Matthew 25:1–30 The Parable of the Ten Virgins

[Study Aired November 17, 2025]

In our study today, we shall focus on the parable of the ten virgins and that of the talents. In the previous study on Matthew 24, our attention was centered on the physical coming of the son of man. These parables therefore serve as warning, so that we are not found wanting at His coming.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

Mat 25:1  Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 

The kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is a spiritual realm, led by Jesus as king, with God as the ultimate authority. This realm is the hearts and minds of those who are being dragged by the Lord to submit to His will. The fact that the kingdom of heaven is likened to ten virgins implies that the participants of the kingdom are people who are full of the flesh who are receiving the mercy of the Lord to become the Lord’s bride when He comes. This is because the number ten signifies the fullness of the flesh. The story of Esther and the other virgins who were being prepared for the king illustrates the point being made in verse 1 where the ten virgins went forth to meet the bridegroom.  

Est 2:2  Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king: 
Est 2:3  And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them: 
Est 2:4  And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. 

From this Esther story, we can see that the king is looking for fair young virgins as a bride. These young virgins are the participants of the kingdom of heaven. The fact that they must go through a purification process before they can be the bride of Christ is to suggest that these young virgins are of the flesh. That is why the number of virgins in this parable is ten. As noted in this Esther story, it is the maid who pleases the king who is privileged to become a queen. The ten virgins therefore are those who have been called, and in their lifetime, must please the Lord to become His bride.

In verse 1, we are told that all the virgins took their lamps. Spiritually, the lamps represent the word of the Lord as shown in the following verses:

Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. 

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

The fact that these virgins took their lamps therefore means that all those who are called by the Lord are instructed by the word of the Lord to make themselves ready for our Lord Jesus. 

Psa 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. 

Psa 119:133  Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.  

To be granted to be part of this marriage union with Christ, we are required to put on fine linen, which is the righteousness of the saints.  

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 
Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

The ten virgins who set out to meet the bridegroom therefore signify all those who are called, which includes the Lord’s elect and our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world or Babylon. The five who were wise represent the Lord’s elect and the foolish ones symbolize our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world. The number five for the wise virgins indicates the fact that it is by grace through faith that the wise virgins are called and chosen. The number five in the case of the foolish virgins means that these foolish virgins are going through a period of famine of the word of the Lord as we shall see in the next verse of the study.

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 45:11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 
Amo 8:12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
Amo 8:13  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 

Mat 25:3  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 
Mat 25:4  But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 

Verses 3 and 4 show us that the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins is that the wise took oil in the vessels with their lamps while the foolish ones did not take oil with them. The oil represents the spirit of the Lord, and the vessels are our bodies. Remembering that the lamps signify the word of the Lord, what we are being shown is that the five foolish virgins are not given to understand the word of the Lord in the spirit. On the other hand, the five wise virgins are privileged to understand the word of the Lord in the spirit, which is another way of saying that the wise virgins are given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but the foolish ones are not given to do so. 

1Sa 16:13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. 

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

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 

Being able to understand the word of the Lord in the spirit is a prerequisite to worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

Mat 25:5  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 
Mat 25:6  And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 
Mat 25:7  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 

We all start our walk with the Lord as virgins as we escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the bridegroom, who is the Lord and savior Jesus Christ. The coming of the Lord into our lives to establish His kingdom within us takes time. This delay in the Lord’s coming exposes us as to whom we really are, as we all end up slumbering or sleeping. To slumber or to sleep is another way of saying that we all go back to our vomit as dogs as we eat and drink with the drunken. In other words, we are deceived as we are overwhelmed by our flesh. 

At the Lord’s physical appearing, when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, many will be found asleep spiritually due to the Lord’s delay in coming.

Mat 24:48  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 
Mat 24:49  And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,  

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 
2Pe 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

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; 

The cry at midnight that the bridegroom comes is to let us know that when Christ comes into our lives, we shall know within us, without the shadow of doubt, His voice. Going out to meet Him means preparing to join the Lord in the marriage feast. This preparation involves trimming our lamps. That is to say that the word of the Lord must be illuminated to lighten our path to Christ. This is dependent on the oil in the lamp. In other words, it is as we understand the word of the Lord in the spirit that we see our way clearly to be united with the Lord. If there is no oil, there will not be any light from the lamp. That is to say that if we are not given to understand the word of the Lord in the spirit, then there is no way that we can become part of the bridegroom train.  

Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  

It is insightful to note that it is at the Lord’s coming that the five foolish virgins will realize that all along, they did not have what it takes to become the bride of Christ. As indicated, the five foolish virgins represent our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world. We were part of them until the Lord came to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness. This implies that many at this point in time, are not aware that they have been deceived by the very churches which they think will take them to Christ. Just as we, His elect, realized that we had been deceived when Christ came to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness, it is at the Lord’s physical reunion with His elect at the first resurrection that many will realize that they have been deceived. This deception is spoken of in several places of the word of the 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. 
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 

Mat 25:8  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 
Mat 25:9  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.  

It is at Christ’s coming that our brothers and sisters in Babylon who are living shall see that we, His elect, are truly blessed to be with the Lord. That is when they come to us asking us to give them oil as their lamps have gone out. On the other hand, our brothers and sisters in Babylon who are dead before the coming of the Lord shall see our status as the Lord’s elect at the second resurrection. 

Through us, His elect, our brothers and sisters in Babylon shall come to know that they should go to them that sell and buy the oil for themselves. That means that there is a price to pay to be given the privilege to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. This price to pay is the Lord’s judgment of our old man which will be meted out to all humanity, including our brothers and sisters in Babylon, during the lake of fire age. They that sell in verse 9 refers to the Lord’s elect, who will administer the Lord’s judgment to the whole of humanity during the lake of fire age.

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.  

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. 

Mat 25:10  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 
Mat 25:11  Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 
Mat 25:12  But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 
Mat 25:13  Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 

The fact that the wise virgins went to the marriage feast with the Lord while the foolish virgins went to buy oil means that it is the Lord’s elect, symbolized by the five wise virgins, who will be part of the first resurrection. Our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world or Babylon will buy oil during the lake of fire age. The door being shut implies that no one will be saved during the thousand-year reign of the Lord and His elect. This is made clear in verses 11 and 12 where the five foolish virgins were not allowed to enter the marriage feast because the Lord said that He did not know them. The reason why the Lord did not know them is shown in Matthew 7:23 where the Lord said that they are workers of iniquity. 

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

We must understand that iniquity is defined as self-righteousness by the word of the Lord. This means that the foolish virgins, who represent our brothers and sisters in Babylon are disqualified from the wedding feast of the Lord primarily because of their self-righteousness.

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. 

In verse 13, the Lord is admonishing us to be watchful since we do not know the day and the hour of His coming. If we do not know, then it means that the Father has not revealed it to our Lord Jesus Christ. This is because whatever the Lord has received from the Father, He makes it known to us.

Joh 17:8  For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.   

The Parable of the Talents

Mat 25:14  For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 
Mat 25:15  And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. 
Mat 25:16  Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. 
Mat 25:17  And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. 
Mat 25:18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his lord’s money. 

The man travelling into a far country is our Lord Jesus Christ. The servants are the Lord’s elect in every generation. The goods here represent the talents that the Lord has given to each one of us. As stated in verse 15, the talents is given according to the abilities that the Lord has given to each one of us.   

1Pe 4:10  As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 
1Pe 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 
Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 
Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 
Rom 12:6  Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Rom 12:7  Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 
Rom 12:8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

The journey that the Lord took in verse 15 is to go and prepare a place for us. This place that the Lord is preparing is the hearts and minds of His elect. 

Joh 14:2  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 
Joh 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 
Joh 14:4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.  

Joh 14:18  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

As indicated, the Lord has given to each one of us various capabilities. To some, He has given five talents. By grace through faith (the significance of the number 5), those who are given many capabilities are able to carry out the responsibilities the Lord has assigned to them. Let’s look at the example of Paul. He was given so much (five talents) by the Lord’s grace, and He was able to execute all the responsibilities that the Lord gave to Him. 

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 
1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 

Similarly, those who are given two talents are also able to carry out the work that the Lord assigns to them. The problem was with the one who was given one talent. Usually, we feel we do not have something to offer when our talents are not obvious. As shown in the earlier verses, each one is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.  As indicated in verse 18, the one with one talent went and dug the earth and hid the Lord’s money or talent. The earth in this case, represents our bodies and therefore what happened was that the one with one talent hid the talent within him. That is to say that he was not able to bring out his talent. Every one of us has something to offer. Just a word of encouragement, a testimony, a song, etc. from a brother or sister will go a long way to help us in our walk with the Lord.

Mat 25:19  After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. 
Mat 25:20  And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
Mat 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 
Mat 25:22  He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. 
Mat 25:23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.   

In the fullness of time, our Lord will come, and that is when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. His coming is the first resurrection where the Lord’s elect who are able to double the talents that the Lord has given them shall be rewarded. That is the beginning of the rulership of many things for the Lord’s elect, which is the same as entering into the joy of the Lord. It is worth noting that the doubling of the talents is the same as becoming witnesses of Christ since the number 2 or double means a witness. 

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.  

As we can see, it does not matter the capabilities the Lord has given to each one of us. We shall all receive the same reward, that is, the rulership of many things or the entering into the joy of our Lord. The rulership entails ruling the nations of this world during the thousand-year reign of the Lord and of His Christ. It also involves playing the role of judges in the lake of fire age to usher in the whole of humanity and the devil and his cohorts to Christ. 

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. 

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. 

Mat 25:24  Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 
Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 
Mat 25:26  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 
Mat 25:27  Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. 

These verses demonstrate that our perception of the Lord affects the way the Lord relates to us. This principle is captured by the following scripture:

2Sa 22:26  With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. 
2Sa 22:27 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury. 

This principle is demonstrated clearly in the situation where the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord. However, because they harbored idols of the heart (false doctrines), the Lord answered them according to the idols in their hearts. In the verses under discussion, the man regarded the Lord as a hard man who reaps where He has not sown and therefore the Lord required that the man should have at least put the money to the exchangers so that at His return, he can receive interest. These verses therefore stress the importance of knowing who Christ is through His word. As we are aware, it is only the Lord’s elect who are given to know Christ.

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

Mat 25:28  Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 
Mat 25:29  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. 

Here in these verses, the Lord is showing us that if we are not faithful in the little that He has given to us, what we have shall be taken away and given to those who are faithful. For example, in Matthew 13, we are told that our understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven is increased as the Lord takes away the knowledge that our brothers and sisters have of Him in the church system of this world and gives it to us His elect. 

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 

The reason that what our brothers and sisters in Babylon have is taken away and given to us is that they were not faithful with the little knowledge that they have received. 

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, 

That is why they become worse off over time. At a certain stage of our walk with Christ, we were also in this situation, but the Lord showed us mercy. 

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

Mat 25:30  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Being cast into outer darkness means that one is given over to the devil, who blinds the mind, so that the light of the gospel of Christ cannot shine in the mind to make one understand the truth. The weeping and gnashing of teeth reflect the remorse of lost opportunity.

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. 

May the Lord continue to lead us in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake, as we see the day approaching. Amen!!

