1 Samuel 9:1–27 Saul Chosen to be King 

[Study Aired March 2, 2026]

Introduction

The study today focuses on the Lord’s providence in guiding Saul to Samuel to be anointed as the king of Israel. The study starts with Saul’s physical attributes which made him stand out as a possible candidate for a king. This is followed by Saul’s journey in Israel in search of his father’s lost donkeys, which ultimately led him to Samuel, who was going to anoint him as king of the people of Israel.

Introduction of Saul

1Sa 9:1  Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.
1Sa 9:2  And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. 

Verse 1 describes Kish, the father of Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, as a mighty man of power. In the Bible, the description of a mighty man of power signifies our Lord Jesus Christ. The tribe of Benjamin represents the family of the Lord’s elect as shown in the following verses:

Gen 43:34  And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

Gen 45:22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

Gen 49:27  Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Benjamin means son of the right hand. Here in Genesis 49:27, we can say that it is the Lord who is wild as a wolf in His destruction of our flesh as He devours our flesh through His judgement when He rises in our hearts and minds as the morning star and in the fullness of time, divides the spoil for His elect (reward of His elect).

Kish means ‘bent.’ This describes the way of the Lord which is not straight forward (bent). 

Rom 11:33  God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep that it is impossible to explain his decisions or to understand his ways.
Rom 11:34  “Who knows how the Lord thinks? Who can become his adviser?” 
Rom 11:35  Who gave the Lord something which the Lord must pay back? 
Rom 11:36 Everything is from him and by him and for him. Glory belongs to him forever! Amen! (GW)

As indicated, Kish being a mighty man of power, represents Christ. Saul means desired, which can mean chosen. What this implies is that Saul was chosen by the Lord to become a king. The Lord has called and chosen us, His elect, to reign with Him as kings in the fulness of time. 

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: 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

On a negative note, Saul also represents the leaders of the church system of this world or Babylon. His attractive physical attributes imply that the leaders of the church system of this world come with charisma, which is difficult to ignore as they sweep the Lord’s people off their feet with their personality, such that they are not able to discern that these men of God do not represent the Lord’s elect.

Pro 31:30  Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 

1Sa 9:3  And the asses of Kish Saul’s father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses. 
1Sa 9:4 And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not. 

In the Bible times, owning asses signifies being physically rich, as shown in the following verses:

Gen 24:35  And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.

Gen 30:43  And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

Therefore, Saul going out in search of the asses of his father means that we start our walk with Christ in pursuit of the Lord’s spiritual riches. Saul taking one of the servants of his father to search for the asses implies that in this pursuit of becoming spiritually rich in Christ, we become witnesses of Christ. 

2Co 13:1  This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.  

In verse 4, we are shown the cities Saul visited in search of his father’s asses. The meaning of these cities that Saul and his father’s servant went through have implication of what we must go through to become spiritually rich. The first place they passed through was Mount Ephraim. Ephraim means ‘doubly fruitful.’ The mount of Ephraim is the house of the Lord or the church of the Lord’s elect.

Isa 2:2  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
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.

What this suggests is that to become spiritually rich or doubly fruitful, we must enter the house of the God of Jacob or the church of the Lord’s elect, which is the pillar and ground of the truth. That is where we are nourished through what every joint supplies, to become spiritually rich in Christ. 

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.

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

The next place where Saul and his father’s servant went was the land of Shalisha. It is important to note that Salisha means ‘the third.’ The number three symbolizes the process of spiritual maturity through the Lord’s judgment. This means that it is through the Lord’s judgment of our flesh that we become spiritually rich in Him.

The third place of the search was the land of Shalim. Shalim means ‘foxes’ and therefore to become spiritually rich, we must take out, through the Lord’s help, the foxes which spoil the vine. These foxes which impoverish us spiritually are the false prophets parading as angels of light.

Son 2:15  Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 

Eze 13:4  O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 

The fourth place Saul and his father’s servant went searching for the asses was the land of Benjamin. The name Benjamin means ‘son of the right hand’, which means the Lord’s elect. It is in the assembly of the Lord’s elect that we are empowered to become spiritually rich. The fact that in all these places, Saul and the servant did not find the asses means that becoming spiritually rich is a process which takes time. We only find these spiritual riches when we search with all our hearts.

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

1Sa 9:5  And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us. 
1Sa 9:6  And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.  

The land of Zuph means the ‘land of honey comb.’ It is in this land of honey comb which signifies the rudimentary gospel of milk and honey which causes us to ponder over the Lord’s thought for us.  

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

It was in this city that a man of God, Samuel, lived. The servant saying that Samuel can show them the way to go means that it is Christ who can show us the way we should go. What we need to understand is that Christ works through His elect, like Samuel, to show us the way to become spiritually rich in Him.

2Co 8:9  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 

1Co 4:8  Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

1Sa 9:7  Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we? 
1Sa 9:8  And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.
1Sa 9:9  (Before time in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)
1Sa 9:10 Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God was.

Here Samuel, the man of God represents Christ. Saul reminded the servant that they must bring a present to the man of God. However, at that time Saul did not have anything worth offering to Samuel. This is because the bread in their vessels was finished. The bread here represents the word of the Lord. At this stage of Saul’s life, he did not know the Lord and therefore could not hear His voice. As a result, there was nothing to offer the Lord. It is when we are given to know the truth of the word of the Lord that we can offer something precious to Christ. This offering which we must bring to Christ is presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to the Lord.

Rom 12:1  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

In verse 8, the servant’s remarks that he has a fourth part of silver that he will give to the man of God implies that we must give the whole of what we have to the Lord. This whole of what we have is our bodies which we must offer to the Lord without any reservation.

Num 23:10  Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!”  

In verse 10, Saul agreeing to go to the city to see Samuel means that it is through what every joint supplies (what the servant offered) that we are able to come into the city of the Lord’s elect to see Christ or to come to know Him. 

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. 

Coming into the City of the Living Lord

1Sa 9:11  And as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here? 
1Sa 9:12  And they answered them, and said, He is; behold, he is before you: make haste now, for he came to day to the city; for there is a sacrifice of the people to day in the high place: 
1Sa 9:13  As soon as ye be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him. 
1Sa 9:14 And they went up into the city: and when they were come into the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place. 

The young maidens (vs 11) represent the churches of the Lord’s elect scattered all over the world. The role of the church is to fetch water to quench the thirst of the Lord’s people. The water signifies the word of the Lord which is made available through what every joint supplies in the church of the first born. It is in the midst of the churches of the Lord’s elect that we find the seer who symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Joe 2:27  And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

In verses 13 and 14, it was when Saul and the servant were in the city that they met Samuel. That means that it is when we come into the church of the Lord’s elect that we come to see Christ. It is instructive to note that in verse 13, Saul and the servant were told that the people will not eat until Samuel comes to bless the sacrifice. We are the sacrifice, and it is when the Lord comes to breathe over His people the Holy Spirit that we are given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. 

Joh 20:22  And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

As Saul and the servant entered the church of the Lord’s elect, Samuel was coming toward them on his way to the worship site. This is to let us know it is not we, who are seeking after the Lord, but it is the Lord who is coming toward us to sit in our hearts and minds (worship site). 

Eze 34:11  For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 
Eze 34:12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

1Sa 9:15  Now the LORD had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, 
1Sa 9:16  Tomorrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. 

The Lord indeed moves in mysterious ways. The lost asses of Kish and Saul’s father’s request for Saul to take one of his servant to search for the lost asses were all part of the Lord’s plan to bring Saul before Samuel, with the purpose of anointing him as king of Israel. In other words, the mundane activities that we engage in are all designed by the Lord for the purpose of bringing us to Himself. 

Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.

It is insightful to note that the Lord told Samuel in verse 16 that Saul shall save the people of Israel from the hands of the Philistines. As we are aware, Saul was rejected by the Lord as king later in his reign. He therefore signifies the leaders of the church system of this world or Babylon. What this implies is that even during our time in Babylon, the Lord was gradually destroying our flesh through His judgment.

1Sa 9:17  And when Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to thee of! this same shall reign over my people. 
1Sa 9:18  Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer’s house is. 
1Sa 9:19  And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart. 
1Sa 9:20 And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father’s house? 

We can see from these verses that Saul did not know Samuel. We all start our walk with Christ not knowing Him. Just as Samuel told Saul to go to the high place to eat with him, so is the Lord telling us, His elect, to go to the church or assembly of the Lord’s elect, signified by the high place. It is in the church that we eat with the Lord, which means being fed with the truth of the Lord’s word in order to know Him. Just as Samuel told Saul that the important thing is to go to the high place and eat with him and then He will tell Samuel what was in his heart, we are to focus on our gathering together to dine with the Lord through His word. It is through this that we become aware of what is in our hearts. That, the heart is desperately wicked and corrupt.

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.

It is worth noting that Samuel told Saul not to worry about the lost asses because they had been found. All that Saul had to do was to go to the high place to eat with Samuel. Our focus must be on our gathering and the word of truth which is able to give us an inheritance. When we focus on Him, the Lord will take care of our needs.

Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 
Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 
Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

In verse 20, Samuel also said that Saul is the desire of Israel. At that time, the people of Israel wanted to be like any other nation, and therefore the Lord gave them Saul, who is like them. Later, we saw how the people were disappointed in him. What the world is looking for in leaders are people who are loving, kind, not corrupt, etc. These qualities can only be found in the Lord’s elect. That is why the scriptures tell us that the desire of the people of the world is the revealing of the sons of God. When Christ comes, the sons of God shall be revealed to the world. 

Rom 8:19  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 

Samuel Dines with Saul

1Sa 9:21  And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me? 
1Sa 9:22  And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty persons.
1Sa 9:23  And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee.
1Sa 9:24 And the cook took up the shoulder, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which is left! set it before thee, and eat: for unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel that day. 

Saul did not consider himself as someone who can become the king of Israel because he was from a small tribe and his family was the least of the families of the tribe of Benjamin. We are all like Saul. We do not deserve to be part of the Lord’s elect. However, in His mercy, He has favored us and chosen us in Him before the foundation of this world. 

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.

As we can see in verse 22, Samuel made Saul sit among those bidden to come to feast. As indicated, Samuel here represents the Lord who has raised us up in him to sit in heavenly places.

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.

The thirty people who were invited to the feast represent the Lord’s elect who are destined to overcome to become part of the marriage feast of the lamb. These are those who will reign over the kingdoms of this world. 

Gen 41:46  And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

2Sa 5:4  David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

Our coming together is like a feast where we eat and drink as the Lord has set apart our portions for us, just like Samuel reserving a portion for Saul. The eating and drinking is knowing the Lord through His word.

In an age to come, we shall be at the marriage feast of the Lord, where we shall be like Him even as we come to know Him as He is. As we are aware, in this life we only know Jesus in part. However, when we see Him, we shall be like Him and know Him as He is. The feasting at the marriage feast of the lamb is for the purpose of knowing Him as He is.

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. 

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 

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

1Sa 9:25  And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house. 
1Sa 9:26  And they arose early: and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. 
1Sa 9:27 And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God. 

As indicated earlier, Saul was the Lord’s elect at this stage of his life. Samuel communing with Saul is the Lord communing with us through His word. Therefore, Samuel communing with Saul after they came down from the high place implies that our study of the word of the Lord must not be confined to only our gathering or feasting. In our closet, we must continue to study the word of the Lord to show ourselves approved as workmen who need not be ashamed.

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

It is insightful to note that Samuel told Saul to let the servant pass on before them. In this case, the servant represents our brothers and sisters in Babylon whom the Lord is not opening their eyes and ears to hear the word of the Lord. To our brothers and sisters in Babylon, the word of the Lord is a parable. However, to us, the Lord is showing us the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven as signified by Samuel ready to show Saul the word of God in verse 27.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 

May the Lord continue to show us the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven as we see the day approaching. Amen!!

Song of Solomon

[Study Aired January 24, 2026]

Introduction

How can any carnal husband, signifying Christ, consistently connect with His Bride unless she responds to Him with Her Breasts Wholly?

That enigmatic and misogynistic-sounding caption no doubt jars the Babylonian Christian sensibilities, stabbing at the very heart of female rulership. Yet, it doesn’t antagonize the Shulamite Bride, whose breasts’ significations, physically and spiritually, are the overarching theme of this study; she goes out of her way to amplify their righteous and truthful interpretations for her husband’s glory, reversing the lies and dreadful burden of her curse.

The Song of Solomon, shrouded in poetic mystique to all but the Bride of Christ, is her God-given “New Song” referenced in Revelation 14:3, mirroring her Husband’s Song of Songs perfectly. Its physical sensuality, signified for only the Bride to see spiritually, is a ‘short work’ (Rom 9:27-29) of unifying courtship with her Husband, Christ, a spiritual sensuality too ravishing to prolong (Psa 42:1, Son 5:2, 1Co 7:36) before consummation in the First and holy Resurrection. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psa 42:1)

Since the Bride has come this far in unity with her Husband, it is absurd to rehash every understanding of Scripture, particularly of her ‘old whorish song’ she knows too well, to support the introduction. Therefore, statements will frequently be made without scriptural substantiation, as her indwelling New Song has already validated her journey.

Isa 43:18  Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 
Isa 43:19  Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?

The righteous Body of Christ, having reached this point in becoming “as he is” [see our IWWB studies fast becoming like a post-movie-like review of our (idiomatic) ‘hoary-whorish’ past (Eze 23:43)], serving to starkly contrast the Bride’s glorious Song of Songs, her orchestral consummation that is her husband Christ’s Song of Songs.

