Matthew 28:1– 20 The Resurrection 

[Study Aired December 29, 2025]

In our study today, we shall look at the testimony of the angel regarding Christ’s resurrection. The study is also about Jesus’ appearance to the women, the false report of the guards, Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in Galilee and finally, the commission He gave to the disciples. 

The Resurrection

Mat 28:1  In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.  

The time given here is to show us that Jesus was in the grave for three days as prophesied in the Book of Hosea as follows: 

Hos 6:1  Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 
Hos 6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 

We can see that everything about Christ, regarding His life here on earth, had been written by God in His Book. As He is, so are we. Our lives here on earth have been written before the foundation of the earth by God.

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

Sometimes in our walk with Christ, we become confused and disillusioned as to what is happening to us. We wonder if we are going to make it to the first resurrection. Verse 1, which tells us about the time of Christ’s resurrection, therefore gives us the confidence that what God has started with us, He is able to bring to an expected end. He will not let us see corruption.

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

Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 
Psa 16:11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. 

Therefore, let’s not throw away our confidence, which will bring us the great reward of ruling over the kingdoms of this world and the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. 

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 
Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 
Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Our problem is that we worry about many things. This is what Jesus told Martha when Jesus went to Bethany to raise Lazarus from death. 

Luk 10:41  And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 
Luk 10:42  But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. 

The antidote to worrying is that we turn our focus from the raging storm around us and focus on Christ, that is, to believe in Him. 

Joh 14:1  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 

It is instructive to note that here in verse 1, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the sepulcher where Jesus was buried. These women represent the church of the Lord’s elect. What this implies is that the role of the church is to support us as we go through the dying of our flesh or our old man. The fact that there were two women means the truth that the church must be supportive of us as we go through the dying of our flesh is an established fact.    

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 1 Corinthians 12:26, the Lord uses the metaphor of a body to illustrate that if one part suffers, every part suffers with it, emphasizing the church’s shared experience and concern for each other as we die to the flesh.

1Co 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

Mat 28:2  And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 
Mat 28:3  His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 
Mat 28:4  And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 

Prior to these verses, the chief priests and the Pharisees, inspired by the devil, had conspired to keep Jesus in the grave by forcing Pilate to post soldiers at the tomb. This is all to show us that what the Lord has planned for us shall not be derailed by the forces of hell. 

Job 42:2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Isaiah 14:27 “For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”

Verses 2 to 4 relates to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. All that happened – the great earthquake, the angel descending from heaven, the rolling back the stone from the door, the angel’s countenance becoming like lightning and his raiment as white as snow, and the guards becoming like dead men, are all to show us the power of the Lord’s resurrection. This is the same power the Lord avails to us when He visits us in our spiritually dead state, to lift us up to become alive in Him.

Isa 29:6  Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. 

The power behind the raising of the Lord Jesus from death is what sets us free from our prison of sin. That is why it is important to experience the power of His resurrection in our lives.

Act 16:26  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.   

Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 

It is worth noting that the angel’s raiment was as white as snow. During the transfiguration, Jesus’ raiment was as white as snow. 

Mat 17:1  And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 

On a positive note, the Bible shows us that although our sins be as scarlet, when Christ comes to us, our sins shall be as white as snow. In other words, when we are raised from death to sit with Christ in heavenly places, we shall put on Christ’s righteousness.

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 

Because of the fear of the angel, the guards became like dead men. Dead men in the Bible signify all those who are not given eyes to see and ears to hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God. These guards therefore represent our brothers and sisters who see the physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus but are not given to know the power of His resurrection in their lives.   

Isa 59:10  We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

Mat 28:5  And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
Mat 28:6  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 
Mat 28:7  And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. 
Mat 28:8  And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

It is the church of the Lord’s elect, symbolized by the women, who were given to know about the Lord’s resurrection. That is why when Jesus was resurrected, He did not show Himself to the Chief priests, Pharisees and Sadducees. Rather, it was the church in Jesus’ day that met the resurrected Jesus in Galilee. It is important to note that it was in Galilee that Jesus was to meet the disciples. Galilee in the Old Testament and in Jesus’ time was referred to as Galilee of the Gentiles. In other words, although Galilee was a Jewish city, there were many Gentiles living there, hence the name, Galilee of the Gentiles. 

Mat 4:15  The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 

Isa 9:1  Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.  

Jesus meeting the disciples in Galilee after His resurrection is therefore to show us spiritually that His death and resurrection was for the whole world and not just the prerogative of the physical Jews. 

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

In verse 8, the women left the sepulchre with fear and great joy as they ran to bring the good news of Christ’s resurrection to His disciples. As we know, the women represent the church of the Lord’s elect, and it is the church which is to make known to the body the fellowship of the Lord’s suffering and the power of His resurrection. 

Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.     

The women departing with fear and with great joy was because of the message they had received from the angel. The fear here is the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. 

Pro 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 

It is the word of the Lord which brings joy and comfort to our soul as we are refreshed by what every joint supplies. 

Phm 1:7  For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. 

Mat 28:9  And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.
Mat 28:10  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” 

The women taking hold of Jesus’ feet when He appeared to them signify the church of the Lord’s elect’s profound respect, humility, and worship as it acknowledges the Lord’s divine authority. As the bride of Christ, we must submit to Him in all things.

Eph 5:24  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 

One of the tools used by the devil against us is to cause us to be afraid or to fear the unknown. Today, the Lord is telling us not to be afraid of whatever circumstance in which we find ourselves. This is because the Lord is in control of everything as all authority has been given to Him after His resurrection. 

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  

The Lord’s instruction to the church, represented by the women, was that they should meet Him in Galilee. At every point in time, the Lord has predestinated us to be at certain places, and it is these places that when we seek Him, we shall find Him, although He is not far from us. 

Act 17:26  And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 
Act 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 

The Report of the Guard

Mat 28:11  Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. 
Mat 28:12  And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
Mat 28:13  Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 
Mat 28:14  And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. 
Mat 28:15  So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. 

The chief priests here signify the leaders of the church system of this world. In the Bible, a city stands for a church, either positively or negatively. The elders represent the political leaders who are in league with the church system of this world.  

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

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.

The guards who came to the city represent us when the Lord first came into our lives. We were very willing to share the resurrection power of the Lord in our lives with the leaders of the church system of our day. However, the church system offered us the false doctrine of prosperity as signified by the money the chief priests gave to the guards. This is because the church system is in league with the government and are not interested in the truth, as we see the chief priests consulting with the elders or the kings of the earth.

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

In verse 13, the chief priests came up with falsehood by telling the guards to say that Jesus’ body was stolen in the night by His disciples, which the guards accepted because of the money they had received. This is a clear example of the false doctrine spewed by the devil, which the church system of this world accepts. 

Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 
Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 

We can conclude from this incident that the church system of this world or Babylon does not love the truth. This is because the minds of our brothers and sisters in Babylon have been polluted with false doctrines propagated by the devil and his messengers. We were filled with false doctrines at a certain stage of our walk with Christ, which prevented us from knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection.

2Co 11:12  And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. 
2Co 11:13  For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. 

The second thing we can conclude from this story with the guards is that the church system of this world spews false doctrines which clouds the minds of people who have begun their journey with Christ.

2Co 4:3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 

Thirdly, most of the preachers of Babylon are motivated by the love of money which is the root of all evil. 

1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

The Call to Teach all Nations

Mat 28:16  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 
Mat 28:17  And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 
Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 

As we have learned from previous studies, a mountain on a positive note represents the assembly of the Lord’s elect as shown in the following verses:

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.

Isa 56:7  Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. 

Therefore, the Lord wanting to meet the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee is another way of saying that where two or three people are gathered together in His name, He is there with them. This implies that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as He speaks to us through what every joint supplies. 

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 
Heb 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 

It is instructive to note that among the eleven disciples who met Jesus in Galilee, some of them doubted. This implies that in our gathering, we are not of the same level of faith. However, we all have the same mind of seeking to know the Lord. 

Psa 122:9  Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good. 

Jesus proclaiming that all power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth is not to make us see how powerful He is. It is to make us aware that He is making this power available to us, His elect, to bring us to an expected end as His brothers. Verse 18 is the same as what is spoken in John 3:35 as follows:

Joh 3:35  The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.  

All of these verses show us the Lord’s intention and powerful ability to fulfill His purpose concerning His elect, in this age, and the rest of the world later. It entails working through our trials to bring about His ultimate plan of uniting all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 

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.  

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

Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 
Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. 

Mat 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 
Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. 

Here in verse 19, Jesus is admonishing us to go and teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To be able to understand verse 19, we need to know what the sum of the Lord’s words says about discipling people of the nations. This is because many have used this Bible verse to spend their resources to go to the nations preaching to people who do not even have a clue as to who Jesus is.

Psa 119:160  The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. (ESV)

Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman gives us a clue of what we are to do. 

Mat 15:22  And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 
Mat 15:23  But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”
Mat 15:24  He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 
Mat 15:25  But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 
Mat 15:26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 

As Jesus is, so are we. Our mission is to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The lost sheep of the house of Israel are God’s people who have gone astray and are scattered in the nations of this world. We are to preach to our brothers and sisters in Babylon who are deceived, when given the opportunity. If we look at Paul’s ministry in the Book of Acts, he was ministering mostly to the Jews scattered in the nations. 

Act 17:1  Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 
Act 17:2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,   

Apostle Peter puts our responsibility to preach the gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, this way:

1Pe 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
1Pe 3:16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 

According to verse 19, if our hearers respond to our message of Christ, we are to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Christ’s words are spirit, and therefore this does not mean that we have to physically baptize them in water. According to Acts 1:4-5, we are to baptize them in the Holy Spirit and with fire. 

Act 1:4  And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 
Act 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.  

Luk 3:16  John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: 

Baptizing them with the Holy Ghost means helping them to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. This entails opening their eyes to understand the word of the Lord in the spirit. Baptizing them with fire means making them to understand that it is through our suffering that we learn righteousness.

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

Verse 20 makes it clear that our role is to disciple those whom the Lord makes available to us to talk to. We are to teach them to become obedient children of the Lord. In His words to the disciples, Jesus told them that He is with them always, even to the end of the world. This calls for us to fight the good fight of faith knowing that we are not alone in this fight.

Jos 1:9  Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. 

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Glory be to God. Amen!!

Matthew 6:1–15 The Lord’s Prayer

[Study Aired April 7, 2025]

Introduction

Our study today is centered on two areas – alms and prayer. In verse 1 of today’s study, the Lord warned us to take heed so that we do not carry out our righteousness before men. The issue of alms, prayer and fasting must all be carried out such that we do not manifest our righteousness before men. 

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. (ASV)

Carrying out our righteousness before men means coveting the praise of men more than our fellowship with the Lord, which must be done in secret. As a result, we shall not be rewarded by the Lord. Our review today will therefore touch on the subject of reward for the Lord’s elect. 

Giving to the Needy

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 
Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 
Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

In verse 1, most versions of the Bible talk about taking heed that we do not our righteousness before men. In the King James version of the Bible, however, instead of righteousness, alms was used, which seems to imply that verse 1 is talking about alms. Verse 1, however, is the general principle we must apply to our lives when it comes to alms, prayer and fasting. 

