Pro 1:17-23 “The righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner” Part II

[Study Aired March 13, 2025]

I’ve kept the same title as last week for this section of chapter 11, seeing the majority of the verses point to the reality that “the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner” (Pro 11:31) which is something the Lord wants us to “behold”, to know!

Many of the proverbs are written with a clear message of opposing positive and negative behaviour and the resultant effect of acting one way or the other. For a very blessed few on this earth, we do not separate ourselves from any part of the proverbs but see them as an ongoing, is was and will be admonition in this age [as we do the rest of God’s word], and a continual encouragement of how God can give us victory over the wretchedness that just naturally resides within flesh (Rom 7:24-25).

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
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. 

This section of chapter eleven has a lot to do with how God has called his people to be productive in this life, that we live by the faith of Christ (Gal 2:20-21), who can give us the power and ability to overcome the negative aspect of each of these proverbs to become fruit bearing trees to the glory and honour of our Great God (2Ti 1:9-10) who gives the increase in our life so that we can bring forth much spiritual fruit (1Co 3:6).

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:21  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.  

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 3:8, Jas 2:14-17]
2Ti 1:10  But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: 

The “good ground” of (Mat 13:8) is in the house of God where the “manifold wisdom of God”(Eph 3:10) is “now made manifest” to the saints in every generation that is being judged (Mat 13:8, 1Ti 3:15, Mat 24:34, 1Pe 4:17).

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

Mat 13:8  But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 

1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 

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? 

Pro 11:17  The merciful man doeth good to his own soul^H5315: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh^H7607.

H5315  nephesh  neh’-fesh
From H5314; properly a breathing creature, that is, animal or (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental): – any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead (-ly), desire, X [dis-] contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart (-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortality, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it.
Total KJV occurrences: 753

H7607 flesh she’êr sheh-ayr’
From H7604; flesh (as swelling out), as living or for food; generally food of any kind; figuratively kindred by blood: – body, flesh, food, (near) kin (-sman, -swoman), near (nigh) [of kin]
Total KJV occurrences: 16

This proverb gives more evidence to God’s elect that when we do good unto our own soul^H5315, or flesh and bones (Eph 5:29-30, Isa 58:7), or do evil unto it, we are doing this unto Christ (Mat 25:40-46). If we want to obtain mercy we need to show it to others (Mat 5:7) and if we trouble our own flesh and do belong to God, His grace will abound toward our sinful condition (2Co 9:8, Rom 5:20-21) burning out that evil spirit that troubles our “own flesh^H7607” [one spirit 1Co 6:17, one bread 1Co 10:17, one flesh Joh 6:51]. So in a healthy body of Christ we can say no healthy spiritual man ever hated His own flesh (Eph 5:29)

Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 
Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?[Eph 5:30] 

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

2Co 9:8  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 

Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 
Rom 5:21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Joh 6:51  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 

Pro 11:18  The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. 

No one wants to think that their first tree works a “deceitful work”, but that is the point of this proverb. We all must first be the tree that is on the unproductive ground of Babylon where our talent is buried in the earth due to fear (Mat 25:25), to then by God’s mercy become a tree that is worked with on the good ground, which casts out that fear (Mat 13:8, 1Ti 3:15, Rom 5:5) as God’s workmanship that has been predestinated to bring forth works (Luk 13:6-9, Eph 1:4). God’s elect are called unto a lifetime of seeking and knowing and believing that there will be a “sure reward” for their labour of sowing righteousness through Christ (Heb 11:6, Mat 6:33) as we die daily and are washed by the word that gives us the power to progressively, “by little and little”, drive the beast out of our land, which represents our bodies (Exo 23:29-30, Tit 2:11-12).

The patient process of salvation:

Luk 13:6  He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 
Luk 13:7  Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? [1Ti 3:15]
Luk 13:8  And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
Luk 13:9  And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.[Heb 6:3]

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. 
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. 

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

God has purposed that we must experience both conditions, of being unproductive to then become productive, and the contrast blesses us and puts us in remembrance that He is the one who is working all of this holding and withholding of those spirits that inhibit our growth until they are destroyed by the brightness of His coming (2Th 2:3-8).

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

“The day of evil” is something that God has made within us (Isa 45:7, Pro 16:4) that we will be delivered from when we begin to “soweth righteousness” through Christ, resulting in a “sure reward” (Pro 11:18). That ultimate reward at the end of a life of fighting a good fight of faith is to be found in that blessed and holy first resurrection (1Ti 6:12, Rev 20:6, 2Ti 4:8).

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

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

Pro 11:18  The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. 

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

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. 

2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 

Pro 11:19  As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. 

By God’s grace we’ll recognize any evil thing that is within us (Rom 8:1-9) that must be cleansed by Him through Christ (Psa 51:10-11) who alone can bless us to have His righteousness ruling and reigning in our thoughts and actions (2Co 10:5) so that we can go unto perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32).

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 
Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [Rom 8:14-16]
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;[“so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death”] but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.[“As righteousness tendeth to life”] 
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 
Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. [“righteousness tendeth to life”]
Psa 51:11  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

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

Pro 11:20  They that are of a froward^H6141 heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight. 

We are all that froward^H6141 man at first who God answers according to the idol of our own hearts (Pro 16:28, Eze 14:4, Mat 25:24).

H6141 ‛iqqêsh ik-kashe’
From H6140; distorted; hence false: – crooked, froward, perverse.
Total KJV occurrences: 11

Pro 16:28  A froward^H8419 man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.

Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel [typifying the church] that setteth up his idols in his heart, [crooked, froward, or perverse words] and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity (Eze 33:13, Php 3:9) before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 

Mat 25:24  Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 
Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 
Mat 25:26  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: [“I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols”] 
Mat 25:27  Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. [Jas 2:20]
Mat 25:28  Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 
Mat 25:29  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. 
Mat 25:30  And cast ye the unprofitable servant  into outer darkness:[Heb 10:29, Heb 6:9] there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The “but such as are upright in their way are his delight” part of this proverb can only happen if God will grant that we be dragged to His son in this age (Joh 6:44) through whom we are accepted of the Father (Eph 1:6). There is no boasting in the life of those that God chooses to bring forth much fruit (Rom 3:27, Gal 2:20, Php 2:12-13); the few who are being blessed to heed the admonitions of the Lord in this age, that reveal the needful severity and goodness of God upon all flesh (Rom 11:22, Rom 2:4).

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

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

Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

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

Pro 11:21  Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. 

Christ has delivered the elect over and over throughout history, most notably via the typical deliverance in the old covenant of the nation of Israel, which represents the very real spiritual deliverance from our Father who says that nothing shall separate the Israel of God from the love of God (Gal 6:16, Rom 8:35-39). Our old man does not go unpunished in this life, but it is through God’s chastening grace that we are received of Him (Heb 12:6) as we are delivered by the one seed, “the seed” Jesus Christ who abides within the body of Christ (Gal 3:16), “but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered” (Col 1:27). In other words, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18).

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 

Pro 11:22  As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. 

This proverb is talking about the “fair woman which is without discretion” who represents Babylon where we had our former conversation in the world (Eph 2:1-4) that we now must continue to die daily to. The “gold, and silver, and precious stones” of (Rev 18:12) represent our own confidence in our fleshly carnal reasoning that causes us to believe we are rich and increased with goods, not knowing we are actually wretched, miserable, poor and blind (Joh 9:41, Rev 3:17). All of these conditions are represented by the “jewel of gold in a swine’s snout”. In order for us to become a woman of discretion, we must have that gold on our snouts pulled off and put in the fire (Rev 3:17-18, Exo 32:3, Exo 32:20-24).

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.

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. 

Exo 32:3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 

Exo 32:20  And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. [the idol turned to nothing through a fiery process]

Pro 11:23  The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. 

Our desire will be what God has determined from the foundation of the world (Pro 16:1-2), and if we are His and Christ is working in us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure (Php 2:12-13), then and only then “The desire of the righteous is only good” (Rom 3:10-12).

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. 
Pro 16:2  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.

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

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 
Rom 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 
Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

The only way that “desire of the righteous” can be realized in our lives is by having “the expectation of the wicked” destroyed by God’s “wrath” which abides on all unrighteousness of men [Rom 1:18]. We suffer so that we can cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1-2) and overcome all that is in the world within us (1Jn 2:16) via the power of God’s holy spirit that makes it possible for us to fulfill His will, and “be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (1Jn 2:15-17, Php 3:9).

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

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

In conclusion, we thank God for His wonderful works onto the children of men that are setting us free from sin (Joh 8:36), which resides in a deceived world that is currently being held in bondage by the god of this world (2Co 4:4).

God’s elect are typified by Abraham’s one seed and are now the one holy seed with Jesus Christ within (Gal 3:16-17, Col 1:27), and so we give thanks to our loving Father for the process of salvation we’ve been called unto that will lead to the salvation of all men (1Co 15:22-23).

The elect are called to have these words fulfilled in their lives, “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner”. The elect are recompensed with the life of Christ within our earth today, and outwardly by receiving a double portion, or inheritance (Col 1:12, Col 3:24, 1Pe 1:4, Heb 11:8, Heb 9:15). These last few verses incentivize us to keep fighting a good fight of faith as we strive for the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ (1Ti 6:12, Php 3:14).

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 

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

1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 

Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Pro 11:13-16 “The righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner” Part I

[Study Aired March 6, 2025]

In this section of Proverbs chapter 11 we’ll look at the following verses (Pro 11:13-16) with the final verse in mind throughout, that states God shall recompense the righteous in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner (Pro 11:31).

Inwardly the deceitful and desperately wicked heart of man, of all men (Jer 17:9), will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (1Co 15:50), which is another way of saying nothing that defiles the kingdom of God will enter into its gates of (Rev 21:27).

Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 

Right now if God is judging us (1Pe 4:17), then we are a blessed people above all of God’s creation, and that judgement and the suffering that it brings upon the body of Christ is a manifest token of His workmanship that God’s people are in this age (2Th 1:4-6, Php 1:28-29, Eph 2:10).

2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: 
2Th 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: 
2Th 1:6  Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 

Php 1:28  And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. 
Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 

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

All of God’s word is “given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2Ti 3:16), as those words sharpen us (Pro 27:17) with the present truths that we hold fast to, and are established in (1Th 5:21, 2Pe 1:12).

1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 

2Pe 1:12  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 

Speaking of sharpening, I’ve been learning how to use a straight blade to shave, and the sharpening process takes a lot of time and proper technique against a specific honed glass stone. The blade has to go through many passes against this specially designed stone in order to become sharp enough to cut facial hair. Accomplishing the razor sharp results I’m looking for is an ongoing work in progress that has not yet been realized yet as it turns out to be something that requires a lot more time and skill to attain then I expected.