Indeed, it is a boldly accurate and outspoken statement to assert that the New Song, which only the emblematic 144,000 (12×12) “could learn,” represents the Bride of Christ’s God-given and sole spiritual comprehension of the New Covenant—the number symbolizing her nearing the completion in her Body of the completeness of sinful flesh filled up behind Christ in his Body, for the Church’s ultimate foundation. 

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 

Although resulting in blasphemy, it is not a sin for Orthodox Babylonian Christians to read the Song—and they do, every Sunday—selecting agreeable aspects of the Bible, filtered through their Old Song, and changing the lyrics to be more benevolent, even romantic. In fact, and like them straining their eyes in the ‘blackness’ to see the Beast, the man of perdition, the New Song is right before them, but to force them to understand it is casting our pearls (G3135 – word of great value) before swine; but their reading or discordant singing it for 2,000 years soundly validates God’s word that it is only the Bride who can understand what she is singing.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. 

The Song of Solomon, expressed physically and coitally spiritually, illustrates her unified, connective joy being raised from her sleep, and granted the singular opportunity, above all women, including the five foolish virgins, to reverse her curse, celebrated spiritually!

Mat 9:23  And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,
Mat 9:24  He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 
Mat 9:25  But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 
Mat 9:26  And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. 

Est 2:16  So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 
Est 2:17  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. 

Queen Esther represents the Bride of Christ, superceding her self-serving sisters depicted as Queen Vashti and Old Israel. It all happened in the Tenth Month, in which the Day of Atonement falls, whereby she becomes one with her Husband, Christ, beginning the salvation of mankind in marriage at the beginning of the Seventh Year, the One-Thousand Year reign with the rod of iron.

Zec 8:19  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace. [Heralding the One-Thousand Year reign, the beginning of the salvation of mankind under Christ and his Bride]

Isa 52:10  The LORD hath made bare his holy arm [symbol of strength] in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

Jer 39:1  In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against [Old] Jerusalem, and they besieged it. [Symbolically making the way for the New Heavenly Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ] 

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. 
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed [Perfect Tense] from the earth. 
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. 

Rev 5:11  And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 

Interestingly, Christ, the tree of life, is referred to as “she.” Christ’s wife is as He is, a co-savior of mankind. She, the fruitful vine, produces and saves the twelve tribes of Israel, representing the entire world. If we multiply her 12 fruits by 12 months, the result is 144,000; those sealed in Israel, again, represent humanity as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The Bride of Christ, especially in these outwardly visible ‘last days’ before the First Resurrection, although still being saved right up until Christ’s outward return, already has eternal life attributed to her. She is already standing on Mt. Zion with her Lord; she is the voice from heaven, harping on harps in perfect unity with her Husband’s voice, insensible to the world. She has been learning her “new song” and, more importantly, daily living it; singing it ever since being dragged from being defiled by the 40,000 ‘women’ of Zionist, Orthodox Christianity, and other abominable religions. “And they sang as it were a new song… (Rev 14:2) 

The Bible primarily serves as a map of salvation, a cryptic depiction of the mysterious, symbolic, and turbulent journey of a young woman. Initially represented by Eve, she embodies all women and symbolizes the Church in the wilderness, submitting to her husband in a fickleness that is both sexual and spiritual. Strangely, the Odyssey was initiated by her husband, Adam’s troubled subconscious failure to love his wife (1 Tim 2:14), as evidenced by his reluctance to object when Eve and he ate from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It set her, as a symbol of the Church, in a position of ruling mankind’s religiosity, on a covert path to inevitable harlotry—a notion insulting all outwardly considered virtuous women, clandestinely indicting men, the same. Ultimately, a remnant “little flock Church” was given to “come out of her” to become the virtuous Bride of Christ. The Bible is primarily dedicated to her, guiding mankind as numerous as the stars of heaven, on a similar troublesome journey in a later timeframe. It reflects a fierce spiritual struggle over who truly is God: man or “the God of gods”. From the Garden of Eden onward, its broadly progressive themes can be categorized into six short headings, all of which are first dramatically represented through unrighteous indulgence and worldly sensuality, which the Bride ultimately aligns with righteously.

— God’s Headship Rejected

—Adam tamely abdicates headship as Eve assumes command

— Mankind  subverts the creation of God sensually, unwittingly facilitating the experience of evil

— Christ reestablishes headship, to which the Bride vivaciously responds

— The Song of Solomon – Is the Bride’s Effervescent Response now “to” Her Husband 

— Resulting in salvation for all

So, why does the Bride sing The Song of Solomon anew?

It is only the Bride of Christ who is given her Lord’s same song for her alone, distinct from all of humanity since Eden, to understand. It is a “new song” just as the New Covenant is New, leaving the Old Covenant as a fascinating shadow pointing to all things spiritually.

Heb 8:13  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. 

Since men are biologically designed to have a significantly greater sex drive than women—with testosterone levels 10-20 times higher—this disparity in libido spiritually reflects Christ’s passion for his Bride and the world, and their corresponding dispassion, symbolized by wives like espoused indifference. Astonishingly, it symbolizes the Father and Son’s love and fervor for the world; their agreement that the Son should become flesh and die for an exceptionally insensible humanity and their ultimate salvation!

Women’s and wives’ inherently intentional sexual impassiveness is essential to ensure an “experience of evil” and bitterness in their husbands to portray humanity’s rejection of Christ starkly.

Mostly, when we see in scriptures someone “ministering” to another physically, as did Abishag (1Ki 1:15) to King David amorously, although fruitlessly to raise his body temperature, and carnally the envisaged Shulamite to Solomon, that ministration almost always holds a potent spiritual concept for our understanding—that melody tremendously mirrored by the Bride in the SoS.  

Ministered H8334 – to serve; to attend. And for the Song of Solomon’s cause, meaning espoused dues. As exemplified by Abishag to King David, and subsequently mirrored by the Bride spiritually towards her Husband, Christ, as His workmanship, thereby demonstrating our love for Him and intentionally seeking to ravish Him profoundly, as he does, the Bride.

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

So, why does the Bride sing The Song of Solomon anew? Because her Lord ministered to her understanding and has aroused her symbolic spiritual testosterone levels somewhat equal to his, ravishing her spiritual libido, now vastly different from her carnality, so she can harmoniously ravish her Husband’s song upon her lips—“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine” – Son 1:2.

Since the holy spirit conceived the Bride of Christ, she has been learning her new song of understanding the New Covenant, which wine represents, rapturously celebrated spiritually in Solomon’s Song. Soon after conception, she turns to her Husband with a Mary(mother of Christ)-like astonishment, “Rabboni”, and with shivers down the soles of her feet, the humiliating and blunt realization that her curse from Eden all but destroyed her physical espoused intimacies with her husband, representing her spiritual blindness. It all began because of Adam’s symbolized self-emasculaton, wounded in his stones and privy member, dispatched to being poor and needy of heart, indirectly responsible for the now poor and needy Eve’s ‘devastation’ (H7736) of being wounded in her breasts that she was consigned to deception; humiliated forever (aonian) for her gullibility.

Psa 109:22  For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. 

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 

The Male Privy: Signatory of Authority and Life Pointing to Christ and the Father’s Supreme Power and Authority

For God to initiate the spiritual recreation of humankind, He needed to introduce the outwardly unique phenomenon of sex temporarily. Its distinctive sub-strait of lust incites many different kinds of injurious marital irregularities in men and women, aspects of which their genders manifest differently and often divergently. Anatomically, its most characteristic features, which are key to understanding the fundamental spiritual issues of all marital disparity, are first psychologically and physically evident in the significance of males’ genitals and females’ breasts. The meaning of those two concealed, soon-to-be-famous trademarks from Eden has a profoundly devastating impact, with divergent implications for every courting couple, and, most importantly, on carnal marriages and all aspects of human existence. Covertly, the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon, elegantly and righteously, expresses their unpolluted carnal representations for the Bride of Christ to understand and live as spiritually expressed in the Song of Solomon.

Upon Adam passively rejecting their Lord’s command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, his action unwittingly severely wounded his headship. Probably unconsciously, Adam sees his privy members as symbolizing his headship and authority in marriage. Involuntarily ruled by his pudenda and not wanting to wound Eve’s sensitivities by powerfully and lovingly restraining her reasoning, he passively submitted to her emotionally convincing logic. By eating the forbidden fruit and covertly rejecting his Lord’s command, his action rendered him symbolically impotent in his role as Eve’s head. For us, in every sense of the term, laying down one’s life for one’s neighbour, on the surface, it appears that Adam did just that for Eve. Unwittingly, by God’s assignment for mankind, and no doubt Adam’s fear of once again being alone if Eve ate and he didn’t, he chose to listen to his wife in unity with their flesh, preferring to die with her. Such is the power of the lust of the flesh over the spirit without faith and the holy spirit. The carnal first Adam performed the negative, the reversal of Eph 5:22-33, effectively stating,

22 ‘Husbands, submit yourselves to your own wives, as unto the Serpent.
23 For now, the wife is the head of the husband, even as your first father (Satan) is now head of the churches of the world.
24 Therefore, as the churches are subject to Satan, so let the husbands be to their own wives in everything.’

Under that pretext, Satan, the author of confusion in Babylonian Christianity, conflates and mingles the remaining verses, with Christ minimised by the overemphasis on the husband loving his wife (Luke 14:26), since subconsciously, how can she reverence him for their Lord’s word, when he has just demonstrated that he listens to her? They both now unwashed by the Lord’s word, he presents to his dying self an inglorious dying wife, increasing in spots and wrinkles as he is.

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.
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.
Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Eph 5:33  Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Now, because he listened to his wife, the symbol of his headship, his privy members are cursed psychologically (for some traumatized husbands, physically), where espousal intimacies, symbolized in the psychologically wounded “ground” of his wife’s breasts, her heart, her seat “within”, and the response of a million sensory titillations, are injured mostly beyond repair. Irregularly, access to her ground, her mind, breasts, and womb, with vindictive impudence, she guards. Adam’s vital physical and spiritual connection with her for connectively consummative joy is now utterly controlled by her. His physical and spiritual unity with her is now primarily accessed only for her pressing need of conception — cursed is his ground, where the key to accessing ‘his garden and vineyard’ is held by her. Now representative of all men and husbands, he sees, and more so feels, thorns and thistles every time he dares intimacy—she, embodying all future women, deftly sees coming a mile off, and with an airy smile, artfully redirects. Emotionally bereft, he wasn’t deceived, but like a moth to a flame, he ignored the signs of silence; his attempts to connect were consistently dismissed. It was all her growing, intrinsic game of power, addicted to control, relying, even relishing her husband’s servile attentiveness—subconsciously, a little uncomfortably. He fawningly hangs on, hoping, searching the net, fantasizing about fixes. Home life outwardly to Babylon, appears that he has it all sorted;  appearing wealthy with a lovely wife and children— ‘the ungrateful creep…’.  

He soon finds out that he no longer symbolically ‘eats’ with her in espousal communion since she is injured in her breasts, and he, in his privy member and stones. Ensnared by his own sensual devices, he realizes too late that he forsook his Samson-like strength of headship—classically gave it all away to an emblematic harlot. Now, he is blinded by subservience to her emotions in the vain hope of sensually arousing his; restricted to eating “herbs” and crumbs, characterized by drip-fed intimacies, rarely eating strong meat; gelded, psychologically, spiritually and physically flaccid in starved espousal connections—bitterly. The level of sensual, romanticized security is excessively insistent, filled with a million emotionally nuanced hurts. It is cunningly biased in her favor, equally ‘inventively’ nurtured by her doting paramour as she expected before marriage, and is carried forward into marriage without fulfillment, becoming painfully unsustainable and resentfully so.

So, too, did the Lord of the Old Covenant experience with his wife, Israel, indicting all women, representative of the Babylonian church, and mankind—rejecting His word, His priests, broken in their stones, wounding His heart in calling his life-saving food ‘loathsome light bread’ (Num 21:5). The Shulamite physically in the Song of Solomon representative of the Elect of God, soundly reverses that dreadfully sorry condition of disconnectedness, each day, spiritually.

Deu 23:1  He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. 

Psa 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Hos 9:14  Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. 

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

Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Luk 16:21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 

1Co 7:3  Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: [God’s will, and kindness for her specific emotional needs amplified sexually, as she fulfils his] and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 
1Co 7:4  The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
1Co 7:5  Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; [reconnection!] and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. [Paradoxically, righteous spiritual incontinence is a ravishingly good thing]

1Co 6:19  What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 
1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 

The embryonic Bride of Christ, upon journeying through the wilderness of Babylonian marriage, initially mourns the story and the ‘woman’. The Old Adam fell in love with the sexual version of her he created through hope and belief in her initial gloriously connected harmony in almost all things, a fantasy, built on lust, not willingly believed that highly sensual emotions emanating from the flesh, signified by her breasts and his pudenda’s cravings. Ultimately, it will always disappoint; both in type, a ‘fugitive and a vagabond’ of vain lusts, always wandering and like Cain, temporarily advantageous for God’s purpose as we feed our enemy negatively (Gen 12:20), but never finding the rest that can please God (Gen 4:12).

