with our corruptible flesh to bring us to His mind. We will see how He, and He alone, can “create evil” and bring good out of evil and light out of darkness. We will see how He forms “the mind of Christ” and conforms us to the image of Christ, via our own flesh, our own Cyrus:

Here are the verses for our next study:

Isa 45:1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
Isa 45:2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Isa 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD , which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
Isa 45:4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known 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.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 51 Discussion

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The Yoke Shall Be Destroyed Because o​f The Anointing (Christ)

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

The Lord is informing His Israel how He is using Assyria and Babylon to punish His Israel for their sins. Then after He has used Assyria and Babylon to punish His people, then He will use His people to "take away from off [our] shoulder... and... neck... the yoke" of the lies, the false doctrines, and the bondage of Assyria and Babylon, which comes with those heresies.

He will do so, "because of... by reason of... [and] through the anointing". What is this 'anointing'?

This is the only 'anointing' which can and does deliver "from off [our] shoulder, and... from off [our] neck.. the yoke" which is the bondage of the lies of Assyria and Babylon".

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Being "bound... broken hearted... captives [in] prison" is indeed a great "yoke", upon the shoulders of those who are in bondage to all the lies of the kings of Assyria and Babylon.

However, that deliverance comes only through Christ and His Christ, as Christ made clear with these two statements:

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Christ informs us that Isa 61:1 is a prophecy of Himself, but then He also tells us this of 'Himself':

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

Christ was anointed by His Father to break the yoke of Assyria and Babylon, and Christ has sent us to do the same, with the same 'anointing'.

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

"The yoke" we bear is "the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of His high looks" which rule over our proud carnal minds for so long. We are literally slaves to our own pride and our desire to preserve that pride and fit in with all the traditions of men. Those who have been there and who have come out from that bondage, know best just what it means to have that yoke taken off their necks and shoulders, "because of the anointing", because of the Truth of the words of God which are the spirit and which are that 'anointing':

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1Jn 2:20  But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

The Greek word translate as 'unction' is:

G5545
χρίσμα
chrisma
khris'-mah
From G5548; an unguent or smearing, that is, (figuratively) the special endowment (“chrism”) of the Holy Spirit: - anointing, unction.
Total KJV occurrences: 3

It means "anointing", and it is so translated just five verses later:

G5545
χρίσμα
chrisma
Total KJV Occurrences: 3
anointing, 2
1Jo_2:27 (2)
unction, 1
1Jo_2:20

1Jn 2:26  These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
1Jn 2:27  But the anointing [G5545: chrisma] which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man ["them that seduce you"] teach you: but as the same anointing [G5545: chrisma] teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

It must be pointed out that "you need not that any man teach you", is not referring to the teachers God has "set in the church":

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?

All of our years spent in bondage to the kings of Assyria and Babylon are a work of our own Creator who is humbling us through "them that seduce [us]" and in delivering us out of that seduction, is qualifying us to be used as kings and priests in His service:

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

It is a great privilege to be given to know the very mind and plan of our own Creator. It is in His mercy and His honor toward us that we are told:

Isa 10:27  And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

It is "because of the anointing" upon Christ's Christ, His anointed, that the yoke of our enslavement to the doctrines of Assyria and Babylon "shall be destroyed". The destruction of "his burden" is in no way connected to anything we have done by our own might or power. That is the very spirit and doctrine being revealed and prepared for destruction in the kings of Assyria and Babylon.

This is what is NOT true either for the spirit of the king of Assyria or for the Lord's elect:

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

We do not choose of ourselves either to be proud and lifted up, or to be humbled and pliable in the Lord's hands. All that is done within any of us, both the good and the evil, are His works who is working all things after the counsel of His own will.

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

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

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

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

Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Why does Paul neglect to tell us that God has mercy on those who choose of their own free will to obey Him? He neglects to do so because he is being inspired of the holy spirit, and the holy spirit knows the doctrine of "free moral agency" is an outright lie which directly conflicts with the Truth of scripture which teaches instead that it is the Lord who makes us to err from His ways and hardens our hearts from His fear. The holy spirit knows and teaches that "it is not of him that wills... but of God that shows mercy... or hardens". That is why Paul neglects to tells us that lie!