Whether I end up succeeding at this physical challenge or not the Lord knows, and it reminds me of these verses “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind [my old razor], and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:13-14).

The good news is that although salvation is something that is scarcely obtained by God’s design as we grow spiritually sharper in the Lord (1Pe 4:18, 2Pe 3:18), we are also blessed to know that it will all be accomplished by the faith of Christ alone (1Jn 5:4, Rom 3:27), who is the stone that God has placed in our lives as our hope of glory (Col 1:27). If we truly love the brotherhood and have become fellow servants who sharpen each other in this life, then that which He has begun will be finished in each of our lives in this manner, “from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love”(ESV) (Php 2:12-13, Php 1:6, Eph 4:15-16).

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

This simple analogy of sharpening a blade against glass reminds us that God’s elect are represented by what we read in these verses (Rev 21:21-27) that include reference to “transparent glass”. All of these qualities of the temple described in (Rev 21:21-27) describe what it takes for God’s people to be “meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work“(2Ti 2:20-21). The work of witnessing during the thousand year reign (Rev 20:6) and the work of judging all of humanity who will come up in the great white throne judgement are all made possible by Christ the chief corner stone who prepared the bride for the service she was called unto (1Pe 2:6). That service cannot be accomplished unless we become like the stone, Jesus Christ (1Jn 4:17), that God will use with Christ as our head to be saviours to this world (Oba 1:21).

2Ti 2:20  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 
2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work (Rev 19:7).

Pro 24:27  Prepare thy work without [Heb 13:13], and make it fit for thyself in the field;[Mat 13:38, Joh 17:16] and afterwards build thine house.[Isa 9:7] 

Luk 9:62  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. [It takes the strength of the fit man to accomplish God’s work within the scapegoat in this age (Lev 16:10-11, Lev 16:21)]

Luk 14:34  Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? 
Luk 14:35  It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.[It takes the strength of the fit man to accomplish God’s work within the scapegoat in this age which entails the living sacrifices that we are to God, being salted with fiery trials (Lev 16:10-11, Lev 16:21, Mat 5:13, 1Pe 4:12, Mar 9:49)] 

Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 
Lev 16:11  And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 

Lev 16:21  And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 

Mar 9:49  For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice [Rom 12:1] shall be salted with salt. 

These verses in the book of Revelation (Rev 21:21-27) represent a time when the elect are ruling and reigning over the kingdoms of this world (Rev 11:15) as they are “recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner“, having been judged in this age, and by God’s grace, overcome our corrupt flesh that cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

The world will be learning of His righteousness with His judgements in the earth (Isa 26:9), executed by the elect (1Pe 4:17), who were made ready at this time, to be the saviours who come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21, Jer 23:5, Rev 11:15). “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth“, has an inward application for God’s people today who have this earnest relationship (Rom 8:19) unfolding by the grace through faith process we’ve been called unto (Eph 2:8), and a dispensational fulfillment that is expressed perfectly in these verses (Rev 21:21-27)

Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.

Rev 21:21  And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl:

[Unity is being expressed in this section of the first verse, that has been completely formed in Christ’s body through judgment, resulting in the fulfillment of this verse (2Co 11:3) that speaks to the goal of unity that we are striving toward in the body of Christ today (Php 2:2)]

Rev 21:21  And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city [the church]was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 
Rev 21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

[no more earnest relationship, but the fulness of this verse (Joh 14:20) now being experienced as spirit beings in God’s glorious service]

Rev 21:23  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it:[no need for the church to know Christ the sun of righteousness after the flesh for God’s elect at this point, no need for the process that the moon typifies for God’s elect (2Co 5:16)] for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 
Rev 21:24  And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth [Rev 11:15, Rev 17:14, Rev 19:16] do bring their glory and honour into it. 
Rev 21:25  And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 
Rev 21:26  And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it [God’s elect have been made ready and are represented by “the glory and honour of the nations” God having given them the power to rule over, and overcome the nations within us in this life]. 
Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth [Gen 3:24], neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 

Pro 11:13  A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. 

Pro 11:13 He who goes about as a defamer reveals secret deliberation, Yet one faithful of spirit covers a confidential matter.”[CLV]

Today’s world is full of talebearers which were prophesied to be (2Ti 3:2-7), and the Lord is showing us what is within ourselves except for the grace of God that changes our talebearing hearts into one “that is of a faithful spirit [that] concealeth the matter”. We are extending that mercy toward each other today as the body of Christ showing pity and kindness to one another even as Christ had toward us (Jas 5:11, 1Pe 3:8, Mat 18:32-33)

Jas 5:11  Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. 

1Pe 3:8  Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 

Mat 18:32  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 
Mat 18:33  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 

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

Here we have a multitude of verses with the word ‘counsel’ in them that will help us understand why “safety” is associated with counsel.

Pro 1:25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 

Pro 1:30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 

Pro 8:14  Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. [Christ who is our mighty counsel, and our wisdom (Isa 9:6)]

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

Pro 12:15  The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. 

Pro 15:22  Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established. [1Pe 5:10]

Pro 19:20  Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. 

Pro 19:21  There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. [Eph 6:13]

Pro 20:5  Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out. (Gen 24:63-64, Luk 21:36)

Pro 20:18  Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war. 

Pro 21:30  There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.(Rom 8:31) 

Pro 24:6  For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety. 

Pro 27:9  Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel. 

Pro 11:15  He that is surety^H6148 for a stranger^H2114 shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship^H8628 is sure. 

The opposite of seeking wise counsel, and finding saftety in the multitude of counselors that we’ve just looked at, is what happens to us when we are “surety for a stranger“, key word “a stranger^H8628“.

H2114 zûr zoor
A primitive root; to turn aside (especially for lodging); hence to be a foreigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) to commit adultery: – (come from) another (man, place), fanner, go away, (e-) strange (-r, thing, woman).

God is not saying that we can’t learn from those in the world whose actions are commendable like the unjust steward who teaches us a great physical lesson that has a spiritual application to God’s elect, a lesson that tells us to forgive everyone including yourself, the debt that you owe, and be willing to take a loss, losing an eye, or a hand so you don’t lose out on being in the first resurrection (Luk 16:8, Mat 5:29). Christ is telling us to get rid of our own righteousness, our own perceptions and natural self-willed tendency, of which we can do with the life of Christ in us, as our hope of glory, of obedience (Mat 26:39, Php 3:9, Php 2:12-13).

Luk 16:8  And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 

Mat 5:29  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 
Mat 5:30  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 

Safety is in the multitude of counselors and so that same mindset should be applied to how we approach the financial matters of our life, being careful not to put ourselves in a position where we become a slave to creditors. These verses are very instructive for us as to how we ought to be using the riches of this world that God gives us (Pro 22:6-9 , 1Jn 3:17-18), and how we must be careful to not become the borrower who is servant to the lender (Pro 22:6-9).

Pro 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 
Pro 22:7  The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. 
Pro 22:8  He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail. 
Pro 22:9  He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 
1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 

No one does this perfectly at first, but by God’s mercy and grace we will get better at it and the Lord will provide for those who are blessed to learn to trust him in this life whether we have a little or a lot (Php 4:11-13). We can always ask God for wisdom and He will provide abundantly for us in whatever challenges we are facing, financially and most importantly spiritually so that we are not being held in bondage to past mistakes (Jas 1:5-8).

Php 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Php 4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 
Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 

Pro 11:16  A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches. 

The gracious woman represents the bride of Christ who is blessed in this age to positively lay-up spiritual store against the day of wrath by not despising God’s goodness that leads to repentance, making us zealous toward the Lord (Rom 2:4-5, 2Co 7:11). Christ is the fit man, or the strong man in our lives who makes it possible for us to “retain riches”.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 
Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

2Co 7:11  For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. 

In conclusion:

This “gracious woman” who retains honour is the church, and the strong who retain riches are the elect who are doing this through Christ who is able “also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Php 4:13, Heb 10:25).

It is the church of the firstborn who are the first to trust God until our last breath (Heb 12:23, Eph 1:12) as we come to know by God’s grace that we are the unprofitable servants who have done that which was expected of them through Christ (Luk 17:10, Php 2:12-13), and as such will experience the fulfillment of these words, “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner” in that blessed and holy first resurrection (1Co 15:52, Rev 20:6).

The Book of Joel – Chapter 3:7 – 16

[Study Aired October 12^th 24]

We left last week’s Study hanging on the Lord’s question in Joel 3:4, “Will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head”?

Christ, the Lord of the Old Covenant, confronted Israel for their Sodom, Greco-Tyrian-Epicurean pursuit of neighbouring ideologies and doctrines that promised endless pleasure without pain instead of embracing the eternal life offered by Christ’s word. Of course, we know in hindsight that the yet-to-come enigmatic holy spirit and Christ’s faith would conclusively solve that sorry condition.

“Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. Epicurus was an atomist and materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to religious scepticism and a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism, and its main opponent later became Stoicism. It is a form of hedonism insofar as it declares pleasure to be its sole intrinsic goal. However, the concept that the absence of pain and fear constitutes the greatest pleasure, and its advocacy of a simple life, make it very different from hedonism as colloquially understood.

Hedonism refers to the prioritisation of pleasure in one’s lifestyle, actions, or thoughts. The term can include a number of theories or practices across philosophy, art, and psychology, encompassing both sensory pleasure and more intellectual or personal pursuits, but can also be used in everyday parlance as a pejorative for the egoistic pursuit of short-term gratification at the expense of others.” – Wikipedia.

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

And so, God rhetorically demands of Israel and us how our Epicurean doctrines of substitutionary death that today’s Babylonian Christians likewise subscribe to will advance us when Israel, ever since being in Egypt, failed miserably while pursuing those very same Epicurian lusts!?

The Israelites entered the promised land under Joshua forty years later, in 1406 BC. The northern tribes called Israel, were deported by the Assyrians in 721 BC . The southern tribes, called Judah, were exiled by the Babylonians; the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and left it desolate in 586 BC. Apparently, and from that account, Israel resided in the Promise Land for 820 years. The number 8 + 2 classically for Israel represents judgement and is the process of going through the eight to become circumcised of the spirit and the new beginnings, the New Man in Christ’s commands and not in our fabled Epicurian Hedonistic ways focusing on our will rather than Christ’s.

“And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition” – Rev 17:11 . That is us, the Beast, sitting on God’s throne claiming unwittingly and consciously that we are God! We thus go into perdition, and it is the best thing that could happen to us. We are not perfected in the flesh; we are to “die daily” (1Co 15:31).

The following verses, outwardly to the non-spiritual man, don’t sound too Epicurian-Hedonistic to me, promising an easy life without chastisement.