In realizing it is the Lord who drags whom He wills to himself, the New Adam’s power of his God-given authority is regained not by brow-beating spiritual wisdom spurned, but in silence, patiently awaiting the reason for the hope of his faith. In Eden, when Adam neglected to solemnly caution Eve about the impending danger associated with disobeying their Lord by consuming the forbidden fruit, it is evident that his weakness, permanently embedded in flesh, subsequently led her to question Adam’s capacity to guide her righteously. Consequently, she, along with all women, is effectively injured in her breasts, meaning, her heart. Thereafter, she is accustomed to men vying for her attention, as she possesses the authority over intimacy. That injurious saga, we will continuously see, is foundational to her curse, her stubborn resistance, her disease of not enthusiastically desiring intimacy, the hallmark of disunity. The eventual intimate healing of women begins in her heart beneath her signified wounded, bruised breasts that directly point to her spiritual healing. The Shulamite Bride now has an irresistible reason to trust in her husband, a balm to heal her wounded breasts—a Sabbath rest in Him, incredibly energizing her femininity to vigorously ravish Him, knowing from carnal experience that a husband will unfailingly respond to further awakening her intrinsically slower libido, all characteristically spiritual.

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, initially representing all women, is unnervingly drawn to the man she cannot control, one who delights in and desires her, but doesn’t need her, who doesn’t fill her every emotional void, who refuses to submit to her innate schemes. She confronts a force she cannot manipulate. She senses a man who has unravelled her ethos, knowing the foundation of her injury that even she hasn’t identified, and that man’s standing and beguiling authority revitalises her ‘breasts’ in a way she has never known. Yet, without the holy spirit, she regularly tests his virtue, and yet, strangely still rejects him, further deepening her confusion rooted in her dismissal of his authority in Eden.

Psa 65:4  Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. 
Psa 65:5  By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea: 
Psa 65:6  Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:
Psa 65:7  Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people. 

A steeply decreasing carnal rarity and no greater peace and overjoy is there for a husband when blessed by his wife, glorying in his sensual responses to her, and redoubling her gratitude to Christ for having wonderfully created him so—the Bride, we shall see, enthusiastically and consistently ravishes her Husband spiritually.

Eve’s breasts, symbolic of her entire arresting form, we hope to see, represent her remarkable Ninja-like emotional glory, further provoking Adam’s involuntary erogenous sensitivities unquenchably; the combination, without the holy spirit, the Serpent uses to his gleeful advantage, igniting 6,000 years of adulterous wildfires represented spiritually initiated before they got out of Eden!

Within the meaning of that hidden theme of Adam’s privy parts and Eve’s breasts lies the profound reason why “no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand”, but the Bride! She, being ‘last’ in the order of gender authority, her every bodily element characteristic of Adam spiritually, becomes the emblematic ‘first’, the very thing she cravenly in Babylon, vociferously self-elevated (Pro 7:11, Rev 18:7).

The Great Whore’s song is likewise centered on Adam’s pudenda and Eve’s breasts as signatories of rejection of God’s word, the Shulamite in The Song of Solomon uninhibitedly reverses physically, and the Bride, spiritually—elegantly skilled in how to ravish her husband righteously, now delighting in his arousal, as opposed to formerly avoiding it, and right off the bat, she royally initiates,

Son 1:2  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. 

Every man in Babylon, and husbands, knows that heartfelt, deeply connected kisses are guaranteed for instant arousal and responsiveness; He says,

Son 4:9  Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 

Every virgin damsel should be very well instructed, effusively committed with a sincere heart to learning the art of courting and marital affairs by her deeply caring mother and senior female peers representative of the Church in the craft of building her house, most honorably in the simple art of male ravishment, equally Christ’s spiritual captivation for her. Whereas previously, she scorned her father and mother’s wise directions, their hope of preserving her virginity physically and spiritually.

Pro 19:25  Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge. 
Pro 19:26  He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach.
Pro 19:27  Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. 
Pro 19:28  An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity.
Pro 19:29  Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.

Psa 123:2  Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

His sensual arousal is easy, but the excitement of creating a home environment of anticipation in a semi-passive hour-by-hour incitement denotes her single-eyed devotion singularly chained in virtuous harmony. Although the symbolism is deeply offensive to feminists, the Shulamite is delighted that all her needs are met by being chained to one man, juxtaposed with her sisters in Babylon, figuratively off the chain, with their feet never in their home, running around like Aholah and Aholabah, enslaved to their breasts incitations and their suitors profane passions, growing old in whoredom (Eze 23:43-44) — classic negative responsiveness of her heart and his pudenda.

Even though the following is in the last chapter in the Song of Solomon, it is the Bride’s desire from the outset, signified by the Promised Land springing with milk and honey, to be nursed at royal breasts (Isa 60:16 – GW), thereby eagerly ravishing her Husband for their mutually jubilant response.

Son 8:1  O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised. 
Son 8:2  I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. 

Those glorious verses, the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon, utterly reverse the Great Whore’s unrighteous and lewd use of her physical ‘jewels’, physical sensualities, the Bride of Christ privileges spiritually! She reflects to her Husband his “house”, the very same house she now is. Having measured that pattern, she now reverses what she humiliatingly represented in Old Israel and Babylon, rejecting his spiritual intimacies.

Eze 43:10  Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
Eze 43:11  And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. 
Eze 43:12  This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. 

Eve’s decision to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is typically an artful female ‘invention’ to challenge a male, particularly her husband’s strength and authority, initially unconsciously, always bearing with it a host of dreadfully injurious consequences to their love responsiveness to each other. It is the inception of Isaiah’s much later statement, provocatively derived from the BBE version, “As for my people, their ruler is acting like a child, and those who have authority over them are women. O my people, your guides are the cause of your wandering, turning your footsteps out of the right way.” (BBE). 

Adam and Eve are both now dictatorially governed by their most powerful gender-specific emotions, emanating through Adam’s pudenda and Eve’s breasts. Practically every emergent decision Adam and Eve make, intrinsic to their respective gender, we hope to see in an ensuing study, is grounded in Adam’s sexuality, directly identified in his privy, and Eve by her breasts. Every thought and action of theirs arises from those two most potent gender-specific roots that they both secretly demand be satisfied selfishly and indulgently from the other—the new emotion, selfishness, has strode into their lives. For Adam to be sexually gratified, it has to come from Eve; likewise, for Eve to be emotionally exhilarated, she depends upon Adam. However, because of Eve’s curse, causing her to be ‘against’ Adam, contentious on almost all relational fronts, she soon realizes that she can weaponize her innate slower arousal to her advantage for overly extended periods of emotional indulgences that later, she, like the Dead Sea, peters out into desolation without the necessity for consummation, leaving Adam parched. 

Mat 12:30  He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. 

Adam, having cast his crown before her, the emblematic Ashtoreth and Diana—ironic in being rich in “fertility and war”—and the “moon”-like “light” of her boudoir love, he glorifying and honoring her for her sexual prowess, the mother of all living, he now, on a leash, “restrained” to her bidding. All quite the inverse to the following verses in Revelation and prerequisite to the Great Whore”.

Rev 4:10  The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Rev 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure [Adam is…] they are and were created.

All is built upon the lust of the eyes, representative of every other sensory organ’s initiating lust.

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 

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. 

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.

For Adam and Eve, and their rulership coup in the making, about to guide 7,000 years of wandering with characteristic whorish footsteps never in the Lord’s house, their struggle for rulership authority indicts them both compulsively “acting like children.” However, the occasion is covertly governed, not only by breasts’ significations, but by every detail of Eve’s glorious feminine form, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psa 139:14), expressing a Satan-inspired sentimental delusion, knowing that he can easily reach Adam through his private parts, their singular central sensualities for Eve, and thus severely disarray the vast majority of marriages and the love spouses crave, designedly, temporarily destroying God’s order of headship in carnal marriages and societal leadership centralized on the church.

Inherently, and to varying degrees of responsiveness, a female’s highly sensory body and mind govern her every thought and action. After Eve’s deception, she naturally conceived the same female psyche in all women, testing (tempting) men and husbands by the emotional meaning of expressions stemming from her breasts. Just as Eve did, all wives and women, signified sexually, now innately test or tempt their husbands and men unwittingly to break God’s commands. It is now vividly portrayed in her every stunning bodily gesture, covertly centralized on her heart, her breasts signify, expressed pseudo-innocently in her every thought and action to which he both consciously and instinctively submits. 

Upon being expelled from Eden, the Adams of the world find themselves without a secure basis on which to lead their wives with righteous authority. His confidence is now fragile and easily psychologically and spiritually wounding his privy and stones by any woman, particularly his wife. His fundamental and concealed apprehension pertains to scarcity—specifically, the deficiency of authentic respect akin to that bestowed by a Job-like stature by other men within the gates of his city within. This diminishes his perceived strength in the eyes of others and renders him less attractive to women, thereby eliciting his most profound fear of sexual scarcity. As did Eve, women instinctively test that frame, not always maliciously, but to measure his strength. When he fails those tests, it’s not just the attraction that dies, but also the complete honor and respect. His focus on physical sensualities that Eve holds the keys, shackles him in that dungeon of the world, the deep, subservient to men and women—a most heinously wounded privy, indeed.

An oxymoronic absurdity of truth; if Eve hadn’t successfully tempted Adam to submit to her, Satan wouldn’t have deceived them to eat of the fruit.

Deu 6:16  Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah [= temptation; despair – now emblematic of Eden]. 

Although Solomon in Christ’s Song beautifully depicts a female’s provocative beauty, breasts uniquely symbolize many sensually glorious female qualities, their sensitivities too numerous for Solomon and modern lyricists to express concisely and gracefully in poetry. Like the Japanese, who seek the perfect cherry blossom each season, called the “Sakura”, from which comes the equally perfect fruit, a single cherry attracting exorbitant prices ostentatiously, all men, albeit unjustly, desire their ideal of the perfect female form, which they longingly hope is expressed back through facial acceptance of them, emanating from her eyes. In real life, a breathtaking ravishment almost unbearable—an art carved by Solomon from one Shulamite-like wife, the Bride of Christ is designed to lavish spiritually upon Christ, and he, upon her. In the meantime, in Babylon,

Pro 6:25  Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

2Ki 9:30  And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window. 

Juxtaposed righteously by the Bride:

Son 4:9  Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

Ultimately, breasts and a male’s privates, symbols of all sensuality, powerfully influence each gender’s emotional experiences, stimulated through their eyes, govern their minds, the most potent sexual organ demanding action, without the holy spirit’s direction, speed marital disunity and bitterness. Due to a severe lack of marital connection, Solomon epitomized every carnal husband’s journey, not necessarily in outright adulterous relationships, but in his deep longing for one woman who would be unified with him, like Adam, looking in the wrong direction, seeking her to save him sensually.

1Ki 11:4  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. 

From now on, the basis of every pre-Song of Solomon study is shaped by the physical disconnection. This is marked by a husband’s wounded private parts symbolizing his lost authority, resulting in his wife’s similarly wounded heart, centered in her breasts, which are emblematic of a deeply damaged emotional connection. The Shulamite physically corrects all that the Bride of Christ delights in living spiritually.

First, we need to understand who the Father of Lies is and his purpose in causing marital turbulence.

1Ki 1:19-27 “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3)

[Study Aired June 10, 2021]

1Ki 1:19  And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host: but Solomon thy servant hath he not called.
1Ki 1:20  And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
1Ki 1:21  Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
1Ki 1:22  And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.
1Ki 1:23  And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.
1Ki 1:24  And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?
1Ki 1:25  For he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king’s sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah.
1Ki 1:26  But me, even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called.
1Ki 1:27  Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not shewed it unto thy servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

The last part of that verse in Isaiah 53:3 from which our title for tonight’s study is taken says, “and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” It was by hiding our face from the truth in our former conversation because of our blindness (Eph 2:1-3, 2Co 4:4), that we demonstrated we despised and rejected Christ, who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

In this section of 1Kings 1 we will learn through the example of Adonijah how, by our self-righteous religious actions, we were all guilty of rejecting Christ by holding fast to His name but not His doctrine (Isa 4:1), and conversely how, when we were given to know the truth, we then began to be rejected and hated by all men for His name’s sake becoming as He is in this world, “rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”. It is by living by the faith of Christ that we can go through the crushing and dying daily experiences  (Gal 2:20) of this life which are precious in the sight of God (1Pe 1:7) who is preparing the bride through those trials to become saviors (Mar 13:13, 1Jn 4:17, 1Pe 2:6-9, Psa 116:15, Col 1:24).

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

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

Mar 13:13  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

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

1Pe 2:6  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
1Pe 2:7  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
1Pe 2:8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient:  whereunto also they were appointed.
1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Psa 116:15  Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

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:

Before Solomon, a type of the elect in this instance, can be appointed king by King David, who represents Christ, we need to see the extent of our own pride and self-righteousness that wants to do good and offer sacrifices as Adonijah did, and how we naturally forget these words: “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1Sa 15:22-23). That obedience is something we learn through the things we suffer as we go from glory to glory (2Co 3:18) beholding the glory of Christ our hope of glory within (Col 1:27) who gives us the power to be able to be obedient, until ultimately we will no longer “hid[e] as it were our faces from him” but rather see him face to face (1Co 13:12, Joh 17:3-4).

1Sa 15:22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

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

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:

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

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 17:4  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do (Rom 4:17, Eph 2:10).

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

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.

1Ki 1:19  And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host: but Solomon thy servant hath he not called. 

As we just read in 1Samuel 15:22-23, these sacrifices of “oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance” which were slain demonstrate the stubbornness in Adonijah’s heart and the extent that he and all flesh will go to in order to get its own way that seems right (Pro 14:12). We do many wonderful ‘religious’ works (Mat 7:22-23) without truly knowing that Christ is the one who is working in us both to will and to do all those works (Php 2:12-13).

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 [our own righteousness of (Php 3:9)].