"The purpose of God according to election" is what will stand, and it is not based upon what works we choose to perform, rather it is based upon "him that calls" us either to be His anointed, under His mercy, or to be in enmity to Him and to be given by our Lord Himself, a deceived and hardened heart" simply because 'He wills' to do so.

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.

On the other hand, if we are used of our Lord to remove the yoke of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, then that, too, will be only "because of the anointing" of His spirit, which He will give us to "set at liberty the captives" (Luk 4:18), then it will again be only by and through His anointing:

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Since we must "live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God", being a hard-hearted, carnal-minded, deceived prophet is an essential part the "experience of evil", which is given to all men:

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

Not one person can circumvent that "experience of evil" the Lord has given to the sons of humanity. We must all first be "marred in the Potter's hand", before we can be 'His anointed... His Christ":

Psa 2:1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

These words are quoted by the holy spirit as referring to Christ and His disciples, "His Christ", in the book of Acts:

Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

Both "His anointed", and "His Christ", are correct because the Greek word 'Christos' means 'anointed':

Here is Strong's definition of the Greek word 'Christos', translated as 'Christ':

G5547
Χριστός
Christos
khris-tos'
From G5548; anointed, that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus: - Christ.

Here is where this word appears in the New Testament:

G5547
Χριστός
Christos
Total KJV Occurrences: 569
christ, 553
Mat_1:1, Mat_1:16-18 (3), Mat_2:4, Mat_11:2, Mat_16:16, Mat_16:20, Mat_22:42, Mat_23:8, Mat_23:10, Mat_24:5, Mat_24:23, Mat_26:63, Mat_26:68, Mat_27:17, Mat_27:22, Mar_1:1, Mar_8:29, Mar_9:41, Mar_12:35, Mar_13:21, Mar_14:61, Mar_15:32, Luk_2:11, Luk_2:26, Luk_3:15, Luk_4:41 (2), Luk_9:20, Luk_20:41, Luk_22:67, Luk_23:2, Luk_23:35, Luk_23:39, Luk_24:26, Luk_24:46, Joh_1:17, Joh_1:20, Joh_1:25, Joh_1:41, Joh_3:28, Joh_4:25, Joh_4:29, Joh_4:42, Joh_6:69, Joh_7:26-27 (2), Joh_7:31, Joh_7:41-42 (3), Joh_9:22, Joh_10:24, Joh_11:27, Joh_12:34, Joh_17:3, Joh_20:31, Act_2:30-31 (2), Act_2:36, Act_2:38, Act_3:6, Act_3:18, Act_3:20, Act_4:10, Act_4:26, Act_5:42, Act_8:5, Act_8:12, Act_8:37, Act_9:20, Act_9:22, Act_9:34, Act_10:36, Act_11:17, Act_15:11, Act_15:26, Act_16:18, Act_16:31, Act_17:3 (2), Act_18:5, Act_18:28, Act_19:4, Act_20:21, Act_24:24, Act_26:23, Act_28:31, Rom_1:1, Rom_1:3, Rom_1:6-8 (3), Rom_2:16 (2), Rom_3:22, Rom_3:24, Rom_5:1, Rom_5:6, Rom_5:8, Rom_5:11, Rom_5:15, Rom_5:17, Rom_5:21, Rom_6:3-4 (2), Rom_6:8-9 (2), Rom_6:11, Rom_6:23, Rom_7:4, Rom_7:25, Rom_8:1-2 (2), Rom_8:9-11 (3), Rom_8:17, Rom_8:34-35 (2), Rom_8:39, Rom_9:1, Rom_9:3, Rom_9:5, Rom_10:4, Rom_10:6-7 (2), Rom_12:5, Rom_13:14, Rom_14:9-10 (2), Rom_14:15, Rom_14:18, Rom_15:3, Rom_15:5-8 (4), Rom_15:16-20 (5), Rom_15:29, Rom_16:3, Rom_16:5, Rom_16:7, Rom_16:9-10 (2), Rom_16:16, Rom_16:18, Rom_16:20, Rom_16:24-25 (2), Rom_16:27, 1 Cor 1 (17), 1Co_2:2, 1Co_2:16, 1Co_3:1, 1Co_3:11, 1Co_3:23, 1Co_4:1, 1Co_4:10, 1Co_4:15 (2), 1Co_4:17, 1Co_5:4 (2), 1Co_5:7, 1Co_6:15 (2), 1Co_8:6, 1Co_8:11-12 (2), 1Co_9:1, 1Co_9:12, 1Co_9:18, 1Co_9:21, 1Co_10:4, 1Co_10:9, 1Co_10:16 (2), 1Co_11:1, 1Co_11:3 (2), 1Co_12:12, 1Co_12:27, 1 Cor 15 (14), 1Co_16:24 (3), 2Co_1:1-3 (3), 2Co_1:5 (2), 2Co_1:19, 2Co_1:21, 2Co_2:10, 2Co_2:14-15 (2), 2Co_2:17, 2Co_3:3-4 (2), 2Co_3:14, 2Co_4:4-6 (3), 2Co_5:10, 2Co_5:14, 2Co_5:16-20 (5), 2Co_6:15, 2Co_8:9, 2Co_8:23, 2Co_9:13, 2Co_10:1, 2Co_10:5, 2Co_10:14, 2Co_11:2-3 (2), 2Co_11:10, 2Co_11:13, 2Co_11:23, 2Co_11:31, 2Co_12:2, 2Co_12:9, 2Co_12:19, 2Co_13:3, 2Co_13:5, 2Co_13:14, Gal_1:1, Gal_1:3, Gal_1:6-7 (2), Gal_1:10, Gal_1:12, Gal_1:22, Gal_2:4, Gal_2:16-17 (5), Gal_2:20-21 (3), Gal_3:1, Gal_3:13-14 (2), Gal_3:16-17 (2), Gal_3:22, Gal_3:24, Gal_3:26-28 (4), Gal_4:7, Gal_4:14, Gal_4:19, Gal_5:1-2 (2), Gal_5:4, Gal_5:6, Gal_6:2, Gal_6:12, Gal_6:14-15 (2), Gal_6:18, Eph_1:1-3 (5), Eph_1:5, Eph_1:10, Eph_1:12, Eph_1:17, Eph_1:20, Eph_2:5-7 (3), Eph_2:10, Eph_2:12-13 (3), Eph_2:20, Eph_3:1, Eph_3:4, Eph_3:6, Eph_3:8-9 (2), Eph_3:11, Eph_3:14, Eph_3:17, Eph_3:19, Eph_3:21, Eph_4:7, Eph_4:12-13 (2), Eph_4:15, Eph_4:20, Eph_5:2, Eph_5:5, Eph_5:14, Eph_5:20, Eph_5:23-25 (3), Eph_5:32, Eph_6:5-6 (2), Eph_6:23-24 (2)Phi_2:1, Phi_2:5, Phi_2:11, Phi_2:16, Phi_2:30, Phi_3:3, Phi_3:7-9 (4), Phi_3:12, Phi_3:14, Phi_3:18, Phi_3:20, Phi_4:7, Phi_4:13, Phi_4:19, Phi_4:21, Phi_4:23, Col_1:1-4 (5), Col_1:7, Col_1:24, Col_1:27-28 (2), Col_2:2, Col_2:5-6 (2), Col_2:8, Col_2:11, Col_2:17, Col_2:20, Col_3:1 (2), Col_3:3-4 (2), Col_3:11, Col_3:13, Col_3:16, Col_3:24, Col_4:3, Col_4:12, 1Th_1:1 (2), 1Th_1:3, 1Th_2:6, 1Th_2:14, 1Th_2:19, 1Th_3:2, 1Th_3:11, 1Th_3:13, 1Th_4:16, 1Th_5:9, 1Th_5:18, 1Th_5:23, 1Th_5:28, 2Th_1:1-2 (2), 2Th_1:8, 2Th_1:12 (2), 2Th_2:1-2 (2), 2Th_2:14, 2Th_2:16, 2Th_3:5-6 (2), 2Th_3:12, 2Th_3:18, 1Ti_1:1-2 (3), 1Ti_1:12, 1Ti_1:14-16 (3), 1Ti_2:5, 1Ti_2:7, 1Ti_3:13, 1Ti_4:6, 1Ti_5:11, 1Ti_5:21, 1Ti_6:3, 1Ti_6:13-14 (2), 2Ti_1:1-2 (3), 2Ti_1:9-10 (2), 2Ti_1:13, 2Ti_2:1, 2Ti_2:3, 2Ti_2:8, 2Ti_2:10, 2Ti_2:19, 2Ti_3:12, 2Ti_3:15, 2Ti_4:1, 2Ti_4:22, Tit_1:1, Tit_1:4, Tit_2:13, Tit_3:6, Phm_1:1, Phm_1:3, Phm_1:6, Phm_1:8-9 (2), Phm_1:23, Phm_1:25, Heb_3:1, Heb_3:6, Heb_3:14, Heb_5:5, Heb_6:1, Heb_9:11, Heb_9:14, Heb_9:24, Heb_9:28, Heb_10:10, Heb_11:26, Heb_13:8, Heb_13:21, Jam_2:1 (2), 1Pe_1:1-3 (4), 1Pe_1:7, 1Pe_1:11 (2), 1Pe_1:13, 1Pe_1:19, 1Pe_2:5, 1Pe_2:21, 1Pe_3:16, 1Pe_3:18, 1Pe_3:21, 1Pe_4:1, 1Pe_4:11, 1Pe_4:14, 1Pe_5:1, 1Pe_5:10, 1Pe_5:14, 2Pe_1:1 (2), 2Pe_1:8, 2Pe_1:11, 2Pe_1:14, 2Pe_1:16, 2Pe_2:20, 2Pe_3:18, 1Jo_1:3, 1Jo_1:7, 1Jo_2:1, 1Jo_3:22-23 (2), 1Jo_4:2-3 (2), 1Jo_5:1, 1Jo_5:6, 1Jo_5:20, 2Jo_1:3, 2Jo_1:7, 2Jo_1:9 (2), Jud_1:1 (2), Jud_1:4, Jud_1:17, Jud_1:21, Rev_1:1-2 (2), Rev_1:5, Rev_1:9 (2), Rev_11:15, Rev_12:10, Rev_12:17, Rev_20:4, Rev_20:6, Rev_22:21 christ’s, 16
Rom_15:30, 1Co_3:23, 1Co_4:10, 1Co_15:22-23 (2), 2Co_2:12, 2Co_5:20, 2Co_10:7 (3), 2Co_12:10, Gal_3:29, Gal_5:24, Eph_4:32, Phi_2:21, 1Pe_4:13