Heb 13:11-25 “Obey Them That Have the Rule Over You, and Submit Yourselves”

[Study Aired May 13, 2021]

Heb 13:11   For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Heb 13:16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Heb 13:17  Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Heb 13:18  Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
Heb 13:19  But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Heb 13:20  Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Heb 13:21  Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Heb 13:22  And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
Heb 13:23  Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.
Heb 13:24  Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.
Heb 13:25  Grace be with you all. Amen.

This section of Hebrews reveals to us how we can avoid being “carried about with divers and strange doctrines” (Heb 13:9), and one of the main points that will be made over and again to prevent this from happening is our being persuaded (Heb 13:17) of our need to remember them that have the rule over us, mentioned three times in just this one chapter of Hebrews (Heb 13:7, Heb 13:17, Heb 13:24).

The scriptures we will look at in this study show us the sound pattern God has given us, which is realized through judgment upon our sinful flesh (1Pe 4:17, 1Jn 4:17).

When we go outside the camp with Christ (Heb 13:13) we are doing so in order to cease from sinning, living^{G980[G5658 = aorist]} the rest of our time in this flesh not to the lusts of men, but to the will of God where there is no condemnation in Christ because we no longer walk^{G4043 [G5723 = present (today)]} after the flesh but in the spirit (1Pe 4:1-3, Rom 8:1-2). When we obey them that have the rule over us and follow each other as we follow Christ, we are in fact setting our “affection on things above (Eph 2:6), not on things on the earth” knowing and being persuaded that “your life is hid with Christ in God” which is what it means to have eternal life which we now have in earnest (Col 3:2-3, Joh 17:3, the world’s earnest expectation – Rom 8:19, the body of Christ’s earnest of our inheritance – Eph 1:14).

Our Father in heaven is likened to a husbandman (Jas 5:7-8). and the fruit that is first manifested in the lives of God’s elect is what He is producing, which will result in our being able to “walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Col 4:5-6). We are walking in wisdom when we “obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves”, and the fruit of that spiritual endeavour is described for us as well in 1Thessalonians 5:16-18.

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[Luk_21:19]; stablish your hearts [1Pe 5:10, 1Pe 4:12] :for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Col 4:5  Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Col 4:6  Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

1Th 5:16  Rejoice evermore.
1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Heb 13:11  For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.

What of these beasts whose bodies are brought into the sanctuary by the priest for sin? What does this represent, and why must this be burned “without (outside) the camp“?

These beasts represent us, and the knowledge of who we are as beasts does not come about unless the Lord makes that knowledge manifest (Ecc 3:18).

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

The manifold wisdom of God which makes it possible for us to come to know God and Jesus Christ (Joh 17:3) is being made known or manifest through the church (Eph 3:10, Rom 1:19, 2Co 2:14) and no man can come unto Christ the High Priest who is in the temple that we are (1Co 3:16, Col 1:27), unless the Father drags us there (Joh 6:44).

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

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

Rom 1:19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them [“by the church”].

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw^{G1670 = “drag” [G5661 = aorist]} him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

This dragging process is being talked about when it says “whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin“. It is our Adamic sinful flesh that is on trial, and we are all guilty of all and therefore, like our Lord, we are “burned without the camp” as we overcome through Christ being nourished by the very living sacrifice we have become through Him (Lev 4:1-21, Heb 13:13, Rom 12:1, Gal 2:20).

Lev 4:3  If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.

[The anointed priest in this instance is the elect, and the bullock represents Christ who is the sin offering.]

…Lev 4:5-7  And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation: And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

…Lev 4:11-12  And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.

Lev 4:13  And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance [Rom_3:23], and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;
Lev 4:14  When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.

[The young bullock represents Christ, who is sacrificed for the sins of the whole congregation, representing all the worldJoh_3:16]

Lev 4:15  And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD.
Lev 4:16  And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation:
Lev 4:17  And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the vail.
Lev 4:18  And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Lev 4:19  And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar.
Lev 4:20  And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.
Lev 4:21  And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.
Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. [Col 1:24]

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

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. [We lay down our lives for each other (Joh 15:13), 1Jn 3:16)]

Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

Suffering “without the gate” or being “burned without the camp” are the same thing, and it represents our coming out of the knowledge of this world, the wisdom of men, as we begin to live by the power of God (1Co 2:5, Pro 9:10, Luk 12:5) that tells us we must lose our life in order to gain it (Mat 10:39) and suffer “without the gate” with Christ who is represented by the bullock that is burned outside the camp (Pro 24:7, Col 1:24, Exo 29:14). Christ “gave himself for [us]” so we could live the rest of our lives “by the faith of the Son of God”, and that is what happens when we die daily and are “born of God”(Gal 2:20, 1Jn 5:4).

1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

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

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Pro 24:7  Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

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:

Exo 29:14  But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

The rich young ruler does not want to give up his knowledge, his own righteousness, by going outside the camp with Christ by selling all he has so he can then obtain the true riches and wisdom that comes with suffering, with the people of God who are being “born again” (Mat 19:21, Luk 13:32, Heb 11:25-27, Joh 3:3, Luk 17:21).

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.
Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt [the riches of the world], not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

That “strait gate” God’s elect are blessed to enter into and are heading toward is described for us in this parable of Christ found in Luke 13:22-33. Christ has to direct and control the foal of an ass in order for it, the beast, to enter into the gate, which again represents the wisdom of Christ toward which He directs us by giving us eyes to see and ears to hear (Mat 13:11). Otherwise we would continue to be ever searching and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (Mat 21:5, Joh 12:14-16, 2Ti 3:7).

Luk 13:22  And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.

[Regarding God’s sovereignty, we are told we are journeying toward a city (Heb 11:10), which in the elect’s case is the city called “Jerusalem above, the mother of us all” (Jas 4:13-15, Heb 6:3, Gal 4:26]

Luk 13:23  Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
Luk 13:24  Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able [Mat 22:14].
Luk 13:25  When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
Luk 13:26  Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence [Isa_4:1], and thou hast taught in our streets.
Luk 13:27  But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. [Php 3:9]
Luk 13:28  There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

[‘When the world finally sees the spiritual completion through judgment (3) 1Pe 4:17) that God’s elect have gone through, represented by this parable of three men “Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob“, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’]

Luk 13:29  And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
Luk 13:30  And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. [Mat 22:14]
Luk 13:31  The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee [Luk_12:5].
Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
Luk 13:33  Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. [Gal 4:26]

[We cannot die daily unless we are blessed to be bound to the altar (Psa 118:27) pursuing our dying daily relationship with Christ (1Co 15:31) as we journey toward Jerusalem which is above (Gal 4:26) through Christ (Php 2:12-13) being blessed to be raised in this heavenly place where we must perish or die daily outside the camp or the gate.]

Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Heb 13:16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

We have so much to be thankful for when we can believe in the faithfulness of the one to whom we have committed our souls (1Pe 4:19) who tells us that “here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb 11:10, Psa 127:1). We are finding that “one to come” through Christ “by him” being accepted in him (Eph 1:6).

1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Heb 11:10  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

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

How much praise, how much thankfulness should be on our lips? The answer is: “therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” as also confirmed with these verses: (1Th 5:16-18).

1Th 5:16  Rejoice evermore.
1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1Th 5:19  Quench not the Spirit.
1Th 5:20  Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

The context is relevant here in 1Thessalonians 5:16-18, reminding us that when we are not continually thankful, we will in fact quench God’s spirit within, but if God is working with us it will be through judgment that we will learn to appreciate more and more the fruit which this judgment brings about as we pass from death to life and grow in our ability through Christ to love and encourage each other as a healthy joint in Christ’s body (1Jn 3:14, Eph 4:16).

Luk 17:13  And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
Luk 17:14  And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
Luk 17:15  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
Luk 17:16  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
Luk 17:17  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
Luk 17:18  There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
Luk 17:19  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole [1Jn 5:4].

Heb 13:17  Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

It is important to understand in these last few verses of the book of Hebrews what is being told to us when we are commanded to “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves“.

We all must give an accounting to God today if we are His elect, and those who are in leadership positions are to look well to themselves and to the flock “over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God” (Act 20:28).

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

That looking well to ourselves is accompanied with the knowledge that “we shall receive the greater condemnation” or judgment so that we can properly call ourselves leaders not just in name but by being a tree that is known by the fruit of our life (Mat 7:16, 1Ti 3:1-7) that God’s judgment upon us will bring about (Jas 3:1, Joh 15:1-8).

Jas 3:1  My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation^G2917.

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit [Heb 12:6].
Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing [1Co_3:14].
Joh 15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned [1Co_3:15].
Joh 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Joh 15:8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

That word condemnation^G2917 in James 3:1 is the same Strong’s number found in Romans 2:2-3 translated as “judgment”.

Jas 3:1  My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation^G2917.

Rom 2:2  But we are sure that the judgment^G2917 of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment^G2917 of God?

G2917
krima
kree’-mah
From G2919; a decision (the function or the effect, for or against [“crime”]): – avenge, condemned, condemnation, damnation, + go to law, judgment.

As long as we do not despise “his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance”, we will be blessed by that process of judgment which is upon all of us so that our love may be made perfect (1Pe 4:17, 1Jn 4:17-18).

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?

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

God’s leaders are held to a very high standard as “they watch for your souls, as they that must give account [of both themselves and the little flock], that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you“. We should have joy in our hearts, and that joy of the Lord is our strength which we pray will never leave us (Neh 8:10, Php 4:4).

Neh 8:10  Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

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

They are helpers of your joy (2Co 1:24) and should always want to bring that good report to our Father which brings great joy as we labour in the word that does not perish, and see the fruit of that labour reflected in the desire of our family to want to walk in the truth (3Jn 1:4). So with this all in mind, let’s look at the meaning of the words obey^G3982 and submit^G5226 in this verse:

Heb 13:17  Obey^G3982 them that have the rule over you, and submit^G5226 yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

“obey” G3982
peithō
pi’-tho
A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty): – agree, assure, believe, have confidence(Php_1:6), be (wax) content, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.

Php 1:6 Being confident^G3982 [“obey^G3982“] of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus 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.

“submit” G5226
hupeikō
hoop-i’-ko
From G5259 and εἴκω eikō (to yield, be “weak”); to surrender: – submit self.

Heb 13:7  Remember them which have the rule over ^G2233,[esteem^G2233 1Th 5:13] you who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

“Them which have the rule over”^G2233 hēgeomai hayg-eh’-om-ahee Middle voice of a (presumed) strengthened form of G71; to lead, that is, command (with official authority); figuratively to deem, that is, consider: – account, (be) chief, count, esteem (1Th 5:13), governor, judge, have the rule over, suppose, think.

Heb 13:24  Salute all them that have the rule over you^G2233, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.

1Th 5:13  And to esteem^G2233 them very highly in love for their work’s sake [Php 2:12-13, 1Co 11:1, 2Co 1:24]. And be at peace among yourselves.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed^G5219 [hupakouō hoop-ak-oo’-o = to listen, to harken] 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.

1Co 11:1  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand [Rom 3:27, 1Co 3:6, Eph 2:8, 1Jn 5:4, 1Co 3:5].