1Co 15:19  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
1Co 15:29  Else what shall they do which are baptised for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptised for the dead?
1Co 15:30  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 
1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Of course, Israel and Judah’s excile potently represents our spiritual progression from our Old Man to the New Man in Christ. Hence, our Lord begins to answer his question where he charges us of selling our birthright to Greco/Sodom-like sensualities.

Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Significations:

Joe 3:7  Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: 

The obvious question that springs to mind is, who is the “them” in Joel 3:7? Remember the shocking realisation that scriptures are overwhelmingly for the Bride of Christ alone and not for greater Israel in the north of her inheritance. Consequently, in verse 6, the scripture identifies the “them” as greater Israel whom the Priests of God represented by “Judah and the children of Jerusalem“ in the south, sold to their enemies, the Assyrians! It is the Priests of God in Judah and Jerusalem who have dealt treacherously with her sisters in the north. Because the Priests pillaged the Lord of his silver and gold and sexually/spiritually perverted the Lord’s word by not righteously judging Israel in the north, Israel was exiled to Assyria. The Lord’s act of “raising them [Greater Israel] out of the place whither ye have sold them [to Grecian/Epicurean idologies], and will return your recompence upon your own head” means that a remnant will return “recompence” upon the Priest’s heads because they used the Lord’s power and commandments for their lusted Epicurian wealth that pleased the nation far more than her Lord’s word. Consequently, the “recompense”, ‘the bountiful dealing, the fulness of God’s wrath’ is upon the Priests of God, even to this day with his Bride, which she is learning to receive joyously (Luke 8:13-15).

A shocking outward parallel is increasingly happening this very day since the U.S. Federal Reserve in the early 1900s was privately confiscated by the same symbolic Jews underhandedly claiming the God of the Old Covenant’s name via the British Empire, to which the USA and the West remain subservient ~ “She” is becoming increasingly “hated” and by all accounts it seems it won’t be long before she is “burnt with fire” (Rev 17:6-16).

It is the treacherous Priests of Judah, represented as Jerusalem, who sold themselves to every Grecian doctrine by turning a blind eye to greater Israel’s sins, thus corrupting and leavening the entire nation. The Priests took their Lord’s silver and gold into ‘their temples’ and fastened their idols to their hearts, which condemned the entire nation of Israel to exile. Hence, the Lord returns the Priest’s “recompense” H1576 – meaning, ‘dealing, benefit’ upon themselves. For not faithfully teaching the Lord’s commandments, Joel 3:8 says that all of Israel’s coming exile is on Judah and Jerusalem’s heads that we see today is upon our heads of the Bride, the Heavenly Jerusalem, anytime we similarly steal the Lord’s silver and gold.

Joe 3:8  And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it. 

It is our Lord, via his created lying servant, Satan (Job 26:13), whom he gives power to our former Babylonian selves, the crooked priests we were, to sell our children to Jewish traditions in Babylonian Christianity. Our children and anyone who suffered to hear our false rhetoric twisting our Lord’s silver and gold into idols of our hearts they sequentially sold to the Christian world of greasy grace, the Sabeans, in every corner of the Earth collectively called Babylon the Great (Rev 17:5).

Definition: Sabeans H7615 = drunkard or he who is coming 1. the people of the nation of Sheba. H7614 – Sheba = seven or an oath n pr m 1. son of Joktan and a descendant of Seth 2. son of Raamah, grandson of Cush, and a descendant of Ham 3. son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah n pr loc 

4. a nation in southern Arabia.

Any scriptural reference to Sheba overwhelming represents the ‘complete’ (Number 7) satiation of wealth attained through the trade of the world’s rich material wealth as represented by Tyre in all of Ezekiel 27:1-36 mirroring the fullness of our spiritual hedonistic ways.

Eze 27:21-27  Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
Eze 27:22  The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 
Eze 27:23  Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
Eze 27:24  These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
Eze 27:25  The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. 
Eze 27:26  Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
Eze 27:27  Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.

Those verses mirror us spiritually by Babylon the Great, the Great Whore in Revelations 18:1-24 and are highly recommended to read.

Continuing…

Joe 3:9  Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 

It is the Priests of God today, his Elect, who prepare for war to proclaim the seven plagues and vials of God’s wrath upon themselves, as seen in Revelations chapters 15 and 16. They came into the Temple, the very Bride of Christ herself, to give and receive within herself the meanings of these plagues and vials.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

For a thorough understanding of Revelations, please, as you are spiritually led, begin in Revelations chapter 1 in the following link with access to all other studies in Revelations:

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/revelation-11-2-read-hear-and-keep-these-words/

These events in the chapters of Revelation 15-16 about Babylon the Great and the Great Whore parallel what Joel 3:10 begins to prefigure with the 1,000-year rule under the ‘rod of iron’. Since Isaiah 2 speaks about the ‘last days’ when the ‘mountain of the Lord is established’, it is speaking about the Resurrection to Judgement, the Lake of Fire, when the entire world will be saved.

Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

However, the 1,000-year rule is a type and shadow of the Resurrection to Judgement, where there will not be any more war physically or spiritually since nobody is converted or judged but ruled unyieldingly, as does a spiritually inflexible rod of iron. Yet, at the end of the One Thousand Year rule under the rod of iron, Satan is released from prison, and Babylon the Great symbolised as Gog and Magog, resurfaces to make war with the Saints for the very last time ever!

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.

War is a God-designed mechanism of the flesh common to highly varying degrees of ferocity in all beasts of the field and no more violently expressed than by the machinations of man’s vile evil spirit of intent. Subsequently, the purpose of war for the righteous spirit should be war equally as ferocious upon all doctrines opposing the word of God within his chosen Elect.

Joel Chapter 3 primarily points to judgement and then the Resurrection of the Elect, the First Fruits of God, and covertly then the reverse order of Resurrection and judgement for the Gog and Magog of humanity since Adam in the Lake of Fire.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

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

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

2Pe 2:12 But these, [Mankind, the Beasts] 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;

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast [the same Beast] rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

For those given to see that they are but beasts in transition to being the very spiritual sons of God, they make war within and beat those guileful instruments of war opposing God’s word into ministries, bringing forth the fruit of our Lord’s Kingdom within.

Isa 2:3  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isa 2:5  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Here is a paradoxical statement opposing physical war and advancing spiritual warfare in Luke 22:35-38:

Luk 22:35  And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip [bag of food provisions], and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. 
Luk 22:36  Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse [Money, his own righteousness in decline], let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 
Luk 22:37  For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
Luk 22:38  And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

For the warfare of the New Covenant, we are armed with the Lord’s food and wine of his spirit, teaching and feeding us spiritual righteousness that directly corresponds to the physical warfare and symbolised ideologies represented by each instrument of war. As we well know, we now fight with the spiritual sword of the Lord’s word with every aspect of the physical mechanisms of war, spiritually.

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might (Eph 4:6).
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, [practice committing to all the Lord’s commandments] to stand. 
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God:

That verse answers the incongruous statement in Luke 22:36, he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one, meaning to sell all your previously held Babylonian doctrinal lies and by the Lord’s word, sell it not and now fight fairly in spirit and truth with the sword of His word in prayerful supplications day and night (Eph 6:18).

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Eph 6:19  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Eph 6:20  For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Joe 3:10  Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 
Joe 3:11  Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 
Joe 3:12  Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 

There is one event to all of mankind, although in his order of salvation. All of Israel, meaning Babylonian Christianity, inclusive of the embryonic Elect of God, has been in bed with the hedonistic heathen, not necessarily using physical implements of war, but their evil spiritual equivalence in our dastardly dealings with each other having twisted the Lord’s word to suit a more Epicurean and pain-free life. It all happens not in the dusty literal Valley of Jehoshaphat, full of dry bones, but in our whitewashed tombs within, heavy with the stench of decay.

Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 
Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 
Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 
Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mat 23:29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31  Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 
Mat 23:32  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? [Age-lasting Gehenna fire].
Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 

And that “this generation” spoken of in the last verse is the Elect of God filling up behind the afflictions of Christ within themselves, the first fruits who foundationally believed in Christ.

Being at war in Christ’s spirit against our lusts of the flesh and mind is our judgement of ourselves by his commandments. It brings forth a personal harvest in each joint comprising the Bride of Christ, thus building up the Body, the Temple she is.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Consequently, and for the Bride, she is being judged today in preparation for the hope of being in the First Resurrection as her Lord’s Wife. Since she and all people are appointed to die once, the Lord’s budding wife will not suffer judgment in the Resurrection to Judgement, the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is where the heathen in Joel 3:12, meaning all of mankind since Adam is then “wakened” from their ‘sleep’ of death in the valley of Jehoshaphat to be judged.

The following verses contain a little more baffling mystery regarding the negative and spiritual aspects of spiritual warfare that land each person in his designated order of salvation.

Joe 3:13  Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Joe 3:14  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 

The Lord’s Bride is depicted as the first of the first fruit, and Christ is that very first fruit with which she subsequently is his harvest and inheritance, and he is hers.

Jer 8:20  The [First fruit] harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we [Babylon/the world] are not saved. 
Jer 8:21  For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Jer 8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

The Bride of Christ is reflecting upon her not being chosen by her will but by her Lord’s will. She thus looks back at her sisters, astonished at her election since she, symbolically as the five wise virgins, fully consume the balm of Gilead, her Lord’s spiritual understanding, in the way she walks in harmony with and in him. Consequently, the ‘health of the daughter of her elder sisters in Babylon’, are not in their order of being “recovered” until the Resurrection to Judgement.

Pro 3:9  Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we [the Bride] should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures [all mankind].

The main wheat harvest in Palestine was subject to the much more general and assured rainfall, spiritually meaning that its harvest is for Gog and Magog that will overflow the barns and vats of wickedness for judgement in the Lake of Fire, the “valley of decision” where every sole ever to be conceived will assuredly ‘make a decision’ to acknowledge their sins before Christ and his Christs. For Babylonian Christians, inclusive of all religions and ideologies of every man and woman, it will be a day of thick darkness and gloom since everyone’s conscience will condemn them, thus blackening their self-assumed brightness of Epicurean, Grecian and Sodom-like academia. This is represented as the Last Great Day, the Eight Day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Joe 3:15  The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 
Joe 3:16  The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.  

Particularly for those Jews who believe in Christ, which is Babylonian Christianity, the Book of Joel causes them immense elation since their focus is on their unconscious self-righteousness, believing that they are the Elect of God who will be saved in their fabled one and only Resurrection. Accordingly, and because of their sun, another Jesus, and the Moon, their harlot churches they will realise too late are darkened, and their multitude, being the stars of heaven as numerous as the sand of the sea, are blackened of understanding. To their horror, the Lord will appear with a great roar as he reveals the Heavenly Jerusalem in his Bride, now his Wife, coming in the heavens in great power and might.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

(Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged [to give their imaginary “recompense”], and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.)