It is important to note that under the law of Moses, our righteous acts are all carnal. When we were in Babylon or the physical churches of this world, we were under the law and all our actions were geared towards pleasing men. In other words, we were hypocrites. It was when faith came that we came out of Babylonian captivity and entered the church of the firstborn. Here we are under the law of the spirit of life which sets us free from the law of sin and death, that is, the law of Moses. 

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 

The whole essence of our worship of the Lord is to please Him in everything, and not man. This guiding principle must permeate everything we do. Since we are physical beings, we naturally gravitate towards pleasing men. However, if our motive is to be seen of men for our giving to those in need, then we have failed woefully. The giving of alms is a righteous act towards man and must be done in secret so that we receive a reward. On the other hand, any act of righteousness before men to receive the praise of men is regarded as receiving our reward already. 

Spiritually, the giving of alms entails sharing the word of the Lord to those in need as shown in the following:

Pro 11:24  There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. 
Pro 11:25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. 

Luk 6:38  give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

The liberal soul is the one who shares the word of the Lord, and he is the one who waters and is therefore watered. As we are aware, water represents the word of the Lord. Being watered therefore means being given a deeper insight into the word of the Lord. 

The reward we receive as a result of our righteousness is in two parts – the one we receive here on earth and the one the Lord has in store for us as His overcomers, which cannot decay. The Lord will meet our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus and at the first resurrection, we shall be given to rule the kingdoms of this world. Later, we shall become judges in the lake of fire age, to bring salvation to the whole of the human race. 

Luk 12:29  And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 
Luk 12:30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 

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

The Lord’s Prayer

Mat 6:5  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 
Mat 6:6  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 

Prayer is a kind of righteousness. Submitting ourselves to prayer means that we acknowledge our own inadequacy, and therefore we depend on the Lord, who has all the resources to help us. As we are aware, by the things that are made, we are able to know more about God. 

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 

Children who have strong ties with their parents have those ties basically through the bond of communication between them. Prayer is part of the communication channel that allows us to build a strong relationship with the Lord. Prayer on one part is we reaching out to the Lord and the other part is the Lord communicating with us through His words.  We should therefore see prayer as a lifestyle that encompasses our reaching out to the Lord and His speaking to us through His words. That is why Paul says that we should pray without ceasing. That is because prayer should be a lifestyle.

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

When our parents speak to us and we do not pay attention to them, our relationship with them gets disrupted. The same is with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is our iniquities which have disrupted our relationship with Him such that He cannot hear our prayers. 

Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.  

In verse 5, we are told some of the things we do that disrupt the channel of communication between us and the Lord. One of them is our desire to be seen by men as being pious. In this case, we have received our reward already. As indicated, receiving our reward already means that there is nothing to look forward to in this life or in an age to come in terms of the Lord rewarding us. An example of this in the Bible is Esau. This is what the word of the Lord says about him:

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

In verse 6, the Lord is saying that we should enter into our closet and shut the door when we pray. In this way, our Father who sees in secret shall reward us openly. We need to know that the Lord’s words are spirit. The closet that we must enter into to pray is our hearts and minds. To shut the door means blocking out anything in our hearts and minds that will shift our focus from our interaction with the Lord. This means that we are not limited to a place when we are to pray. We may be right on a job or in a car driving, but in the spirit, we are touching base with the Lord. That is one way that prayer can become a lifestyle. 

We must understand that here the Lord is not speaking about answer to prayer but reward of prayer. We know that reward is based on works or what we have done. This implies that the reward of prayer is based on works, that is, what we have done.  That is why prayer is a lifestyle. Our prayers are supported by the way we live as we explained earlier. 

Answer to prayers is based on how our thoughts are aligned with that of the Lord and also His timing. Our lives are in the hands of the Lord and that includes our timing. Because our timings are in the Lord’s hands, we need to exercise patience, coupled with faith, in order to receive what we pray for. Again, that is why praying is a lifestyle.

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 
Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 
Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 

In this age, the Lord’s elect are hidden in Christ. In other words, Christ must be unveiled to you before you can see who is the Lord’s elect. This implies that our works are all hidden in Christ, that is to say that everything pertaining to us – our works, etc. are secret, just as our Lord is also hidden in secret. 

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.   

Isa 45:15  Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

Mat 6:7  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 
Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 

Most of us were guilty of vain repetitions when we prayed, believing that the Lord will hear us because of our much speaking and our supposed “tongue speaking” which is fraught with vain repetitions which are totally meaningless. I remember during my Babylonian days, I would go to a garden with some of my close friends, some of them are now Babylonian Pastors with thousands of people in their congregation, to pray and it’s all about speaking repetitively in tongues. The fact that the Lord knows what we need before we ask means that we do not have to say much when asking for a need. This is different from being persistent in our request whenever we pray as the example of the parable of the woman and the judge shows.

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 
Luk 18:2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 
Luk 18:3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 
Luk 18:4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 
Luk 18:5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 
Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 
Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 
Luk 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?  

What we need to understand is that prayer must be measured by our heart’s desire and not by our much speaking. This implies that our hearts and minds must be right before the Lord. On the other hand, if we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us.

Psa 66:18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 

Rom 10:1  Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 

Psa 112:7  He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. 
Psa 112:8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies. 

Getting rid of iniquity in our hearts and minds is the work of the Lord, and it involves the Lord coming with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to take residence in our hearts and minds as the old man or our flesh is gradually dethroned from our hearts and minds.

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

This is a process resulting in the desire of our soul being in tune with His name. That is when our prayers are heard and answered. The timing of our answer, however, is in the hands of the Lord. 

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. 

Psa 21:2  Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 
Psa 21:3  For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
Psa 21:4  He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. 

We must understand that the sum of the Lord’s words shows us that the Lord in His wisdom and mercy answers the prayers of even those who do not know Him, in accordance with His will and purpose.

Gen 4:13  And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Gen 4:14  Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. 
Gen 4:15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. 

Gen 21:14  And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 
Gen 21:15  And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 
Gen 21:16  And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 
Gen 21:17  And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 
Gen 21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 

As we are aware, the Bible was written for the Lord’s elect first, and therefore the Lord is showing us, His children, that there must be a communication channel between us and our Lord. As indicated earlier, iniquity in our hearts is what blocks the communication channel between us and our Lord. Our situation is different from those who do not know the Lord as He may choose to intervene in their circumstance as they cry to Him according to the counsel of His own will.

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  

The Lord here is giving us guidance as to how we should pray and not what we should be using as our prayer as we see in the physical churches of this world. The Lord is telling us here in verse 9 that the first thing we should be aware of is that we should know our Father, whom we are communicating with. That is, our father here is different from our human fathers in the sense that He is our Father in heaven. He is our Father in our hearts and minds. Again, we should know that the Bible was written for the elect and therefore everything here is addressed to the elect, where the Father and His son, Jesus Christ have made a habitation within us. 

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. 

Our human fathers do not know us and can be unforgiving and merciless, and are not endowed with all the resources to help us. However, our Father in Heaven is merciful, compassionate towards us and has all the resources to bring us to an expected end. In addition, He has gone through all that we are going through and therefore understands our circumstances and challenges better. We are therefore not to worry but to have confidence when we come before Him. 

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. 

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 

As we are aware, in this age, the kingdom of God is within His people. In an age to come, this kingdom will be made manifest for all to see here on earth.

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

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.  

Thy kingdom come here in verse 10 is therefore referring to the Lord establishing His kingdom within His elect first. This is because the salvation of the whole of the human race is dependent on our Lord Jesus Christ and His elect. 

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 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 

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. 

Praying for the Lord’s kingdom to come is therefore asking the Lord to establish the kingdom within His elect. It is when Christ sits on His throne within our hearts and minds that the Lord’s will, will be done in our lives as earthen vessels (earth), as it is within us. In other words, Christ within will be manifested in our daily lives. 

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread. 

This verse means that for the kingdom of God to be established within us, His elect, we must be fed with the word of the Lord on a daily basis even as we physically eat everyday. Of course, this verse also includes the Lord’s physical provision for our needs as the kingdom is being established within us.  

Php 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

An example of how we are to feed on the word of the Lord daily is shown in the story of the manna that the people of Israel ate in the wilderness. They were to collect it daily every morning. In other words, it is when Christ the sun rises within us (in the morning) that we are given to assimilate His words daily.  

Exo 16:15  And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
Exo 16:16  This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. 
Exo 16:17  And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 
Exo 16:18  And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 
Exo 16:19  And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 
Exo 16:20  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. 
Exo 16:21  And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. 

When the sun waxed hot, the manna melted. This is to show us that when we meet Christ (the sun) face to face in the resurrection, we shall know Him fully, (the manna has melted) and therefore, we shall not be fed with the word of the Lord daily again. 

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. 
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 
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. 

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

Spiritually, debt represents our sins as shown in the following parable by the Lord:

Mat 18:23  Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 
Mat 18:25  But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 
Mat 18:26  The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 
Mat 18:27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Mat 18:28  But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 
Mat 18:29  And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 
Mat 18:30  And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 
Mat 18:31  So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 
Mat 18:32  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 
Mat 18:33  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 
Mat 18:34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 
Mat 18:35  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. 

Forgive our debtors in verse 12 means that we must forgive those who sin against us. This is because the Lord is always forgiving us our sins. If we tend not to forgive, then we cannot be the Lord’s servants as He will not forgive our sins. 

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. 

We know from the word of the Lord that the Lord Himself does not tempt us and that we are tempted, when we are pulled away by our own lust. It is when lust is conceived within us that it brings forth sin. 

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 
Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

Here in verse 13, the Lord is showing us that because He is not the one who tempts us to sin but the devil, our prayers should be focused on the Lord delivering us from evil. It takes the grace of the Lord to be delivered from evil, and therefore we should be fervent in praying for the Lord to deliver us from evil. The story of Job depicts the fact that the Lord is not the tempter but it is the devil who is the agent of evil. This does not obviate the fact that everything that happens is according to the counsel of the Lord’s own will, but rather to show us that the executor of evil is the devil.

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.  

The next sentence in verse 13 about the kingdom, the power and glory belonging to the Lord is to bring to our attention that the Lord is mighty and is in perfect control of everything that is happening in this world. As a result, we must have the confidence when we come before Him in prayer that what He has started in us, He is able to bring it to completion. 

1Ti 1:17  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

We have already addressed these verses under verse 12 where the Lord is telling us that we should pray for Him to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. In summary, we must forgive men their trespasses, so that our heavenly Father will also forgive our trespasses. When we refuse to forgive others, we fall from the grace of God and are prone to all kinds of sin – bitterness which defiles many, fornication, etc. In the final analysis, we find no place of repentance and as a result, we are disqualified to inherit the blessing.    

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

May the Lord continue to uphold us in His mercy as we see the day approaching. Amen!!

The Book of Romans, Part 11 – We Have Hope Through Tribulation

[Study Aired September 5, 2023]

Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 
Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

To understand Romans 5:1-2 in the context of the first four chapters of Romans, it’s essential to recognize the progression the Apostle Paul builds in this letter. Let’s break down these verses considering the preceding chapters:

Romans 1-4: In the preceding chapters, Paul has been establishing the foundational principles of salvation and righteousness through faith. He explains that all have sinned (Rom 3:23) and fallen short of God’s glory but are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:24). He emphasizes that righteousness comes not through works of the law but through faith in Jesus (Rom 3:28).