Eze 18:26  When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

The righteousness being spoken of in Ezekiel from which we turn away is typical of the righteousness of Christ who is our righteousness (1Co 1:30), and when God causes us to err by hardening our hearts (Isa 63:17), we die in our own works that Christ likened to the dead burying the dead (Luk 9:60). God is in the process of burning all this self-righteousness out of Christ’s bride as we’re led to repentance (Rom 2:4). God is working with the elect in this age to bring about mature sons who will glorify Him as vessels that have been made unto honour, through a sanctification process, that makes us meet for the master’s use, being prepared unto every good work (2Ti 2:21, Rev 19:7, Eph 2:10, Mat 3:8)

1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

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

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.

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.

Mat 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

This is the blindness that is caused and is typified by Jacob who for seven years served the tender eyed^H7390 firstborn Leah who represents our completely blind flesh that cannot see (seven years) until we are given Rachel who represents the gift of God’s grace given to us through faith (Gen 29:17-20, Eph2:8).

Gen 29:16  And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
Gen 29:17  Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.
Gen 29:18  And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
Gen 29:19  And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.
Gen 29:20  And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.

Adonijah was in no way following the principle that Christ tells us in Luke 14:12-15 and had chosen rather to invite those people who would best advance his goal of securing his position as king via “Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host“. In Adonijah’s mind, these were the most likely people who would “bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee”, which was his way of seeking political advantage.

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 [Rev 20:6].
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.

The banquet that God’s elect are called to is the “marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9) and so we only need to look at Christ’s example here to know who it is that has been determined to be called from the foundation of the world: “the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind” — those who have been brought to see that they are unworthy (Luk 15:19, Luk 17:10) and see the hope in these trustworthy statements (1Ti 1:15-16, 1Co 1:26-29) that are worthy of all acceptation.

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.

Luk 15:19  And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

Luk 17:10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1Ti 1:16  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

“The king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host” represent the mighty and the noble of this world who will, in God’s time, see the order of His plan that was determined to be that way so that “no flesh should glory in his presence”.

“But Solomon thy servant hath he not called” reminds us that Adonijah was not given to receive the wisdom that was needed in order to become the true king of Israel as it was too high for him (Pro 24:7). Adonijah typifies our flesh trying to find some other way into the kingdom of God (Joh 10:1); that some other way being our own works, our own righteousness (Php 3:9).

Pro 24:7  Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

Joh 10:1  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

1Ki 1:20  And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 
1Ki 1:21  Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
1Ki 1:22  And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

This verse, “And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him“, has its fulfillment for God’s elect in Malachi 3:18, which is when the eyes of “all Israel” who represents the world (Rev 5:10, 1Co 6:3), will look to mount Zion which represents the elect who will judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21). We are all offenders. But for the grace of God our offences as a kind of first fruits are given an accounting in this life, which is represented by the actions of Bathsheba and Nathan who are disclosing the facts about Adonijah whose life represents our former conversation (Eph 2:1-3). That is the reason we ought to come boldly before the throne of grace to obtain grace in “time of need” (Heb 4:16, 1Pe 4:17) along with this attitude of humbling ourselves before the king (1Ki 1:16, 1Ki 1:23) who represents Christ Who already knows we are the man of 2Samuel 12:7 and that we have all forsaken Christ in our time (Mat 26:22, Mar 14:50). In other words, if Christ does not set us free from sin (Joh 8:36), “I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders“.

Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

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

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

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.

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Verse 21 is accompanied by an admonition for us right after verse 20 stating “Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders“, telling us also that unless our witness does not truthfully go forth through Christ, who is our hope of glory represented by King David, that their blood will be upon our head and we “shall be counted offenders” (Eze 3:18-19, 1Ti 4:15-16). The solution to being able to heed this admonition of being a faithful witness is given to us in the form of a parable represented by Nathan who in verse 22 appears on the scene, stated this way: “while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in“.

Our hope is not in this life alone because we know Christ is raised, and although it is true “my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers“, our hope is that Christ our king is raised now and we are raised with him in earnest making it possible for us to be true witnesses who are not experiencing any condemnation in Christ (Rom 8:1). If God so allows, then we are being blessed to demonstrate our discipleship through obedience to God’s commands as we experience His love being shed abroad in our hearts for that very reason of giving us the power to be obedient and faithful witnesses (Rev 11:3) to the end of this life (1Co 15:14, Eph 2:6, Rom 5:5).

Eze 3:18  When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Eze 3:19  Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

1Ti 4:15  Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
1Ti 4:16  Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

1Co 15:14  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Bathsheba is a type of the church whose witness to the king is going to be confirmed by the prophet Nathan. We are dragged to the king (Joh 6:44) to make these requests and are accepted in the beloved through God’s holy spirit (Eph 1:6). Nathan is the second person to confirm (witness) what was being brought to the king, and Nathan is a type of the spirit of God which will bear witness that we are His sons in this age who have been given the power to testify, while others deny Christ who won’t deny Himself, if He is abiding in us and saving us by grace through faith (Mat 10:19, Rom 8:14-16, the spirit of God is not bound 2Ti 2:10-13, Joh 6:63, 2Co 3:17, Rom 8:9, Eph 2:8).

Mat 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

1Ki 1:23  And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

Unlike David, Christ knows what is going on all the time and everywhere in the earth (2Ch 16:9, Jer 1:12), and this statement “and they told the king” is typical of the statement found in the book of Job where Christ asks this question that would generate an answer: “And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”(Job 1:7). That question was not for His benefit but for ours to remind us that we are constantly dealing with a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and yet he will not prevail or catch God’s elect off guard if we are granted to resist him stedfastly in the faith (1Pe 5:8-9, Mat 16:18, Luk 22:31).

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: [1Jn 5:4] and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

What we hope to see in all our dealings with Christ in each other is this spirit of humility that Nathan brought forth: “and when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground” (Php 2:3). Having our “face to the ground” is a symbolic gesture that reminds us who we are to be in the presence of our King.

1Ki 1:23  And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself^H7812 before the king with his face^H639 to the ground.

bowed himself H7812 shâchâ  shaw-khaw’ – Strong’s: A primitive root; to depress that is prostrate (especially reflexively in homage to royalty or God): – bow (self) down crouch fall down (flat) humbly beseech do (make) obeisance do reverence make to stoop worship.
Total KJV Occurrences: 171

Zep 2:3  Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger^H639.

face; anger H639 From H599; properly the nose or nostril; hence the face, and occasionally a person; also (from the rapid breathing in passion) ire: – anger (-gry), + before, countenance, face, + forbearing, forehead, + [long-] suffering, nose, nostril, snout, X worthy, wrath.
Total KJV Occurrences: 276:
anger 171, angry 4, face 19, faces 3

1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

1Ki 1:24  And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? 
1Ki 1:25  For he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king’s sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah.

The discerning mind of Christ, represented by King David, is going to make a declaration very shortly after all the facts are stated by Bathsheba and Nathan (1Co 2:15-16).

1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Bathsheba and Nathan have gone about to establish this witness with humility in their approach stating only the facts of the matter on which the king will base his arbitration (Pro 18:13). Nathan begins by asking king David if these are his words “Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne” to immediately establish that Adonijah’s actions were self-willed, boastful (Pro 25:14), and not ordained by the king, which Nathan and Bathsheba wanted to be sure was the case (1Jn 4:1).

Pro 18:13  He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

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

If this is the case that David has approved Adonijah to be king, then surely David would have been the one putting all of these things together (Luk 15:27) that Adonijah took upon himself to do, “for he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king’s sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah.” These were all normal proceedings for someone who has been ordained to be a king, but in Adonijah’s case it was all a demonstration of the flesh wanting to be acknowledged and given approval for his own personal gain (Mat 6:2).

Luk 15:27  And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

These were the matters that Bathsheba and Nathan were searching out in order to preserve the true lineage of the king, and it demonstrates a typical lesson that we are called to learn by looking well unto ourselves and the church (1Pe 1:12, Act 20:28) so that by the grace of God no man will take our crown (Pro 25:2, Jer 17:10, Rev 2:2, Rev 3:11).

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Pro 25:2  It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

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.

Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

1Ki 1:26  But me, even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called.
1Ki 1:27  Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not shewed it unto thy servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

Nathan’s statement had the veiled understanding that Adonijah was conveniently calling who he wanted in order to get approval for his actions, even as he steered away from calling on Nathan “thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called“.

Calling Zadok^H6659 would have brought condemnation to Adonijah, just as would calling Nathan^H5416 along with Benaiah^H1141 son of Jehoiada^H3077 and Solomon^H8010.

ZadokH6659
H6659 tsâdôq tsaw-doke’
From H6663; just; Tsadok, the name of eight or nine Israelites: – Zadok.
H6663 tsaw-dak’
A primitive root; to be (causatively make) right (in a moral or forensic sense): – cleanse, clear self, (be, do) just (-ice, -ify, -ify self), (be, turn to) righteous (-ness).

NathanH5416
H5416 nâthân naw-thawn’
From H5414; given; Nathan, the name of five Israelites: – Nathan.
H5414nâthan naw-than’A primitive root; to give, used with great latitude of application (put, make, etc.): – add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, X avenge, X be ([healed]), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit consider, count, + cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute do, X doubtless, X without fail, fasten, frame, X get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), X have, X indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), + lie, lift up, make, + O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, X pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up). + sing, + slander, strike, [sub-] mit, suffer, X surely, X take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, + weep, X willingly, + withdraw, + would (to) God, yield.

BenaiahH1141
H1141 ben-aw-yaw’, ben-aw-yaw’-hoo
From H1129 and H3050; Jah has built; Benajah, the name of twelve Israelites: – Benaiah.
H1129baw-naw’
A primitive root; to build (literally and figuratively): – (begin to) build (-er), obtain children, make, repair, set (up), X surely.
H3050yaw
Contracted for H3068, and meaning the same; Jah, the sacred name: – Jah, the Lord, most vehement. Cp. names in “-iah,” “-jah.”

JehoiadaH3077
H3077 yeh-ho-yaw-daw’
From H3068 and H3045; Jehovah-known; Jehojada, the name of three Israelites: – Jehoiada. Compare H3111.
H3068 yeh-ho-vaw’
From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: – Jehovah, the Lord. Compare H3050, H3069.
H3045 yaw-dah’
A primitive root; to know (properly to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively instruction, designation, punishment, etc.): – acknowledge, acquaintance (-ted with), advise, answer, appoint, assuredly, be aware, [un-] awares, can [-not], certainly, for a certainty, comprehend, consider, X could they, cunning, declare, be diligent, (can, cause to) discern, discover, endued with, familiar friend, famous, feel, can have, be [ig-] norant, instruct, kinsfolk, kinsman, (cause to, let, make) know, (come to give, have, take) knowledge, have [knowledge], (be, make, make to be, make self) known, + be learned, + lie by man, mark, perceive, privy to, X prognosticator, regard, have respect, skilful, shew, can (man of) skill, be sure, of a surety, teach, (can) tell, understand, have [understanding], X will be, wist, wit, wot.SolomonH8010
H8010 shel-o-mo’
From H7965; peaceful; Shelomoh, David’s successor: – Solomon.
H7965 shâlôm  shâlôm shaw-lome’, shaw-lome’
From H7999; safe, that is, (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, that is, health, prosperity, peace: –  X do, familiar, X fare, favour, + friend, X greet, (good) health, (X perfect, such as be at) peace (-able, -ably), prosper (-ity, -ous), rest, safe (-ly), salute, welfare, (X all is, be) well, X wholly.
H7999 shâlam shaw-lam’
A primitive root; to be safe (in mind, body or estate); figuratively to be (causatively make) completed; by implication to be friendly; by extension to reciprocate (in various applications): – make amends, (make an) end, finish, full, give again, make good, (re-) pay (again), (make) (to) (be at) peace (-able), that is perfect, perform, (make) prosper (-ous), recompense, render, requite, make restitution, restore, reward, X surely.

Twice now Nathan is used to bring this question to the king, once through his counsel given to Bathsheba, and then from his own mouth (1Ki 1:13, 1Ki 1:27): “Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not shewed it unto thy servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?“.  Nathan respectfully puts this question before the king because none of this appears right in the heart and minds of him and Bathsheba, and the Lord is showing us that a witness will always be established against our old man, typified here by Adonijah: “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets”.

We will all feel the rejection that will cause us to groan in our spirits as we long with all the saints for his vindication on our lives that have become like Christ “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Rev 6:10, Isa 53:3).

Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice [Heb 5:7], saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Next week, Lord willing, we will see the type and shadow answer to this question “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” as we look at the response King David gives that brings us into remembrance of these verses.

Hab 2:3  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Jdg 9: 1 – 21: THE BRAMBLE REIGNS!!

[Study Aired May 3, 2021 – Read by Gale Cullen]

Jdg 9:1  And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, 
Jdg 9:2  Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. 
Jdg 9:3  And his mother’s brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother. 
Jdg 9:4  And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him. 
Jdg 9:5  And he went unto his father’s house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself. 
Jdg 9:6  And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem. 
Jdg 9:7  And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. 
Jdg 9:8  The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. 
Jdg 9:9  But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 
Jdg 9:10  And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. 
Jdg 9:11  But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? 
Jdg 9:12  Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. 
Jdg 9:13  And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 
Jdg 9:14  Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. 
Jdg 9:15  And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. 
Jdg 9:16  Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; 
Jdg 9:17  (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: 
Jdg 9:18  And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;) 
Jdg 9:19  If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: 
Jdg 9:20  But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. 
Jdg 9:21  And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. 