There is safety in a multitude of counsellors (Pro 11:14) and the spiritual battles we fight in this life are established with wise counsel as that counsel helps us make sense of the process of maturing that we are all going through so we can go on to perfection by being stablished, strengthened and settled by God through Christ (Pro 20:18, 1Pe 5:10).

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; [Gal 2:20] and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Being persuaded of someone and finding safety in a multitude of counsellors means that we are trying the spirits upon the word of God (1Jn 4:1-6). God will reveal His mind through our obedience to that word (Act 15:28), which is what it means to be led by the spirit of God that convicts us that we are His sons. (1Co 14:37-40, 1Co 2:16, Rom 8:14-16).

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.
1Jn 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world [Col_1:27 , Exo_29:14].
1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth^{G191=akouō ak-oo’-o} not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

G191
akouō
ak-oo’-o
A primary verb; to hear (in various senses): – give (in the) audience (of), come (to the ears), ([shall]) hear (-er, -ken), be noised, be reported, understand. [Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyedG5219 hupakouō hoop-ak-oo’-o From G5259 and G191; to hear under]

Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us [‘the multitude and consensus‘], to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

1Co 14:35  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church [Rom_1:20].
1Co 14:36  What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
1Co 14:37  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
1Co 14:38  But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
1Co 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues [1Co 14:3].
1Co 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. [‘a mind that does things decently and in order‘]

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: [“For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us” (Act 15:28)]

All that we just read is how we “walk in the truth” of 3John 1:4.

3Jn 1:3  For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
3Jn 1:4  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Heb 13:18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

We all need each other’s prayers, but Paul in this instance in regards to maintaining “a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly“, asked the brethren to “pray for us“, the elders, just like Christ prayed for Peter who He knew Satan wanted to sift like wheat (Luk 22:31-32, Mat 26:31). When we don’t “obey them that have the rule over you”, we are in essence smiting the shepherd “and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad”, so we need to obey that commandment to pray for one another that we can be healed (Jas 5:16).

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

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

We are all weak and have infirmities and God is making his strength perfect through that weakness (2Co 12:9), and it is by the fervent continual prayers of the righteous that we are all held up. When we pray for our leaders, we are in effect praying that the Lord will not let their faith fail so that they may continue to do the work of strengthening the brethren: “when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Jas 5:16).

Those prayers are needed “for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly” (Mat 26:41). We want to continue to trust Him by putting off our flesh as we help each other bear the burdens of this life which we need in order to keep us humble and under our body (1Co 9:26-27).

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.

Heb 13:19 But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

Paul goes on to say what he believes these prayers will accomplish, by simply saying: “But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner“.

His desire was to “be restored to you the sooner” just as we desire the coming together of the saints every chance the Lord provides. So we should continue to pray that God will make a way for that to happen (Mal 3:16, Heb 10:25).

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

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 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Heb 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

These closing statements and blessings of God’s apostle Paul pronounced upon the church of his day is being pronounced in our lives right now through Christ who is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb 13:8).

What more reassuring words could be uttered that remind us of Romans 5:10-11 by stating how great God’s power is that will accomplish what He has ordained from the foundation of the world by saying, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will, (Php 2:12-13) working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.“

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.

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.

Heb 13:22 And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
Heb 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.

This final salutation in this book of Hebrews is a confirmation of Christ’s words to possess our souls patiently found in Luke 21:19 as Paul beseeches us to “suffer the word of exhortation” because in doing this we will be blessed to hear those words of encouragement and exhortation which help us understand our liberty in Christ (2Co 3:17, Joh 6:63).

Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

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

Paul knew “Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue”. This is the good fight of faith to which we are all called, and Paul was reminding the church to know those who labour among you by saying of Timothy, who was like a son unto Paul, “Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you“. That liberty came about by Timothy learning from Paul, having the humility to be teachable like a son to a father, suffering “the word of exhortation” (Php 2:22, 1Ti 1:2).

Php 2:22  But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.

1Ti 1:2  Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

Heb 13:24 Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.
Heb 13:25 Grace be with you all. Amen.

Finally, going back to the title in this study, “obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves“, we are again reminded of the same admonition with these similar words “Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.“

God’s favour or “Grace” will truly be upon us if we can be blessed to learn to “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit [ourselves]“.

Grace be with you all. Amen.

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Isa 60:9-15 They Shall Call Thee, the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

[Study Aired June 7, 2020]

Isa 60:9  Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
Isa 60:10  And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
Isa 60:11  Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
Isa 60:12  For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
Isa 60:13  The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
Isa 60:14  The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 60:15  Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

This week’s study continues with the theme of our last study, revealing to us the blessings of being in the kingdom of God. Hearing about the blessing of being a citizen of that kingdom will have no present personal application if we fail to understand that these glorious promises are not to be seen only as  promises of future blessings. It is certainly true that the best is yet to come, but the Truth is that the kingdom of God is presently, at this very moment, within us, and we are at this very moment, “[seated] with [Christ] in the heavens.”

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

Rotherham’s leaves out the added italicized word ‘places’ and reads:

Eph 2:6  And raised us up together, and seated us together in the heavenlies, in Christ: (REV)

The verbs in Ephesians 2:6 are in the aorist tense, meaning they are a simple statement of fact without regard to any tense. It was Christ Himself who had earlier told us:

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.

If  we are granted to know and live as a citizen of the kingdom of God in this present time, then we can claim and appreciate and enjoy all the blessings of that kingdom which we are promised to receive at the first resurrection, also known as “the redemption of the purchased possession”:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
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.

There is yet to come a “dispensation of the fulness of times” in which “we should be to the praise of His glory which first trusted in Christ”. Which brings us to our first verses for today’s study:

Isa 60:9  Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
Isa 60:10  And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
Isa 60:11  Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
Isa 60:12  For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

“The isles” of verse 9 are the same as “the nation and kingdom… those nations” of verse 12. Here is a verse of scripture which demonstrates this Truth:

Isa 20:6  And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?

Isaiah 20:6 is speaking of the people of Israel who were looking to Egypt and Ethiopia to deliver them from the king of Assyria. Israel hardly qualifies as an island, in the sense of the modern English meaning of that word, but it fills the meaning of the Hebrew word as well as any other nation:

H339
אִי
‘ı̂y
ee
From H183; properly a habitable spot (as desirable); dry land, a coast, an island: – country, isle, island.

“The isles of the Gentiles” are therefore simply ‘the nations of the Gentiles”:

Gen 10:1  Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

Gen 10:5  By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

All “the isles of the Gentiles”, all nations, “shall build up your walls… their kings shall minister unto you…”

Isa 60:10  And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

There are those who claim to know Christ but declare they “have never blasphemed God and [they] will never suffer His wrath”. That mindset is behind the false doctrine of a rapture, which has become a basic oracle of the doctrines of many Babylonian churches.

For that reason, I want us all to notice what the Lord says of all who truly are His people… “For in my wrath I smote you, but in my favor have I had mercy on you.”

Isa 60:10  And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

“In my wrath” is in complete accord with these verses of Romans 1 and Revelation 15:

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

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.

If we say we have never blasphemed God and we will never suffer His wrath, we are doing the exact same thing Job did:

Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
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.

This is the situation to which that spirit brought Job, and this is where self-righteousness brings each of us:

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 Lord has poured out His wrath on a very self-righteous Job as a type of us (1Co 10:6 and 11). Only after Job came to see his own righteousness as “vile” was his heart prepared to receive double from the Lord all the Lord had taken away from him in His wrath. Isaiah was well aware of this dynamic in the Lord’s ways. We cannot be blessed of the Lord until we have been humbled and brought to see our marred composition and our self-righteous condition:

Isa 60:10  And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”, and God’s wrath always precedes His mercy and His blessings… “…in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favor have I had mercy on thee”. “The sons of strangers [who] shall build up thy walls” typify the giants in our land whose destruction becomes “bread for [those whose] defence is departed [when] the Lord is with us…”

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

Isaiah 60:13 refers to one of Israel’s Gentile neighbors as one of those ‘isles… sons of strangers’ which “shall come unto thee… to beautify [and]… make… glorious… the place of my sanctuary… and the place of my feet”:

Isa 60:13  The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

Our enemies within ourselves, within His body, and even our enemies without, become our servants and become ‘bread for us’.

The Lord’s sanctuary and the place of His feet are within His temple “which temple [we] are” if indeed He lives within us.

His throne is also within His sanctuary, and it is in the book of Revelation we are told of the Lord’s throne in His sanctuary which He is in the process of beautifying and making glorious. It is a glorious scene indeed, and it is all ours within, in “this present time” as “the earnest of our inheritance” (Eph 1:14).

Let’s take the time to look at the Lord’s throne and its glory, and see just how the scriptures speak of us and how beautiful and glorious we are to Him:

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in [our] heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Rev 4:2  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Rev 4:3  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
Rev 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats [Greek: thronos, thrones]: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
Rev 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Rev 4:6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

This is who these four beasts and four and twenty elders represent and signify:

Rev 5:7  And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

This is not the first time we are told who will “reign on the earth”. This is also those whom these “four beasts and four and twenty elders” symbolize:

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.

Christ has certainly ruled each of us with a rod of iron, also called “chastening and scourging” Heb 6:12). He has broken the kingdom of our old man into ‘shivers… as [He] was sent of His Father to accomplish.

It is only those who “overcome and keep my works unto the end” who will be given “power over the nations” and to be “in the midst of and round about the throne” of Christ proclaiming:

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

The fact that “one of the four beasts gives unto the seven angels the seven vials filled with the wrath of God” is what identifies these beasts as a symbol of the Lord’s elect. It was Joseph, a type of the Lord’s elect, who in type tormented his apostate ten brothers day and night in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

Gen 42:7  And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
Gen 42:8  And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
Gen 42:9  And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
Gen 42:10  And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
Gen 42:11  We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.

Gen 42:21  And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress [God’s wrath] come upon us.
Gen 42:22  And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
Gen 42:23  And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Gen 42:24  And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

That is the “torment… day and night in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb”, which “every man” must endure on his way to knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent:

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

That is what every man must endure. It will be endured either now in “the fiery trial which is to try you” in “this present time” (1Co 3:13 and 1Pe 4:12), or it will be endured in “the lake of fire/second death” (Rev 20:14-15), at the great white throne judgment, also called “the resurrection to judgment” (Joh 5:28-29).

The fact these next verses have been true for the past two thousand years does not make them any less relevant to our day:

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
2Ti 3:14  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

After informing us, “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” Paul tells us to “continue in the things [we] have learned…”, and he says those words of admonition under the inspiration of the holy spirit which knows we will just naturally look for and hope for things to improve in this age.

The point I am making is that “the seven angels” to whom the beast gave the seven vials, are simply another symbol for the Lord’s faithful elect. If we are going to “continue in the things [we] have learned” then we will not forget who the four beasts tell us they are. The four beasts and the four and twenty elders all say the same thing:

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

Now let’s look carefully at what one of the angels which had the seven last plagues who showed these things to John says about what he is sent to accomplish and who he symbolizes:

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:

He shows us what the judgment of the great whore is within us. Then after showing us the judgment of the great whore in chapters 17-18, this is what this same angel says of himself:

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9  And he [the angel which showed John these things] saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

“The seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues”, as well as the four and twenty elders and the four beasts, are one and all “your fellow servant and of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus.” They are all types and symbols of you and me if we are His elect.