Rom 3:21-28  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

In Romans 4, Paul uses the example of Abraham to illustrate the concept of justification by faith. He points out that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness (Rom 4:3), and this justification was not based on works but on faith (Rom 4:5). Abraham’s faith in God’s promise foreshadowed the faith that would be placed in Christ for salvation.

Rom 4:1-5 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Now, with this context in mind, let’s look at Romans 5:1-2:

Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Considering Paul’s foundational teachings in the preceding chapters, this verse signifies that faith leads to our righteous declaration (justification) before God. This justification brings about reconciliation with God and, as a result, peace. Prior to faith, mankind existed in a state of separation from God, marked by sin – a condition the law, serving as our guide, revealed to us (Gal 3:24). Through faith, we are harmoniously reunited with God, erasing the enmity that once existed, ultimately resulting in peace. This peace finds its source and foundation “through our Lord Jesus Christ” because His sacrificial act on the cross is what underpins both our justification and reconciliation, as explained in Romans 3:25.

Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 

Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 

Romans 5:2: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Here, Paul continues to emphasize the role of Jesus Christ in our salvation. He explains that it is through Jesus Christ that we have access to “this grace”. Our faith opens the door to God’s forgiveness. This grace allows us to “stand” in a state of righteousness before God, firmly rooted in His favor and acceptance.

This access to grace leads to rejoicing in hope. As Paul established in Romans 4, just as Abraham hoped in God’s promise, we also hope in the glory of God. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we gain access to God’s grace, and we stand in this grace with confidence. This echoes the Old Testament’s emphasis on the importance of grace, such as in the Psalms where we find, “But he gives us more grace” (Psa 84:11, Jas 4:6).

Psa 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 

Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

In summary, Romans 5:1-2 builds upon the foundation laid in the previous chapters by explaining that through faith we are justified, reconciled to God and have access to God. This faith fills us with the hope of future glory, allowing us to stand in a state of righteousness and rejoice in our relationship with God.

Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

In our journey, we can find joy, especially in difficult times, knowing that trials produce patience, which leads to experience and ultimately hope. This idea of finding purpose in trials is found in the Old Testament, as in the story of Joseph in Genesis, where his trials led to his exaltation and the saving of many lives.

Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

The following verses emphasize that going through tribulations or trials will develop patience in us, and this patience leads to spiritual growth and maturity.

Psa 37:7-9 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

Psa 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

Jas 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

2Co 1:3-4 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

The above verses teach us to rely on God’s strength and faithfulness during times of tribulation, ultimately leading to a deeper relationship with Him.

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

Our hope in Christ is sure and will not disappoint us, because the Holy Spirit, which is given to believers, fills our hearts with the love of God. This aligns with the Old Testament’s promise of the Holy Spirit, as seen in Ezekiel 36:26-27.

Eze 36:26-27 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. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

These verses emphasize the incredible love of God. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross occurred when we were still sinners and had no ability to save ourselves. This echoes the concept of God’s unfailing love found throughout the Old Testament, such as in Psalm 136.

Psa 136:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:2 O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:4 To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:6 To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:7 To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:8 The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:9 The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:10 To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:11 And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:12 With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:13 To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:16 To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:17 To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:18 And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:19 Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:20 And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:21 And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:22 Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:23 Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever: 
Psa 136:24 And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:25 Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
Psa 136:26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.

This Psalms reveals the process we all go through to enter the kingdom of God. We were Pharaoh, the great kings, and the famous kings. 

Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 

Through Christ’s sacrifice, we are justified and saved from God’s wrath to come in the lake of fire. This reconciliation through the death and life of Christ reflects the Old Testament’s teachings on reconciliation, as seen in Isaiah 53:5-6.

Isa 53:5-6 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 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.

Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Through Jesus Christ, we find joy and have received peace, atonement and the reconciliation between God and mankind. This concept of atonement for sins is rooted in the Old Testament, particularly in the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).

Lev 16:11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself.

This verse states the importance of the high priest’s atonement on behalf of himself and his family.

Lev 16:15 Then shall he (Aaron) kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.

This verse describes the people’s sin offering.

Lev 16:16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

This verse underscores the comprehensive nature of the atonement, covering both the holy place and the tabernacle itself, symbolizing the cleansing of the sanctuary from the people’s sins.

Lev 16:30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.

Leviticus 16:30 serves as a clear declaration of the Day of Atonement’s purpose. The priest’s actions on that day are aimed at cleansing the people so they may stand before the Lord free from the stain of their sins. This verse underscores the meticulous process of atonement, highlighting the central role of the priest in facilitating purification.

In a similar vein, the order and significance of salvation are elaborated upon in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. The resurrection of Christ is pivotal, as He is the first to rise from the dead, marking the beginning of a sequence in which all who belong to Him will be made alive. This process follows a particular order, starting with Christ as the firstfruits and continuing with those who are His when He returns. Ultimately, this culminates in the defeat of death itself.

1Co 15:20-28 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 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.

This journey toward salvation, however, is far from effortless. It demands a significant price, the death of our old man. Faith becomes the sole means of achieving salvation, as relying on adherence to the law is insufficient. While the law has its role in educating us about sin, it isn’t the ultimate path to salvation.

The process is challenging, marked by tribulation and the filling of what remains of Christ’s afflictions. Perseverance until the end is the key, leading to the eventual enjoyment of the fruits of our labor. Through this journey, we move beyond the constraints of the law, having God to become the overarching and all-encompassing presence in our lives.

Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 

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.

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

Joh 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Here are our verses for our next study:

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 
Rom 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 
Rom 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Rom 5:17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 
Rom 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 
Rom 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

[Study Aired December 25, 2022]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What to do???

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a [Gentile] woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the [Gentile] Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jer 46:15-28 The Daughter of Egypt… Shall be Delivered into the Hand of the People of the North

[Study Aired July 24, 2022]

Jer 46:15  Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
Jer 46:16  He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
Jer 46:17  They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.
Jer 46:18  As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
Jer 46:19  O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
Jer 46:20  Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
Jer 46:21  Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
Jer 46:22  The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
Jer 46:23  They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
Jer 46:24  The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
Jer 46:25  The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
Jer 46:26  And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.
Jer 46:27  But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 46:28  Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

This part of the prophecy of Jeremiah concerns the Lord’s judgment against the Gentiles, beginning with Egypt and the destruction Nebuchadnezzar is prophesied to bring against Egypt.

I will repeat the last two verses of our last study to set the tone of this prophesy against Egypt as Egypt signifies this rebellious and evil world within every man:

Jer 46:13  The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.
Jer 46:14  Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.

Physical Jerusalem “is in bondage with her children” and is not at all ‘Jerusalem above which is the mother of us all.’

Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

‘Agar’ is Hagar, a bondservant whom Pharaoh gave to Sarah as a “bondwoman”. Sarah then gave Hagar to Abraham to help the Lord make aging Abraham “a father of many nations”. Paul is telling us that Hagar’s place in history signifies the time we spend while under the influence of the great harlot who is in bondage with her children.

The great harlot is called ‘Mystery Babylon’. The word translated as “Mystery” in Revelation 17 is the Greek word ‘musterion’, and it means “a secret’, something that is known by a very few:

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

G3466
μυστήριον
mustērion
moos-tay’-ree-on
From a derivative of μύω muō (to shut the mouth); a secret or “mystery” (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites): – mystery.

Physical ‘Babylon’ is not spiritual “mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” There is no mystery at all about who physical Babylon and physical Jerusalem are. Both are physical cities in physical countries. However, ‘Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth’ is a ‘secret’ until this very day. The depth of this “secret” is revealed to those who have “eyes to see”, by the fact that until this very day not one historic ‘Christian’ minister realizes the Truth of what we just read in plain English, that Hagar signifies ‘Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children’. The ‘mystery’ of ‘Mystery Babylon the Great’ is that this ‘Great harlot’ signifies those who say they know God and therefore appropriate His name, but want nothing to do with His doctrine or His works:

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.

This ‘mystery’ is a secret which is so little known that few indeed can even agree with the holy spirit who tells us that the son of the bondwoman, ‘Hagar… answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children’ (Gal 4:25).

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Not one single orthodox Christian believes or even knows this great ‘musterion’, this great ‘secret’ that ‘Jerusalem which now is… is in bondage with her children.’ It is indeed a great mystery, a great “secret” that “Jerusalem which now is… answers to Hagar’s [son], the son of the bondwoman”.

No orthodox Christian believes the ‘secret’ Truth of this verse:

Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman [“Jerusalem which now is”] shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

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

Why is it that so many so-called ‘Christians’ are so spiritually blind that they are “swept away” with the lie that physical Jerusalem is the Lord’s chosen people? Why can’t they see that this doctrine makes them the spiritual sons of the bondwoman who “shall not be made heir with the son of the freewoman”? The answer to that question is in our next verses:

Jer 46:15  Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
Jer 46:16  He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
Jer 46:17  They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

When anyone is ‘swept away’ with the lies and false doctrines of men, they do so ‘because the Lord did drive them’. Of course, we are deceived under such circumstances, but the greatest deception and false doctrine is that we chose of our own will to believe a lie. Indeed, we do choose to believe lies and falsehoods. The scriptures do not deny that we choose to ‘receive not the Truth’:

2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

The very next verse tells us why we ‘receive not the Truth’:

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

It is God who sends us “strong delusion, that we should believe a lie.” The only way we are deluded into believing a lie is because the Lord has blinded our eyes and given us ears that cannot hear His voice. Being given eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God is just another way of telling us that God has hardened our hearts against the ‘voice’ of His Truth:

Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Before Pharaoh ever met Moses, the Lord told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart:

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

So later when we read:

Exo 8:15  But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

Exo 8:32  And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

Exo 9:34  And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

We know that Pharaoh, “he and his servants”, hardened his heart only because;

Exo 8:15  But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

Exo 9:12  And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses.

Exo 10:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:

The Babylonian commentaries flatly deny and talk all around these Truths:

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

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

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will [including Pharaoh].

The fact is that every hardened heart is a work of the Lord who is ‘working all things after the counsel of His own will’ (Eph 1:11).

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.

Paul sums all these verses up in these few words;

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:

There is a ‘dispensation’ which is called ‘the dispensation of the fullness of times’, and that is not exclusively an inward phrase. That phrase must also have an outward application before it can even mean anything that we can understand spiritually and inwardly. That outward application is the dispensation of the ‘great white throne/lake of fire/second death’ which must follow after the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

This ‘lake of fire… is the second death’ and those who are judged in the second judgment receive their judgment standing before the great white throne:

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

The Father is “working all things after the counsel of His own will… according to His good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself.” Egypt went up to Carchemish, an Assyrian city which Babylon had just conquered, and Pharaoh and his armies were ‘driven’ to go up to that battle by the Lord, who is working all things after the counsel of His own will.

The Lord has made known to us the secret of His will by telling us, “All these things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition.”

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them  typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained. (CLV)

Another section of scripture which demonstrates the “great… darkness” of the blindness of the great harlot and her daughters is:

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 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 [“Follow” is a qualifying word].
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

If the Lord were to open the eyes of the daughters of Babylon to the Truth of these verses, the United States would have to change its foreign policy and acknowledge that ‘he is not a Jew which is one outwardly’ and our government would instead be obliged to defend and protect the Lord’s elect. That, of course, is not written in the Lord’s book for the kingdoms of this world.