The latter part of Judges Chapter 8 deals with the sins of Gideon and of the people of Israel. One of the obvious sins Gideon committed was marrying many wives and having a concubine who gave birth to Abimelech at Shechem. Spiritually, marrying many wives means having a heart that is not perfect before the Lord.

1Ki 11:3  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
1Ki 11:4  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

In the same way, the hearts of the people of Israel were also not perfect before the Lord. They went after idols after the death of Gideon, and so the Lord used their disobedience as an occasion to judge them. In this case, God used Abimelech as the tool to judge Gideon’s family and the people of Israel as follows:

Jdg 9:1  And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, 

Abimelech was the son of Gideon’s concubine in Shechem. So as far as inheritance is concerned, he was not qualified to inherit anything from his father, together with his mother, as both were illegitimate. We know in Galatians 4:26 that Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all. The flip side of this scripture is that Jerusalem which now is, is the mother of all those who are God’s children but are not destined to have an inheritance. So Abimelech’s mother’s brethren, together with the family of the house of Abimelech’s mother’s father, represent the Babylonian system (the churches of this world) which we came out of or are coming out of.

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Jdg 9:2  Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. 

Here Abimelech was asking his brethren to choose him singularly to reign over them or that Gideon’s seventy sons rule over them. Another way of saying this is that the people were given a choice between plural leadership and singular leadership.  In the New Testament, the governance system that prevails in the house of God is plural leadership.  This is evidenced by the appointment of elders in every church by Paul and Barnabas.

Act 14:23  And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

The reason for this type of leadership is to ensure that in every church there are multitude of counsellors so that as we defer to them, we are delivered from nurturing false doctrines in our heavens which will derail us from knowing our Lord.

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

Pro 15:22  Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

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

Another reason we should have elders in every church is to give direction to God’s children and in so doing, prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.  This is demonstrated by the church in Antioch giving direction to Barnabas and Paul concerning the work that they had been penciled by the Holy Spirit to undertake.

Act 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

Act 13:2  As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

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.

However, in the current church system of this world (Babylon), we do not see plural but singular leadership, which is contrary to God’s ordained order. It all started even during the days of the apostles as Apostle John made mention of this as follows:

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

So we can see that singular leadership breeds apostasy as we see Diotrephes assuming prominence in the church and turning the church into a den of people who only conform to what their leader says.  That is why the churches of this world have missed the boat of salvation. We were all part of the people who had missed this boat until Jesus came into our lives.  The world we live in also embraces singular leadership as our presidents are given extraordinary powers to do whatever they like with their carnal minds. The result of this is the oppressive regimes, discontentment by many people, denial of justice, lack of equity, xenophobia, etc. which we are observing today.

As indicated in verse 1, Abimelech’s mother’s brethren, together with the family of the house of Abimelech’s mother’s father, represent the Babylonian system (the churches of this world) which we came out of or are coming out of. No wonder they preferred singular leadership to plural leadership by choosing Abimelech over the seventy sons of Gideon as follows:

Jdg 9:3  And his mother’s brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother. 

Carnal minds always prefer to hear about carnal things. That was what Apostle John was talking about when he said:

1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

The reason the people chose Abimelech was that they identified with him as they of the world speak of things of the world, and the world hears them. That is what it means when they said that Abimelech was their brother.

When the Israelites asked for a King, as they saw other nations around them having kings or singular leadership, God through Samuel told the Israelites the consequence of their decision. What Samuel said is what we see in the world and in all the churches worldwide.

1Sa 8:10  And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
1Sa 8:11  And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
1Sa 8:12  And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
1Sa 8:13  And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
1Sa 8:14  And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
1Sa 8:15  And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
1Sa 8:16  And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
1Sa 8:17  He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
1Sa 8:18  And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

So we see in churches the Head pastor who has all the authority. He appoints for himself other associate pastors (verse 12) and fleeces the people of God as predicted by Samuel. Taking the daughters of Israel to be confectionaries, cooks and bakers is another way of saying that the churches will prepare and eat their own food and wear their own apparel but bear the name of Christ. As we are aware, that is not what should pertain in the gathering of God’s elect.

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

Jdg 9:4  And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him.

This verse indicates that the Babylonian system is endowed with a lot of physical resources which makes it easier for them to attract more “vain and light” people who compass throughout the world to win “souls for Christ”, and their message appeals to the flesh. That is why they have more children than the desolate (the elect). However, in the end, they make them more of the sons of the devil as Jesus told us.

Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

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.

The strength and the resources that these “vain and light” men in Babylon have been given by the Lord is described in the Book of Joel as follows:

Joe 2:2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
Joe 2:3  A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Joe 2:4  The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Joe 2:5  Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Joe 2:6  Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
Joe 2:7  They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
Joe 2:8  Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
Joe 2:9  They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
Joe 2:10  The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

We used to be part of this strong people thinking that we sit as queen and that we shall see no sorrow. During our time as part of these strong men, the word of God did not have any impact on our lives. That is what is meant in Joel 2:8 when it says that when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. But praise be to God who is gradually taking us out of this great mess.

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Jdg 9:5  And he went unto his father’s house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

The consequence of this singular leadership is what is portrayed here in verse 5 where Abimelech slew all the sons of Gideon with the exception of Jotham. In other words, we become spiritually dead in Babylon but through the mercies of God, we as Jotham are spared as remnants. We must note that none of the judges that we have dealt with so far in the Book of Judges ever killed his people. So we can see that everything that this woman (Babylon) touches turns to death. We all became spiritually dead while in Babylon until we heard our Lord’s voice, Who is resurrecting us to life in Him now as a sign that one day, we shall come forth unto the resurrection of life!!

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Rev 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Pro 5:3  For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
Pro 5:4  But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Pro 5:5  Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

Jdg 9:6  And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem. 

It is strange that in verse 6, Abimelech was made a king when Israel had not installed any king since they entered the Promised Land. It was those whom God had raised up as Judges who ruled over the people at that time.  So technically, it was God who was reigning as king over the people of Israel. Thus, the men of Shechem and Millo, by installing Abimelech as king, were usurping the authority of God.

When we were in Babylon, we glorified in our pastors who made all the decisions and had all the authority. We were usurping the authority of God during those days together with our pastors. Furthermore, by thinking that we have our own free will to do anything we want, we were like God reigning in our own temple, which is our body.  That is why the scripture says we were sitting in the temple of God thinking we are God.

1Sa 8:7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

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.

Jdg 9:7  And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. 

God was always sending his messengers to us while we were under the spell of Babylon to show us our transgression. As Jotham said, if the Israelites hearken unto Jotham, God may hearken unto them. This is to tell us that Jotham represents the elect as God’s messengers.

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Jdg 9:8  The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. 

Trees are spiritual symbol for human beings as shown in the following scriptures:

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

Isa 55:12  For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Isa 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Olive trees are spiritual symbols for God’s elect as used in the following scriptures:

Psa 52:8  But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

1Ki 6:23  And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.

1Ki 6:31  And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.

The oracle mentioned here is the temple built by Solomon. Cherubims are a symbol of the elect, and in 1Kings 6:23 the Cherubims are represented by the olive tree, which is also a symbol of the elect. The door to the temple of God is made of olive tree wood to let us know that it is through the elect the whole of the human race will come into the temple of God to worship.

So verse 8 is affirming the fact that what creation desires unknowingly is for God’s elect to rule over them. That was what Paul was alluding to when he said that the creature is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. The qualities of the elect are what the world are looking for in their leaders unknowingly.

Inwardly, verse 8 suggests that within every human being, there is this innate longing to be ruled by Christ in doing what is right, but we do not have the capacity to do so in this life unless Christ comes in to make us into another vessel.

Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

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.

Jdg 9:9  But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 

In this dispensation, God has not pre-ordained for His children to reign over the earth. That was what Jesus made reference to when He said:

Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

What the olive tree was saying in verse 9 is that in this age, those whom God is electing must focus on being satisfied with the fatness of his house. The fatness of his house is the word of God, and it is through this that we honor God and man.  So we are not to save the world in this dispensation. Our reign over the earth will be accomplished after the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.

Psa 36:8  They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

Psa 63:5  My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

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.

Jdg 9:10  And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. 

Again, the fig tree is a symbol of the elect.  As we all know, we have a positive and negative application of the word of God. Here we are looking at the positive aspect. So verse 10 is another way of saying that what the world is looking for are the sons of God to come and reign over them.

Hos 9:10  I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

When a tree starts growing leaves, then it is ready to make use of the sun to make its food by a process called photosynthesis. Jesus said that when a fig tree (representing us) starts coming out with branches and leaves, it means that summer is near. We all know that summer is the period when the sun is at its highest and produces so much heat. So what Jesus said about the fig tree simply means that when our eyes are being opened and our ears are hearing the word of God, then we know that the time has come for the sun of righteousness to produce enough heat to burn everything within us that offends so that Christ can take His residence in our hearts and minds!!! It is when He comes to sit in His throne in our hearts that we all will enjoy the “summer” to the fullest!!!

Jdg 9:11  But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?

What is being said here by the olive tree is the same as what the fig tree said. The sweetness of the fig tree is the same as the word of God as follows:

Pro 16:21  The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.

Eze 3:3  And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

Here we are advised again to focus on knowing Christ through the word of God and not to engage in activities to save the world as many of our brothers and sisters on the other side are doing. The good fruit of the fig tree in verse 11 is the fruit of the spirit, which as fig trees, we are required to produce, and this happens only when we are out of the grips of our old man and the new man starts taking his place in us. So our focus here in this life is to know Christ through the word and as a result produce good fruits.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Gal 5:26  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Jdg 9:12  Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. 

The vine is also a symbol for God’s elect as follows:

Psa 128:3  Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

Jer 2:21  Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

Just like the olive and fig trees, which represent the elect, the vine also stands for the elect. It is therefore the elect that the whole world is looking for to come and reign over them. The fact that this has been repeated three times means that we will one day reign over the earth after the process of spiritual completion through judgment in this life. It is also to assure us that God has already established our reign over the earth even before the foundations of the earth.

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

Jdg 9:13  And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 

Wine is also another symbol for the word of God. So what we are being told is that as a vine (God’s elect), we should pay attention to our wine, which is the word of God, and not be distracted by the cares of this world and attempts to save the world.

Hos 2:22  And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

Mat 9:17  Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

Jdg 9:14  Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. 

According to Strong, the bramble is a thorn tree. As indicated earlier, trees represents human beings. Without the spirit of God in us, all human beings produce thorns and thistles as stated by the Lord when Adam and Eve sinned.

Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

So verse 14 is telling us that in this age, the governance of this world is in the hands of the basest of men or people with carnal minds who produce thorns and thistles (the products of their false doctrines) which hurt the people of this world.

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

Jdg 9:15  And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. 

The bramble’s statement that those who anoint him/her as king must put their trust in his/her shadow is another way of saying that we should put our trust in human beings. In the scriptures, shadows represent our members or flesh. Throughout the word of God, we are admonished not to put our confidence in man or the princes of this world because men will only produce thorns and thistles which will hurt us.

Job 17:7  Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

Psa 102:11  My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.

Isa 30:2  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

Psa 146:3  Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Psa 118:9  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

The cedars of Lebanon mentioned in this verse stand for every high thing in our lives which exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Inwardly, our old man (the bramble) was reigning by default in our lives until Christ started shining His light into our lives.  That was when fire came out and started devouring our cedars of Lebanon. In other words, when Christ comes into our lives to open our eyes and ears, we are judged (fire from the bramble) based on what our old man has done, and this fire destroys every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God in our lives.

Isa 2:13  And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

Psa 29:5  The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

Jdg 9:16  Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; 
Jdg 9:17  (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: 
Jdg 9:18  And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;)

These verses are telling us that the world and the churches of this world love their own and do not see any good coming from God’s elect represented here by Gideon and his sons. In their minds, we are dead to them spiritually.

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

Jdg 9:19  If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: 
Jdg 9:20  But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. 

In essence, what is being said here is that God will judge the Babylon in us, symbolized by the men of Shechem and Millo including Abimelech. As you are aware, we are all currently being judged for all the Babylonian traits in us. Outwardly, the church system of this world (Babylon) will be judged one day as spoken by the Lord.

Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

Jdg 9:21  And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

When we start our journey with Christ, we harbor a lot of fears. Gradually, as we get to know Christ better, most of our fears subside. One of the fears that can wreck our relationship with Christ is the fear of man. In this verse, for example, Jotham was afraid of his brother Abimelech. Let’s hear what the word of God has to say about the fear of man.

Pro 29:25  The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Jos 10:8  And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

The solution to our fears is to continue to know Him more through the word of God and over time, we shall see that all our fears are gone. That will be a sign to us that we are gradually maturing!! May His name be praised!!!

Download Discussion

Isa 57:15-21 I Dwell… With Him… That Is of a Contrite and Humble Spirit

Isa 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.  
Isa 57:16  For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.  
Isa 57:17  For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.  
Isa 57:18  I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.  
Isa 57:19  I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.  
Isa 57:20  But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.  
Isa 57:21  There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. 

Before we begin our study of today’s verses, let’s review the final two verses of last week’s study:

Isa 57:13  When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain; 
Isa 57:14  And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people. 

In those two verses, our old man’s infidelity and the curses of his adulterous ways are contrasted with the blessings that come upon our new man who “puts his trust in [the Lord]”. Our new man, as the bride of Christ, is faithful to her Husband and prepares His way before His coming. 