In the book of Acts the apostle Peter reveals this to us:

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. Then Paul tells us that Christ said this about who you and I are to Him and His Father:

Act 22:7  And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

To that Paul adds this additional bit of knowledge:

2Co 1:21  Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
2Co 1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Here is verse 21 with the Strong's numbers:

2Co 1:21  Now^G1161 he which stablisheth^G950 us^G2248 with^G4862 you^G5213 in^G1519 Christ,^G5547 and^G2532 hath anointed^G5548 us,^G2248 is God;^G2316

G5547 is the Greek word 'christos, the anointed', and in this same verse we are told that we, too, have been 'chrio' by God.

Here is the definition of the Greek word here is translated as 'anointed':

G5548
χρίω
chriō
khree'-o.
Total KJV occurrences: 5
Probably akin to G5530 through the idea of contact; to smear or rub with oil, that is, (by implication) to consecrate to an office or religious service: - anoint

So Christ is God's anointed, His [G5547: 'christos', Act 2:36], who also "hath anointed [chrio^G5548, 1Co 1:21] us", and if we are anointed (chrio) by Christ then we have the anointing [G5545, chrisma, 1Jo 2:27] and we "shall know the Truth", and will not be seduced by the tempter.

The Greek word translated as 'stablisheth' in 2Co 1:21 appears 8 times in the New Testament, and of those 8 entries it is most often translated as 'confirm'.