The greatest lesson any of us who are being ministered to by “all these things” (1Co 10:11); the greatest lesson we can get out of all that was written for our admonition is that everything that happens, happens only because the Lord “worked it after the counsel of His own will” and He is working it all for our good if we are His chosen few.

The Lord Himself makes intercession for us “according to the will of God”:

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The fact that the Lord’s elect are predestinated necessitates that all others are also predestined not to be His elect. That’s why the statement… ‘all things work together for good’ is qualified with the words… “to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” ‘All things’ are not working together for the good of ‘Egypt’ in this prophesy because Egypt is conquered and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.

Jer 46:18  As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

“So shall he come” refers to Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. The certainty of the Lord’s words through the prophet Jeremiah are as ‘sure as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea’, both being obvious to all and beyond question by any. The Lord wants us to be aware that He is sovereign and will not be ordered about by mere dust (Gen 2:7):

Isa 45:1  Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
Isa 45:2  I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Isa 45:3  And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
Isa 45:4  For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Isaiah prophesied about 70 years before Jeremiah, and here in Isaiah 45 He tells us of the fate of Babylon whom the Lord is using in Jeremiah’s prophecy to chasten His own people as well as the enemies of the Lord’s own people. Not only does the Lord reveal the nation which will conquer Babylon, He even names the king of that kingdom… “Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him… For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by name: I have surnamed thee, though you hast not known me.”

So, both Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus are called respectively, “My servant” and “His anointed” by the Lord:

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7  And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.

Isa 45:1  Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

What the Lord opens cannot be shut, and what He shuts cannot be opened. This statement refers to what the Lord will open to Cyrus, who conquered all of the Babylonian empire. This Truth has both a positive and a negative application as Isaiah had already demonstrated:

Isa 22:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
Isa 22:21  And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Isa 22:23  And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
Isa 22:24  And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

Christ revealed that this is a promise made of Himself and His anointed:

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [‘Petros’, a mere pebble], and upon this rock [‘Petra’, a massive rock, Christ Himself] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The fact is that every leader of every country on this earth is the Lord’s servant because the Lord wants us to know:

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.

When the trumpet sounds, it was common knowledge in the days of the prophet Amos, that people became afraid of some impending danger. It was equally obvious to Amos that if there were evil in the city that, too, was an obvious work of the Lord.

Amo 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed? [The obvious answer is an emphatic, “No, of course not!”]
Amo 3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? [Obviously not!] will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? [Obviously not!]
Amo 3:5  Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? [Obviously not!] shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? [Obviously not!]
Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? [Obviously not!] shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? [Obviously not! It was done of Him who is working all things after the counsel of His own will.]

The evil and the good in this world are all being worked together for the sake of the Lord’s elect:

Isa 45:4  For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

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.
2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Paul is telling us that this prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the Gentiles (Jer 46:1) is for our sakes and our admonition:

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained.

Jer 46:19  O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
Jer 46:20  Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
Jer 46:21  Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.

The use of the word ‘daughter’, as in “daughter dwelling in Egypt”, always alludes to a church or the religion of any nation, and spiritual ‘Egypt’ is full of the false doctrines of her religious leaders. When Israel apostatized at Mount Sinai, they reverted to what they had seen and done while in Egypt. They reverted to worshiping the same image the Egyptians worshiped – a golden calf.

Verse 20 is one more verse which demonstrates that the north signifies the impending judgments of God upon His own people first, and in this case even upon Egypt and the Gentiles.

The “hired men” of verse 21 refer to the hired soldiers of other countries mentioned in verse 9 of this same chapter:

Jer 46:9  Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

Inwardly and spiritually these “hired men” typify the spiritual “hirelings” referred to by our Lord in His parable of the good shepherd in:

Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Joh 10:12  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
Joh 10:13  The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
Joh 10:14  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

“The wolf catches them and scatters the sheep” is what always happens, as Gamaliel warned the Sanhedrin:

Act 5:33  When they [The Sanhedrin] heard that [they had crucified the Son of God], they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
Act 5:34  Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;
Act 5:35  And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
Act 5:36  For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
Act 5:37  After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
Act 5:38  And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
Act 5:39  But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

The “good shepherd” is contrasted with “an hireling” who takes advantage of the Lord’s flock, but does not feed them with the Lord’s Words. Instead a hireling feeds the Lord’s flock the lies of the great red dragon, the double-tongued, lying serpent, the devil, who “was a murderer… and… a liar… from the beginning”:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

‘The time of their visitation’ is defined as ‘the day of their calamity’. It is the day of our judgment under the wrath of the Lord.

This is what we are told of Egypt’s “hired men”:

Jer 46:22  The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they [Nebuchadnezzar’s army] shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
Jer 46:23  They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.

‘The voice thereof’ refers to the “hired men” of “the daughters of Egypt” and “they shall march with an army, and come with axes, as hewers of wood”, refers to the armies of Babylon… the Lord’s “servant”. The Egyptians’ numbers were massive, but the Lord has already determined they would be decimated by the ‘hewers of wood’ from Babylon.

Jer 46:24  The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
Jer 46:25  The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

Just as the Lord begins His judgments at His own house (1Pe 4:17), He begins to judge the Gentiles with “the daughters of Egypt”:

Jer 46:26  And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.

“Afterward it [Egypt] shall be inhabited” is one more verse of scripture which teaches universal salvation for ‘all in Adam’ (1Co 15:22). We will see this repeated as we read of the Lord’s judgments against all the Gentile enemies of His people in the next several chapters of Jeremiah.

Once again, while these outward Gentile nations are types of our inward spiritual enemies, with whom we do war in our heavens, they also outwardly demonstrate that all outward nations will also be saved from death. “Afterward it shall be inhabited” means ‘after’ they are judged, and it means ‘after’ the judgment that begins at the house of God, ‘after’ those who are given a part in the “blessed and holy first resurrection… the resurrection of life”:

Joh 5:26  For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [At the beginning of ‘the thousand years’ (Rev 20:1-6)]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [“When the thousand years are finished’ (Rev 20:5, 7)].

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

The last two verses of Jeremiah 46 refer to the Lord’s elect as ‘a kind of firstfruits… unto God and the Lamb’ of:

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

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.

Jer 46:27  But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 46:28  Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

“Yet will I not leave you wholly unpunished means that we, too, must reap what we have sown in these clay vessels. These words apply to the elect as much or more than anyone else:

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

This is what the Lord told us earlier in this prophecy concerning His very elect:

Jer 21:11  And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Jer 21:12  O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jer 21:13  Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
Jer 21:14  But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it [All the ‘wood, hay, and stubble’ within our lives (1Co 3:13-16)].

Christ’s sacrifice does not eliminate His judgments upon the kingdom of our old man. The blessing is in being judged first and in ‘this present time’ when ‘judgment must begin at the house of God’:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

“The sufferings of this present time” certainly includes our own judgment in “this present time’ which we are told must ‘first begin at us’:

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? [They will appear at ‘the resurrection of judgment (Joh 5:29), the great white throne… judgment’ (Rev 20;11).]

Look at the ‘glory to be revealed in us’ in the very next verses of Romans 8. I’ll repeat verse 18:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  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 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

May the Lord give us all ‘respect unto the recompense of [our] reward’ as ‘the firstfruits of the spirit’ and not despise it as worth no more than a bowl of pottage as Esau did:

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

[Study Aired March 27, 2020]

Jer 34:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,
Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:
Jer 34:5  But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.
Jer 34:6  Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
Jer 34:7  When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.
Jer 34:8  This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
Jer 34:9  That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
Jer 34:10  Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.
Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

The first four verses of our study today tell us of the fate of our old man. His fate is to die as a blind man in Babylon being lamented by those who honor him.

Jer 34:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,
Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

That is the fate our old man, and this is what happened to King Zedekiah:

Jer 39:2  And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.
Jer 39:3  And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
Jer 39:4  And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
Jer 39:5  But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
Jer 39:6  Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Jer 39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
Jer 39:8  And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.

Look once more at what the Lord told Jeremiah to tell King Zedekiah of his fate:

Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

“Thou shalt not die by the sword” is not a positive pronouncement of the Lord’s love and mercy. Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges (Heb 12:6). Whom the Lord loves, as He loved King David, He tells him “the sword shall not depart from thy house”:

2Sa 12:10  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

King David in scripture, with all his faults, typifies our new man who is “a man after mine own heart” as the Lord speaks of King David.

Act 13:21  And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
Act 13:22  And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

King Saul and King Zedekiah both typify our old man who at first loves the Lord, but then loses that love, and typifying our own flesh, are not given to inherit the kingdom of God.

King Zedekiah would no doubt have preferred to have died by the sword before having to watch all his own sons, all the princes of Judah, and all his closest associates and friends, “all the nobles of Judah” be slain before his eyes, just before having his “eyes… put out” and carried away alive to Babylon. Everything Jeremiah prophesied came to pass, and more:

Jer 39:6  Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Jer 39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.

Let us compare all these words about the “king of Babylon… and all the kingdoms of the earth…” who are fighting against God’s unfaithful wife, Judah, and Jerusalem, with the spiritual application of these words in:

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

Revelation 14 makes clear that even the Lord’s elect must endure the torment in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb:

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, [“all men” do (Rev 13:16)]
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 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond [“all” inclusive], to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

Remember how the Lord looks upon King Nebuchadnezzar:

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

As ‘the Lord’s servant’, Nebuchadnezzar’s judgment upon Zedekiah signifies the Lord’s judgment upon our own old man. It is we who [Isa 40:1-3 and Rev 14:9-12] “receive double” at the Lord’s hand for robbing Him of our worship, and it is our own old man whose “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, and it is he, our old man, who receives double at the Lord’s hand for all his iniquities and sins:

Exo 22:4  If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.

Isa 40:1  Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Isa 40:2  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.
Isa 40:3  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

It is our judgment in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) which ‘prepares the way for the Lord’ to establish His “house”, His kingdom within us (1Pe 4:17). When we refuse His residence and His dominion over us, we are robbing Him of His rightful claim upon the throne of our hearts and minds because we are all “bought with a price”.

Gen 47:23  Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
Gen 47:24  And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
Gen 47:25  And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
Gen 47:26  And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1Co 7:23  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Compare the spirit of the seventh verse of Revelation 18 with these words which concern the Lord’s own people:

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:

Compared with:

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.

Those two verses are addressed to the same ‘whore’, and they give the Lord the occasion He is seeking to give us the same dire warning Jeremiah gives King Zedekiah:

Jer 38:17  Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:

Those are the same words the Lord uses in speaking with us via “the church of the Laodiceans”:

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 [in “this present time” (Rom 8:18 and 1Pe 4:17)]: be zealous therefore, and repent.