Our study today continues with this thought beginning with our Husband, Christ, revealing to us just how close to us He is:

Isa 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 

The Lord “inhabits eternity”. This word ‘eternity’ is the Hebrew word H5703, ‘ad’. It has the same meaning of the Hebrew word ‘olam’ and, as is the habit of the writers of the Old Testament to state the same thing twice, we find the phrase “olam and ad” translated into English as “for ever and ever”:

Exo 15:18  The LORD shall reign for ever [H5769: olam] and ever [H5703: ad]. 

Psa 9:5  Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever [H5769: olam] and ever [H5703: ad]. 

Psa 10:16  The LORD is King for ever [H5769: olam] and ever [H5703: ad]: the heathen are perished out of his land.

Psa 45:17  I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever [H5769: olam] and ever [H5703: ad].

What we are being told in Isaiah 57:15 is that the Lord is working all things, during these times of the ages, “after the counsel of His own will”. The Greek phrase for this statement is “chronos aionios”… times “aionios”. Here is how the Lord “inhabits eternity (Hebrew: ‘ad’ H5703):

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

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  [G166: aionios] began, [G5550: chronos, ‘times’…Before chronos aionios]

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

The phrase ‘chronos aionios’ is repeated in:

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world [G166:aionios] began, [G5550: chronos, ‘times’…Before chronos aionios];

Where does God dwell?

Now let’s examine closely this statement: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” These words are the foundation of this New Testament revelation:

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.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

The ‘holy place’ is within the temple, and you and I are that “temple of God” where Christ and His Father “dwell”. This is not Paul’s doctrine; it is the doctrine of Christ which He made clear back here in Isaiah 57. Paul repeats this revelation in:

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

And in:

2Ti 1:14  That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

This verse, Isaiah 57:15, also reveals that the heavens are within us. If indeed “Ye are the temple of God”,and if indeed the Lord “dwell[s] in the high and holy place”, and since we are told in:

Psa 11:4  The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

What other conclusion can we draw but that “the heavens… His holy temple, the Lord’s throne” is the spiritual realm where the Lord dwells within our hearts and minds and therefore the Lord “dwell[s] in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit”?

Now we can understand how Paul could say, boldly and with great authority:

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.

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:

Where exactly is “heaven itself”? Where do Christ and His Father dwell?

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

 On the other hand, the Lord’s wrath could very easily destroy us:

Psa 2:12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Isa 13:5  They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

This “evil spirit from the Lord”, which had paralyzed the whole world, has “come… from a far country, from the end of heaven” and has terrorized all men inwardly, but He has predestined that only His elect will understand that they are being judged through His wrath in this age:

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

If we “commit the keeping of our soul to [God] in well doing”, then we have been given the faith to believe these words:

Isa 57:16  For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. 

If the Lord’s wrath was not limited, “no flesh would be saved alive. But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened [in] this present time.” Look at and consider what we are twice told:

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

Mar 13:19  For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 
Mar 13:20  And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.

Revelation 9 reveals that the torment of that day will make us wish we were dead:

Rev 9:3  And there came out of the smoke [of the “bottomless pit”] locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 
Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 
Rev 9:5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 
Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 

The words “tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” here in Matthew and Mark, are referring to the same trials mentioned in Revelation 14:6-12 and all the seven last plagues filling up the Lord’s wrath, alluded to in Revelation 15 and then enumerated in the entire 16th chapter of Revelation:

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

Rev 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.

These words in Matthew 24 and in here in Revelation 14 refer to “the saints… that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” in every generation. They applied to the generation in which Christ was in an “earthen vessel” 2,000 years ago, as well as “this generation”:

Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Babylon tells us that the statement in 1Thessalonians 5:9 which tells us… “we are not appointed unto wrath, but unto salvation”  means that we will never ever experience the Lord’s wrath: 

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Nothing is further from the Truth. This statement does not in any way contradict this fact:

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.

Here is the Lord’s ominous warning to all who think they can somehow avoid “keeping the sayings of the prophecy of [Rev 16]” (Rev 1:3):

Jer 25:15  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 
Jer 25:16  And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 
Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: 
Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; 
Jer 25:19  Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 
Jer 25:20  And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
Jer 25:21  Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
Jer 25:22  And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, 
Jer 25:23  Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, 
Jer 25:24  And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, 
Jer 25:25  And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
Jer 25:26  And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 
Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 
Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. 
Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

“No man is able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled”, and yet we are told:

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

“The scriptures cannot be broken”, and the Word of God does not contradict itself when it is properly understood.

Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

Therefore, the meaning of “not appointed to wrath”, in light of the fact that “no man can enter the temple till the seven plagues… which fill up the wrath of God… is fulfilled”, is that Christ delivers us out of His wrath… not that we never experience the seven plagues of the seven angels. In like manner when we read:

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.

Not receiving the mark of the beast does not mean we have never received his mark, number, and name, and ‘not being appointed to wrath’ does not mean we never experienced His wrath.

This is the truth about the mark, number and name of the beast as it relates to all mankind:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

There is no one who has ever lived who does not fit into at least one of those six categories. Everyone is either small or great, rich or poor, free or bond, and He causes all… to receive His mark.

The fact is that the number of the beast “is the number of mankind”, and it is only those who overcome his mark, number and name who stand with Christ on the sea of glass mingled with fire:

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 
1Jn 2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind [Greek: ‘anthropos’], and its number is six hundred sixty-six. (CLV)

All the promises to all the churches of Revelation 2-3 are offered only to “he that overcomes…”:

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. 

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

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

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 

This promise is repeated in the 21st chapter:

Rev  21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 

Revelation 15 tells us what Isaiah is telling us. The Lord’s wrath does not last forever, and those who experience His wrath, in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), stand on a “sea of glass, mingled with fire”:

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

It is “a sea of glass” because “the sand of the sea”, from which we all “rise up”, has been “mingled with fire” and has now been purified by fire and is become “glass”.

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

Now we will no longer be tossed about by every wind of doctrine, because through the fire of His Word we are settled and stablished in Christ and His doctrine:

Col 1:23  If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Col 2:7  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Some few are given by the purging, fiery Word of God to “overcome the wicked one” in this life. Some few are given by the power of Christ within them to “fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels” in this life. When that is accomplished, Christ and His fiery Word remains right here with us to keep purging us to cause us to bear even more fruit. 

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 
Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 
Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 
Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

However, there is no more “hurt” from the fire of the Lord’s Words because we have come to be at one with Christ and His doctrines. 

Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego typify us when we “are crucified with Christ, [and] yet live” (Gal 2:20).

Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

If Christ is living His life within us, then like Him, we now say “Not my will but thine be done” (Mat 26:39). None of this changes the fact that we are all born as this ‘beast’. There are no exceptions, other than Christ who even Himself was “made sin” (2Co 5:21)

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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.

It is only those who “get the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark and over the number of his name, in this life, who stand on the sea of glass…” of Revelation 15:1-2:

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. 
Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

What we are being told, both here in Isaiah and in the book of the Revelation, is that the Lord first pours out the seven bowls which “fill up His wrath” upon His elect, who, through this “great tribulation”, are being prepared to administer the same earthquakes, fiery trials and much tribulation upon all the rest of mankind at the great white throne judgment. The “great white throne… judgment” is just that; it is ‘judgment’, and this is the fruit of all the Lord’s chastening grace upon all of His children:

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

All the Lord’s judgments make “the inhabitants of the world [to] learn righteousness”. That is true for the “judgment [which is now on] the house of God”, and it is true of the “great white throne judgment”. The doctrine of eternal torment denies this Truth:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

The “condemned with the world” are to be condemned to the great white throne judgment, which is simply being condemned to a later chastening judgment. God’s judgments always chasten us for the purpose of bringing us to Himself. His judgments are never simply for the purpose of torment with no end and no purpose in sight. ‘Chastening’ is the very function of grace. Both ‘grace’ and the judgments of God are designed to cause us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live godly lives in this present age/aion, this present time, “in this present world”:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811, paideuo, chastening], us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

There are no exceptions to the Lord’s chastening grace. He will lose no man, and death will not claim one soul:

1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 
1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Even the flesh of our Lord “who knew no sin” is judged and found unfit for the kingdom of God:

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

Yes, this principle applies even to the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. For that reason, we are told:

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [“after the flesh”]. 
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

“He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin” so He could die for our sins, and so we could be judged with Him in “this present time… this present age… this present world… die with Christ… for His body’s sake, which is the church”:

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

2Co 5:21  For the man who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. (ACV)

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:

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.

Christ did all of this for us while we were yet in our sins:

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
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;)

That is the message of our next verse:

Isa 57:17  For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. 

“His covetousness” is speaking of our covetousness, “and he went on forwardly in the way of his heart” is also speaking of us continuing in our own sins, returning to our own vomit and to our own wallow in the mire. It is a repetition of the words of last week’s study in this same chapter condemning our self–willed adulterous ways:

Isa 57:9  And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell. 
Isa 57:10  Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.

We all ‘lose our first love… we suffer that woman Jezebel to teach us… we tolerate the Nicolaitans who lord it over us as the Lord’s flock, and we think we are rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing, while the truth is that we are spiritually wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked’ (Rev 2-3).

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

It is because the Lord does love us that He is putting us through all our trials in this age… in this present time… this age/aion, and not in the great white throne judgment, lake of fire… second death.  All of our sins provide the Lord with the occasion He is seeking to pour out His wrath upon the kingdom of our old man, “the throne of the beast”, which He must pour out upon the kingdom of our old man, “the beast” within us, before we can enter into His temple. Let’s notice closely how we are dragged of the Lord to our “wits’ end” before the Lord brings us “into His rest” and into “[our] desired haven” into Christ:

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 
Psa 107:32  Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

It is given to very few indeed to be able to receive and live out the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our old man in “this present time”, and this is what is promised to those chosen few:

Isa 57:18  I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

The Lord’s way throughout scripture is to use the few to deliver the many, as He used Noah, as He used Abraham to save Lot and all of Sodom, as He used Moses and Aaron to deliver Israel from Egypt, as He used Gideon’s 300 men to deliver Israel from Midian, and as He is using Christ and His Christ to drag all men to Himself. 

Another Biblical principle is that the Lord rejects the first old man, and He always accepts the later new man. This principle is demonstrated with the first man Adam, who is being replaced by “the last Adam”. Cain is replaced by Abel and then Seth, who typify Christ and His Christ. Leah is first, but Rachel is beloved, Ishmael is first, but Isaac is preferred. Jacob supplants Esau, and David supplants King Saul. It all points to the replacing of the first man, Adam, with “the Last Adam”, Christ. It all serves to establish this principle: 

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

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

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [the great tribulation… the fiery trials, and the seven last plagues] 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 [the many] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God [the “few… chosen”, Greek: elecktos… the few elect].

From Genesis to Revelation, ‘the seed of the woman’ is preferred and protected over ‘the seed of the serpent’. Throughout the scriptures it is the seed of the serpent who bruises the heel of the seed of the woman. Cain kills Abel, who is replaced by Seth. Pharaoh kills the man–child of Israel, King Saul seeks to kill David, and Christ is killed by His own people, and He is now in His Christ, His church, which is filling up what is lacking of His afflictions:

(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 through “the afflictions of the Christ” that the ‘manifest… sons of God’ are birthed. It is out of the darkness of this world they are called. It is out of their own sins they are all delivered, and their sins are the sins of the whole world. 

So, we are told of the Lord’s elect:

Isa 57:18  I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. 

“[Our] ways” certainly need to be “healed” because:

Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Why is the Lord so merciful? It certainly is true that “God is love…”:

Zep 3:17  The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1Jn 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

There is much more to our salvation than simply being loved of God. There can be no love where there is no justice, and God is also a just God:

Deu 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Isa 45:21  Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

There is no justice in creating corrupt creatures of flesh and blood and failing to provide means by which such banished creatures “be not expelled from Him”.

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

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

It was the Lord Himself who created “the first man Adam” as a “marred… vessel of clay”.

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

Every verb in that verse is in the Qal stem. What that means is that it is stated without regard to any tense. In other words, it is all a process which is presently taking place, and will continue taking place until the aions have performed their service of bringing the whole creation into perfection with God being made “all in all”:

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.

It is the Lord Himself who has “created evil”, and He wants us to know that His sovereignty extends over both the good and the evil:

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

That is the message of our next verse:

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

“I create the fruit of the lips…” is the same as:

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

Since  “the preparations of [our] hearts… is from the Lord”, it follows that of course “[He also] knows our thoughts”:

Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Isa 66:18  For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 

Mat 12:25  And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

The Lord declares, “Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near” because the “marred… vessel of clay” was deliberately “marred in the hand of The Potter” for the very purpose of destroying that marred vessel and making it again; a new spiritual vessel having neither spot nor wrinkle:

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.

Isa 57:20  But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 
Isa 57:21  There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

“The wicked” are the “marred… vessel of clay… [our] old… first man Adam… made to be taken and destroyed”:

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

Then the principle of 1Co 15:46 replaces our corruptible old man, our “marred… vessel of clay”, with a new spotless spiritual vessel so the Lord can declare… “Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him”. 

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

That is our study for today. We will begin chapter 58 in our next study where we will learn what is a true fast, the fast which the Lord has ordained.

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 
Isa 58:2  Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. 
Isa 58:3  Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 
Isa 58:4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 
Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 
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? 

Every human comes naked from the hand of the Potter, which refers directly to our marred and sinful condition for which God Himself takes full responsibility:

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

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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

However, nakedness and flesh were never God’s ultimate condition and goal for humanity. He is in the process of covering all in the generation of the first man Adam with His spiritual glory. First we must see our earthy condition for what it is to be able to appreciate what a holy God is all about. In Genesis 3:6 it is clear that the hearts of Adam and Eve were filled with lust and pride before they actually ate of the forbidden fruit. After they ate, their eyes were opened to see their nakedness. Their solution to have their nakedness covered was totally inadequate:

Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves [Hebrew: aleh from alah which means ‘to ascend’ or ‘exaltation’] together, and made themselves aprons [Hebrew: chagor or chagorah is a covering for the waist only].