This revelation of what the seven angels do and who they signify is repeated in:

Rev 21:9  And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Rev 21:10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

It is “one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues” who is “showing [us] these things…” who shows us both the judgment of the great whore as well as “the bride the Lamb’s wife”. Notice closely we are told “he carried me away in the spirit…” in both cases. It is only “in the spirit” we can be shown “the judgment of the great whore, [or] the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

The next chapter continues with what “one of the seven angels… in the spirit” is showing us:

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Rev 22:3  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
Rev 22:4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
Rev 22:5  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

Having His name in their foreheads is only promised to “[him] that overcometh” and remains faithful to the end (Rev 14:1). Read: Who Are the 144,000?

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.

Reigning with Christ is promised only to “[him] that overcometh” 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.

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.

Ruling the nations for a thousand years with Christ is not promised to the masses who are judged at the great white throne. The “great white throne” is not the name given to “the blessed and holy… first resurrection”, and ruling with Christ is not promised to those who are raised up at the great white throne. The first resurrection is called “the resurrection to life”, and the great white throne resurrection is called “the resurrection to damnation [Greek: krisis, judgment, great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death]:

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 [The “second” group to die to their old man].
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [whosoever was not in the “first resurrection… the resurrection to life” (Joh 5:28-29)] was cast into the lake of fire.

All judgment is for the purpose of “chastening” and correcting to “learn righteousness”. Judgment by God is not designed simply to torment for all eternity with no purpose or end in view:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged  [whether in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) or after the thousand year reign, at the “great white throne” judgment (Rev 20:11)], we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

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 [including the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death] are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

All ‘judgment’ by the Lord is His chastening hand in our lives.

Look at what this angel repeats to us here in the last chapter of scripture:

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

This book begins and ends with the same admonition to keep what is written in this book, and it is addressed to “the seven angels…  of the seven churches”:

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

Rev 2:1  Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write…

Rev 2:8  And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write…

Rev 2:12  And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write…

Rev 2:18  And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write…

Rev 3:1  And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write…

Rev 3:7  And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write…

These seven angels “keep the saying this book”, meaning they “see the Lord’s face and have His name in their foreheads… and they shall reign for ever and ever” with the 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.
Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

This angel who showed John the judgment of the great whore, the bride the Lamb’s wife, the holy city, and the river and tree of life now reveals that he symbolizes the church through whom  the principalities and powers in our heavens must make known “the manifold wisdom of God”:

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

So it is the church, which is His body, which is signified and symbolized by the four beasts and four and twenty elders, the seven angels, the 144,000 firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, the two witnesses, the New Jerusalem, the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

Now let’s put the compilation of all these symbols of who we are in Christ together with this verse of scripture:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

It is now very clear why this book is called “the revelation of Jesus Christ”, because it is indeed the revelation of Christ within each of us and each of us within Christ.

That revelation includes seeing ourselves first as the Lord’s wife who plays the whore:

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:

Only after we see ourselves as this great whore can we be given the next revelation we learn through this angel:

Rev 21:9  And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

It is “by the church” (Eph 3:10), by “one of the angels which had the seven last plagues”, that we all learn we are first a mere beast which comes up out of the sea. Then we learn that we become a self-righteous beast which comes up out of the earth to become a self-righteous whore bearing rule over all the nations of this earth within us. Then, if we are given to “read, hear, and keep the things written [herein]” and if we are given to be judged as part of the house of God in this present time (1Pe 4:17), we will begin to experience in our lives the four horses of the first four seals. We will come to see the “souls under the altar” of the fifth seal. We will experience the fiery trial of the great earthquake, the sun becoming black and the moon becoming blood in the sixth seal. This earthquake and loss of any light is the beginning of realizing that everything we have ever believed was really nothing more than very dark lies and heresies.

Coming to that point prepares our hearts for the judgments of the seven trumpets, which culminate in and include the seven plagues which fill up the wrath of God on our old man. That is what is required to complete the destruction of Babylon the Great within us.

It is again “through the church… the pillar and ground of the Truth” the angels with the seven last plagues will show us ourselves as “the bride, the Lamb’s wife”:

Rev 21:9  And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

We are told that the things written in this book are addressed to the seven angels of the seven churches. To understand the spiritual significance of the number seven, read the study on that number: The Significance of the Number Seven

Seven signifies completion, but it is the completion of the Lord’s judgment in particular and “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” within the Lord’s people (1Pe 4:16 and 1Co 3:16-17). Only those being judged now are given to overcome sin and all the idols of their hearts in this present time. It is only those who overcome who are given to be priests and kings and to rule with Christ and judge this world within, in this present time, without during the thousand year reign, and then to judge angels in the lake of fire:

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance [“the book of life”] was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. [Those who are given to keep the sayings of this book]
Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Rev 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.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

All of this was foreshadowed by these words of our study today:

Isa 60:14  The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 60:15  Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

It is the judgments of the Lord and our faithfulness to those judgments which makes us so hated in “this present time”. However, according to these last two verses and all these confirming verses which are “here a little and there a little” throughout scripture, that is all about to change:

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Eze 39:21  And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study where we will continue to learn the advantages of being judged in “this present time”:

Isa 60:16  Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
Isa 60:17  For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.
Isa 60:18  Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
Isa 60:19  The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
Isa 60:20  Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Isa 60:21  Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
Isa 60:22  A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

[Study Aired January 30, 2020]

Psa 143:5  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 
Psa 143:6  I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. 
Psa 143:7  Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 
Psa 143:8  Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. 
Psa 143:9  Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.
Psa 143:10  Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 
Psa 143:11  Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. 
Psa 143:12  And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant. 

‘Hear me, cause me, deliver me, teach me, quicken me’ – these are the words that are threaded throughout this Psalm to remind us of our constant need to die daily and be delivered from the powers and principalities we wrestle against day in and day out (Eph 6:12).

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Psa 143:12  And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

Outwardly the world is waxing worse and worse as a stedfast reminder for God’s elect of how evil would get worse and worse within us except for the grace and faith of Christ (Eph 5:16). Inwardly we are blessed to continue to mortify the deeds of our flesh (Rom 8:13) and to accomplish what God has called us and ordained us to do as a kind of first fruits, who have been ordained from the foundation of the world to experience the power of God to help us overcome this wretched man we are (Rom 7:24-25, Zec 4:6), through His mercy which is leading us to repentance (Rom 11:20-23, Eph 2:8-9, Rom 2:4) “for thy righteousness’ sake” (Psa 143:12).

Eph 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil [1Jn 2:16, Pro 16:4].

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh [1Jn 2:16], ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness [Rom 2:4]: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God [Rom 2:4, Jas 1:17]:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

[Not the sorrow of the world, the works of the flesh, but Godly sorrow, God’s goodness from above working in our heavens (2Co 7:10, Jos 7:21-22, Pro 28:13, Num 16:2, Num 16:35). The silver and gold combined in Joshuah 7:21 add up to 250 {200 shekels of silver and 50 shekels of gold} and the men of renown who were swallowed up by the earth were 250 in Numbers 16:35). That sinful camp will be unearthed one day in the second resurrection and will be purified through the accounting they will give at that time in the lake of fire.]

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.

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.

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

[His goodness leads us to repentance from the yet carnal mind that can only be given increase and mature through a process that God has ordained for each of his children (1Co 3:3, Jas 4:5, 1Co 3:6). No naturally healthy person ever hated his own body, and a healthy body of Christ will have each joint supplying what is needed in love, covering the sins of Christ’s body in a Godly manner and forsaking sin (Eph 5:29, Eph 4:16, Pro 28:13, Mat 18:21-22)].

The verses of our study help detail for us what the “lovingkindness in the morning” (vs 8) means to us as His children, and how, without Christ, we would not be able to mature and endure until the end (Mat 24:13, Php 1:6). God has called us unto a blessing that promises we can overcome, and He knows how to deliver us from our enemies within [lust, envy, pride], and is going to show the world through the body of Christ that we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us and gave His life for us so that by his spirit within we can drink the cup we must drink throughout this life (Rom 5:10). We look to his “lovingkindness in the morning” through Christ “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” (Rom 8:37, Heb 12:2).

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

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:

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 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

It is a cup of suffering and a cup of communion we share together as the body of Christ (1Pe 4:13, Col 1:24, 2Ti 2:12-13, 1Co 10:13), and with that cup we are strengthened and glorify our Father who tells us that it is His good pleasure to give us that deliverance day by day (Luk 12:32, Luk 17:21) and ultimately to give us the power to overcome and endure until the end through Jesus Christ (Mat 20:22-23, Php 4:13).

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.

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

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.

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

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

This entire Psalm helps us see not only the absolute certainty of our deliverance from sin in this life as our Father works out all the details in each of our lives according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11-12), but also shines a bright light on the subject of mercy that is demonstrated through the grace and faith brought upon us so we can live out the rest of our lives fulfilling the will of God (1Pe 4:1-2).

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.

The message never changes for God’s children: we understand first that we are the chief of sinners (1Ti 1:15), we are the man (2Sa 12:7), we are the ones who figuratively go “down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon [us]: and [we] perished from among the congregation” (Num 16:33) as the two hundred and fifty men of renown (Num 16:2) within us must be destroyed by “a fire from the LORD” (Num 16:35).

The grace that God affords is to a very few, typified by Joseph and David and Hezekiah and others who lived out these sacrificial lives for our sakes so we could learn of His faithfulness. He delivers those who are undeserving, as all flesh is, and it is He who brings glory to Himself, our Father of lights (Jas 1:17) who has determined from the foundation of the world whom it is that will make up His government and to bring forth the words of life and deliverance we were blessed to receive through Christ before the rest of the world (Eph 1:4, Isa 9:7, Joh 17:3).

The remainder of these verses in Psalm 143:5-12 show us a pattern of how we will be brought to our wits’ end and cry out to God for a deliverance that only He can bring about as He quickens us for His name’s sake of verse 11 and the title for our 2 part study with this Psalm: “Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble“.

We are tremendously blessed if we are called in this age to be washed by the word today, or quickened by his spirit (Joh 17:17, Joh 6:63), which convicts us, His children of transgression (Isa 57:4) as we wrestle through the night as Jacob did who typified our lifetime of wrestling against the powers and principalities that Christ is far above (Eph 1:21). We know that all of this judgment is for a profitable end, a merciful purpose, that will have us sharing salvation with the rest of creation in His perfect timing (Oba 1:21). We are His workmanship (Eph 2:10) predetermined to redound to the glory of God, for “his name’s sake” as expressed in this Psalm and these verses in 2 Corinthians 4:14-18.

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
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.
2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Psa 143:5  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 
Psa 143:6  I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. 

When we think on “the work of thy hands”, things that are lovely and just, we are especially thinking of the household of God (Php 4:8) which is blessed at this time and in this age to have the mind of Christ that expresses these pure and honest and lovely and just thoughts, these perfect gifts that come down from our Father of lights of whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning (Jas 1:17).