There are two points which must be seen and understood if we are to understand who “Babylon the great” is. The first point is the fact that “her fornication is with the kings of the “earth”, and it is “the earth” which “is waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies”. If we are granted the gift of comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1Co 2:13-14), then we will know that the ‘earth’ signifies spiritual “Judah and Jerusalem”, the Lord’s own unfaithful wife, as Jeremiah has already revealed:

Jer 22:2  And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

Speaking to the same people in this same 22^nd chapter of Jeremiah, Judah and Jerusalem are addressed as:

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

It is few indeed who understand that it is “the earth” which stands over against and in opposition to the heavens. The opposite of ‘heaven’ in scripture is not ‘hell’ as so many suppose. Rather the opposite of heaven is the earth. It is fewer still who are given to see and understand that “Judah and Jerusalem” are the great whore whose ‘fornication and delicacies have enriched “all nations… and the kings of the earth” (Rev 18:3).

This is the fate of our self-righteous, iniquitous, rebellious, adulterous old man who is robbing Christ of His throne which is in our hearts and our minds:

Jer 34:5  But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

Here is the New Testament spiritual fulfillment of these five verses which concern the fate of our rebellious, self-righteous old man:

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.
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

“The kings of the earth” lament the destruction of our old man, and they are quick to let it be known. But the Lord has devised means to bring about both our destruction and the lamenting of the demise of our old man by those who identify with him and were made rich by him, the king of Judah and Jerusalem, who is also “become a harlot” (Isa 1:21).

The natural man will say, “Revelation 18 is a prophecy of the great harlot, and it has nothing to do with Zedekiah, the king of Judah and Jerusalem.” Nothing is further from the truth! The King of Judah and Jerusalem is labeled by the Lord himself as this very harlot of Revelation 17-18, and that very title was given to “Judah and Jerusalem” by the prophet Isaiah 70 years prior to these prophecies of Jeremiah:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
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.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

The Lord’s covenant with His people at Sinai was a marriage covenant, and these verses demonstrate that Judah and Jerusalem had not been a faithful wife. Lest anyone miss this point Isaiah goes on to place the label of ‘harlot’ squarely upon the “kings of Judah and Jerusalem”:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Isa 1:22  Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
Isa 1:23  Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Nothing changed between the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah except that ‘evil men and seducers waxed worse and worse’. The only change was that Jerusalem became even more of a harlot, and that is our story for many necessarily sinful years of iniquity while we all justify our self-righteous transgressions.

Jer 34:6  Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
Jer 34:7  When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.

Notice that the events of this chapter of Jeremiah transpire “When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem.”

This is the state of our own ecumenical Christian mind. In our appointed time, we all are fighting against ‘the Lord’s servant’ by denying that we are already in spiritual bondage to “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of this world” (Rev 17:4). We all, in our own time, deny the fact that the “time is at hand” that we must “read… hear and keep [all] the things which are written” in this prophecy of how Christ must come to be revealed within us. That confession must include the fact that we have been a harlot and not a faithful wife to our Lord.

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.

King Zedekiah typifies our self-righteous old man who ‘reproves, contends with, disannuls the Lord’s judgment, and condemns God to make himself righteous.’

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

The answer to the Lord’s question to Job is, “Yes we have done all those things to make ourselves righteous. We have done ‘many wonderful works’, and we did them in Christ’s name (Job 27 and 29).” We simply cannot see ourselves as an unfaithful whore, and yet it is of this very whore within us that the Lord speaks these words:

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 [self-righteousness (Eze 33:13)].

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

Acknowledging our infidelity to our spiritual Husband is integral to our salvation. Christ Himself was “called… out of Egypt” and confessed that even His flesh was not ‘good’:

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Jer 34:8  This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
Jer 34:9  That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
Jer 34:10  Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

Our old man, signified by King Zedekiah, all his ‘good works’ notwithstanding, despises the word of the Lord by His certified prophet, Jeremiah. Yet he self-righteously “made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto [their Hebrew servants].” This was done “When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem” (Jer 34:7). Even if this were done to seek the Lord’s mercy while under siege, it was the right thing to do, and no doubt it was given Jeremiah’s approval. Indeed, the king of Egypt came up against Nebuchadnezzar and caused the Chaldeans to lift the siege for a short time, during which time the people went back on their word to their Hebrew servants.

Here is the New Testament fulfillment of this story of going back on their word to release their Hebrew slaves:

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

Releasing our “Hebrew servant” from bondage to ourselves, typifies our willingness to receive and be obedient to the things the Lord tells us to do. Christ asks us:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

This story about King Zedekiah’s covenant with the people to release their Hebrew slaves right in the midst of the siege of Jerusalem signifies that the Lord’s chastening hand has begun its work in our lives when we “anon with joy” receive His word. However, when we realize how hard things are “because of the word”, when we don’t have the services of a Hebrew slave, that trial is more than we are willing to endure, so we go back on our own word and demand the services of our Hebrew slave. It is a ‘Hebrew servant’ because it is the word or Christ and not the doctrines of men. A Hebrew slave signifies our willingness to use the Lord’s own words to serve us instead of us being obedient to the Lord’s words. We begin to twist and wrest His words to mean what we want them to mean, and Christ goes on to tell us the result of doing that. It is the very same thing that happened to Jerusalem when they refused to be obedient to the Word of the Lord by Jeremiah. Here are the very next verses in Luke 6:

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. [(Psa 15:4) “sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not”]
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Psa 15:4  In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

When we release the bondage of our Hebrew slave, we are setting the Word of God free to show us how we are to obey Him. Setting our Hebrew servant free typifies being given the dominion over sin in our lives and being willing to bear the cross to achieve that liberty. We are now grateful to be given to “labor to enter into His rest” knowing that it is the Lord who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Php 2:12-13).

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

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

Part of that “example of unbelief” (Heb 4:11) was the example of Judah and Jerusalem who agreed to release their Hebrew servants but when the trials came, “because of the word”, and from having to labor without their subjugation they were offended and went back on their covenant.

“These things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition” (1Co 10:11) and this is what our Hebrew slaves do to us when we abuse them:

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

The release of our ‘manservants and maidservants’ signifies spiritually our obedience to the Lord’s words which serve and nourish and minister to us. We are all given to release those doctrines to minister to us when we first come to the Lord. Then we are all also given to ‘lose our first love’ as we twist and wrest and force the Lord’s words to cover the idols of our hearts. The idols of our hearts always accommodate the flesh of our old man and require much less labor on our part.

Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil [at the first]: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars [at the first]:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted [all at the first part of our walk with the Lord].
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

When we bring our ‘servants and handmaids’ back into subjection to ourselves we are no longer being submissive to the Lord. Rather, we begin to wrap and wrest His words around the idols of our own self-righteous, iniquitous false doctrines to justify not letting them go free to serve the Lord. When our servants are free to serve the Lord, then we, too, are free from the bondage of all our false doctrines and self-righteous iniquities:

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Eze 16:18  And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
Eze 16:19  My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 16:20  Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

The Lord’s gold and silver, His broidered garments, His oil and incense, His fine flour, oil, and honey, and His sons and daughters, are one and all symbols of His doctrines and His words which we bring into bondage to our own will and to our own false doctrines. We make His words into our doctrines, and in doing so we are placing ourselves under the bondage of sin in our lives, and yet sin’s dominion comes to an end at the appointed time in the life of “every man” (Rom 6:14, 1Co 3:13-16).

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. [God’s chastening grace (Tit 2:11-12 and Heb 12:6)]

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[Study Aired February 13, 2022]

Jer 31:1  At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:2  Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
Jer 31:3  The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Jer 31:4  Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
Jer 31:5  Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.
Jer 31:6  For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
Jer 31:7  For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
Jer 31:8  Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.
Jer 31:9  They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Jer 31:10  Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
Jer 31:11  For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.
Jer 31:12  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
Jer 31:13  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
Jer 31:14  And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.
Jer 31:15  Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Jer 31:16  Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
Jer 31:17  And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
Jer 31:18  I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.
Jer 31:19  Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Jer 31:20  Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

The Lord has an elect to whom He refers variously as Israel and Samaria, and as Judah and Jerusalem. In this present time, He is “scarcely saving… a very little remnant” as His elect. He is purifying us through ‘fiery… judgments of chastening and scourging’ (1Co 3:13-16, Heb 12:6, 1Pe 4:12-17). As the Lord’s fiery judgments chasten us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts, He also reminds us that we are His special people, and He encourages us as such to strive for the mark  of the prize of the high calling which is in Christ Jesus:

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after [G1377: dioko, to pursue… persecute], if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press [G3177: dioko, to pursue… persecute] toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Php 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Php 3:17  Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

The way we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God is by “Christ working in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure”:

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

The Lord is the One who is willing and doing His good pleasure in us by reminding us that He is working all things – our sins, iniquities, and rebellions, as well as our “chastening and scourging… to forsake ungodliness… after the counsel of His own will” – for our good:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

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:

Tit 2:9  Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;
Tit 2:10  Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
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;

“All things” of Romans 8:28 and Ephesians 1:11 certainly includes all the words of this prophecy of Jeremiah:

Jer 31:1  At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

We must look at the last two verses of our last study to see what the Lord means by these words. “At the same time…”:

Jer 30:23  Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
Jer 30:24  The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.

It is that “at the same time” the Lord is pouring out His fury… with pain upon the head of the wicked” that He is also “the God of all the families of Israel and [we] are [His] people”.

Jer 31:2  Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

It is the remnant who “find grace in the wilderness”. “The sword” is both the Word of the Lord (Eph 6:17) and “the wicked” who destroy the Lord’s people:

Psa 17:7  Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
Psa 17:8  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
Psa 17:9  From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
Psa 17:10  They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
Psa 17:11  They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
Psa 17:12  Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

Therefore, there is an ‘anointed’ who are “left of the Lord in the wilderness”, and there is an ‘anointed’ who are rejected of the Lord as were Esau and King Saul.

Wicked Israel during the time of wicked King Saul took the ark of God into battle with the false hope that because they were God’s “special people” (Deu 7:6), and because King Saul was indeed God’s anointed king of Israel (1Sa 10:1), therefore there was no way they could lose their lives while battling the Gentile Philistines. Such was not the case, and King Saul died in battle with the Philistines because he entertained and believed such a false doctrine. It is because the Lord loves us that He chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly lives 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;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Esau was just an earlier version of King Saul. Both typify the self-righteous spirit of Babylon. Esau, unlike Ishmael, was born of the same father and the same mother. King Saul and King David were both “the Lord’s anointed” by the same prophet, Samuel. Both Esau and King Saul falsely assumed that their close relationship with God made them completely incapable of being separated from Him in their present time. Such is not the case for any of us including the apostle Paul who set us this example of the state of mind we should have toward our relationship with God:

1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
1Co 9:26  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Paul never took his anointing for granted. Rather, he considered it a real possibility that he, too, ‘could be a castaway’ as had happened to so many who had been close to him:

2Ti 4:10  For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

Paul went on to clarify what should be our mindset towards our relationship with the Lord “in this present world”. Equating his time in ‘the Jews’ religion’ with the spirit that was in Esau and King Saul he says:

Gal 1:13  For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
Gal 1:14  And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

After listing all his accomplishments “in the Jews’ religion” Paul makes this statement for our admonition:

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after [G1377: ‘dioko’ pursue] if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press [G1377: ‘dioko’, pursue] toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Paul knows that if he is indeed ‘pursuing’ the Lord he is doing so only because the Lord is giving him the will and strength to do so (Php 2:12-13), yet he says, “I press toward the mark” just as He exhorts us to “work out [our] own salvation while recognizing that “it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure”:

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

When we fear and tremble before God as we work out our own salvation, we do it all “because it is God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure”.