Here are all the entries and how they are translated:

G950
βεβαιόω
bebaioō
Total KJV Occurrences: 8
confirm, 2
Rom_15:8, 1Co_1:8
confirmed, 2
1Co_1:6, Heb_2:3
confirming, 1
Mar_16:20
established, 1
Heb_13:9
stablished, 1
Col_2:7
stablisheth, 1
2Co_1:21

What Paul has been inspired to tell us is that it is God who has established and confirmed us together in the Christ. Then he tells us that we are "chrio... anointed" by God. That is why we are three times called the Christ of Christ, the Lord's Christ.

Here are those three times we are called "His Christ":

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

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

Rev 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.

"Our God, and... His Christ, are accused by "the accuser... day and night". There is only one group who 'the accuser accuses day and night', and that is those who are "the Christ [of] our Lord".

But the accuser uses the spiritual kings of Assyria and Babylon to punish us for the fact that we all really do 'leave our first love' and have our candle removed, have the blood of all the prophets required of us, and have our names blotted out of His book', before the Lord sees fit to 'confirm and establish us to the end':

Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

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;

 Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

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

But the Lord knows those who are His, and He keeps His very elect from being deceived:

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

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.

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

1Co 1:8  Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Before we are given over to Babylon, we are punished for our sins by the king of Assyria. The Lord actually gives us space of repentance by first breaking us to pieces:

Ezr 9:8  And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

Luk 20:18  Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Rev 2:20  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Rev 2:21  And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rev 2:22  Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Rev 2:23  And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Israel, Judah and Jerusalem all typify how Christ works with us. The king of Assyria carried away all the cities of the northern kingdom of Israel. He also took many of the cities of Judah, but he was not given to conquer Jerusalem, giving Judah "a little reviving in [their] bondage".

This is what the king of Assyria does to us as the Lord pleads with us to repent of our sins:

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

"The high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled" is a reference back to this verse:

Isa 10:8  For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

The king of Assyria is far more powerful than we are of our own power. The loss of all these cities within us is the story of how the Lord demonstrates to us that we cannot do war with the beast within. It is our own sins which humble us and bring us to see our sad, helpless state, yet we are not yet humbled, and we are brought to our "wits' end" (Psa 107:27), as the apostle Paul explains:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? [Psa 107:27]
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

But it takes many failures to bring us to this point, and in the meantime, the Lord demonstrates His mercy and gives us space for repentance by actually delivering us from the king of Assyria. This is what happened to the cities listed in Isaiah 10:28-32.

2Ki 18:13  Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

The Lord's judgment is just now beginning. King Hezekiah cries out to be delivered, and he is delivered, but the kingdom is not yet at its wits' end, and it is only "given... a little reviving in [their] bondage" to the sins which still afflict the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Judah and Jerusalem are given "space for repentance", but they do not repent because they have not yet come to see their own helpless, and hopeless, condition, and they still think they are free from the will of their own God and Creator.

Nevertheless, just for our own admonition, and just to let us know what "a long time" means (Luk 20:9), the Lord takes mercy on Hezekiah, and He delivers them from the might of the king of Assyria:

2Ki 19:1  And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2Ki 19:2  And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
2Ki 19:3  And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
2Ki 19:4  It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
2Ki 19:5  So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
2Ki 19:6  And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
2Ki 19:7  Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

So the Lord's judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem is postponed until a later date, and Judah and Jerusalem, as Laodicean types of you and me, will continue on as a lukewarm kingdom until they will, in time, be spewed from the mouth of their own God, to be judged in the fire of His doctrine and His words.

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;
Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

The Lord was equally patient with King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. Ahab killed Naboth and simply took Naboth's vineyard for an herb garden. When the Lord told Ahab that he would die for that treachery, Ahab fasted and repented, and the Lord showed mercy and spared Ahab's life:

1Ki 21:28  And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
1Ki 21:29  Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.

The entire book of Judges is a commentary on the longsuffering of God in working with His people. It is a commentary on how we are gradually brought to see the necessity of the utter destruction of the entire kingdom and economy of our own rebellious old man, so that through that death, the life of the new man is birthed:

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.

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Next week, Lord willing, we will learn when the wolf really does "dwell with the lamb", in the kingdom of God, and when all the beasts of our land will be submissive unto us.