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

In other words, God determined that our hearts and minds would be blessed to dwell on the things of the temple (Eze 43:10), and that we would have that honor and privilege as his children to partake of the true bread of life at a table that is not at this time available to the rest of the world (Heb 13:10, Isa 3:1, Gal 6:10).

Eze 43:10  Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

Together we remember what we have all come through: the crushing, the suffering, the trials and tribulations that overwhelmed us (verse 4), measuring the pattern and showing the house to the house with praise and gratitude for all these wonderful works to the children of God (Psa 107:19-21).

Psa 107:19  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Verse 6 of this Psalm is saying essentially the same thing we studied in Psalm 142:5. We are reminded that it is God who brings us to cry out to him and declare “Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living”.

Psa 142:5  I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
Psa 143:6  I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.

It is through meditating on His workmanship which we are (Eph 2:10), as we “remember the days of old” and “meditate on all thy works” and “muse on the work of thy hands”, that we then “stretch forth my hands unto thee” because of the hunger and thirst our Father puts within us as we are dragged to Christ (Mat 5:6, Joh 6:44).

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

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

Psa 143:7  Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 
Psa 143:8  Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. 

There is not a speck of free moral agency being discussed in these two verses or in any part of God’s creation that exists by His power (Col 1:17).

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

To be heard “speedily” is type and shadow language that reminds us that the Lord is doing a quick work in very few at first, as these verses show us: (Rom 9:28, Rev 22:7, Mat 22:14, Zec 4:10).

Rom 9:28  For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

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

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

When our spirits fail us, it will be because the Lord has brought us to that point of despair so we do cry out “Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble” (Psa 107:6). There is nothing more troublesome for our spirit than that moment when we experience our sins separating us from his face (Isa 59:2). If God does not choose to restore us, then we go down “into the pit” that, in the negative view, represents our being separated from God by not being buried in Christ’s baptism (Rom 6:3-11). Our carnal old man must be “consumed by a fire” in order to become a new creation in him, raised up to new life in Christ (Num 16:35). This is what “caus[es] me to hear thy longingkindness in the morning” when my soul is lifted up (Col 2:12).

Psa 107:6  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

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.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Psa 143:9  Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.
Psa 143:10  Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 

God has, and continues, to deliver us from our enemies from within as we “flee unto thee to hide me“. The message for God’s elect in this Psalm and throughout His word is the spiritual deliverance that God will provide for his little flock through Christ as we draw near to Him (Jas 4:8).

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

With this thought in mind, James describes what will happen if we are given to “draw nigh to God” or “flee unto thee to hide me“, and what we see are those who are dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44), those who are given to not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21), who are the ones that acknowledge that this was solely possible by the hand of God and boasting is therefore completely excluded by the law of faith as we forget what is behind us and press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ (Rom 3:27, Php 3:13-14). It is through this dragging process that God will “lead me into the land of uprightness” with his good spirit “thy spirit is good” as the comforter leads us into all truth for His name sake and our Lord sets us free from sin (Joh 16:13-14, Joh 8:36).

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

Rom 12:21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Rom 3:27  Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

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 toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

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.
Joh 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

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

It is with God’s spirit within us that we won’t neglect so great a salvation as we are dragged to Christ to stir up His spirit within us so we can enter into the new city, Jerusalem above, the mother of us all (Gal 4:26, Jas 4:13-14) where we can learn of His strength and power that causes us to overcome and “to do thy will” as He gives us spiritual increase or gain (Heb 2:3).

The verses in the book of James that follow the admonition to “draw nigh unto God” of James 4:8 explain what we can expect to see as we go through this cleansing process, that in time makes us comfortable in the fire of God’s truth. If we are blessed to continue in the truth, it will set us free as Christ told us it would (Joh 8:32). These verses (Jas 4:9-16) explain how we can overcome the evil boasting within us that can so easily make declarations with our mouth without acknowledging His sovereignty over all the affairs of our heaven (Jer 9:24).

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Jas 4:11  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: (Gal 4:26, Eph 2:6)
Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

Psa 143:11  Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. 
Psa 143:12  And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant. 

These last two verses of our study tell the whole story of how the elect are going to be saved first in this age having our souls brought “out of trouble” into which we are all born (Job 5:7, Rom 8:22-24), with all the sin of the world within us that can only be overcome through Christ our hope of glory within (1Jn 2:16, Col 1:27).

All of chapter 11 of the book of Romans explains that process of mercy very brightly for our sakes so that we understand the tremendous free gift of grace and faith that our calling requires as others are held back for our sakes with a spirit of unbelief that God allows to keep the masses blinded to his overall purpose that will in time save all of mankind (Rom 11:1-36, 1Co 15:22).

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

Rom 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

We are commanded to “cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul” within first (Psa 51:2-4), and as we continue to do that throughout this whole life as God shows us mercy by leading us unto repentance through this longsuffering process of dealing with our own enemies within (Rom 2:4-5, Pro 3:11), then we will see clearly how to apply Matthew 18:15-17 as the Lord makes known to us who is approved through the heresies that must be manifest in our midst for that purpose (1Co 11:19). God is faithful. It is His righteousness that will make all of this evident and possible as He shows His mercy first to His people by judging them in this age so that we can learn through that humbling experience what will be required of us to one day be able to rule the outward nations under Christ (1Pe 4:17, Oba 1:21).

Psa 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psa 51:4  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest (Jer 9:24).

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

It is those who are afflicted through God’s chastening and scourging who will repent with Godly sorrow and be received of God in this age (Heb 12:6) and it is through that experience of suffering that we will cease from sinning and be made ready to rule in the next age (Act 14:22-23, 2Ti 2:12). God has made the way for all of this to be accomplished through Christ and His body (2Sa 14:14) as He “quicken [us], O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring [our] soul out of trouble”, and “cause[s us] to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning”.

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

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

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him [Rom 6:3-4].

Isa 42:10-17 I Have Long Time Held My Peace...Now...I Will Destroy - Discussion

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Isa 42:10-17 I Have Long Time Held My Peace… Now… I Will Destroy

Isa 42:10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Isa 42:11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isa 42:12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
Isa 42:13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Isa 42:15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
Isa 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
Isa 42:17  They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

In our last study we saw the first nine verses of this chapter are addressed to “mine elect”, which we demonstrated to be Christ and His Christ. In short, we were told that Christ and His Christ, in this age, do not attempt to change anything outwardly. Rather, in this age they themselves are experiencing the Lord’s judgment and His wrath inwardly upon their own sins (Rev 14:8-12). The Lord’s elect are brought to see that they should come to see themselves as “chief of sinners” and repent of their own sins. This is what the scriptures refer to as “return[ing] unto… the Lord”:

Jer 4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.

When we do return to God, we do so only because we are made to do so through the Lord’s fiery judgments:

Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

When we return to the Lord He will then use us, His elect, to witness to other elect whom He is at this moment in the process of dragging to Himself.

Jer 15:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them [“the vile”] return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

This process of repenting and returning to the Lord is called ‘removing the beam from your own eye so you can see clearly to help your brother’:

Luk 6:42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

As the story of Job demonstrates in such graphic terms, self-righteousness is the most insidious of sins:

Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
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.

Speaking in God’s stead (Job 33:6), Elihu judges Job with Job’s own words:

Job 33:8 Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying,
Job 33:9 I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.

In blaming Job for his sad condition, His three other “miserable comforters” were just as self-righteous as Job:

Job 16:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.

Through the words of Elihu and the words of the Lord Himself, Job as a type of the Lord’s elect, was the first to repent of his insidious self-righteousness:

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 is a type of the Lord’s elect. Like us he was dragged to, “cast out first the beam that [was] in [his, our] own eye.” Job’s trials typify the daily death of our old man (1Co 15:31).

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

Peter calls this daily dying “[a] fiery trial” and “judgment… [which] begins… first at the house of God”:

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.

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 is only those who have part in this “first… judgment” who are promised “a kingdom” and who will also have a part in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, and will be given power over the kingdoms of this world for “a thousand years “and then their preeminence as kings and priests and judges will continue throughout the ages of the lake of fire.

The first resurrection is called “the resurrection of life” and it is contrasted with “the resurrection of damnation" (Greek: krisis, judgment) which follows a “thousand years… reign” over “the kingdoms of this world” by those few who are given to have part in that blessed and holy first resurrection:

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; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation

Christ also tells us that those who are so blessed as to be given part in the first resurrection...

Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

This “kingdom”, along with “a crown of life”, is given only to those who overcome the devil… the wicked one” in “this present time” (Rom 8:18).

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

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

This “crown of life” is part and parcel of “the resurrection of life” which entails ruling the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years and ruling over and judging angels in the lake of fire.

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? 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? how much more things that pertain to this life?

When we are judging angels in the lake of fire, the devil will not at that time be casting us into prison. Neither will he be casting us into prison during the thousand years, because then he will himself be in prison (Rev 20:1-2). Knowing all of this is how we can say for certain that the only people who can possibly be given this “kingdom” and the only people who can possibly “judge angels” are those who Satan can cast into prison in “this present time”, while we are awaiting our Lord’s appearing to His saints and in the presence of this entire world.

We are even told that this present world will suffer “great fear” at His appearing, and because of the resurrection of His saints at that moment:

Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

Who exactly are “them which saw them”? That question is answered in the preceding two verses:

Rev 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

What we are being told is that the first resurrection will not take place in a closet. “Them that dwell on the earth”, all men who are alive at that time will be aware of what has taken place and will be made to know that the Lord’s elect have been given the reins of power over this entire globe, and will now be reigning “with a rod of iron”:

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.

What is the duration of this rulership? The book of Revelation is “signified” (Rev 1:1), and this time of Christ’s elect ruling the nations of this world “with a rod of iron” is “signified” by the symbol of "a thousand years":

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
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.

When this symbolic thousand-year dispensation has “expired” (Rev 20:7), the Lord will bring all flesh up against Himself for the purpose of giving Himself the ‘occasion He is seeking’ to destroy all flesh and to usher in the final judgment of the entire spirit realm, the great white throne judgment:

Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

It is because of all these blessings to be bestowed upon the Lord’s “elect” that the whole world is told:

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.

We have already read here in this prophecy of Isaiah what the Lord’s judgments produce:

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

The Lord’s elect are the saviors for whom the whole creation is even now ‘waiting’:

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.

For all these wonderful blessings awaiting “the whole creation” we are encouraged to:

Isa 42:10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Isa 42:11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isa 42:12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

Kedar is the descendants of Ishmael, the “son of the bondwoman”, who will “not be made heir with the son of the free woman”, but will nevertheless “become a great nation”:

Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Gen 17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

What is the son of the bondwoman not allowed to inherit? What Ishmael (Kedar) cannot inherit is the “crown of life" which entails being kings and priests during the thousand-year kingdom, continuing on into judging angels in the lake of fire (1Co 6:2-3).

Ishmael (Kedar) will “give glory unto the Lord at a later date than “the son of the freewoman”. However, he will be given life. This is again a witness to two separate judgments and two separate resurrections. The first is to life, and the second is to judgment:

Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves [Even Ishmael and Kedar] shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, [the elect, “the Israel of God” - Gal 6:15] unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: krisis, judgment].