Job, like the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, was made to be “afraid of [God]”, as the Lord was in the process of bringing him to see his own self-righteous iniquity:

Job 23:15  Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

The Lord alone gives us the gift of fearing Him and yet trusting Him:

Psa 56:3  What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

Psa 119:120  My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

In the book of Job, Satan is called the Lord’s “hand”:

Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

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

Satan does only what the Lord sends him to accomplish; nothing more and nothing less.

While the world glorifies Satan as a powerful adversary who is winning the war for the hearts and minds of mankind, the Lord’s word reveals that Satan is nothing more than an implement of adversity in the Lord’s hand. It is the Lord who calls all the shots. He first hedges Satan out of Job’s life. Then He sends Satan with the order to take away all of Job’s possessions, including his seven sons and three daughters. However, Satan was not permitted to touch Job himself. Satan did just exactly what he was told to do; nothing more, nothing less. After taking all Job’s possessions, then the Lord sent His ‘hand’, Satan, to afflict Job’s body but he was not permitted to take Job’s life. Satan again did exactly what he was given to do.

In the end, the Lord rebuked Job for his self-righteous iniquity. After showing Job that he had been contending with, reproving, and condemning God Himself to make himself more righteous than God, after bringing Job to repentance, then the Lord replaced double what Job had lost.

Job 42:10  And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

The experience of Job typifies what the Lord is doing with each of us if we are His elect. He will not lose a single one of His sheep.

Jer 31:3  The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

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

H4900
מָשַׁךְ
mâshak
maw-shak’
A primitive root; to draw, used in a great variety of applications (including to sow, to sound, to prolong, to develop, to march, to remove, to delay, to be tall, etc.): – draw (along, out), continue, defer, extend, forbear, X give, handle, make (pro-, sound) long, X sow, scatter, stretch out.

This word is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word ‘helkuo’ which is also translated as ‘draw’ in this verse:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [G1670: ‘helkuo’, drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Here is the definition of ‘helkuo’:

G1670
ἑλκύω, ἕλκω
helkuō    helkō
hel-koo’-o, hel’-ko
Probably akin to G138; to drag (literally or figuratively): – draw. Compare G1667.

Here is how the word ‘drawn’ is to be understood when the Lord tells us “with lovingkindness have I drawn thee”:

Gen 37:28  Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up [H4900: ‘mashak’, “to draw” or as is here demonstrated to drag] Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

The Lord’s love does not stop when we are unfaithful and disobedient. It is He who makes us to err and commit our sins and rebellions against Him and His ways. It is He who makes us “wicked for the day of evil” in the life of every man:

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

He sends the tempter to make us do the things we don’t even want to do, and He informs us of this fact:

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.

Paul had this same experience which we all have in our own time:

Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Like each of us, Job knew the Lord was sovereign over the good and the evil. Unlike the churches of Babylon, Job did not credit Satan with his loss or with his pain. Job knew it was all a work of God:

Job 1:20  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
Job 1:21  And 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.

At the beginning of his trials, Job worshiped and blessed the Lord in spite of losing all he had been given:

Job 1:22  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Nevertheless, when Satan was given to afflict Job’s body with extremely painful boils from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet, Job began to wonder why God was being so hard on him for no apparent reason. He never once doubted it was all of God. He simply did not understand why the Lord was putting Him through so much anguish:

Job 9:28  I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

It all happened to Job, and it is written to show us just how easy it is for us, when the Lord brings us to our “wits’ end” (Psa 107:27) to place ourselves above God Himself when we begin to question, contend with, reprove, and condemn the Lord to make ourselves appear more righteous than God Himself:

Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Job’s enemy at this point was the Lord Himself just as He is against us when we are against Him:

Jer 18:11  Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

As we see in this chapter of Jeremiah, when we return it is only because the Lord turned us back to Himself, and He, not us or our flesh, will get the glory for that.

Jer 31:4  Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
Jer 31:5  Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.
Jer 31:6  For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.

As the Lord’s ‘watchmen’ that is exactly what we do every day. When we come together this is where we are:

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

The Lord already knows those who are His, and it is they who first trust in Him and are given His spirit to strengthen them to endure to the end the fiery trials of His judgments:

Jer 31:7  For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. [The few elect]
Jer 31:8  Behold, I will bring them from the north country [From Babylon], and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. [The publicans, the lost sheep, and the prodigal son]
Jer 31:9  They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

There it is again. Any and all who “come with weeping” and who “walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they do not stumble” will do so only because the Lord “will cause” them to do so. No flesh will glory in His presence:

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.

Jer 31:10  Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.

The Lord does both the scattering and the gathering, and He works all the details that cause Him to do both:

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:

Jer 31:11  For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

Paul makes it very clear that our flesh is much stronger than we are:

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

From the foundation of the world, the Lord has promised us that we will, in our own appointed time, overcome “him that is stronger than [we are]”. He has promised all men we will, each in his own order (1Co 15:23), rule over sin in our lives:

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Jer 31:12  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

The Lord’s goodness is His Words, and the wheat, the wine, the oil are also Biblical symbols of His Truths. It is His Words and His Truths which feed our young of the flock and the herd. It is His Words and His doctrines which water our garden where we are laboring in His service, and it is His Words which will remove forever all sorrow.

Jer 31:13  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

We are the virgin bride of our Lord:

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

We are also the young and the old men in Christ:

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.

Jer 31:14  And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.

The priests of Christ are ‘satiated with the fatness’ of His Truth, because Christ is the Truth, and that alone “satisfies” His priests.

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

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

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Jer 31:15  Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

This is the verse which is quoted in the New Testament and applied to Herod’s killing of all the male children from two years old and under because the wise men were told by an angel not to reveal the location of Christ to Herod:

Mat 2:16  Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
Mat 2:17  Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
Mat 2:18  In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

This verse of Revelation comes to mind as the inward spiritual application of this prophecy:

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

This ‘great red dragon’ enters into all of us, and he is given to kill us before this world because we are this man child ‘who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron’:

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

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

The whole world, both Babylon and the secular world, agree on one thing and one thing only, and that is that Christ and His doctrine cannot and will not be tolerated because the doctrines of Christ condemn both the secular world with its doctrine of free will, and the great whore who controls the kings of the secular world. Remember as you read these verses that hatred is the Biblical equivalent of murder just as lust in one’s heart is the equivalent of adultery:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

With that Truth in mind, it is clear that we are “dead in the street of that great city” Babylon, just as we have murdered our own Lord in our own appointed time:

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
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.

Being “crucified with Christ” is in reality a reason for great rejoicing:

Php 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

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:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Jer 31:16  Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
Jer 31:17  And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

We are saved by hope:

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

This is a theme of all prophecy. Prophecy is for edification, exhortation and comfort, and these words certainly fill that bill.

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

It is the same message we have already heard in chapter 29:

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.
Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

King David declares this same message:

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

The Lord requires that our submission be sincere, honest, and total. He will have no part in a half-hearted, “lukewarm” servant:

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Jer 31:18  I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.

“Turn you me” has absolutely nothing to do with my own fabled ‘free will’. The scriptures read “Turn YOU me”, and this is accomplished by the Lord’s chastening hand in the lives of every son He receives. That is the meaning of “You chastised me, and I was chastised.” The prophets give all the credit for what Israel does – good or evil – to the Lord, who Jeremiah calls “the Potter”:

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

It is the Lord Himself who “caused [Jeremiah] to hear”, and it was the Lord Himself who made Israel marred before making Israel new, “another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” We are nothing more than “clay in the hand of the Potter”, and our rebellious carnal mind despises that Truth.

Isaiah is even more explicit:

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.

That Truth continues to be expressed in our next verses:

Jer 31:19  Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

Yes, it is all by the Lord. He makes light, and He makes darkness. He makes good, and He makes evil. We repent of the evil that He makes us to do, and we turn back to Him only after He drags us to repentance. Then He makes us to be ashamed of our spiritual nakedness and self-righteousness. We must all “bear the reproach of [our] youth” as “carnal… babes in Christ”. We are totally incapable of seeing ourselves as “carnal… babes in Christ”. While in Babylon we think of ourselves as mature children in the lying, deceitful doctrines of Babylon which rule over us for so many years. What we thought of as ‘light’ was in fact nothing more than self-righteous darkness, and it was “great… darkness, [and] strong delusion”. The Lord put us into that darkness, and He alone can drag us out because He, and He alone, can make good come out of evil and call light out of darkness:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Joseph’s brothers did not believe what he told them, and therefore they tormented themselves for the next seventeen years until Jacob died. Joseph again confirms his love for his self-righteous brothers who had sold him into Egypt:

Gen 50:16  And they [Joseph’s brothers] sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
Gen 50:17  So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
Gen 50:18  And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
Gen 50:19  And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it [the evil He made you think against me] unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Gen 50:21  Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

This is all the work of the Lord who alone can make good come out of evil. He, and He alone can also “call light out of darkness”, the darkness which He must first create:

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

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

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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:

The Lord alone is in a position of sovereignty which requires that He first create darkness and make us wicked before He can deliver us. It is essential that He deliver us from the “day of evil” for which He made us (Pro 16:4). That fact brings us to our last verse of today’s study:

Jer 31:20  Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

Here is the New Testament way of expressing the sentiment of this verse:

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

That is our study for today, and these are our verses for our next study:

Jer 31:21  Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
Jer 31:22  How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.
Jer 31:23  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.
Jer 31:24  And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.
Jer 31:25  For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.
Jer 31:26  Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.
Jer 31:27  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
Jer 31:28  And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD.
Jer 31:29  In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
Jer 31:30  But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jer 31:35  Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
Jer 31:36  If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
Jer 31:37  Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
Jer 31:38  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.
Jer 31:39  And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.
Jer 31:40  And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.

Jer 23:1-20  In My House Both Prophet and Priest are Profane

[Study Aired November 7, 2021]

Jer 23:1  Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Jer 23:2  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:3  And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
Jer 23:4  And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:5  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
Jer 23:6  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Jer 23:7  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Jer 23:8  But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
Jer 23:9  Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
Jer 23:10  For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
Jer 23:11  For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:12  Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:13  And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
Jer 23:14  I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
Jer 23:15  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
Jer 23:16  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
Jer 23:17  They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
Jer 23:18  For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
Jer 23:19  Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
Jer 23:20  The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

The Lord is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him:  for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

The same is true for those who rebel and disobey and ignore Him. Disobedience and iniquity also have their reward:

Exo 34:7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth  generation.

Holding the father’s sins over their children was changed, and each person was made to give an accounting for his own sins in the time of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel:

Jer 31:28  And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD.
Jer 31:29  In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
Jer 31:30  But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Eze 18:2  What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
Eze 18:3  As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

Every generation will now be made to give an accounting for itself, and every individual will stand before the judgment seat of Christ:

Rom 14:10  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

It was Christ Himself who told us:

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

It is this “fire” of the Lord which will judge every man when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. If we have been “given…much”, and yet have not freely fed the Lord’s sheep, then this is the “fire which will judge us in that day:

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Therefore, it is those who know so much, or who think they know so much, to whom these words are addressed:

Jer 23:1  Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Jer 23:2  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

“The pastors that feed my people” in the Lord’s day were the chief priests and the Pharisees, as we are told in the parable of the “householder which planted a vineyard…and let it out to husbandmen.”