Here are the verses we hope to cover next Sunday:

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Isa 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
Isa 11:3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
Isa 11:4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Isa 11:5  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
Isa 11:6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 47 Discussion

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Isa 10:5-11 O Assyrian, The Rod of Mine Anger

Isa 10:5-11 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Isa 10:7  Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
Isa 10:8  For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
Isa 10:9  Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
Isa 10:10  As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
Isa 10:11  Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

Outwardly 'Assyria' is what we today call Iraq. Iraq is home to what used to be universally accepted as "the cradle of civilization". It is the home of the tower of Babel, the ancient city of Nineveh, the capital of the kingdom of Assyria, and 'Assyria' is also the land of Babylon, the symbol of all the false religions which dominate mankind.

The ruins of Nineveh have been excavated just outside the present city of Mosul in northern Iraq. The city of Babylon has been excavated near the present city of Hillah in central Iraq. There are just 317 miles (510 kilometers) between the two cities. Both were used by God to punish His own unfaithful, hypocritical, rebellious people.

This is how the name Babylon is used in both the Old and the New Testaments:

Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Here is how the name 'Babylon' is applied in the New Testament;

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Just as God used Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all of His prophets, to show Israel how He was about to punish them for their unfaithfulness and hypocrisy, so in the New Testament He uses "one of the seven angels which had the seven vials", His modern day prophets (Rev 19:10 and 22:8), to reveal to us the fullness of His wrath against our own unfaithful and hypocritical ways.

Babylon and Assyria are one and the same, so we are told:

Isa 10:5-11 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

Assyria symbolizes our own lives while we are under the influence of the twisted false doctrines of Assyria, which is but an earlier form of Babylon. Being the exact same ethnic people, these two cities both symbolize the same thing in scripture.  They symbolize our lives while we live under God's wrath (Jer 51:7) in 'that great city wherein our Lord was crucified'. Assyria and Babylon both symbolize where we are spiritually while "the wrath of God abides on [us]".

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

While being dominated by Assyria we live lives which are in total darkness because "the wrath of God abides on [us]. Isaiah has already told us the Lord has taken His Truth from us:

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,

If indeed the Lord has, at this time, removed from us "the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water", then what that means is there is not one single doctrine of Babylon and Assyria which has not be tainted with the heresies of that carnal-minded kingdom.

Isaiah has already informed us:

Isa 9:19  Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.

In that darkened state we are totally unaware of what the Lord has done to us, so we still want to claim His name. What we do not want is to do what He tells us to do. This is how Isaiah portrays our life under the Lord's wrath, where we live while we are under Assyria's dominance in our life:

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.

Being carried away as a captive into Assyria and Babylon does not change our hearts or minds. We must "come out of her" before that change will come:

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

The Lord Himself places us into this sad position for the very purpose of giving Himself the occasion and the opportunity He is seeking to pour out His wrath upon "the seat [Greek: thronos - throne] of the beast" within us:

Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat [Greek: thronos - throne] of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Assyria, which is the same as Babylon, is pictured here in Revelation 17 as a harlot "woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus". Those are the words the holy spirit has chosen to describe the effects of the false doctrines of this great harlot upon the lives of all "the kings of the earth... and the inhabitants of the earth". All men, including each of us in our own time, "have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication". That 'wine' is the "old wine", the law of Moses, which is called "a carnal commandment", and our old man finds that 'old wine', the doctrines of the Old Testament, the law of Moses, to be far more appealing than the "new wine... the law of Christ".

Luk 5:37  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
Luk 5:38  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
Luk 5:39  No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

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

One lesson we must learn in these studies is that the law of Moses is the same as the law of the Gentiles, both of which are "carnal commandment[s]... for the lawless and disobedient..." Those are the laws of Assyria and Babylon.

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law [of Moses], do by nature the things contained in the law [of Moses], these, having not the law [of Moses], are a law [of Moses] unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law [of Moses] written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;

Here in the book of Hebrews, the law of Moses is even called "a carnal commandment":

Heb 7:14  For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Heb 7:15  And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

Being 'a carnal commandment" for a carnal nation, the law of Moses was never designed for a righteous man, but it was designed, like the laws of the Gentiles, for the lawless and disobedient:

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law [of Moses] 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;

Our greatest enemy is the proud, rebellious, hypocritical old man within us all who uses the carnal commandments of the law of Moses to justify nullifying the law of Christ. We simply are not given, by nature, to see ourselves as the hypocrites the Lord has made us to be and hardened our hearts to become:

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.