But the Lord wants all men to know that the flesh we all first occupy is just a necessary evil, and “corruption [which] cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 15:50) and which must first begin to be destroyed before the joy of our “new song” can begin being sung unto the Lord.

This has been ‘plan A’ from the very beginning. Flesh and blood were never for one moment ever intended to occupy the kingdom of God. Here instead was the plan from “before the world began”, and before Christ Himself first formed Adam out of the dust of this earth:

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is [first] 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 borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

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

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

If we were called “in Christ before the world began”, that tells us that God knew in advance that Adam and Eve would disobey His commandment to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It also tells us that the death and resurrection of Christ to cover and to  pay for that sin and the sins of all men of all time was the original plan of God… “according to His own purpose and grace which was give us in Christ Jesus before the world began”.

But after the sacrifice has begun its propitiatory purpose, the flesh with its rebellious carnal mind must begin to be judged with “a threshing instrument with teeth”, and begin to die daily and to be crucified with Christ”:

Isa 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Isa 41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Judgment will be given to us upon this world only after this world has been judged within us:

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

It is this judging, this “threshing with an instrument having teeth”, which is the “judgment [which] is [now] on the house of God” (1Pe 4:17) and which is the 'dying daily, [and being] crucified with Christ, [and] the sufferings of this present time'. But all of our sufferings “are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” as the Lord’s instrument for judging all the rest of mankind:

Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
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.

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

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

That is the inward and outward meaning and personal present application of our next verses:

Isa 42:13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.

When judgment begins, Christ is no longer a sheep led silently to the slaughter.

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

Instead, Christ is now here to destroy the man of sin and all of his armies, first within us and then without.

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Verse 15 tells us that it is Christ Himself who “tread the winepress of the wrath of God”, while Revelation 16 tells us “the seven angels” pour out their vials of His wrath upon this earth, and there is no contradiction because:

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

Revelation 29 is what happens when the Lord does battle with the beast and the devil at the end of the thousand years. The “jealousy” He stirs up is His own jealousy:

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

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

Now He is no longer the person who ‘would not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking [wick of] flax’. When judgment begins, whether it is now and within or later and without, things all change dramatically:

Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Isa 42:15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

That is the work of the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our old man within us to which Isaiah has already alluded in the previous chapter:

Isa 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Isa 41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

This is a description of the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our old man within and the kingdoms of this world outwardly and dispensationally.

Now notice this pattern here in chapter 41 and throughout scripture. The Lord’s judgments are always followed by His great blessings:

Isa 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Isa 41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
Isa 41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
Isa 41:20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

Chapter 42 follows the same pattern of chapter 41. These are verses pronouncing our judgment:

Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Isa 42:15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

Again these words of judgment are followed by the blessings which the Lord’s judgments produce:

Isa 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

“The way they knew not” is “the way of Truth”:

Psa 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

“The paths that they have not known” are “the paths of the Lord’s mercy and Truth”

Psa 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

We are all first in the darkness of spiritual deceit which is “the idols of [our] hearts” (Eze 14:1-9), our own false doctrines which are the smooth words of the whore who has deceived the whole world.

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:

It is all the false doctrines, the idols of our hearts and the stumblingblock of our iniquity, which are symbolized by the smoke and the locusts which rise up out of the “bottomless pit… the abussos”. These are the symbols which signify the many false doctrines which blot out the light of the Truth which ‘Truth’ is “The Sun of Righteousness:

Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

“The earth” is each of us as we live in the darkness of the lies and false doctrines of the great whore, “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” (Rev 17:5).

Those ‘locusts’ and that ‘smoke’ are symbols of the pain and torment which the lies of the great harlot bring upon those who have been given to live in the darkness of all those tormenting lies, which are always symbolized by idols and graven and molten images:

Isa 42:17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

Coming out of, and separating ourselves from, all the lies of the great harlot is a very painful and fiery experience. That is what Peter means when he tells 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 4:13 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.

That is our study for today. In our next study, Lord willing, we will again see that it is by the Lord’s design that we are all first blinded by the “smooth things” prophesied by all the false prophets of the great harlot. Once again it will be revealed that the Lord’s elect experience everything which is experienced by all the rest of mankind. The only difference between those who are in the resurrection of life and those who are raised up later in the “cursed… resurrection of damnation, Greek, judgment” (Mat 25:41 and Joh 5:28-29), is that the elect of the “first resurrection… the resurrection of life”, endure all their fiery experiences and repent of their sins in “this present time”, whereas “it is not given to [all the rest of mankind to] know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” nor to know the truths of the doctrine of Christ in this age. Here are our verses for next week:

Isa 42:18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Isa 42:19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?
Isa 42:20 Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
Isa 42:21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
Isa 42:22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Isa 42:23 Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Isa 42:24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Isa 42:25 Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Isa 32:1-8 By Liberal Things Shall He Stand

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Isa 32:1-8 By Liberal Things Shall He Stand

Isa 32:1  Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.
Isa 32:2  And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
Isa 32:3  And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
Isa 32:4  The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
Isa 32:5  The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.
Isa 32:6  For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
Isa 32:7  The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.
Isa 32:8  But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

Isaiah 30 and 31 make it very clear that we are all, by nature, rebellious against the mind and the laws of God. Even after we come out of the world we want to return to Egypt and rely on the world for our strength:

Isa 30:2  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Isa 30:3  Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

Isa 31:1  Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

In this chapter we are given the cure for our rebellious nature:

Isa 32:1  Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.

Inwardly the "King [who] reigns in righteousness" is Christ within us, destroying the old man of sin within us and ruling over the kingdom of God which is increasing as the kingdom of our old man is decreasing within us in down-payment form at this time:

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.

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

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:

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.

It is not just anyone who "rules in judgment". The only people who "rule in judgment" are those who are blessed to be those "who first trusted in Christ" and who will be in the "blessed and holy first resurrection". They alone "rule in judgment". That judgment begins now within, judging themselves while in bodies of "mortal flesh", as opposed to being judged after being "raised a spiritual body" and being "condemned with the world" to the second death:

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

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

It is God's elect who "have this treasure in earthen vessels... in our mortal flesh". There is neither "earthen vessels" nor "mortal flesh" in the second death. Those who are granted to rule with Christ for a thousand years are "raised a spiritual body" having already been judged while they were in bodies of "mortal flesh". Those who are ruling with Christ during the thousand year reign have already overcome the wicked one while yet in earthen vessels of mortal flesh. If that were not the case they would not have been in the first resurrection. None of these things can be said of those who are raised a spiritual body which comes forth to judgment. None of these blessing bestowed upon those who are given to be in the "bless and holy... first resurrection" are bestowed upon them because of anything they did of themselves. It is all done "after the counsel of His own will". (Eph 1:11)

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 [judgment].

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.

Not just anyone is predestinated to "be the firstborn among many brothers". Those over whom the second death has power are not nor ever will be "the firstborn among many brothers... also glorified" above their firstborn brothers. It is not possible to be both the firstborn among many, and also be the many who are not firstborn. Nothing is more basic to the promises of scriptures than the doctrine of a predestinated firstborn, who is rejected and hated of His brothers, all "according to [the Lord's] own purpose" to use the firstborn as the saviors of the many brothers. "Firstborn" is a spiritual word which means the Lord's few elect who will indeed be the first to be "born of the spirit" into "the redemption of the purchased possession", the resurrection of life, the "inheritance" of a kingdom reserved for the firstborn of God.

Luk 22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

Now let's read the words before and after that verse and discover what it means to have a kingdom appointed to us:

Luk 22:28  Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
Luk 22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
Luk 22:30  That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Those who continue with Christ in His trials are those who obey His words and who do the things He tells us to do in this life. Christ's trials were in a body of "mortal flesh.. made of a woman, made under the law... of the seed of Abraham." The scriptures make that very important distinction. It is presented to us as if it were a much greater struggle than "the nature of angels":

Heb 2:16  For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

It is those few who are given to overcome in this age while struggling against both "mortal flesh [and] the wicked one" who are "appointed a kingdom". Those who "come forth to judgment" are not "appointed a kingdom [to] judge the twelve tribes of Israel". Those who come forth to judgment do so in "the nature of angels" as "a spiritual body".

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.

Being judged while in "a natural body" is much to be preferred to being judged in "a spiritual body" at "the resurrection of judgment" (Joh 5:28-29). The positive application of "the twelve tribes of Israel" is the judgment which begins at the house of God in this age.

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

The negative application of the twelve tribes of Israel is as "the camp of Israel" which is forbidden to touch the holy things within the temple of God or to eat at the altar of the kings and priests who are made to reign with Christ over the twelve tribes. It is Israel who is first in opposing their Savior, thereby symbolizing the whole rebellious world yet to be judged in the second death.

Isa 32:1  Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.

Here is another way of describing these "princes":

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.

All things are being worked after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). Nevertheless, scripturally it is "those who first trusted in Christ" who are predestinated to be "also glorified... unto the praise of His glory":

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 love and compassion shown by Joseph to his brothers, who had despised and rejected him, is described in our next verse:

Isa 32:2  And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

This is a perfect description for how Christ has dealt with each of us. In our own time we have all hated and despised the mind of Christ. We have all denied we ever knew Him, and when our shame is revealed to us, we are definitely in need of a "hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, water in a dry place, [and] as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."

Mat 26:75  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

The night of Christ's apprehension by the Jews and the following morning were without a doubt the most miserable times of Peter's life, but it was at the same time the best day of Peter's life because it was the beginning of Peter being able to see himself and the whole world through the eyes and through the understanding of Christ:

Isa 32:3  And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

This is how Christ repeats the message of this verse:

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

"The eyes of them that see" do so only because "it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven", and the only reason all the others do not see is that "to them it is not given".

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

We just naturally think that our own self-righteous deeds somehow make God indebted to us to bless us. Self-righteousness is the most insidious of sins, as demonstrated in Job 29 and in these New Testament verses:

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

When we, like Job and like Peter, are brought face to face with our own self-righteous, rebellious old man within us, then judgment has begun at the house of God, and then we can say:

Isa 32:4  The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
Isa 32:5  The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

We justify our sins and count ourselves as doing the Lord a service even as we destroy His people within and without in committing our sins:

Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

Joh 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

We are really just serving our own flesh, Egypt, the world which is still within us. Our most natural desire to trust in Egypt will, in time, bring us to regret that we did so as it did Peter. But 'trusting in Egypt' is not so easy to discern spiritually for a babe in Christ as we are clearly told:

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Any parent knows that an immature child cannot discern milk from strong meat. Everything that comes along is put straight into a baby's mouth. It takes "them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" to discern what is good spiritual food for the Lord's flock. None of us is an authority in spiritual matters unto himself. That is the very meaning of "the body is one body but many members':

1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

This 14th verse of Hebrews 5 indicates that our past understanding of "if they do not  hear the church" has been in grave error. We now understand by the principle of "the sum of thy word", by putting Matthew 18:15-17 together with Hebrews 5:12-14, 1Corinthians 3:1-4 and Paul's words to the Corinthians, which we will read below, that carnal babes are not commissioned to "discern both good and evil" in complicated doctrinal matters. It was the elders who made such decisions. That is true in Matthew 18:15-18. That is what was done in Acts 15, and that is true here in Hebrews 5.