Mat 21:33  Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
Mat 21:34  And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
Mat 21:35  And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
Mat 21:36  Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
Mat 21:37  But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
Mat 21:38  But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
Mat 21:39  And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
Mat 21:40  When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
Mat 21:41  They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Mat 21:42  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43  Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Mat 21:45  And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake  them.
Mat 21:46  But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.

You and I are living out these words. The vineyard the Lord has given us is each other, His people, and we are His husbandmen. The winepress and the tower signify Himself and His words which He has given to us to shepherd and pastor His people and remind them of His judgments:

Pro 18:10  The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup [of wine], and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom [which “is within you” (Luk 17:20-21)].

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

“The last day” is also called “the end of the world” (Greek: aion, age):

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [Greek: G165 ‘aion’, age] are come.

We are living in “the end of the age” because we are being judged in “this present time” by the fiery words of Christ who “[came] to bring fire”:

Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

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:

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?

All these words which the prophets of the Old Testament and the prophets of the New Testament are speaking are intended only for those with eyes that see and ears that hear. All the rest of mankind have been given eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear.

God’s judgments begin at His own house:

Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
Eze 9:8  And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?
Eze 9:9  Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.

The Lord will not “destroy all the residue of Israel”. He always saves and spares His elect as He did in type to Noah, to Job, to the three Hebrew children at the fiery furnace, to Daniel in the lion’s den, and to you and me as a living sacrifice which is dying daily (Rom 12:1, 1Co 15:31).

Jer 23:3  And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
Jer 23:4  And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.

What a blessing it is to have shepherds over us to feed us without fear, without dismay, and lacking nothing!

Jer 23:5  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

The Lord is that “Righteous Branch”, and if He is living His life within us, then we are His Christ.

Lest there be any doubt that what we are being told is that He lives within us, notice that His name is in the plural  – “Our Righteousness”:

Jer 23:6  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Furthermore, we are even told that we are no longer to consider ourselves as those who simply come out of Egypt. Rather, we are to come to see ourselves as those who come out of Babylon:

Jer 23:7  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Jer 23:8  But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

We all see ourselves as slaves to Egypt long before we can even begin to see that we are not given to understand we are in Babylon, the great whore who rules over everything we think and do. We are all brought to Christ by some Babylonian minister, and we cannot see that the man, or group of men, whom the Lord used to bring us to see that we need a Savior could possibly be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Yet the very next words of this prophecy verifies our Lord’s words to the “pastors” of His day and the pastors of our own time:

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.

We have all come to our Lord and were then told we did so of our own free will, so making ourselves righteous, and thereby we commit iniquity:

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

As the entire book of Job demonstrates there is nothing more abhorrent to the Lord than the sin of self-righteousness, which is iniquity:

This link deals with the sin of self-righteousness as written about in Job 40:1-14

‘The whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water’ are taken away from us while we are enslaved to this self-righteous spirit:

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,

False prophets deceive those who have no bread or water by which to judge false prophets who then easily cause us to follow spiritually adulterous prophets and priests. Without the Lord’s ‘bread’ and without His ‘water’ we are not capable of trying the spirits to see whether they are of God:

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.

It is because we are in this helpless condition and at the mercy of merciless spiritual wolves that this is the lament of those who can and who do “try the spirits to see whether they are of God”:

Jer 23:9  Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
Jer 23:10  For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.

“Their force is not right” because they get their ‘force’, their ‘power’, from the dragon who is that old serpent the devil:

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

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

“That old serpent, called the devil, and Satan [has] deceived the whole world” and the whole world gets its power from “the great dragon”. Nowhere is this more on display than in the religions of this world, even in the Lord’s own house:

Jer 23:11  For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

If we are those who lament these things, it is only because we have been there and done that. We, too, were all deceived by “the devil and Satan which deceives the whole world”, and it is all the work of the Lord Himself.

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.

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

It is we ourselves who have been “like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness,” some of which are:

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep [Because they have been through the storms, and they know who commands the storms of life].
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  or his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Here are more words which the deceived purveyors of “smooth things” cannot abide (Isa 30:10):

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

Isa 30:8  Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Isa 30:11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

Notice that “smooth things [and] deceits” are contrasted with “right things… much tribulation [and] dying daily (Act 14:22 and 1Co 15:31).

There are consequences when we fail to give all glory to the Lord and when we do not believe His words. There are consequences to refusing to believe that the Lord Himself made our own old man “wicked for [His own] day of evil”.

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

This is part of the consequences of refusing to agree with the Lord that He “creates evil” (Isa 45:7) and makes the wicked within us for our own day of evil:

Jer 23:12  Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:13  And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
Jer 23:14  I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

You and I have been and “have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem… [spiritual] adultery, walk[ing] in lies… [refusing] to return from [their] wickedness”.

Jer 23:15  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets [that prophesy lies]; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
Jer 23:16  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

Their words are not founded in “that which is written”, and they will always refuse to seek a multitude of counselors within the Lord’s body to keep them from slipping away from the safety of His Words.

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.

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

When the Lord removes His fear from us (Isa 63:17), “we cannot hear [His] words”:

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

We continue forth in our spiritually blind and deaf ways teaching the lies of the adversary:

Jer 23:17  They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

The adversary is “more subtle than any beast of the field” and knows just how to frame a false lying doctrine to make it appeal to our flesh and to our pride, even as it denies what the Word plainly teaches. The adversary is so subtle that he has convinced many that “the resurrection is past already”:

2Ti 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

It once puzzled me how anyone could possibly think that the resurrection is past already or that there is no literal thousand-year reign of the saints over the kingdoms of this world. After all, we are told to wait for the manifestation of the sons of God. We are told that Christ Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and we are told that those who are in the first resurrection will reign with Christ a thousand years, and then “when the thousand years are finished… we shall judge angels” at the great white throne judgment which does not take place until “the thousand years are finished”:

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

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

It was obvious to Paul that there was a future ‘suffering’ which was not ‘of this present time’, and those who would have a part in that suffering were not “wait[ing] for the manifestation of the sons of God” to judge them via those ‘sufferings’ and to be their “saviors” (Obadiah 1:21).

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Yes, it is true that we are already “dead with Christ (and) raised up together with (Christ)”, but this is all in the aorist tense in the Greek, meaning it is a process which is taking place at this present moment. However, the phrase “shall be in the likeness of His resurrection” happens to be in the Greek future tense:

“…we shall be^{G2071 [G5704]} also^{G235 G2532} in the likeness of his resurrection^G386:
G5704
Tense-Future  See [G5776]
Voice-No Voice Stated  See [G5799]
Mood -Indicative  See [G5791]

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

We are being blinded by the Lord from seeing that what we have in Christ at this very moment, while it is a precious gift, is ours only in down payment, “earnest” form:

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

“The earnest of our inheritance” is not “the redemption of the purchased possession”. It is a mere down payment. Here is how Strong’s defines the Greek word translated as ‘earnest’ in Ephesians 1:14:

G728
ἀῤῥαβών
arrhabōn
ar-hrab-ohn’
Of Hebrew origin [H6162]; a pledge, that is, part of the purchase money or property given in advance as security for the rest: – earnest.

“The redemption of the purchased possession” is the best part of our inheritance which is yet to come and for which we must ‘wait in hope’:

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now [“Waiting for (the first resurrection), the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19)].
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Despite these very clear words, the adversary has convinced many that there is no difference between the two resurrections or the two judgments.

We are clearly made to know that we are merely “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

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 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.

As Paul puts it in:

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

It was given to the apostle John to reveal to us what is meant by “to the praise of His glory”. Here is the “blessed and holy” meaning of that phrase:

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

This is what Christ called “the resurrection to life” after having already been judged in “this present time”:

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment – the great white throne judgment].

Despite these words which tell us of the reward the Lord has for those to whom He has given the gift of being the “first [to] trust in Christ”, the adversary has convinced many that “the resurrection is past already” and that there is no difference between the rewards of the two resurrections. Such a doctrine would have you believe that contrary to “that which is written” the great multitude which no man could number” will after all sing the song of which we are told:

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 from the earth.

How has the adversary been able to even make that assertion considering all these statements and many, many more which make clear all the blessings given to those who “suffer with Christ” in this present time (Rom 8:17)? He has done it by teaching that there is no outward physical blessing for being the first to trust in Christ. He had been given the power to convince many that the inward, spiritual death and resurrection of Christ within us is all that matters, and that is all that is needed for the plan of God for mankind to be fulfilled. Nothing could be further from the Truth, because this is the Truth which is taught by scripture:

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Death cannot be destroyed if physical children continue being born to dying bodies of corruptible flesh and blood.

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

So, the prophet Jeremiah asks:

Jer 23:18  For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

It certainly has not been those who are teaching that the resurrection is past already or that there is no real difference between the first and the second resurrection.

I tell the story of two Concordant brothers approaching me at our conference in the Las Brisas Hotel in Alabama, back about 2004. They both asked, “Why do you make such a big deal out of being in the first resurrection?” I pointed to all these verses we have just read, but it all went right over their heads because they were blinded by the false doctrine of ‘two administrations’ which the Concordant Conferences teach. That doctrine teaches that there are two gospels – one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. That doctrine teaches that the Jews inherit the earth, and the Gentiles inherit the heavens. Nothing could be further from this truth:

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Christ is not making of twain, twain. He is making of twain “one new man…”

Then a sister who left our fellowship along with four of our elders, told me very plainly, “I don’t care which resurrection I am in. It doesn’t matter to me at all whether I am in the first or the second resurrection.” She said that because she had fallen for the false doctrine those four elders were peddling, that “Everything is within… if you see anything in an ordinal, outward sense then you can and you will miss the spiritual message of scripture.” Nothing could be further from these words of scripture concerning the ordinal and outward fulfillment of the prophecies of scripture:

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

The Truth is the exact opposite of what our apostate elders were teaching. The truth is that if you are not given to see the order of the events discussed in these verses, then you can and you will miss the spiritual message of the prophecies of scripture, and this is what comes upon us while we live under those lies:

Jer 23:19  Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
Jer 23:20  The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

“The latter days” come upon two separate groups. The first is in “this present time”, and the second group are those who come up in “the resurrection of damnation” (Greek: ‘krisis’ judgment – Joh 5:27-29).

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

The phrase, “the ends of the world are come”, is in the aorist tense. That means that “judgment [has] begun at the house of God” right now in “this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

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:

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?

The “whirlwind from the Lord in His fury” is the seven last plagues” of Revelation 15-16, of which we are told:

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.

“No man [can] enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled” is in the aorist tense. It is my fervent prayer that everyone of us is being judged in this present time.

Here are our verses for our next study:

Jer 23:21  I have not sent these propets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

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

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

[Study Aired August 29, 2021]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [at the “first resurrection” (Rev 20:6)]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [over a thousand years later (Rev 20:7-15)].

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

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

This is the New Testament version of this verse:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

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

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

This principle is repeated in:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the New Testament version of this verse:

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

That is the positive application of these words of Job:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Lord does not need our praise, but we do need Him, and we do need to know the Truth, which is the very definition of life eternal:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Next study in this series is here.]