But in the darkness that is the kingdom of the beast within us, we cannot see ourselves as the hypocrites we are. To the contrary it is natural for us to think that we would never have disobeyed God's commandment against eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There are those who want to "punch Adam in the nose" for being so foolish and rebellious, not knowing that expressing such a sentiment is itself in rebellion against the law of Christ. We all read the story of Cain and Abel, and we just naturally wonder how Cain could possibly have committed such a heinous act against his own "righteous [brother] Abel" (Mat 23:35). We read of Noah's drunkenness, of Abraham's denying his own wife, of Jacob cheating his brother out of his blessing, of the nation of Israel rebelling against God ten times in the wilderness, of King David's adultery and the subsequent murder to hide his adultery, and we think that we ourselves would never have eaten of the forbidden fruit, or killed our own brother or any of those heinous sins of which we read because we think we are better than that.

The lesson in every case, of course, is that those men and those sins are types of us, and those very sins will even be required of us:

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.

The scriptures are the Word of God which does "not pass away" and which is always addressed to "this generation":

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Which generation will not pass away until all these things be fulfilled? We are not left to guess. That generation is the generation of "whoso readeth" in every generation since Christ.

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:)

That being the case, we must come to see that we are the generation of whom all the blood of all the prophets who have been slain from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Christ Himself and the blood of "His Christ" will be required.

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.

If we are granted to see the truth of Luke 11:49-51, then when we read of how the Lord brought His people up out of Egypt, we can recognize that the 'Egypt' out of which He is bringing us is the Egypt of our own taskmaster. Our own ruthless old man, who dominated us, was our enemy used by God to drive us to our wits' end until we are forced to cry out to Him to send us a Savior:

Exo 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt [in sin], and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

There has never been a "taskmaster" so ruthless and demanding as our own brutish pride and  our own sinful nature. 'Egypt' typifies the rebellious, carnal-minded flesh, the "taskmaster" into which we, and all men, are just naturally born as slaves to our own proud, selfish, carnal desires. However God has mercy on us and hears our cries to be delivered from the power of our flesh, and then, after a short time of great gratitude, it is we, who again, just naturally become a nation who is very self-righteous, and yet at the same time we are very rebellious and sinful, and we must be punished by our own God who brought us up out of Egypt. Now He uses another king, the king of Assyria, as His instrument of punishment upon us:

Isa 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

Then at our own appointed time, our flesh wants to return to Egypt, but the Lord has determined that action will not be permitted. Instead, after we come up out of Egypt and after we spend our preordained time in a land flowing with milk and honey, we are predestined to begin to take our many blessings for granted and to lose our first love (Rev 2:4) and come to the point that we must be punished for our sins by being ruled over by the king of Babylon, who is in the land of Assyria.

We are told that this is the predestined order of events in:

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Hos 11:3  I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
Hos 11:4  I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
Hos 11:5  He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
Hos 11:6  And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.
Hos 11:7  And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

Why do we marvel that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, that Noah got drunk at the first opportunity, that Abraham twice denied his wife, or that Israel rebelled against their own deliverer and wanted to return to Egypt after being miraculously delivered out of that oppression and bondage?

Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

The reason we read all those stories and marvel at the lack of faith of those who have come before us is that we hypocritically think that we are above such foolishness and such spiritual immaturity. It is while we are still steeped in all the lies of Babylon, where we do not yet have a clue that what we think is light is, in reality, deep spiritual darkness. At that point we actually abhor the True 'Light'.

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

At that point in our "experience of evil" (Ecc 1:13, CLV) we believe that the darkness of lies and false doctrines are the light of God's Words, and so again we are told:

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Our deeds reflect our doctrine. If we love our enemies, then we have no problem coming to the 'light', because "the Light" tells us to do so. If we are hypocrites, we will not "come to the light, lest [our] deeds should be reproved".