This was the spiritual state of the church in Corinth:

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

The immature church in Corinth could not bring themselves to do so much as put out of their midst a blatant fornicator. Had that matter have been taken to the church without the admonition of the elders such as Paul, that fornicator would have been voted most popular, and the Corinthians would have continued to stay puffed up over their supposed 'loving' tolerance of his fornication in their midst. Let's read what kind of fruit was produced by letting the church decide how we ought to deal with either physical or spiritual fornication:

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

We will be ashamed of trusting in ourselves, which is trusting in Egypt and leaning to our own understanding. That is the exact opposite of trusting in the Lord and being obedient to His Words. An example is our current trial. If we reject "a multitude of counselors", as many have done, we are simply 'returning to Egypt', and it has brought us to shame. It is the word of the Lord which instructs us that our safety is in a multitude of counselors. The apostles agreed to the counselors in Jerusalem and lived for many years by that counsel. It is by the Lord's design Samson's parents gave their son a Philistine wife, and it was by the Lord's design that the apostles all lived under the law of Moses, making blood sacrifices and taking vows and keeping holy days, for many long years after the death and resurrection of Christ and after the giving of the holy spirit. This was all done as seemed good to the holy spirit for that time:

Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

It was the holy spirit who determined that the Jewish part of the body of Christ could not yet at that time receive the words of Peter right there in Acts 15:

Act 15:6  And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
Act 15:7  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

In a letter to the Gentile part of the body of Christ at that time, the Gentiles were informed that only the Jews needed to keep the law of Moses. But it was also the holy spirit which opened the eyes of the apostles themselves, as a multitude of counselors, to later acknowledge the truth of Peter's words when many years later the holy spirit inspired Paul to affirm Peter's words in Acts 15 in his epistle to the Ephesians:

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
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:

Both in Acts 15 and in Ephesians 2, along with "the sum of [God's] Word, it was by the multitude of counselors the Lord's purposes were established. It was and it is by that same multitude of counselors that the apostles waged spiritual warfare, and it is only by the multitude of counselors that we have any spiritual safety today.

But if and when we reject the Lord's words, we will be brought to shame, and these are the Lord's words which will keep us from being brought to shame. Three times we are told all the benefits of seeking to know the Lord's mind through "a multitude of counselors":

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.

These are first and foremost words of instruction to the kingdom of God within us. They are instructing us on how we are to establish purposes, make war and keep the Lord's flock safe from the snares of the wicked one. Peter and Paul were of the same mind, and in time, the words of Peter became the words of other apostles.

Here is just how aligned with the mind of Paul was the apostle Peter:

2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
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.

Peter did not align himself with Phygellus, Hermogenes, Alexander and Hymaneaus and Philetus. Both Peter and John heard the voice of Christ in the words of Paul, even though they were a 180 degree change in doctrine.

If we are given to accept the new doctrine of Christ, then we are given to see how the holy spirit has always waited to give greater revelation, which at times contradicted earlier revelation. It is only with this knowledge that we can acknowledge the reformation of our Lord who told Moses "save alive nothing that breathes" and then reformed those words into "love thine enemies". These words were both spoken by the same Lord:

The law of Moses:

Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

Christ's new doctrine in "the times of reformation":

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Heb 9:7  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

The congregation, the camp of Israel, was not permitted to handle the holy things of the temple. The camp of Korah wanted to do so to the extent they turned on Moses and Aaron, and would have taken over the leadership of the Lord's people had the Lord not stepped in when He did and made the earth to swallow up those who opposed His ways and those who had opposed the God-given leadership of Israel. That is exactly what has happened in our midst of late. The Lord Himself is working to keep His people from returning to Egypt by giving up their crown of life and denying that the second death has no power over them. It was the Lord who stepped in and brought those heresies out into the open to be swallowed up by the earth.

Here is just how much the Lord, until this very day, distinguishes between those who can enter into the holy place and those to whom that honor is not given:

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

Heresies brought into our midst are simply "they [who] have no right to eat" with us at our altar.

The obvious contradictions in the two Testaments served to help the Jews turn the multitudes against Christ, in spite of all of Christ's miracles and healings. To this day the multitudes hear the gospel, but very few indeed are given to accept a message from a God who tells one generation to hate its enemies and then tells the next generation to love its enemies. In the same manner, the holy spirit led the apostles to keep the law of Moses for many years after the death and resurrection of Christ and then the same spirit had them to reform their doctrine to say the exact opposite and tell the Jewish Christians that they no longer needed to offer blood offerings, pay tithes, keep holidays or consider themselves as in any way being different from the Gentile believers.

It was all foretold by the Lord Himself:

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

The principle of these words apply to all  of us as we "grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord" day by day. The wicked one will have us to believe that we are being carried about by every wind of doctrine when we turn away from the law of Moses, the law of the Gentiles and turn to the law of the Christ and the law of the spirit. Our friends and families will forsake us when we give up the doctrines of the trinity, the immortality of the soul, and its attendant doctrine of eternal torment and all the other doctrines of Babylon. That same evil spirit will also try to convince us that when we make needed corrections in our doctrine, we are being led astray of the adversary. But Christ's sheep know His voice, and a stranger they will not follow.

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

Even when we come out of Babylon we are still facing even more insidious false doctrines, emanating from within our very midst, which are called in the scriptures "heresies", and we are told that they are actually needful for the purpose of manifesting who is and who is not "approved among you":

1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

This brings us to our next verse here in Isaiah:

Isa 32:6  For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

Heresies appeal to many, as the heresy of Korah and the 250 elders appealed to "the whole congregation, as Korah "uttered error against the Lord" in accusing Moses and Aaron of "taking too much upon themselves":

Num 16:1  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
Num 16:2  And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3  And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

How very familiar are the words, "Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?" Is that not exactly what has taken place in our very midst? The faithful among the Lord's people are always accused of the same thing, and it is always justified in the same way... "the congregation is holy, every one of them... why then do you lift up yourselves above the congregation?" This is the exact same spirit which had raised its ugly head in Israel just a few months earlier when Miriam and Aaron had done the very same thing to the Lord in rejecting the leadership the Lord had ordained:

Num 12:1  And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
Num 12:2  And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.
Num 12:3  (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

"The man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth", and yet the accusation against him is the same. Moses is falsely accused of exalting himself above others simply because the Lord did not place the others above Moses.

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram took 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation who were men of renown, and they took it upon themselves to falsely accuse the leader the Lord had given them of exalting himself above the people, claiming that everyone was just as qualified as Moses was to lead the Lord's people. It is obvious that none of these men were perceived by the  people as being churlish or evil or guilty of devising wicked devices which would destroy the poor with lying words. Nevertheless, this is exactly what took place when Korah and company falsely accused the leaders whom the Lord had placed over His flock:

Isa 32:7  The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

The true shepherds of the Lord's flock are not taken away "with lying words". The net effect of Korah's message was that all the congregation were on the same spiritual level. Does that not have a very familiar ring to it? Is that not the exact same message being foisted off on the Lord's flock by those who want to take our crown and give it to those over whom the second death is given power? Is that not the exact same spirit which teaches us that "the rest of the dead" are sins which still dominate the lives of the Lord's elect who are given to reign with Him during the millennium? Korah and company were promising all of Israel liberty from the leadership of Moses and Aaron who were in reality mere instruments in the Lord's hands to be a very liberal and generous blessing to all Israel.

So it is to this very day:

Isa 32:8  But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

The Lord's true shepherds want nothing more than to be a blessing to His flock. We constantly remind you:

2Co 1:24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

We are quick to admonish us all to be aware that the devil is at large and wants nothing more than to rob the Lord's elect of the crown of life they have been given. Notice our crown of life is twice mentioned as something to be highly prized, and not to be considered as something which is being given to just everyone:

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Just as the Lord distinguished between Moses and Aaron and Korah and company, His promises also distinguish between those who are favored as His people today. Look at what is promised to those whom He gives to overcome the wicked one in  this age. Notice carefully what the devil attempts to do to the Lord's flock, and notice also the promises given to those who overcome the wicked one in this age:

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

In both of these churches, the purveyors of heresy are called "the synagogue of Satan", and we are told they want to take our crown from us. Like Korah saying 'the congregation is holy every one of them', that is exactly the same effect the false doctrine that those in the second death will experience the first resurrection has upon us today. It takes our crown of life and gives it to "every one of them" in the whole congregation of those over whom the second death is given power.

That is exactly what we are told the synagogue of Satan will attempt to do. It is the synagogue of Satan which wants to take our crown of life, and give it to everyone in the second death. I will conclude by pointing out that another thing the synagogue of Satan is doing is denying that we will not be hurt of the second death.

The voice of the True shepherd is a liberal, gracious voice with promises to the overcomers which make the sufferings of this present age pale in comparison to the glory to be revealed in the Lord's faithful elect overcomers of this age:

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.

This promise will never be made to those who are hurt of the second death. They will be given life, but they will never know "the glory which shall be revealed in us" if we are those few by whom the Lord "in the ages to come [will] show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward US through Christ Jesus".

Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

These are just some of the very "liberal" words which are for those who are suffering in "this present time". It is not for those over whom the second death is given power. Truly the Lord intends to show all men of all time just how special to Him are His elect overcomers of this age.

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.
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.
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:

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will continue our study of this 32nd chapter of Isaiah with these verses of warning against the churches which are at ease:

Isa 32:9  Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
Isa 32:10  Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
Isa 32:11  Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
Isa 32:12  They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
Isa 32:13  Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
Isa 32:14  Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
Isa 32:15  Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
Isa 32:16  Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
Isa 32:17  And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
Isa 32:18  And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
Isa 32:19  When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.
Isa 32:20  Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 52 Discussion

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Isa 11:1-8 He Shall Smite The Earth With The Rod of His Mouth

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

No one who claims to believe in the Bible as the Word of God doubts that these verses are a prophecy of the kingdom of God and Christ's authority over that kingdom. It is universally accepted that when Christ takes His kingdom He will "smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and [that] He shall slay the wicked... with the breath of His lips".

The question which will occupy this study is, "When exactly will Christ begin to "judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth"? When exactly does Christ begin to "smite the earth with the rod of His mouth"?"

Before we give you the Biblical answer to these questions, let'​s go back and notice whom the Lord has chosen to oppose and resist the coming of this day when Christ will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth. Here are the ending verses of the previous chapter, which remind us with whom we are at war, and therefore who it is who rules the earth at this time, and who it is who will be smitten with the breath of His mouth:

Isa 10:24  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
Isa 10:25  For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
Isa 10:26  And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
Isa 10:27  And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
Isa 10:28  He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
Isa 10:29  They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
Isa 10:30  Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
Isa 10:31  Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
Isa 10:32  As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
Isa 10:33  Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
Isa 10:34  And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

The Assyrian will smite us with a rod after the manner of Egypt, who also enslaved God's people. There is no way of avoiding enslavement to either Egypt or Assyria. All mankind will come up out of Egyptian slavery, go through a wilderness experience, tempt their own Savior "ten times", die in the wilderness, and through that "deadly wound", enter into the land of promise, conquer many giants in that land, but then turn their backs on their first love, and be carried away as captives into Assyria. It will be there, from Babylon, the land of Shinar, the land of Assyria, the land of great pride in our ownselves, that we will be finally be granted the deliverance and salvation and the peace of mind we all seek:

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

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

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

This is not something which takes place in the millennium. This is all taking place in our lives, the lives of those who are "the Israel of God, [which] is not of Abraham". All of this takes place because God "makes us [all] to err from [His] ways", through our marred condition and composition "in [His] hands...[under] the law of sin which [He has placed] in [our] members... after the counsel of His own will":

Isa 63:16  Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father [the Father of "the Israel of God" - Gal 6:15-16] , our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.
Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 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.
Jer 18:7  At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

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.