The apron did not cover the whole body (their nakedness) and was made of fig leaves which again reflects on their inherent pride and self-righteousness. Our own works to cover our nakedness is seen as “filthy rags” and “profitable for nothing” in God’s eyes (Jer 13:1-27). He will ‘mar’ our own girdle of pride and self-righteousness, and we won’t give it up without a painful sacrifice (Job 40:7-14):

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

The worldly spirit in Adam and Eve did not cause them to consult or wait on God but proposed their own answer for their nakedness. This also reminds us of Abraham and Sarah who found in Hagar a solution to satisfy their pride and impatience with God’s timetable (Gen 16:1-2). So the spiritual type of the improper covering of fig leaves appears throughout the Scriptures and applies in different ways in our lives. When “every man [does] that which [is] right in his own eyes” our man of sin (the first Adam) sits on God’s throne and exalts himself with his own hopeless solutions to cover his own deceits with much stubbornness and glaring arrogance (2Th 2:3-4):

Jdg 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel [when God is not on the throne]: every man did that which was right in his own eyes [self-righteousness].

That is of course our natural perception, but self-righteousness is a delusion God sends (2Th 2:11). Not to see God as responsible for all the things which happen in our lives and thinking we can avoid giving an account for our own transgressions, is how we also use fig leaves to cover our own nakedness (Gen 45:5,8, Isa 63:17, Eph 1:11, Pro 16:4):

Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Improper ‘clothing’ is familiar with the attire of a harlot. A harlot is known by her ‘subtil’ sensual dress code and smooth words aimed at enticement (Gen 38:14, Jer 4:30, Rev 17:4, Rev 3:17, Pro 5:3, Mat 5:28):

Pro 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
Pro 7:11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
Pro 7:12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)

This clothing is all a type of the enticing mindset of the spiritual Babylonian harlot we all fall for at our appointed times. She eats her own bread and wears her own garments, but she is also called by the Name of Jesus (unashamedly using and quoting His words) to deceive the spiritually naked multitudes:

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

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?

God’s order is something the harlot and all natural minds despise (Num 12:1-15, Num 16:1-3). Cross-dressing is forbidden in Scripture because it reveals a rejection of the order in the Godhead and the way God ordained order in the Christ (1Co 14:40, Rom 1:20, 1Co 11:3):

Deu 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

Another deceitful way to be clothed is to look like a sheep or a lamb, but speak as a dragon:

Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

That is why spiritual wolves are extremely successful, by God’s design, because they come in sheep’s clothing (Act 20:29-30). These wolves speak with the forked tongue of the serpent (dragon) because they say that the outward (flesh) is nothing, but with the same breath turn around to promote and elevate the lasciviousness or indulgence in fleshly ‘blessings’ (Mar 7:20-23, 2Co 12:21, Gal 5:19, 1Pe 4:3, Jdg 1:4). This is the breath or spirit of the antichrist in us when we deny the appropriate place and function of the physical application of God’s word (Gen 2:7-9):

1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

After we spent our appointed times under the harlot’s spell, God will drag us to Jesus who will clothe us with the new robe, like the father of the prodigal son did:

Luk 15:22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

God supplied better clothing and protection for Adam and Eve:

Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats [Hebrew: kethoneth or kuttoneth which is a long shirt-like garment] of skins, and clothed them.

They were much better prepared now for what was still lying ahead of them. Right through the Scriptures it is revealed that the proper “covering” can handle the enduring of a long and painful process (Luk 21:19, Act 14:22, Rom 5:3-5, 1Pe 4:12, Rev 15:8). God’s spiritual covering is special and different to the inadequate clothing and spirit of this world. This was typified by the Aaronic priesthood who was given ‘holy garments’ to function in the tabernacle and the physical temple:

Exo 28:2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.

Eze 44:18 They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.
Eze 44:19 And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.

The concept of ‘sweat’ points to our own covering of the works of self-righteousness when our earth (“dust you are”) brings forth thorns, thistles and the eating of herbs (1Co 15:50, Rom 14:1-2):

Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Adam’s own work (“bodily exercise”) is all vanity (Ecc 1:3-4, 1Ti 4:8). That is the natural estate and the sum of the overall effort of all in the generation of the first Adam. Only God’s works are profitable to salvation and man is not able to contribute anything – it is all God’s “good works” (Tit 3:8, 1Ti 4:8, Eph 1:11). For God to make the “coats of skins” it required the sacrifice of a life. God’s provision of a sacrifice satisfies the proper covering for our nakedness [we will discuss this in our next discussion (#23), God willing]. God’s proper provision for adequate clothing is foundational to our understanding of the process of salvation of all in the generation of the first man Adam (1Co 15:22-28). Although the flesh of Adam and Eve was covered by physical clothes, outward clothing in itself is just a type of the covering we all need for our spiritual nakedness. The outside is not God’s priority, but the inside – the condition of the heart. But the inside is reflected and expressed even in the ‘conversation’ or outward walk in the life of God’s elect (2Co 1:12, Php 1:27, Heb 13:5):

1Pe 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

When Jesus came to ‘dwell among us’, He, too, came in the same naked flesh and “took part of the same” flesh as His brothers. He is the true inward shepherd who had an outward covering of naked flesh for a specific purpose (Joh 1:14, Heb 2:14):

Luk 2:7 And she [Mary] brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

God and His Son do not hold flesh or nakedness in any esteem, but the outward “body of sin” with all its ‘members’ is an integral part of God’s plan. We would never have known what sin is if it were not for the outward first. In that sense we would also never have known how the new spiritual body, the church, functions and how we play our part in it (1Co 12:12-28, 1Co 15:38-40, Heb 10:24-26). After His death to His flesh, Jesus was resurrected to be clothed again by His Father. Jesus appeared to John ‘in the spirit’ and He was still “clothed with a garment down to the foot”:

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.

Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

Christ is our covering, and we are His. As He covers and completes us, we complete Him:

Eph 1:21 (GNB) Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next.
Eph 1:22 God put all things under Christ’s feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things.
Eph 1:23 The church is Christ’s body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere.

The right clothing has to do with having the ‘right mind’ which is the righteous mind of Christ (Rev 7:14, Rev 19:7-8,14). That is spiritually referred to as being seated with Him in heaven, even in this age (Eph 2:6). Christ and His mind are our covering and will be our spiritual ‘house’ in fullness at the resurrection (2Co 5:1-4):

Mar 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The scriptures warn against uncovering the “nakedness” of the next of kin. A godly marriage union covers nakedness and only Christ is the appointed Husband and Head by the Father to be the one lawful partner or part to cover His spiritual bride. Any other cover is deceitful and a shame:

Hab 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

1Co 11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

God’s heritage is true love which will not uncover the nakedness in our next of kin in Adam to rule over others or to compare among selves (or getting benefits for ourselves) just to abuse others’ kindness (1Pe 5:3, Isa 26:13, Mat 20:25-26, 2Co 10:12, Jas 2:14-17):

Lev 18:6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.

Php 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Knowing we all have the same naked condition in Adam while we are in this “body of sin” and shame, we do not oppose ourselves but cover others with meekness (2Ti 2:24-26, Gal 6:1, Eph 4:2). Ham shamelessly and openly told his brothers about his father’s nakedness revealing his own loveless and naked condition (Gal 5:22-23):

Gen 9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

Gen 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Mat 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

[Detailed studies and emails written by Mike Vinson relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/ including:

Rev 1:13 – Part 3, Christ is Represented in the Offerings
Rev 3:14-22 Laodicea – Part 2
Women Covering Their Heads
Rev 19:6-10 Marriage Supper, Bride, Lamb

Hi Mike,

Why do you think Jesus cursed the fig tree, and how does it relate to us? This experience is listed in the scripture Mark 11:13-14. I would really appreciate it if you could help me understand it.

Thanks,
D____

Hi D____,

Thank you for your question about why Christ cursed the fig for not having fruit on it at a time when it wasn’t even expected to have fruit. Here are a couple of verses in the Old Testament which demonstrate the spiritual significance of the fig tree:

Hos 9:10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

Joe 1:7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

So the fig tree is the type of what had been, up to that time, God’s physically chosen people, the physical nation of Israel. With this in mind let’s read those verses in Mark:

Mar 11:12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
Mar 11:13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
Mar 11:14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

Christ had come to them, but as with the fig tree, He deliberately came at the time when they weren’t even expected to bear any fruit. He came to them at a time when they were preordained to reject and crucify Him.

Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

But Why did “His own receive Him not”? This is why:

Act 4:25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Christ knew Israel would reject and crucify Him. That was why He came into this world:

Joh 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Joh 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

So Christ cursed His own fig tree for not bearing fruit even though He knew it was not the time for it to bear fruit. It all tells us simply that Israel was doing “whatsoever God’s hand and His counsel determined before to be done”. Christ was indeed hungry, but He was not pitching a temper tantrum, and He was not upset at the tree for not bearing fruit before its time. He did it all for our sakes, to teach us what He is doing:

2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Here is an Old Testament prophecy of what God intended to do with physical Israel and all physical nations, from the beginning:

Jer 8:13 I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

So here is that story again:

Mar 11:13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
Mar 11:14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

The spiritual application of this story for all of us is that “the flesh profits nothing” and while in this flesh, it is not the season for bearing fruit. We must die first before we can bear fruit.

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

The spiritual lesson in this story is that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. Christ’s cursing of the fig tree at a time when it could not bring forth fruit is the cursing of all flesh, the old, “first man Adam” in all of us who must die and be destroyed for “the new man, the last Adam” to be born.

1Co 15:31 Every day do I die, by the glorying of you that I have in Christ Jesus our Lord: (YLT)
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.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

That is the spiritual message behind the physical cursing of the fig tree. I hope this helps to explain why Christ cursed the fig tree while it was not even the season for it to bear fruit.

Your brother in the Christ,
Mike

Mike,

It’s a testament to God’s grace because for the last two months I have been asking God to strip me of pagan doctrines and burn out of me anything that does not align with His truth, and as of late, he has torn down many doctrines I held and showed me the truth. God truly is sovereign!
So I guess my last question is: how are am I to interact with our brothers and sisters in Babylon? I used to hold prayer group with other Christians, and we’d discuss our walk. We were even looking for ways to share the gospel, but now that I see what the gospel is, I see that I am called to bring it to the called (not chosen) just as Jesus was sent into the world (church world of His day). Any input or advice would be great.
Thanks, and take care!
C____

Hi C____,

It is refreshing to hear that you are “asking God to strip and burn out of you anything that does not align with His Truth…” That is a very worthy prayer, and it is an essential work for any who would be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. But the doctrines and traditions of Babylon are deeply embedded in our lives and our society, and getting them out of our lives requires that we “as a living sacrifice… lose [ our lives”.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

While we must be willing to die with Christ physically, “He that loseth his life for my sake” is primarily a spiritual statement which requires that we “present [ our] bodies to God as a living sacrifice which means being crucified with Christ daily, which is nevertheless living through the power of Christ within us.

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

You ask, “… how are am I to interact with our brothers and sisters in Babylon?” The answer is that you never pass up an opportunity to be a witness for Christ, but at the same time you are admonished by our Lord Himself to avoid casting your pearls before swine or giving that which is holy to the dogs.

Mat 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

So we never allow a false doctrine to go unchallenged, yet once we have witnessed for our Lord and we can tell that our witness has been refused, we back off and do not deliberately cast our pearls before swine. Notice I said “back off”. I did not say ‘back down’. We never back down when it comes to standing on the Truth, but we do not deliberately bring persecution upon ourselves by pushing the Truth upon swine and dogs who “cannot hear”.

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

Spiritual swine and spiritual dogs “cannot hear” Christ’s spiritual words.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

So Christ is our example, and here we have Him standing on the Truth at peril of his physical life. But notice that He was not initiating the discussion. It was “those Jews which believed on Him” but still ‘could not hear His word’ who initiated this discussion, when they argued with Christ that they had never been in bondage to anyone.

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

When Christ was not welcome, He would always leave:

Mat 8:34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

So what did Christ do?

Mat 9:1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

Christ healed the demoniac and then He “departed out of their coasts”, when He was made aware that he was not welcome. He never ‘backed down’ when confronted with demons and their lies, but Christ is not looking to pick a fight.
This should be our spirit when dealing with Babylon the mother of harlots:

2Pe 2:11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

Look at the preceding verses to see who and what we are up against:

2Pe 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
2Pe 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

As hard as it may seem for our natural man to understand, God considers Satan and his minions in Babylon to be “government… principalities… [ and] ‘dignitaries’ against whom you and I are not to “bring… railing accusation”, but we, like Michael the archangel, are to simply say, “The Lord rebuke thee”, and go on about our business and let Babylon go on about her business.
It really helps to do this when we are granted to understand that it is at the expense of and upon the backs of the unbelievers that you and I are granted our saving faith:

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.