Heb 10:35-39, Part 5 – “For yet a Little While, and He That Shall Come will Come, and Will Not Tarry”

[Study Aired February 4, 2021]

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 
Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 
Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:2  For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

There are no chapter breaks, as we know, in the book of Hebrews, and I’ve included the first three verses of chapter eleven to just look at and consider, seeing they explain an integral part of how it is possible that “we are not of them who draw back unto perdition“as a result of the faith that God grants us and that Christ prays will not fail.

Rom 3:27  Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

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

Knowing and believing we are Jesus Christ whom the world is persecuting (Act 26:15, Psa 2:1-4, Act 4:26-28) is the most confident statement we can make in our flesh in which we have no confidence (Php 3:3), which will result in a “great recompence of reward” for those who esteem “the reproach of Christ [“who we are”] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt”. It takes God-given faith which “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” in order to overcome in this life through an ongoing work of faith within us that causes us to believe and “understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” within us, through Christ who we look to as the author and finisher of that faith (Heb 12:1-3).

Act 26:15  And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

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 [Eph 1:11, Luk 20:14, ‘how the inheritance is obtained’ (1Pe 4:1, 2Ti 2:12-13)]

Php 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit [Joh 4:24], and rejoice in Christ Jesus [Php 4:4], and have no confidence in the flesh.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Php 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

[“Again I say, Rejoice” as we patiently possess our souls in Christ in whom we have obtained an inheritance (Luk 21:19, Eph 1:11).]

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

We endure together as the body of Christ in seeing Him who is invisible, our hope of glory within (Col 1:27) who is doing a spiritual work that is building up the temple, which we are in this generation that shall not pass until all these things be fulfilled (Heb 11:26-27, 1Co 3:16-18, Psa 127:1, Mat 24:34).

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

That faith chapter discussed earlier is a rich exposé of those faith-filled events which were written for our sakes that typify what God can and will do within His people (2Co 4:15), and it was recorded to give us the utmost confidence in how God will save us to the uttermost who “come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25) who are His spiritual workmanship that will not be taken out of Christ’s hand (Eph 2:10, Joh 10:28, Joh 18:9). Their prophesy of old was not for them but for us and was written to admonish us and persuade us that nothing can separate us from the love of God “which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (1Pe 1:12-14, Rom 8:38-39).

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into [Heb 11:1-40].
1Pe 1:13  Wherefore [‘because of what we just read‘] gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

[“For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” right now he will come, as well as tomorrow and the next day if we are cleaving to Christ and resisting the devil. The devil flees from those who were called to be more than conquerors through Christ who we cleave to so we can endure all things through him (Jas 4:7, Rom 8:37-39, Php 4:13).]

1Pe 1:14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance [Rom 12:2-3]:

“Through faith we understand that the worlds [G165] were framed by the word of God”  is speaking of each age [G165 aiōn], in every individual who has ever lived. Each life is a book or age that has been purposed by God and “framed by the word of God” for our sakes today (2Co 4:15) and ultimately for all the world in time, which will result in God being all in all (1Co 15:28). The natural creation was created and made marred in the hand of the potter (Jer 18:4) or framed by God for His purpose. Romans show us what the natural marred creation does without the mind of Christ which leads to perdition (Rom 1:20-25). We all start off there given over to a reprobate mind, because we “did not like to retain God in their knowledge” but now we are “not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” if we are that generation that God is judging first in this age and cleansing of all those things mentioned in (Rom 1:29-32) so that we might be the first to trust in Christ “to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:12).

G165 aiōn  ahee-ohn’

From the same as G104; properly an age; by extension perpetuity (also past); by implication the world; specifically (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future): – age, course, eternal, (for) ever (-more), [n-]ever, (beginning of the, while the) world (began, without end). Compare G5550.

If God is working with us in this age, then that work of faith which is unfolding in our heavens (Eph 2:8-10) is giving us victory (1Jn 5:4) over that man of perdition within us who is being destroyed by the brightness of His coming (2Th 2:8), so “we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
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.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

It is “by grace are ye saved through faith” which is the gift of God He gives to His elect who are being saved first through a process which requires that we  must possess our souls patiently (Luk 21:19) “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise“. We come together often to remind each other of the value of that patience and faith of the saints that is formed by filling up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ and demonstrated with fruit that our Father patiently produces within us as our husbandman who gives that increase and (Jas 5:7-8, 1Co 3:6-7) who “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. God’s elect are sharing in that experience to this end: “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:6-8)

Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh [“For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry“].

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

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 

Confidence in the Lord is something that is accomplished by putting off the flesh, and God has provided the means for us to do this through putting on Jesus Christ (Rom 13:12-14).

Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

A newborn child is circumcised on the eighth day according to Jewish custom (Lev 12:3), and we know the eighth day symbolizes the new man, Jesus Christ in us as our hope of glory (Col 1:27). This circumcision of the flesh reminds us we have to go through something in order to bring us to stop trusting in our flesh (2Co 1:8-9, 1Co 7:19), and go forward trusting God with all our hearts (Pro 3:5-7). “The eighth, and is of the seven” that goes “into perdition” (Rev 17:11) is described for “the Israel of God” who we are (Gal 6:16) in these terms as a type and shadow representation of how we can put off the flesh as the manchild that God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Lev 12:2-3, Eph 2:6).

Lev 12:3  And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

2Co 1:8  For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead [Eph 2:6]:

1Co 7:19  Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

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

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

Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Lev 12:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman [“Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal 4:26)] have conceived seed, and born a man child [Gal 3:16, Rev 12:5]: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.
Lev 12:3  And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

Therefore in order to “cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward“,  we must “cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” by going “boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16) as we overcome “the sin which doth so easily beset us” by “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1-2).

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 

How important is this patience that we need and why is it “after ye have done the will of God” and not before this is discussed as something that is needed in order that “ye might receive the promise“?

The answer to those questions is found in knowing what is required in order to have “the patience and faith of the saints” manifested in our lives along with the understanding that we must die daily and endure unto the end fulfilling God’s will (Luk 22:42) in order to be saved that “ye might receive the promise” (1Co 15:31, Mat 24:13), the promise of being found in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Rev 20:6) not having my own righteousness but Christ’s alone (Php 3:9), who gives us the power to say “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

[The 144 thousand who represent the elect are cleansed (Rev 14:1-11) by the wrath of God (Rev 14:10) that produces the patience and faith of the saints (Rev 14:12-13, Mat 24:1-51)]

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God [1Co 7:19], and the faith of Jesus [1Jn 5:4].
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours;  and their works do follow them.

[Our works that “do follow them” is the “the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” that we are pressing toward (Php 3:14) and we need to patiently possess our souls (Luk 21:19) right now, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2Co 10:5) that “ye might receive the promise“.]

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

1Co 7:19  Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

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

Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 

In the flesh God knows “yet a little while” does not seem like a little while at all, especially when you are going through a severe trial (1Co 10:13, Heb 12:11, Heb 5:14); but it is that experience that we go through that God uses to try and perfect the faith he gives us (1Pe 1:7) which is so precious to Him because that trial causes us to cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1-2) and brings us to that point where we will experience these words: “and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry“. He is our safe haven and the one who raised the storm and delivered us through it “to the praise of His glory”.

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

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:

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

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

Christ is glorified in us through our obedience which is learned by the things that we suffer (Heb 5:8, 1Jn 4:17), so that God’s will is accomplished in our lives, which becomes an abundant life through Christ (Joh 10:10) where we eventually can say “I 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”, and “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”, and speaking of Moses of whom it was written for our sakes: “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward“. This is why the trial of our faith is so precious to God, and He knows how to motivate us to have “respect unto the recompence of the reward” which for God’s elect is “the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” which is to be found in that blessed and holy first resurrection (1Pe 1:7-8, Eph 1:12, Psa 107:28-30, Mar 4:38-40, Rev 20:6).

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

God’s elect are granted in this life to be “believing” (1Pe 1:8), and it is because of that belief we can be partakers with the suffering of Christ and do the work of God which is to believe in this communion (1Co 10:16) that we have with our head Jesus Christ and His body, believing “on him whom he hath sent” (Joh 6:28-29). Now we “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” because “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” and we are now being sent to spiritually heal others as Christ has done for us (Joh 20:21, Psa 107:20, Mar 16:15, Mat 10:6).

1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

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.

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw backG5288, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 

We are not free moral agents who just decide to draw back independently of God causing that, and if we don’t “draw back”^G5288 that will be a work of God as well which was made possible by Christ praying for us so that our faith fails not as He did for Peter who represents who the elect are. Peter is us (Luk 22:32)!

G5288
hupostellō hoop-os-tel’-lo
From G5259 and G4724; to withhold under (out of sight), that is, (reflexively) to cower or shrink, (figuratively) to conceal (reserve): – draw (keep) back, shun, withdraw.

God wanted to deeply impress this point of showing us that it is Christ in us who does not “draw back”^G5288 or deny himself (2Ti 2:13). So the contrast is drawn with Peter who, while yet carnal and thinking that he would never “draw back”^G5288, drew back and left Christ ‘high and dry’ as they say, because he did not have God’s spirit within him to give him the strength to do the right thing. Well, we are Peter, and but for the grace of God, which number is represented by adding the two times the cock crowed and the three times Peter denied Christ, we would all do the very same thing except for the grace and faith of Christ (Mat 26:34-35).

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

Mat 26:34  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 

We all have to deny Christ a symbolic three times in our flesh, but each time we see how hypocritical our flesh is by God simply hardening our hearts and causing us to err (Isa 63:17, Rom 7:19), brings us closer to him through those experiences as we’re led to repentance (Rom 2:4) and learn of His forbearance and longsuffering spirit. We will fall a complete seven times in this life (Pro 24:16), but God’s elect “are not of them who draw back^G5289 unto perdition“. The word “draw back” in this verse is slightly different than our last verse and means “to shrink back” but also “apostasy”.

G5289
hupostolē hoop-os-tol-ay’
From G5288; shrinkage (timidity), that is, (by implication) apostasy: – draw back.

Christ was not concerned about Judas’ apostasy that cost Christ’s life and simply told Judas “that thou doest, do quickly” after “Satan entered into him”. On the other hand, Peter’s initial drawing back or denying Christ was the event that God used to bring him to weep bitter tears (Luk 22:61). Christ prayed for Peter that when he was converted that he should strengthen the brethren with that gift of God’s spirit within him (Luk 22:32). No such prayer was made for Judas who represents the man of perdition within us who must be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming which will happen for Judas in the lake of fire (Joh 17:12).

We are not of them “who draw back unto perdition” as Judas was, but of them “that believe to the saving of the soul“. The reason this is possible is because of the gift of the grace through faith that is given to us represented by the witness of the cock crowing twice and the three times denying Christ that Peter did in his flesh, which reminds us that it is through much tribulation that we will enter into the kingdom of God (Act 14:22) through the ‘process of spiritual completion’ which is what three represents (Eph 2:8).

It is “to the saving of the soul” that reminds us that it is those who endure until the end that will be saved because of the grace through faith that God gives His elect in order to believe these words: “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Mat 24:13, Heb 10:37).