Which brings us to our next verse in today's study:

Isa 10:6  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

God has sent Assyria and Babylon against the people of His wrath with a charge to take the spoil, to take the prey and to tread them down like mire of the streets. There can be no better words to describe what the great harlot and her daughter harlots do to those upon whom she sits and rules. She uses us to her own benefit just as any harlot would. And how do we, in our blinded, darkened state, feel about being so used by our oppressor? This is what the scriptures reveal to be our state of mind while being so physically, mentally and spiritually abused:

Jer 5:30  A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
Jer 5:31  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Does this great harlot, Assyria and Babylon, see herself as the harlot who the Lord says she is? No, of course not. The Jews did not realize they were crucifying their own Savior. None of us, while we were attending and tithing to the churches of this world, thought we were part of the great harlot system which has "deceived the whole world" (Rev 12:9). We do not just naturally see ourselves as those who crucified Christ. Neither did literal Assyria realize the depth of their own brutality, and yet this is who we are:

Isa 10:7  Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

We have already seen that, while in Assyria, we are incapable of seeing ourselves as having to give an accounting for "the blood of all the prophets from Abel to Zacharias".

But we are Assyria, and as such we do not see ourselves as the brute beasts which we are. In that state of mind we certainly do not realize that we were made in such a state for the specific purpose of being "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;

Neither do we see ourselves symbolized by the great harlot, Babylon. Rather, this is what we say, and this is what we do at that point:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

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.

Saul of Tarsus did not feel condemned for "breathing out slaughter against the church", and he felt no remorse for having supervised the stoning of Stephen. This is how he did feel:

Php 3:4  Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Php 3:5  Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

It was Saul's zeal for the law of Moses which compelled him to persecute the church. His light was total darkness and spiritual blindness, and at that time he was glorying in his zeal. That is what we also do while we faithfully and zealously serve Assyria. It is our goal to break down any barriers against the expansion of our evangelistic Assyrian, Babylonian kingdom, which zeal is expressed in these words:

Isa 10:8  For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
Isa 10:9  Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

No city had withstood Assyria - not Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria or Damascus. They had all succumbed to the zeal of the kings and princes of Assyria. It was in His zeal that Saul of Tarsus had supervised the stoning of Stephen, because the law of Moses required that we hate our enemies. There was no doubt that the doctrines of Christ were enmity against the law of Moses. Every time Christ had said "You have heard it said by them of old... but I say unto you..." those words of Christ, from Saul's law-oriented perspective, were the equivalent of an insurrection against the law of Moses, and were therefore worthy of the death of Christ and of all of His followers.

Act 7:57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him [Stephen] 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 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Saul of Tarsus' trip to Damascus was a terrible experience for Saul of Tarsus, but it was the best thing that ever happened to the apostle Paul. As we will come to see, after the Lord uses Assyria to punish His hypocritical people, He then uses the remnant of His people to punish Assyria and Babylon.

But until the Lord's wrath against our hypocrisy is filled up against us, Assyria and Babylon, typifying the great harlot, are given to spoil us. Assyria is the rod of His wrath against us, His own people, who, as slaves of Assyria and Babylon, are still saying within ourselves:

Isa 10:10  As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
Isa 10:11  Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

Physical Assyria and physical Babylon are the symbols of the spiritual kingdoms which have enslaved all "the kings of the earth", including, but not at all limited to, those who are the Lord's own chosen people.

Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

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

The Lord's chosen people are symbolized by Jerusalem and Samaria, the capitals respectively for the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. The fact that Israel is a divided nation is an indication of just how far from our God we are, who at one time claimed the name of Christ. While we will not again see the phrase, "His hand is stretched out still", we will continue to see that His hand is still stretched out against His own people who have completely forsaken Him

"All the families of the north, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon", all being "of the north", symbolize those who the Lord uses to judge His completely apostatized and godless people, because judgment comes out of "the north" (Eze 9:1-2).

Next week we will see how the Lord, after sending Assyria and Babylon to punish and to humble the pride of His own chosen people, will then give judgment into the hands of His saints, and through His chosen few He will judge the pride and the rebellious hearts of the kings of Assyria and Babylon.

Isa 10:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
Isa 10:13  For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
Isa 10:14  And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
Isa 10:15  Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.