It will be of great help to you to have a godly mindset toward Babylon and her children. Babylon is God’s rejected anointed who is typified in Old Testament scripture by King Saul, who like Joseph’s brothers, wanted to destroy David, the one person he recognized as his replacement. Nevertheless just look at how David reacted when he was told of the death of King Saul, who King David replaced as king over all Israel:

2Sa 1:23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

We are all sincere Babylonians, who believe the lies of Babylon, before our eyes are opened to see the deceit we are in at that time. At the beginning of our walk we really are “swifter than eagles… stronger than lions” before we “lose our first love” and fall into perdition.
It is my prayer that all these scriptural admonitions will serve to give you some practical directions on how to deal with our rejected anointed brothers and sisters in Babylon. Be firm on God’s Word, but do not cast your valuable pearls before swine who have no appreciation for “gold, silver, or precious stones” (1Co 3:13-16). We need to have the proper regard for the fact that they are sacrificed so we can become “those who first trusted in Christ”.

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.

Your brother who appreciates all our Lord has sacrificed for us.
Mike

Video Links

Job 12:1 And Job answered and said,
Job 12:2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
Job 12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
Job 12:5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
Job 12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Job 12:9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
Job 12:12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
Job 12:13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding

Introduction

Job has now heard the assessment of why the Lord has afflicted him from his third “miserable comforter”, Zophar [Job 16:2]. Zophar is not being afflicted, so he is talking down to Job in complete accord with his two “friends”, Eliphaz and Bildad. These three men, who had been Job’s friends before Job’s destruction, had come to supposedly comfort their friend in the trials which had befallen him in one day’s time [Job 1].
But instead of commiserating with Job, his friends all conclude that Job’s problem, while it is hidden from their view, is apparently some very serious personal sin in which Job has been indulging. They reason that it must be thus to bring upon Job the depth of destruction he has endured at the Lord’s hand.
It is an incredible revelation that Job and all of his friends agree on that one point. They all agree that it is in fact the Lord who has taken from Job everything he has spent his whole life to secure.

Job 1:21 And [ Job] said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job is said to have been the “greatest of all the men of the east.”

Job 1:3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

But now, in one day Job has lost all his earthly possessions, including his seven sons and his three daughters. Immediately after losing all his earthly possessions and all his ten children, Job is then afflicted with boils “from the sole of his foot unto his crown”.

Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

But all of this is but “the beginning of sorrows” for Job. It is at this point in his suffering, in the depth of all of his physical and mental anguish, the very people who Job considered to be his “friends”, as well as everyone who had known him, all now despise him, and his supposed friends are now falsely accusing him of sins he simply has not physically committed.

Job 19:15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
Job 19:16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
Job 19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.
Job 19:18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
Job 19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
Job 19:20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Job 19:22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

All Job wants is just a little pity from his “inward” or his closest friends. Instead they begin to openly speculate to Job himself about what Job has done to cause God to deal with him in this manner. So both Job and his friends are in complete accord that it is in fact God who has stricken Job. That is not even in question. “For the hand of God has touched me.” What Job cannot understand is why his supposed ‘friends’ do not commiserate with his suffering, but instead add greatly to his anguish with all their false speculative accusations against him.
This is what we all naturally do to our own ‘inward friends’ when we witness their destruction at the hand of God. Job, even though he is the type and shadow of God’s predestined elect who one day will understand that all of this is of God who is ‘working all things after the counsel of His own will’, at this juncture Job’s election is no more evident than was the election of Saul of Tarsus while he was overseeing the stoning of Stephen (Act 7:58). So Job, like Saul of Tarsus who oversaw the stoning of Stephen for Stephen’s witness, lashes back at the accusations of his friends:

Job12:1 And Job answered and said,
Job 12:2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

So Job’s “inward friends” who are accusing him in his time of trial, are types of each of us, who like King David as an Old Testament type of Christ, was betrayed by his own counselor.

Psa 55:12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
Psa 55:13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
Psa 55:14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

Job’s self- righteousness is very much like King David’s own self- righteousness. King David wanted another man to die for His sin of stealing a man’s ‘lamb’. Both Job and his accusers want God to judge everyone but themselves. Job thinks so little of the opinions of his so- called comforters, that he tells them that they think of themselves as being the sole repositories of all present wisdom, and they are so conceited that when they die they assume that all future generations will be deprived of any wisdom.
Job is us while we are walking with Christ, but we are still so carnal that we are arguing among ourselves about who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven:

Mar 9:33 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
Mar 9:34 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.
Mar 9:35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
Mar 9:36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
Mar 9:37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

If we adhere to our Lord’s admonition that we “live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God”, if we remember that ‘all things… the world, life, death, things present and things to come are ours’, if we truly believe that we are to “read… hear… and keep the things written” in God’s Word, then we will apply the admonitions of Job’s ‘comforters’ personally, and we will also apply Job’s words in response inwardly and personally. In other words we will see ourselves in Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar as the types of us when we also are so self- righteous that we cannot resist the natural tendency to look down on those who are suffering as being deserving of their fate. We do this because we do not yet understand that God Himself is the cause of all things, the good and the evil, in ourselves and in others.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
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:

But if we are granted the eyes to see and the ears to hear that our lives have all been ‘predestined according to the purpose of God who is working all things after the counsel of His own will’, then we will also know that Job’s self- righteous defense of himself is our natural response to being falsely accused by others who are also ignorant of the predestined, sovereign work of God, which He had ‘written in His book while we were yet unborn’.

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

Here are just a couple of examples of how God knows all about us before we are even born:

Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Are we so blind that we think that a sovereign God knew the destinies of Jacob and Esau before they were even born… knew Pharaoh in advance, and raised him up for the purpose of destroying his kingdom… had David’s every day ‘written in His book, and knew Jeremiah before Jeremiah came out of the womb, but He does not know you and me before we are born? That is exactly what many of the great Christian leaders teach so they can cling to their heart’s idol, which teaches us that we have what they call “free moral agency”. It is a lie which will keep its adherents from ‘knowing God and His Son’, and will thereby rob them of life eonian.

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

Luk 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

God does not know the number of the hairs of our head because He has taken the time to count them. He knows their number because He decided their number before we were born, and when one hair falls out, it does so because it was preordained to do so at that very moment. That is just how far the sovereignty of God over the affairs of mankind extends. Job asks his friends, “who knoweth not such things as these?” Nevertheless He still contends with God simply because, as He admits, he is “full of confusion” and is oblivious to his own insidious self- righteousness and the self- righteousness of his friends.

Job 10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

Like all “carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4) and like Adam and Eve, Job has had an active relationship with God. In the past he had prayed to God, and for years God had answered his prayers.

Job 1:4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Job 1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

But Job’s “old man”, just like our own ‘old man’, is being set up for his destruction. He is led to believe that he is in the house of God, reigning on the throne of God, and it is in that state that his “old man” meets his end.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

It is of His own people we are told:

Rom 11:7 What then? Israel [ God’s own people] hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them [ His own people] the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Rom 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

We are the subject of these verses as we are foreshadowed by Job. We are at this time “full of confusion”, because we do not yet see the need to “lose [ our] life…” in order to “find it”.

Job 12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
Job 12:5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

Job is not unaware of how things appear to his friends. Christ Himself appeared to have a very bad relationship with His Father as He hung naked and condemned upon the cross. After all it is written:

Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

But self- righteousness places pride above even the pain of our boils. So Job continues his complaint to His Creator in the presence of his “miserable comforters”.

Job 12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

It tries our faith when we see ourselves being destroyed while “the tabernacles of robbers prosper” right before our eyes. We are just the first who must go through these trials which would have us to doubt that our heavenly Father loves us. It appears that he loves His enemies more than He loves us.

Job 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Job 21:8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Job 21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
Job 21:14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

‘Wherefore’ is just an old English way of asking ‘Why’. “Why do the wicked live, become old…[ and] mighty in power? Why is their seed established in their sight with them? Why do they spend their days in wealth, never desiring the knowledge of God’s ways?” It is for that very reason that they say “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of your ways”. So Job has already seen the wicked prosper over the righteous. But He does not know why this must be so in this age. But he does see why the wicked show no interest in God’s ways, whose ‘ways’ now have even Job “full of confusion”.
But Job has not even the least doubt that all of what has happened to him is the work of “the hand of the Lord”. He even belittles his miserable comforter for pointing out nothing more than things which are completely obvious and extremely elementary to Job.

Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Job 12:9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

The beasts, the fowl and the earth itself teaches those with even the least intelligence, that there is a God who is working in and through all of His creatures and His creation. Here is how King David makes this same statement:

Psa 14:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

So Job informs his friends that God’s creatures all function as they are designed to function, and He points out that their Creator’s wisdom and strength is vastly superior to that of His creation.

Job 12:11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
Job 12:12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
Job 12:13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding

Job knows that the Lord has “wisdom and strength… counsel and understanding”. But Job is truly confused about whyGod is dealing with him in this way:

Job 10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

In our next study Job, in his confusion, will tell us what he himself does not understand about his own lack of wisdom and understanding.

Job 12:14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
Job 12:15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 12:16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
Job 12:17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
Job 12:18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.
Job 12:19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.
Job 12:20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.
Job 12:21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
Job 12:23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.
Job 12:24 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
Job 12:25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

Introduction:

In Mike’s introduction he points out that Job and all of his friends agree that it is the Lord who has taken everything from Job he has spent his whole life to secure.
But what Job cannot understand is why his supposed ‘friends’ do not commiserate with his suffering, but instead add greatly to his anguish with all their false speculative accusations against him.
Job, as a type of the predestined elect of God is at this juncture not close to showing any evidence of that special calling. This reminds us of Saul of Tarsus who was ‘a chosen vessel’ unto God even while he consented to the stoning of Stephen and making ‘havoc of the church’:

Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him [ Ananias], Go thy way: for he [ Paul] is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Act 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
Act 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

But Job as a type of the elect must suffer mocking at the hand of the high- minded who seemingly enjoys outward favour and prosperity:

Luk 18:32 For he [ The Lord and His elect] shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:

Verses 1-3:
Job 12:1 And Job answered and said,Job 12:2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
Pro 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done throughstrife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Jas 3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.Jas 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.Jas 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
The natural man (of sin) in us is wise in his own conceit and receives not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. Earthly wisdom is only removed by the true sword of the spirit (the Word of God).
Verses 4-5:
Job 12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.Job 12:5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
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:
Heb 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Luk 18:32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
Luk 22:63 And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.
1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
As Jesus is, so are those who belong to Him – this is not a strange thing to be mocked, scorned by thehigh- minded thoughts’of him that is at ease’. We are the tree that He is being crucified on, if we ‘bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus’.
Verse 6:
Job 12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
Psa 73:3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psa 52:1 To the chief Musician, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.Psa 52:2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.Psa 52:3 Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.Psa 52:4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.Psa 52:5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.Psa 52:6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:Psa 52:7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
Psa 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
Job at this stage of his life typifies theself- righteous man in us who is confused when he sees ‘the wicked’ out there enjoying earthly prosperity. But God will ‘pluck’/’root’ out all natural trees from the ‘horrible pit’ of miry clay and set our feet upon the Rock – the only true security.
Verses 7-10:
Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.Job 12:9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?`
Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Psa 147:9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
Isa 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
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.
Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
Even dumb animals obey and know their Owner who feeds them and cares for them. Yet humanity cannot see their own nakedness and totaldependenceupon God. They speak shamelesslyagainst their Creator thinking their own wisdom is something to be admired, and that their ways aredependenton their own “free will” decisions.
Verses 11-13:
Job 12:11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?Job 12:12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.Job 12:13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
Comparing spiritual with spiritual:
1Ki 12:6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
1Ki 12:13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;1Ki 12:14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips [ G3148mastix = plague, scourging] but I will chastise [ G3811: paideuo = to train up a child, educate, discipline (by punishment); instruct, learn, teach] you with scorpions [ H6137aqra b (ak- rawb) = a scourge or knotted whip; G4651: skorpios = meaning to pierce; a “scorpion” (from its sting)].
Dan 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
Luk 15:16 And he [ the so- called “prodigal son”] would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
Lev 11:7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.
Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Lam 1:11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.
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.
A short summary of the discussion on this section:
Rehoboam’s ears could not ‘try words’ properly and he ‘forsook the old men’s counsel'(‘the ancient’). This caused the 12 tribes of the kingdom of Israel to split in two. They became a false witness (‘clovenfooted’) because they ‘cheweth not the cud’ of ‘the sum’ of t he words of The Ancient of days. It is only through patiently enduring much tribulation that anyone becomes ‘ancient’ in wisdom and understanding to enter into the kingdom of God.

Mike,

I’ve been reading before bed and came upon this verse. Don’t understand how the men of Nineveh can do this..

Luk 11:32 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

Thanks in advance, Mike.
Love y’all,
J____

Hi J____,

The men of Nineveh are merely a spiritual type of God’s elect who are not Jews but who receive the gospel and repented before physical Israel does, while physical Israel, as a type of the unrepentant world, hates us. That is why that book ends with Jonah hating what God is doing in His elect.

Jon 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Jon 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Jon 3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
Jon 3:7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
Jon 3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
Jon 3:9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
Jon 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

“The people of Nineveh believed God…” as a type of those who believe God today in Christ. But what always happens to those who think they are God’s elect while refusing to repent of their Job- like self- righteousness?

Jon 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
Jon 4:2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
Jon 4:3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
Jon 4:4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
Jon 4:5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
Jon 4:6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
Jon 4:7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
Jon 4:8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
Jon 4:9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
Jon 4:10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
Jon 4:11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

The whole world, including you and I in our own order, is upset that God says, “All things come alike to all… as is the good, so is the sinner…” We are all ‘Jonah’ in our time, and we don’t like the fact that God’s fire and His mercy are the same to all.
We will talk soon, Lord willing.
Your brother in fervent prayer,

Mike