2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we [The Elect of God], according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

And so, if we refuse to soberly see the significance of the dry bones in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, they will become the bones of his chosen Elect alongside her elder sisters, if we turn back from progressing toward perfection in Christ and become the “very Elect” (Mat 24:24). Hence, it is impossible for the “very Elect” in any way to render Christ “recompense” (benefit, ‘bountiful fruit’) for his service to advance the Kingdom within by not following his every commandment. Ironically and most miserably, those in the Lake of Fire will render a “recompense”, meaning a harrowing acknowledgement of their sins before Christ and his Christs.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should [will] bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11  And that every tongue should [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Lord, hurry the consummation!

The Book of Joel – Chapter 3:4-6

[Study Aired October 5^th 24]

The previous three verses of Joel Chapter 3 repeated our Lord’s seemingly endless plea and biblical theme for his wife, Old Israel and spiritually his incipient Bride, today, to reflect upon the dry bones scattered at their feet in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. That valley’s name is the same site named Armageddon, a name that strikes fear and mystery in the hearts of all Babylonian Christians. It is a place where all unbelievers are slaughtered because of Viles containing The Seven Plagues and The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath, as seen in Rev 15 and 16. The last verse of Rev 16:16 is the only place in the Bible where that inscrutable and terrifying name, Armageddon, appears,

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

The unnerving scriptural imagery of the result of the Vials containing the Seven Last Plagues and Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath is too chilling for the “fearful” to dwell upon.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is [understanding all the mysteries of God], so are we in this world. 
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love [understanding Christ’s truth and living by it]; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

The Valley of Megiddo is a measly 380 square km that equally incomprehensibly contains the billions of humanities not found in the Book of Life in the First Resurrection. Consequently, it is relatively easy to imagine their blood running to the depth of a horse’s bridle. Historically, with the major battles fought in that valley, no wonder the soil is fertile today—it is highly symbolic of them being food to enrich us.

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

Psa 106:24  Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

The Bride of Christ is losing her fear of Armageddon because she alone is given the understanding of the mysteries and is given to use the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat 16:19). Her “fear” is converted into the most profound honour and respect in walking in her Husband’s every commandment in honour and glory and worship for the headship in and of the Father. She, today, is experiencing the vials of God’s wrath in personalised plagues as she fills up behind the afflictions of Christ. Her startling realisation is that the Seven Last Plagues are for her alone. She, the Elect of God, is pouring out the seven last plagues upon herself, in the same way, the Elect “show [are showing] the things to the Elect“. As seen here in 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:

The Elect of God come out of the sea, the “many waters” of humanity represented as Babylon the Great, the Great Whore and mother of harlots. After the Elect shows these things to herself, the Body of Christ, this is what we all do:

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [Babylon, the Great Whore that we are becoming less, once didn’t have the testimony of Jesus and worshipped another Jesus].

Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book [Rev 1:3]: worship God.

And so, instead of rolling our eyes at being told that we have been a whore represented as Tyre, Zidon, Egypt, Sodom and Old Jerusalem, our wide eyes eagerly see that these dry bones in the Valley of Jehoshaphat are ourselves dying (a process) to our sins at the hands of our brothers and sisters, the Elect of God.

Overview:

Joe 3:4  Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; 
Joe 3:5  Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 
Joe 3:6  The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 

Significations:

The key to this episode in the study of Joel, beginning in verse 3, is our Lord’s three opening questions,

Yea, and [1] what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? [2] will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily[3] will I return your recompence upon your own head; 

The two cities of Tyre and Sidon were delegated to the tribe of Asher to conquer when Israel settled in the promised land. The tribe of Asher, however, disobeyed God when they found Tyre and Sidon well “fortified” (Joshua 19:29) and submitted to their perceived greater strength than the Lord’s. Subsequently, Tyre and Sidon, both unconquered pagan cities, were thorns in the side of Israel who became intrigued by their gods:

Jdg 10:6  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon [Sidon = hunting 1. ancient Phoenician city, on Mediterranean coast north of Tyre], and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

Since Israel didn’t dispatch Tyre, Zidon and the coasts of Palestine and entirely cast out all the giants of her inheritance as the Lord requested, he acidulously mocks them with that first question, “What have you to do with me?” ~ effectively saying that ‘you have humiliatingly rejected my kisses for you, my harlot wife, and demonstrated that you don’t care one jot for my word, so, what do I owe you? Since you are profoundly sure of your (self) righteousness, you must be confident in giving me a swift answer to null my ignorance of your Queen Vashti-like beauty and rulership, and what to me might that glorious benefit be?’ Well, and for the much later Bride of Christ’s glorious hindsight, Old Israel was replaced by her since the Bride was given to enthusiastically receive her Lord’s kisses of spiritual understanding, knowing that her enchantment of him would further unite her.

Job 38:1  Then the LORD answered Job [Israel – you and I] out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 38:2  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 
Job 38:3  Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. 

Mat 11:20  Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: 
Mat 11:21  Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Mat 11:22  But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 
Mat 11:23  And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 
Mat 11:24  But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

Mat 10:14  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
Mat 10:15  Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

What the Lord is saying in Joel 3:4 is that had the people of pagan Tyre, Zidon, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum been given the Lord’s commandments, their immense passion for seeking nation-building knowledge, wisdom and illusive moral standing was a greater passion than what Israel had for their Lord’s Commandments! Israel rejected her husband’s wisdom and laws that would ultimately lead to eternal life, the very thing the Sodomites and cities of the plain equally sort with like intensity! Hence, ‘It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city, Israel’.

Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

Act 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

A “recompense” H1576 means a ‘dealing’ or a ‘benefit’ to ‘requite God’s wrath. We, having insisted upon eating our own doctrinally kneaded bread, find more palatable than his “light bread” he now demands we give an acknowledgement of our sins, and his tone is one venting from eyes like flames of fire (Rev 19:11-12).

Subsequently, the answer to the Lord’s third question in Joel 3:4 is acidly rhetorical. “… will I return your recompense upon your own head?” ~ A resounding ‘YES’, he will return what Israel has sown to herself upon her own head! Because Israel didn’t route all the pagans out of her land, she is now reaping a harvest of pain and suffering that will ‘requite God’s wrath’ as it does with his chastisements upon our like disobedience for his goodness towards us and our subsequent acknowledgement and repentance!

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.

Israel, like the Athenians, Greeks and Sodomites, intrinsically lusts for God-like wisdom by their standards to toss intellectualised debate back and forth for self-elevation and status among their peers. People love to be the first to discover an outstanding new insight by which they can academically debate and win an argument against the nobility. It is precisely what Christianity does today with its 40,000-plus disputing doctrines and more ‘acidly’ pointing at the Bride herself for any lingering spiritual disjointedness; worse, that sniping at a fellow Saint should ensue.

Act 17:16-23  Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
Act 17:17  Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
Act 17:18  Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, [colloquially speaking, people who love to grandstand ( G4770 – “a portico”) a debate and brawl a concept and be puffed up and bowed to as wise], encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
Act 17:19  And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? 
Act 17:20  For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
Act 17:21  (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
Act 17:22  Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 
Act 17:23  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father.

Joe 3:5  Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 
Joe 3:6  The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 

A “Grecian” (H3125 1. Grecian, Ionian) is a person from Greece, a Greek and its associated Mediterranean Islands. Classically, they are known in the H1121 equivalence as “mire” and “wine” (from H3196) and representative of being a “grandson member of a group”, suggesting the intrinsic habit of sitting around being drunk in the mire of their academic doctrinal disputes and never coming to the truth of God! Melbourne, Australia, where I live, has up to 400,000 Australians with Greek ancestry. Thus, it has the largest Greek population outside of Greece, and I notice the Epicurian habit of “old” (“grandsons”) Greek men sitting around at shopping centres, drinking short black coffee deep in debate, much as I suspect they did for ‘eternity’ (… and ogling the women with equal Epicurian leers).

Thus, and as demonstrated in 2 Tim 3:7, the Grecians represent the world’s, Israel’s and particularly our former propensity for,

Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 
1Co 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
1Co 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 
1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Isa 56:9  All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
Isa 56:10  His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 
Isa 56:11  Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
Isa 56:12  Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

Our traditional Babylonian Christian focus is to point at the evil of others and thus unconsciously cloud our understanding that the primary point of a matter should lie at our feet. Subsequently, the exploits of the men of Sodom are almost always overly represented as homosexual. However, that confusing act against the order of God’s headship has a more profound spiritual connection.

Gen 19:5  And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

For us, knowing that ‘first comes the natural (in this case ironically unnatural) and then the spiritual’, the Sodomite’s lust to “know” the Angels of the Lord tremendously amplified their Grecian/Epicurean-like enthusiasm to get first-hand knowledge from the very gods themselves! What an incredible opportunity! Hence, the Sodomites, sitting at the known world’s crossroads of commerce and Epicurean-like knowledge and wisdom, had an incredible thirst to “know” (H3045) the Angels in the natural academically, as a heterosexual man righteously ‘knows’ (H3045) his wife, as did Adam with Eve. While ‘knowing’ another man sexually is in accordance with the meaning of H3045, is an abomination to the Lord and ‘his Christs’; the primary point of “knowing” another person is to represent Christ’s Bride “knowing” Him spiritually.

In the opening verses of The Song of Solomon, the Shulamite, representing the Bride of Christ, utterly turns on its head the world’s insatiable worship of women, where she, the Bride, worships Christ, her husband. (That act of a wife in a physical marriage symbolically worshipping her husband in all that she does, rather than having her husband fawn on her every need, would solve almost all bitter marital disputes and 100% of accursed marital difficulties if both parties are Christs).

Son 1:2  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
Son 1:3  Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins [Joints in the Bride of Christ] love thee.
Son 1:4  Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

Of course, Lot did the degenerate act of presenting his daughters to the Sodomites. However, the Sodomites already knew every detail about a woman’s sensuality, effectively stating (and particularly to our former selves) that the world’s churches (“another Jesus” 2 Cor 11:4) bored them, whereas these new and exciting ideologies these ‘gods’ opportunistically dumped into their laps were too good to reject! Thus the Sodomite’s lecherous desires had to be satiated with this new philosophy, and our Lord designed their debauched ways to represent our lust for any new and more sensual doctrinal ideology that we likewise lustily have to “know“!

Lev 18:22  Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Lev 18:23  Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
Lev 18:24  Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
Lev 18:25  And the land [we are] is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
Lev 18:26  Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev 18:27  (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
Lev 18:28  That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
Lev 18:29  For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
Lev 18:30  Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

Hence, and as seen in Joel 3:3, Israel sneered at her Lord’s word and sorted the more sensual Aholah and Aholibah-Epicurean lusts, thus disastrously casting lots for (gambling) the truth,

And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. 

Such was and is the world without Christ’s commandments. Abominable confusion results in the forms of “knowing” all and any sexual intimacy with any living man or beast of any interchangeable gender, Angels included, the very gods themselves having come to Sodom, delivering the imagined holy grail of knowledge and wisdom!

Since Israel, like Sodom, insisted upon “knowing’ every other ideology, especially ones of ‘unknown gods’, the Lord vexatiously demanded of Israel in Joel 3:4,

Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head [?];

Thus, the spiritual mirroring of “knowing” someone sexually is to be intimately acquainted with every detail of their mind and body, just as Solomon at Christ’s hand penned the creation of the Shulamite in “The Song of Solomon, which is Solomon’s”, meaning, Christ’s song of anticipation for the spiritual pattern of the heavenly, his Bride, “knowing” every detail about him. But, no, and by the act of “knowing”, mankind would rather worship women who broadly represent every other deviation from Christ’s truth by us falsely “knowing” them as we would righteously “know” one’s wife. How?

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

Hence, the act of a physical husband ‘knowing‘ his wife, his OWN FLESH’s every jot and title detail, and she in equal enthusiasm his, in righteous spiritual inspection, she is worshipping Christ, her husband by that Shulamite-like eagerness and so, too is her carnal husband in order of headship. It all represents the Church, the wife worshipping her husband, Christ..

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

Pro 9:9  Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach [H3045 – “know”] a just man, and he will increase in learning. 

Ecc 8:16  When I applied mine heart to know [H3045] wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Joe 3:5  Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

Since, formally, we have magically twisted our Lord’s silver and gold, representing his righteous word, hammered into an image to increase our physical and unrighteous spiritual wealth, how do we answer our Lord for the “recompense” he demands?

God owns all the silver and gold; they represent his righteousness.

Hag 2:8  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Hag 2:9  The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

Eze 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold [Their false doctrines] shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity. 

Gentile Christian’s false doctrines representing their imagined silver and gold, which were our very same doctrines, are a stumbling block and an iniquity. In fact, anything different to God’s word is iniquity and a stumbling block since, at that point, it blocks the truth of correlating scriptures, and the entire ‘lump’ of the Bible becomes corrupty leavened (Gal 5:9. 1 Cor 5:6).

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? 

… is the same as the Lord in Joel 3:4 asking, “… what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?”

An “idol in the heart” is a false doctrine, a stumbling block of iniquity, which the Lord will not tolerate. 

Isa 42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images [false doctrines].

God will not give his glory to a Gentile Christian who was all of us when we, the symbolic treacherous Judah, the priests of God, were in far worse error.

Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

The Lord answers his own question, “… what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?” in Joel 3:4 with Joel 3:6, he says,

The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 

The act of Israel selling her unconquered self in the form of Tyre and Zidon, who in the time of Joshua’s wars should have utterly destroyed those heathen nations, she has now sold her Lord’s righteousness for the fascinating academic philosophies of the Greeks! Such is Israel’s and our former hatred for Christ’s Commandments. And, now, today, approaching 2025, the Gentile Christian nations seem to be in the final stages of selling their imagined remaining spiritual sight of God’s word (Rom 11:25) to the very same people as did Israel, with the perceived Sodomite-like intelligence whose governance is fast enslaving the world! Subsequently, and today, the Christian world has sold all the remains of their alleged spiritual wealth to Tyre, increasing the wealth of modern greater Babylon, the world. It won’t be long before the Bible will be assigned to misinformation and disinformation so that all of Christ’s truth will be ‘removed far from our borders’.

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion [“a parched place” of God’s word] the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Rom 11:28  As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom 11:29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
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. 

Rev 6:5  And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Rev 6:6  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Rev 6:7  And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:8  And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

In these apparent ‘latter days’ before the outward return of Christ, and by all news accounts, personal experience and observations, it appears that our physical food will become scarce. Its spiritual meaning is that God’s word will be very difficult to acquire since the world’s hatred of Christ will make it an offence to speak his name without being hauled off to stand before judges and kings of authority. However, the Lord’s “little flock” retain the “oil and wine” of spiritual understanding hidden in their hearts where no man can rob, or moths devour.

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 
Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 

Although inwardly, we are in and out of prison all the time in a struggle to keep Christ’s commandments, there is every likelihood that it will happen physically for some of the Elect to stand before a glowering magistrate as witnesses against this world and possibly be thrown in prison among the vilest of people.

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.

Zec 9:11  As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. 

And so, the narration of Israel in the Book of Joel, is mirroring us and our insatiable acts of seeking every spiritual Epicurean sensuality imaginable beyond the borders of our former coastline’s estate in Christ for the ‘water’ and ‘bread’ of another Jesus. And next week, Lord willing, we will see what Christ’s answer is to his questions, “… will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head [?]

Acts 4:1-22 We Cannot but Speak the Things Which we Have Seen and Heard

[Study Aired December 25, 2022]

Act 4:1  And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
Act 4:2  Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
Act 4:3  And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.
Act 4:4  Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
Act 4:5  And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,
Act 4:6  And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
Act 4:7  And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?
Act 4:8  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
Act 4:9  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Act 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Act 4:13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15  But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Act 4:21  So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22  For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

The mysteries of the kingdom of God (Mat 13:10-11) are in the process of being revealed and the events of the day of Pentecost and the healing of the 40-year-old man who was lame from birth are the events the holy spirit chose to establish beyond any doubt that the crucified Christ is indeed the Son of God and the Messiah Israel has been waiting for ever since this prophecy was given by Moses:

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

“A prophet from the midst of thee, of your brethren, like unto me” means that this prophet will be a reformer like Moses was.

Before Moses, mankind could offer a burnt offering to the Lord upon any altar at any time and any place. When Moses was given the law, that all changed, and from that moment on every offering to God  had to be offered only at the tabernacle of the congregation and later at the temple in Jerusalem. Israel was prohibited from offering sacrifices anywhere but at the temple in Jerusalem:

Deu 12:5  But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:
Deu 12:6  And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

This commandment was given by the Lord Himself, and the Lord Himself is the only being in the world who could possibly change it because He has come in “the time of reformation”, and He alone is “greater than the temple” and “Lord also of the sabbath”:

Mat 12:1  At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3  But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4  How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6  But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Being required to come to the tabernacle to offer an offering was just one of the six hundred and thirteen laws this great reformer, Moses, instituted. The ‘prophet like Moses’ had arrived in Israel and everyone in Jerusalem had witnessed Jesus performing miracles of healing on the sabbath day, and all knew their leaders had condemned Him for breaking the sabbath and claiming that He was God’s Son:

Joh 5:12  Then asked they him [the lame man Christ had healed], What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? [on the sabbath day]
Joh 5:13  And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.
Joh 5:14  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
Joh 5:15  The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
Joh 5:16  And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

The gift of languages on the day of Pentecost was witnessed by the many thousands of devout Jews who had come to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, and all who were native to the city of Jerusalem knew that the 120 people who had been given the gift of languages were all Galileans who were disciples of Christ.

Act 2:7  And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
Act 2:8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Act 2:9  Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Act 2:10  Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Act 2:11  Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
Act 2:12  And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

What this means is that “the time of reformation, spoken of by Moses, was being introduced in a way that caused it to be spread throughout the entire Roman Empire by those who had been there on that day and witnessed what had happened and who heard “the wonderful works of God”.

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

This is what Christ had to say about this “time of reformation”:

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

We all live our own “time of reformation”, as the Lord replaces the law of Moses within us with His “law of love”, and His fear which will cause us to “tremble at his word”:

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not [Sacrifices rather than obedience to the Reformer].
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

The healing of the forty-year-old man who was lame from birth and was “laid daily at the gate of the temple” was another undeniable proof that Jesus was indeed the reformer Messiah. This man had been there begging for decades and everyone who went up to the temple was familiar with this man.

In our last study, we read what the holy spirit had inspired Peter to say to that forty-year-old man who was born lame:

Act 3:1  Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour [3 P.M.].
Act 3:2  And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
Act 3:3  Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
Act 3:4  And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
Act 3:5  And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Act 3:6  Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
Act 3:7  And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Act 3:8  And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Act 3:9  And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
Act 3:10  And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

Act 4:1  And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,

Notice that we are told “they spake unto the people”. Therefore, John was also preaching the gospel and saying the same things “unto the people” that Peter was preaching and teaching, which was confirming that Christ was the prophesied ‘prophet like Moses’ who would be a reformer to be rejected and crucified as the prophets foretold:

Act 2:22  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Act 2:23  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Act 2:24  Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

Act 4:2  Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
Act 4:3  And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.

The priests were all Sadducees (Act 5:17), and they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Neither did they appreciate being accused of “by wicked hands having crucified and slain” their own Messiah.

Act 23:8  For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.

The Sadducees were little better, if any, than atheists. They taught that this life was all there is. They did not believe in being raised “as the angels in heaven”, so they denied there was a resurrection. Christ saw right through their hypocritical questioning when they just knew they could make Him look foolish:

Mat 22:23  The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
Mat 22:24  Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
Mat 22:25  Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:
Mat 22:26  Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
Mat 22:27  And last of all the woman died also.
Mat 22:28  Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
Mat 22:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Mat 22:30  For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

These are the same hypocritical people who covenanted with Judas to betray the Lord:

Luk 22:3  Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
Luk 22:4  And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.
Luk 22:5  And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
Luk 22:6  And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

Luk 22:52  Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?

The only difference in the description of those who arrested Christ and those who arrested Peter and John is not really a difference at all because that difference is merely the name of the sect of the Sadducees to which the priests belonged.

Act 5:17  Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

These are the same people who insisted on the crucifixion of Christ, and there is no doubt they would have loved to crucify Peter and John also. However, the healing of a man who had been born lame, and who was “laid daily at the gate of the temple”, was so powerful a witness to the resurrection of Christ that five thousand were added to the church that day via the preaching of Peter and John. The fact that this beggar was “above forty years old” (Act 4:22) means he had been begging there at the temple for decades and was known of by everyone who came to the temple, especially to “the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders” who went up to the temple for all those decades.

Act 4:4  Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

That is two thousand more than were added on the day of Pentecost.

Act 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Act 4:5  And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,
Act 4:6  And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
Act 4:7  And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?
Act 4:8  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
Act 4:9  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Act 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Act 4:13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

As we familiarize ourselves with the Word of God, we, too, ‘have been with Jesus’, and it cannot be hidden from this world because we will be like Him “the light of the world”:

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

Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

If we are given to desire to know Him, then He will live His life in us, and we, too, will be “the light of the world”:

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

Being the light of the world will not make us popular with the world. To the contrary we will be “hated of all men” because the world lies in darkness, and it hates the light:

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.

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Act 4:14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

Hypocrisy is inherent in our flesh. If we are indeed guilty of having a man who was prophesied to be a reformer crucified for breaking the sabbath and claiming to be the son of God, and then that same man is raised from the dead and is seen by over 500 people at once, and then that same man is credited with giving the gift of speaking in languages to 120  people, and then just a few days later that man we had crucified heals a man who was born  lame and is over forty years old and is known by the entire city, and His disciples are telling the people that they and their leaders are guilty of crucifying their own Messiah, we just naturally defend ourselves as opposed to repenting of the obvious humiliating, murderers we are proven to be.

What to do???

Act 4:15  But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it [‘Nothing to see here’].
Act 4:17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.

Here we are brought face to face with the one condition under which we are not to “be subject unto the higher powers”, as “the sum of Thy Word” demonstrates. Do not the scriptures command us to submit to the higher powers? Yes, they do:

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Rom 13:2  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Rom 13:3  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Rom 13:4  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Rom 13:5  Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
Rom 13:6  For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Rom 13:7  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

In Christ’s day the priests and captains of the temple were “the higher power” to whom Christ and His disciples were subject, and Christ taught that as His doctrine:

Mat 23:1  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

When Christ healed a leper, He commanded the leper to ‘show himself to the priests and to offer an offering for his cleansing, according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them’:

Luk 5:12  And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Luk 5:13  And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
Luk 5:14  And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

This is where every future priest and king finds himself in time. We will all have our faith tried to show us whether we are worthy to be Christ’s disciples:

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

Luk 14:25  And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Luk 14:29  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Luk 14:30  Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Luk 14:31  Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Luk 14:32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
Luk 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Peter and John are types of us when the Lord gives us the resolve to forsake all that we have, to be a witness of His resurrection power as His disciples.

Act 4:21  So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22  For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

Just a few weeks earlier both Peter and John had fled from the very people they are now boldly confronting with their witness that the healing of this lame man who is known by the whole city is the work of the resurrected Messiah, whom these men had murdered.

Peter and John and the whole church, which now numbered well over eight thousand men, “all of one mind and one accord” in believing that Christ is the resurrected Messiah who will establish the kingdom of God on this earth. The apostles did not go to the higher power looking for a fight, but when the higher power came to them demanding that they ignore the power that was higher than they, then the apostles, as types of us, had to be willing to lay down their lives rather than disobey Christ and His Father who are the highest power of all.

It is true that at this point the thought of the Gentiles becoming part of that kingdom has not entered their minds, but they are remaining true and faithful to what they are given to understand.

It will be another thirty or forty years before all the apostles, James and John, along with Peter and Paul and Barnabas, will all acknowledge that “if ye be in Christ, then ye are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”:

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

This simply is not yet understood because the holy spirit has not yet revealed this to any of the apostles. It wasn’t yet revealed because the holy spirit knew that no one was yet capable of receiving that message. If Peter and John here at the beginning of their ministry had told the multitudes on the day of Pentecost that…

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

They would have had the same reception Christ had when He began His ministry with just that message:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
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,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a [Gentile] woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the [Gentile] Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

Christ made this point at the very beginning of His reforming ministry for our benefit. We have no record of Him regularly making this point during His ministry. He was very clear to the Samaritan woman at the well that the day would come when physical Jerusalem would no longer be prominent in the worship of God, but this was not a prominent part of His gospel of the kingdom of God to the Jews to whom He came first:

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

These words at the beginning of the gospel of John demonstrate that this apostle had come to see that:

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

John’s is also the only gospel which refers to the holy days of Moses as “feasts of the Jews”, distancing Himself from those who had rejected their own Messiah.

Joh 6:4  And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.

Joh 7:2  Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.

If the apostles had brought this message to the multitudes of “devout Jews from every nation under heaven” on the day of Pentecost, they would have been stoned on the spot. It simply was not yet time for this to be known among the devout Jewish disciples of Christ, and Christ Himself was aware of the ‘frame’ of His own creatures:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

The calling of the Gentiles was part of the “things to come” which neither the apostles nor the people could bear at the time surrounding the day of Pentecost. It would have been too much for them to bear:

Psa 103:13  Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Psa 103:14  For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

It was more than “the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees” could bear just to hear that they had crucified their own Messiah. However, it was given to many to accept that revelation and to repent so that:

Act 4:4  Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

Peter and John were faithful to what they were given to believe and now, through the holy spirit which was given to them on the day of Pentecost, they both “had respect unto the recompense of the reward” for being faithful to the end, and they did not value their life in this world above “the recompence of the reward” of life eternal in the age to come.

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ [in type] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Peter and John were now willing to die with Christ and not just for Christ.

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

“The recompense of the reward” is to become “the manifestation of the sons of God” and the saviors of all mankind:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

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

Jer 16:13-21  I Will Send for Many Fishers…First I Will Recompense Their Iniquity Double

[Study Aired August 29, 2021]

Jer 16:13  Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
Jer 16:14  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Jer 16:15  But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
Jer 16:16  Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
Jer 16:17  For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
Jer 16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
Jer 16:19  O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
Jer 16:20  Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
Jer 16:21  Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

When the Lord begins to heal our spiritually blind eyes, we begin to understand that He is working every [little detail] after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). In time the Lord opens our eyes to see that He had every day of our lives written in His book before the world began (Psa 139:16, 2Ti 1:9, Tit 1:2). Then we begin to see that every little detail of the work He is doing is for our good in this present time (Rom 8:18), and in the end, for the good of all men of all time (Rom 8:28, 11:31).

Now let’s take note of these words of our Lord:

Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

The two phrases, “I have heard… [and] I have made known…” are both in the aorist tense, which means the Lord is continuing to make known to us all He has heard of His Father. Nowhere in scripture does Christ ever tell us that His Father has given us to know the dates He has determined for the things He is doing with mankind, but He certainly has given His elect to know the timing of “all things [He] has heard of [His] Father”. Christ’s Father has revealed to Him the order in which every step of His plan to save all men will take place. For that reason, we must pay attention to qualifying words like ‘first, second, last, before, after, when and then’. If we are sent an evil spirit which tells us that which is ‘before’ is ‘after’, that ‘second’ or ‘last’ is ‘first’, then we will be “led astray by the error of the wicked”:

2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Our study begins with the word… “therefore”, meaning ‘for this reason’. “Therefore” we need to remember what we covered in the first twelve verses of this chapter.

I will repeat the verses which give us the essence of our last study:

Jer 16:2  Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
Jer 16:3  For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
Jer 16:4  They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

As is the case with every commandment the Lord gives us, He gives us His commandments because He knows we will just naturally, by His own design, do the exact opposite. We could take every single one of the ten commandments and demonstrate that our natural inclination is to do the exact opposite of every one of them. No child ever yet had to be taught to lie, cheat, steal or hate. These things are simply “in [our] members” at birth.

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?
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.

The Lord is the “one [and only] lawgiver”, which includes “the law of sin which is in [our] members”:

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

This “law of sin” which the Lord has placed “in [our] members” gives Him the occasion He is seeking to humble and destroy the kingdom of our old man:

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.

There is an order in which everything the Lord does must happen. We must have “an experience of evil” before the Lord can have the occasion He is seeking to humble and destroy the kingdom of our old man.

What all of this is telling us is “I will send many fishers [of men… but] first I will recompence [your] iniquity double”.

Jer 16:13  Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.

“I will cast you… into a land… where I will not show you favor” has nothing to do with physical prosperity. The Lord’s ‘favor’ refers to His ‘chastening grace’. It in no way relates to physical wealth. A physically poor man can be found in the Lord’s favor, and a physically rich man can be without the Lord’s favor, as the parable of Lazarus and the rich man demonstrates:

Luk 16:23  And in hell he [the rich man] lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Lazarus was favored and “chastened and scourged” in this life, and was “received” of the Lord, while the rich man was rejected and condemned to the resurrection of “damnation”, better translated as “the resurrection of judgment” at the great white throne/lake of fire/second death.

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 [at the “first resurrection” (Rev 20:6)]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [over a thousand years later (Rev 20:7-15)].

It is because the chastening grace of the Lord’s favor is not yet upon our lives that we must be carried away into Babylon.

Jer 16:14  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Jer 16:15  But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

This is the New Testament version of this verse:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Every self-righteous person “exalts himself… so that he sits as God, showing himself that he is God”.

Jer 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
Jer 16:17  For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
Jer 16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

Paul was inspired to speak of this judgment in these words, but it is the very same message:

2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth [Greek, restrains] that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Same Greek word translated ‘withholdeth’ in verse 6] will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then [through judgment] shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

That is just another way of saying, “And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.”

There is a revelation for us in the words, “the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.” The revelation in those words is that Egypt and “the furnace of iron” are earlier parts of our “experience of evil” which must precede our time spent warring against the giants in our land. It also reveals that we must begin fighting our lusts and passions before we are carried away into “the land of the north”, which signifies the beginning of our judgment and the beginning of our exodus from Babylon, “the north country”:

1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
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?

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.

It is the Lord’s “very elect” who “come out of her… from the north country”.

This principle is repeated in:

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

Assyria is “the land of the north”, and Babylon and Assyria are one and the same people. As Egypt symbolizes the world, Babylon symbolizes a much later experience in which the Lord’s apostate people, who after having come out of the world and overcoming so much, have yet been seduced by those religions of Assyria and Babylon and have committed spiritual fornication and spiritual adultery against the Lord.

It is spiritual “Babylon the great… that great city wherein our Lord was crucified” which insisted on that crucifixion.

On the other hand, Egypt symbolizes an earlier part of our experience of evil, and is referred to as “the iron furnace”:

Deu 4:19  And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars,  even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
Deu 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

We are made to know that the Lord does not send “fishers [and] hunters” to drag us to himself from “the iron furnace”. Rather He sends ‘fishers and hunters’ only after we have apostatized from knowing Him and have been carried away captives into “the land of the north”, into Babylon.

Jer 16:16  Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

Here is the New Testament version of this verse:

Luk 15:4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? [“fishes… hunts”]
Luk 15:5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luk 15:6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
Luk 15:7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

That is the positive application of these words of Job:

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

Thanks be to the Lord that our salvation does not depend upon us… “For he performeth the thing that is  appointed for me”.

Notice and believe the words, “and first…”.

Jer 16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

Here is another way of expressing the message of this 18^th verse of Jeremiah 16:

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

Iniquity is self-righteousness (Eze 33:13). We are self-righteous by nature, but we get a double portion of self-righteousness after we are carried away captive to Babylon, the great harlot.

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

This is our way of thinking while we are “joined to” that harlot:

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:

There is “order” to everything the Lord does, and it is He who is doing everything “after the counsel of His own will”.

1Co 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.

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

If we fail to see the order in which He is doing His work, then we can and we will miss the spiritual message He is giving only to those whose “eyes of [their] understanding [are] being enlightened” to see what He clearly tells us is “first” and what is “second” and what is “first” and what is “last”. We will completely overlook the promises that are the exclusive blessing of those “who first trusted in Christ” and who were “blessed [to] have a part in the first resurrection” (Rev 20:6).

1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

Notice how clearly the Lord’s order of events is laid out for us:

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the  second man is the Lord from heaven.

Clearly “the first man Adam” must precede “the last Adam”, and “the first man” must precede “the second man”. The “first resurrection”, which takes place at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of “the Lord and His Christ”, must precede the last resurrection, which follows the short season of rebellion at the end of the thousand-year reign:

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

The eyes of my understanding have been given to see that the Lord’s inheritance is “in His saints” and that His saints rule with Him over the kingdoms of this world.

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.

The eyes of my understanding have been made to know that the thousand years must be “finished… expired” before  Satan is empowered to “go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth…”

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

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.

At this point, the One who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will” has now put a stop to the process of death. The “fire… from God out of heaven” has now “devoured… the nations in the four quarters of the earth”, and there will be no more flesh to perpetrate death upon mankind. The Lord now has all mankind who were not in the “blessed and holy first resurrection” in a position to be “raised a spiritual body” to be judged with “angels” in the “great white throne… judgment”, which will eventuate in “all…in Adam…be[ing] made alive” at the “great white throne… judgment”.

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? [during the thousand-year reign of “the Lord and His Christ”] and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? [at the “white throne judgment” which follows the “short season” of rebellion which occurs only “when the thousand years are expired”] how much more things that pertain to this life?

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

The “great white throne… judgment” is exactly what the very next verse of Revelation 20 reveals:

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

Christianity teaches that verse 15 is the end of the line for any whose names are not in the book of life. They believe the book of life is opened here at the white throne judgment. After all, verse 12 does say “…and another book was opened, which is the book of life”. However, where is the qualification which tells us that anyone whose name is in the book of life is raised up at the white throne judgment? The answer is that there is no such statement in scripture, whereas we are very clearly told that there are just two resurrections. The first one Christ mentions is “the resurrection of life”, and the second and last resurrection is called “the resurrection of damnation”, which is much better translated as ‘the resurrection of judgment’, because the word translated ‘damnation’ is the Greek word ‘krisis’, which means ‘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 [the first resurrection]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [resurrection of judgment].

Just as in Revelation 20:15 where we are told of “the books were opened… and another book was opened which is the book of life…” the timing of these two resurrections, “the resurrection to life [and] the resurrection to damnation [judgment]” is not under consideration here in John 5.  All we are being told is “the hour is coming, in which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth”.  There is no mention at this point of a “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, nor is there any mention of a “great white throne… when the thousand years are expired”. Taken alone, these verses in John 5 would lead us to believe that the resurrection of “they that have done good” and “they that have done evil” both take place at the same time. Let’s take notice of how similar the wording about these two resurrections is to the discussion of “the books… and another book, which is the book of life” in Revelation 20.

In John 5, we are looking forward to the resurrection of “all that are in their graves” with no regard to the clearly revealed fact that there are two resurrections which are divided by “a thousand years” plus a “short season” when Satan is released from prison and deceives the whole world.

By contrast, in Revelation 20 we are looking back to the opening of “the book of life [at] the resurrection of life” with no mention of the fact that this very same 20^th chapter reveals that the opening of “the book of life” had taken place “a thousand years [plus] a short season” earlier.

I take the time to discuss all of this just so we get the full impact of our study today which reveals that the Lord will “send fishers” to save His people, His “very elect”, whose names are written in “the book of life… but first [He] will recompense their iniquity double”.

This is just another way of saying that God’s elect must be the first to be judged, which is exactly what we are told in:

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?

It behooves us to know that our judgment in being the first to be judged, does not exclude us from being “recompensed [our] iniquity double”. We must understand that it is that ‘recompensed double’ which constitutes “the judgment [which] must… first begin… at the house of God”. It is important we notice that the Lord places this ‘double recompense’ in that part of our ‘experience of evil’ which follows, and it comes after the time of our battles with the giants in our land.

We really are given to make great strides at subduing and overcoming many of our passions, our addictions, and our lack of patience with others while in the land of promise. These victories are given to us only after we are brought up out of Egypt and after we enter the land of promise. Nevertheless, it is while we are still fighting and overcoming the giants in our land that we are also given to take the credit for our victories over these ‘giants’ within, and we commit iniquity and become self-righteous. Of course, it was the Lord who gave us every victory we experience, but we are just like King Hezekiah when the Lord slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers in one night.

2Ki 19:35  And it came to pass that night, that  the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

2Ch 32:22  Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.
2Ch 32:23  And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he [Hezekiah] was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
2Ch 32:24  In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.

All the nations around King Hezekiah gave him the credit for that victory, and King Hezekiah took that honor to himself and did not acknowledge the Lord as having fought that battle for him.

The Lord knows that our recognizing His hand in all that happens, good and evil, is for our own spiritual health. To do otherwise would be to perpetrate a lie, and the Lord will have none of that. He will see to it that we recognize Him in all things:

Psa 50:14  Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
Psa 50:15  And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

The Lord does not need our praise, but we do need Him, and we do need to know the Truth, which 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.

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

Jesus Christ “is… the Truth”. Therefore, we will do well to pay very close attention when He speaks. If He tells us ‘that which is natural precedes that which is spiritual’, then we truly need to remember and believe those words. If He tells us the first resurrection occurs before the thousand-year reign, and that those in that resurrection rule with Him over the kingdoms of this world during His thousand-year reign, we need to believe that is the order in which those things will occur. If He tells us that a rebellion against His government will occur “when the thousand years are expired”, we dare not say otherwise. If we are told in such clear words that a great white throne judgment follows the rebellion which takes place “when the thousand years are expired”, then we should know for certain the order in which all these things will occur. We are not given the time and dates for any of these events, but we are definitely made to know the order in which all these things will occur.

Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Luke emphasizes the fact that “My Father only… knows the day and hour” of Christ’s appearing, both within and outwardly.

Mar 13:32  But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,  neither the Son, but the Father.

If we ignore the fact that the scriptures plainly state “that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual”, then we can, and we will, completely miss the spiritual message which gives us the Lord’s order of events, and we will be confused and deceived by the adversary, which is what the Lord has given to “our fathers”:

Jer 16:19  O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

“Our father” is the “father of liars” and all who believe those lies. So “our fathers” includes our own deceived, rebellious old man with all his lies, vanity, and “things wherein there is no profit”.

Jer 16:20  Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?

It is the fact that we have all done just that, which necessitates the Lord to ‘first recompense our iniquity and our sins double:

Jer 16:18  And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

Only after the chastening of the seven last plagues upon all the false doctrines of Babylon within us and upon all our self-righteous iniquities, are we given this wonderful assurance:

Jer 16:21  Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

That is our study for this week, and these are our verses for our next study where we will learn more about our old man and his dire need of the Lord’s judgments:

Jer 17:1  The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
Jer 17:2  Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
Jer 17:3  O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.
Jer 17:4  And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
Jer 17:5  Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jer 17:6  For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Jer 17:8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Jer 17:11  As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
Jer 17:12  A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
Jer 17:13  O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

[Next study in this series is here.]

Isa 66:1-6 Your Brothers That Hated You… Shall Be Ashamed

[Study Aired October 18, 2020]

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Isa 66:6  A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

These last two chapters of Isaiah give great emphasis to the doctrine of Christ that many are called, but few of those “many… called” are chosen to be His “very elect”.

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders [The “many called”]; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Here is how Christ presents this doctrine to us:

Mat 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2  The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
Mat 22:7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests [our judgment in “this present time”, Rom 8:18 and 1Pe 4:17], he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth [The garment is the doctrine and works of Christ… “…with such an one know not to eat” (1Co 5:11 and 2Jo 1:10-11)].
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

Notice that “them that were bidden made light of it”. This is most people to whom the “blessed and holy first resurrection” is like Esau’s birthright to them. It is not presently tangible, and satisfying the lusts of the flesh and fitting in with this world, is just far more attractive to them than a far-off promise of greatness… “They made light of it” and no doubt considered it to be something that was common to all men. But the first resurrection, which is “the marriage supper of the Lamb” is not at all common to all men. Life is common to all men, but being judged in this present time is not common to all men

Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
Gen 25:32  And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright…

Look very closely at these words… “I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” When we get weary in well doing and say… ‘This calling is just to hard to bear… I don’t really care whether I am in the first or second resurrection…’ we have just “despised our birthright” and sold it for nothing more than temporary relief from a judgment we will still have to endure at a later time in the judgment which will indeed be “common to all men”.

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Compare the words of this parable of the wedding supper for the King’s Son to these words of Isaiah 65:

Isa 65:1  I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
Isa 65:2  I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Isa 65:3  A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick [Their own doctrines and their own works];
Isa 65:4  Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Isa 65:5  Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
Isa 65:6  Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
Isa 65:7  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom [What we sow is what we reap (Gal 6:7)].

Being hopelessly lost in our sins is common to both the many called and the few chosen. What is not common to both groups is being the “few… chosen… who first trusted in Christ” and who are the first to be judged “in this present time”:

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

“We… who first trusted in Christ” are the Lord’s elect to whom this 65^th chapter of Isaiah is addressed:

Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

The preeminence of His elect is emphasized again in:

Isa 65:21  And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Isa 65:22  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Isa 65:23  They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
Isa 65:24  And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Isa 65:25  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

To whom do all these references to ‘they’ and ‘their’ in these five verses refer? They one and all refer to the few chosen to be “the first to trust in Christ”. They all refer to “mine elect” who now possess the kingdom inwardly as “the earnest of the promised possession” (Eph 1:14) and will possess it outwardly as well during the thousand-year reign.

Knowing how closely Christ identifies with His body, notice how similar these words of Isaiah 65 are to the words of Isaiah 11:

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.
Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Isa 11:10  And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Isa 11:11  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

Here is Christ’s version of this same prophecy:

Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

“The remnant of [the Lord’s] people” are His “few chosen”, His “elect” of Isaiah 65 verses 9 and 22:

Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

Isa 65:22  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Chapters 11 and 65 are both speaking of the time of “my holy mountain”, a time when no beast of the earth will hurt anyone within “my holy mountain”:

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.
Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Isa 65:25  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

“[The beasts] shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain” is speaking specifically of the time of “the kingdom of God” which is “within [us] at this time, which will also “rule the outward nations at the appointed time. It is the same ‘kingdom with [us]’ Christ came to proclaim:

Mat 4:23  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Mat 9:35  And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

The kingdom of God which Christ is first proclaiming here is:

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

Once again, it is first “the kingdom of God [which] is within you” that is first proclaimed here in Isaiah:

Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

Isa 65:22  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

It is these chosen few of whom Christ is speaking when He speaks of “entering into life”:

Mat 18:9  And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Mar 9:45  And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

“All… in Adam… shall… be made alive [in] the end”, but when Christ speaks of “enter[ing] into life”,  Mark 5:47 reveals He is referring particularly to the “few… chosen [of] the first resurrection… the resurrection to life… [those] enter[ing] into the kingdom of God”, which ‘kingdom’ precedes “the resurrection to damnation” (Greek: krisis, judgment):

Mar 9:47  And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

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 [“each in his own order” (1Co 15: 23) first]; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and [then over a thousand years later] they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: krisis, judgment).

It is those in the “blessed and holy first resurrection” who will inherit that “kingdom”. That kingdom comes down to mankind out of heaven, uniting the new earth with the new heavens:

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.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

There is a future “redemption of the purchased possession”, nevertheless “the earnest of our inheritance” has already been fully paid, and we who have been given the holy spirit of promise are already “seated together with Christ in the heavens”:

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

What is so revealing about these verses is that the phrases “we were dead in sins” and “in the ages to come” are both in the Greek present tense. “Hath quickened us together with Christ [and] hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in the heavens in Christ” are both in the Greek aorist tense.

In other words, we are at this very moment in the process of being given life, and together with Christ we are being made to sit together in the heavens in Christ. We are those “heavens” into which “Christ [has] entered… heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us”.

Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

That is the “heaven” and the “earth” of the first two verses of this last chapter of Isaiah:

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

Way back here in the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah, Christ answers His own rhetorical question in very clear words:

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look [as “the place of My rest”], even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Those who know that Christ’s death and resurrection were expedient before the holy spirit could be given, will know these words are a prophecy of the sacrificial death of our Lord and His Christ for the sins of this world.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

This is the Lord’s assessment of failing to understand the efficacy of His sacrifice:

Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

“They have chosen their own ways” refers to what was just stated. They have chosen to replace the sacrifice of Christ with their own works and doctrines. The sacrifice of an ox, a lamb, the offering of an oblation, the burning of incense, one and all represent the works of our own hands. “idols of [our] hearts” (Eze 14:1-9). The physical Old Testament sacrifices were outward actions which are types of our own self-righteousness and doctrines and the rejection of the sacrifice of our Lord and His doctrines and His Christ. Nevertheless, we do those ‘good works’ “in His name” and therefore we think He should accept our works instead of His works. We are so convinced of our own righteousness ‘in His name’ that Christ tells us what we say to Him when we are being judged:

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

These words certainly apply to many who will be in the great white throne judgment, but they also apply to each of the Lord’s elect who all come out of Babylon. It is while we are there in Babylon that we are taught so many false doctrines, including the lie that the single most important factor in bringing us to Christ is our own fabled ‘free will’.

That false doctrine of mankind being given a will that is free of the will of God, and free from any influence of God, is one of many lying prophecies which are prophesied in Christ’s name, and which are used by the Lord Himself to deceive 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.

Many demons have indeed been cast out of us just to be replaced by seven demons worse than the one that was cast out:

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Luk 11:24  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
Luk 11:25  And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
Luk 11:26  Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

Many evil spirits of alcoholism, pornography, gambling, etc. are indeed cast out of many in Babylon. However, “swept and garnished” is not to be mistaken for bring “rooted and grounded” in the Truth. ‘Swept and garnished’ is not the same as being obedient and being filled with the fear of God and the love of God. Christ’s own disciples healed the sick and cast out devils long before they were even converted:

Luk 10:8  And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Luk 10:9  And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Luk 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

After three and one-half years of being Christ’s disciple, Christ said these words to Peter the night of His apprehension of the Jews:

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Luk 22:33  And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
Luk 22:34  And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

It is possible to be given the power to cast out devils and false doctrines in others and still hear the words, “I never knew you, depart from me ye workers of iniquity.” That is why the Lord told the seventy disciples:

Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

It is our own old man who first places more value and more store in the doctrines of men, rather than the Truths of the scriptures. It is our own old man who places miracles and signs and wonders above obedience and fidelity to the Words and doctrines of Christ. It is first and primarily to our own old man that these words are written:

Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

The Lord chose to delude me first with the deceptions of the Pentecostal churches. Then He chose to take me from under the law of the Gentiles and He placed me under the false doctrines of the Worldwide Church of God and under the deeper delusion of the law of Moses. From that delusion He took me into the even more insidious delusion of the Concordant Publishing Concern Bible Conferences, teaching that we are under no law at all. The Lord chose my delusions.

When the Lord speaks, we do not hear unless He makes us to hear. He can even take the ‘hearing’ and the ‘light’ we had away from us, and we simply cannot hear words like, “In the multitude of counsellors there is safety” and “Tell it to the church.”

Now notice how the holy spirit changes the subject from our old man to our new man, with absolutely no segue:

Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

“Your joy” is the joy of “Christ in [us] the hope of glory” (Co 1:27) and “they shall be ashamed” refers to our own “old man… the first man Adam”. It is Christ in us who values our birthright and wants more than life itself to be with Him in His kingdom. It is Christ in us who “trembles at His Word [and] works out His own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php 3:11-12):

Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery [G3466: ‘musterion’, secret] which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

“The dispensation of God which is given to [Paul] for [us] to fulfil the word of God” is the same dispensation given to each of us to “fill up in [our] bod[ies] that which is behind of the afflictions of the Christ for His body’s sake, which [body] is the church.”

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

It is very few to whom it has been made known that Christ did not die as our “substitute”.  Oh, yes, He did indeed die for our sins. That is a scriptural truth:

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

Now let me ask you… Where in that verse of scripture, or anywhere else in the Bible do you find the word ‘substitute’? Of course, the Truth is that it is not there because “Christ died for us” does not say, “Christ died in our stead, so we need not die.” If you teach that Christ died as a substitutionary atonement, in your stead so you would not have to die, you would be directly contradicting this, and so many other verses of scripture, which speak of being “dead with Christ (Rom 6:1-4), presenting your body a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), [being] crucified with Christ…” and this verse of scripture:

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

What is it that we “suffer for His sake”?

Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
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.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Col 2:20  Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Part of “the dispensation of God which is given to [us] for [us], to fulfil the word of God;” is also this:

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.

Those “few chosen” who will be in that “blessed and holy first resurrection” and will rule and reign with Christ a thousand years will not be the faint of heart. They will be equipped, through the trials of this life, to “render recompence to [their] enemies” and the enemies of Christ.

Isa 66:6  A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

Just look at how merciless Christ is to our old man in this age.

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

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

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

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

That is just how merciless we will be to the rebels of the thousand-year reign, as well as the carnal minds of those who will come up before us in the great white throne judgment. There will be no need for physical violence because, just as the Lord is now slaying our old man, so will we deal with the wicked:

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.

Our severe trials of this life and of this age are in the process of destroying our old man, and that experience is preparing our hearts to be equally merciless to the carnal minds of all the rest of mankind at their appointed times.

This 66^th chapter is the last chapter of Isaiah. The theme of this book is expressed clearly in this New Testament verse:

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Here are a couple of examples of how this comforting and encouraging theme is expressed in this prophecy of Isaiah. It is to be found right here along with the secondary theme of this prophecy:

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 41:13  For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Isa 41:14  Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

This is the same promise Christ makes to us in the New Testament:

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

The next two verses of Isaiah 41 are also the secondary sub-theme of this prophecy, which we will see is also a theme we will find in the next prophecy of scripture, the prophecy of Jeremiah, which we will begin after we finish this last chapter of Isaiah.

Here is that secondary sub-theme of this prophecy of Isaiah. It is expressed in the very next verses of Isaiah 41:

Isa 41:15  Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

Isa 41:16  Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Lord willing, we will be the kings and priests who will be judging this world with Christ in the “first… resurrection to life” (Joh 5:27-29, Rev 20:1-6). As kings and priests we will be the judges of the nations of this earth, “a new sharp threshing instrument” for the subjection of the carnal mind during the time when “the kingdoms of this world will be the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ” (Rev 11:15), and beyond that time right over into the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:11-12).

Here now are the verses for our next study:

Isa 66:7  Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Isa 66:8  Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Isa 66:9  Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
Isa 66:10  Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:

Isa 66:11  That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
Isa 66:12  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
Isa 66:13  As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isa 66:14  And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.

The Parables of the “Marriage Supper” and the “Great Supper”

[Study Aired February 25, 2020]

In the last study we saw that the parable of the wedding feast is about how the body of Christ is to present ourselves as we come together. We are to present ourselves with humility and act as a child believing what God is saying. The parable of the “Great Supper” will expand on that same theme. Here are the parables of the “Marriage Supper” and the “Great Supper”.

Luk 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
Luk 14:8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
Luk 14:9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
Luk 14:10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
Luk 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Luk 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Luk 14:15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
Luk 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
Luk 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
Luk 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
Luk 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
Luk 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luk 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

As we learned last week, the “Wedding Supper” means the coming together of the body of Christ. Likewise, the dinner or supper means the same.

Let’s see what we can learn from this parable.

Luk 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

When we make a “dinner or a supper” we are preparing a spiritual meal.

Deu 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
Deu 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Deu 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
Deu 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Christ says we are not to call our friends, brothers, kinsmen and our neighbors to this dinner. Why can we not call on them? Which friends is Christ referencing?

1Co 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
1Co 5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
1Co 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Ti 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
2Ti 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Here are two other translations of this section of the parable to help us see what is being said a little clearer.

Luk 14:12 (BBE) And he said to the master of the house, When you give a feast, do not send for your friends and your brothers and your family or your neighbours who have wealth, for they may give a feast for you, and so you will get a reward.

Luk 14:12 (GNB) Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors—for they will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did.

We do not desire the rewards of mankind. We seek the rewards of God.

2Jn 1:4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
2Jn 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
2Jn 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
2Jn 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
2Jn 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Joh 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Joh 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Joh 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages [rewards], and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Joh 4:37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

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

Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Continuing with the parable here is the next section.

Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

Why are we to invite the poor, maimed, lame and blind?

Isa 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Isa 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

How are we recompensed?

Isa 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

Psa 41:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

When are we recompensed?

Luk 14:14b …for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

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.

Now let’s finish the parable keeping in mind all we have been shown so far.

Luk 14:15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Joh 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

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

Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man [Jesus Christ] made a great supper, and bade many:

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
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.

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

Luk 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

Psa 116:16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Luk 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

Heb 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Heb 4:7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Heb 4:8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

Heb 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.

Luk 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

Isa 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Isa 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Luk 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
Luk 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Isa 11:16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Isa 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

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

Joh 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Luk 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

I will end with these verses from 1John 3.

1Jn 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.