Of ourselves, we are as natural brute beasts doomed to destruction:

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

That is the reason we all are brought to our wits' end (Psa 107:27), and we are brought to cry out with the apostle:

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

The first five verses of our study today answers the apostle's question, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death" into which we all have been placed:

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Isa 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
Isa 11:3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
Isa 11:4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Isa 11:5  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

"A rod out of the stem of Jesse" will "judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked."

It is few indeed who profess to believe the scriptures that doubt these words are a prophecy of the coming of Christ to rule this earth "with the rod of His mouth". But what is not known by most is that this is not as much a prophecy of life during the coming millennium as it concerns the "kingdom of God... within you" here and now. What is understood by very few is that the words of this prophecy primarily concern the 'earth' as that word is meant by the scriptures themselves as in this verse of scripture:

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

This entire twenty-second chapter of Jeremiah is addressed to the king of Judah and Jerusalem and to all of his subjects:

Jer 22:1  Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
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:

The opposite of 'heaven' is not 'hell'. Scripturally, the opposite of 'heaven' is the 'earth'. There is coming a time when the outward kingdoms of this earth will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, but that certainly is not yet the case in its outward sense:

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 king of Judah" was the king of one of "the kingdoms of this world". The kings of Israel and Judah were all physical descendants of Abraham, and the kings of Judah were all descendants of King David of whom it was prophesied:

Act 2:30  Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

Rom 1:3  Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

In the next chapter of Romans, Paul makes this revolutionary 'replacement theology' statement:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
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.

The apostle Paul acknowledges the affection he had toward his 'kinsmen according to the flesh'.

Rom 9:3  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

However, Paul knew that the things of the flesh were being superseded by "the things of the spirit", and Paul knew that included being physically descended from Abraham or King David. Paul is speaking under the inspiration of the holy spirit when he tells us:

Rom 9:1  I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
Rom 9:2  That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
Rom 9:3  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
Rom 9:4  Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Rom 9:5  Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Rom 9:6  Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Rom 9:7  Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Rom 9:8  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Here we have the most prolific New Testament writer plainly establishing that most hated doctrine, which is disparagingly referred to as "replacement theology". Later Paul makes clear that physical fleshly pedigree and physical descent from Abraham is no longer a factor in our relationship with our Creator when he tells us this:

2Co 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [after the flesh].
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

This is not a doctrine of men. It is the holy spirit which is teaching us "the children of the promise are counted for the seed", and to  make this perfectly clear, we are told that "Jerusalem that now is, is in bondage with her children" whereas the Gentile Galatians are now called by the holy spirit "as Isaac was, the children of promise". This is not a doctrine of men. Jerusalem is now "in bondage with her children", and the holy spirit goes on to tell us:

Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

Here is the holy spirit's replacement theology in a nutshell:

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

This accords with the doctrine of Christ Himself who was first to go to the Gentile Samaritans with these words:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The kingdom of God is no longer connected to Jerusalem or Samaria. It is now a spiritual 'mountain', a spiritual kingdom of those who worship God in spirit and in truth.

This is the kingdom with which the verses of Isaiah 11:1-5 primarily concern themselves:

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.

The kingdom and the promises all pertain to Christ, and that kingdom is now being given to Christ, the king of His kingdom. Let's look at those verses again.

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Isa 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
Isa 11:3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
Isa 11:4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Isa 11:5  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

"He is a Jew which is one inwardly", and "behold the kingdom of God is within you". "He is not a Jew which is one outwardly", and "the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father".

Psa 89:2  For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
Psa 89:3  I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
Psa 89:4  Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

Where a 'throne' is, there must be a king and a kingdom. Christ's kingdom is said to be "establish[ed] in the very heavens... within you".  The scriptures reveal the what and the where of "the very heavens", and we have an indepth discussion of the location of the kingdom of heaven being within us at this link here.

It is this spiritual inward kingdom of "mount Sion... unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" with which our study today is concerned.

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.

That being the case, we are of necessity being delivered from a spiritually inward kingdom of Assyria of which we are told:

Isa 10:24  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
Isa 10:25  For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
Isa 10:26  And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

It is when 'the Lord of hosts stirs up a scourge for the king of Assyria according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb' that:

Isa 11:6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

The wolf, the leopard, the lion, the bear, the asp and the cockatrice are one and all "the power of the enemy" within us, and they are all subdued and dominated by Christ who has been given all power in heaven and in earth, who now lives His life within us and who has given us that same power "over all the power of the enemy".

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luke 10:19 is the fulfilling in our lives of every word of Isaiah 11. Like the apostle Paul in whom Christ dwelt, if a venomous beast with his venomous false doctrines does attach himself to us, we simply shake him off into the fiery burning flames of the Truths of the Word of God.

Act 28:3  And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
Act 28:4  And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
Act 28:5  And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

These verses here in Isaiah 11 have nothing to do with the disposition of the physical animals in the kingdom of God during the millennium as we have most generally been taught. If beasts were subdued to this degree, then there would be no need for a rod of iron with which to subdue 'strong nations afar off'.

Mic 4:3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

It is also evident that after the millennium the nations do indeed "learn war" again in very short order:

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.

The increasing of beasts within the kingdom of God is one of the means used by the Lord to keep His work on His schedule, and they are also used by the Lord throughout prophecy to discipline the Lord's people for their sins:

Deu 7:22  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

It will be those who know the mind and the words of the Lord who will be used by Him as His "battle axe and weapons of war" against all those whom He has first used to discipline us.

We will be "the rod of His mouth"? The Lord will use us to execute his rule and His judgments upon the "kingdoms of this world"? This what we are told throughout the scriptures:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Jer 51:19  The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.
Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
Jer 51:24  And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.

Eze 3:10  Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.
Eze 3:11  And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

Eze 3:17  Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

You and I are called to be the Lord's anointed to do the very things He did for His Father:

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

The words of this chapter of Isaiah will be accomplished within our lives in this age only after the Lord has destroyed the king of Assyria within us, brought us to our wits' end and subdued all the beasts within us in this age. These words have nothing to do with the disposition of beasts during the millennium where we will be judging the nations of this world and ruling them with a rod of iron:

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.

So once again the 'is' character of the Word of God is given priority, and the beasts of the earth are now being subdued within the Lord's elect, preparing them to be the instruments through which all men will be granted to subdue the beasts within themselves and in time come to be at peace with their Creator.

Next week we will see another demonstration of how the words of this chapter apply to this present age. The cockatrice cannot hurt us even now, even as we live in these earthen vessels  where the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth within us in this age.

Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Isa 11:10  And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Isa 11:11  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Isa 11:12  And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isa 11:13  The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
Isa 11:14  But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
Isa 11:15  And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
Isa 11:16  And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

(Key verses: Genesis 50:22-26)

We conclude our discussions on foundational themes in Genesis with the final section of this book where the death of Joseph is detailed. The theme of death is indeed the story of the first Adam, and here with the death of Joseph, certain aspects of this theme are again highlighted for us. Joseph lived in Egypt since he was seventeen years old until the time of his death at the age of a hundred and ten years – in total he lived ninety-three years in Egypt, which includes the eighty years as a ruler (Gen 37:2-36; Gen 41:46). The number eighty has the numbers eight and ten connected to it, which in spiritual terms refers respectively to the new man in Christ and the completeness of flesh. It is indeed the new man who reigns over the flesh, as Joseph also is a type of the elect and their time of rulership (Oba 1:21; 1Co 6:2-3; Rev 20:4-15):

Gen 50:22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.

During his time of rulership in Egypt, God also used Joseph to bring his own family down to Egypt. All of that was initiated when his ten brothers sold Joseph to traders, who in turn sold him as a slave in Egypt. However, the natural man cannot see that all man’s thoughts and acts are caused by God, and everyone is actually contributing to fulfill God’s purposes, whether through the good or the evil:

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

Pro 20:24 Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

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

These truths are not accessible to the carnal mind of the natural man, and this is also what Joseph’s brothers could not grasp, even when Joseph repeatedly told them why all things happened, even the evil they committed:

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

Joseph’s life, as with the lives of his family and all creation in every detail, is set up and being “worked” by God from start to finish (Eph 1:11):

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

Joseph’s heart was fixed on God’s promises

Joseph’s fleshly offspring through his Egyptian wife, Asenath, were born and bred in Egypt as Joseph was also taken through a process of resisting the manifold temptations of Egypt:

Gen 50:23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.

Like Joseph, the elect are called by God to reckon themselves dead to the flesh with all its desires, even while living in this land of flesh:

Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Throughout his time in Egypt, amidst all the trials and tests, Joseph’s heart was always fixed on the promises of God to his fathers. Even now on his deathbed this was still Joseph’s focus which he also wanted his family to remember:

Gen 50:24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Through God’s words to his forefathers, Joseph knew that Egypt was not the permanent dwelling place for his family and their offspring. Egypt is the type of our flesh which God never intended to be the permanent dwelling for those in the first Adam:

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity [Greek: mataiotēs = transientness/lasting only for a short time], not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

It is indeed God who subjected this whole creation to operate in the way it does – 100% according to His plan. All physical things were “made subject to vanity”, meaning they were created in a state of transience. All things that were created within this state also operate according to this “very good” plan which God instituted from the beginning – this “very good” plan includes darkness and death:

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good…

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

This is the initial spiritual state of the first Adam and all in spiritual Egypt. Those who can receive it at this time rejoice in the truth that Adam and all in him were not created “in vain” to continue in this spiritual state. God’s glory will eventually fill the whole earth – even all in Adam (1Co 15:22-28). This is the promise of God:

Isa 45:18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

Num 14:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.

Hab 2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Is this creation malfunctioning?

Joseph knew Egypt was part of God’s plan and that one day his family will return to the land God has promised to them. In the same sense, this flesh and all our trials and pain are necessary to teach us important spiritual lessons which we will otherwise never learn. Here are Solomon’s wise words about this earthy experience:

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) 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.
Ecc 1:14 (CLV) I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun, And behold, the whole is vanity [Hebrew: hebel – emptiness or vanity; figuratively something transitory and unsatisfactory] and a grazing on wind.

For the natural mind and those who twist the Word of God, this creation appears as malfunctioning, as they also claim that God is not responsible for this so-called chaos. Those perspectives are grounded in spiritual blindness and are not the truth which considers the sum of God’s Word (Psa 119:160). Here are a few scriptural witnesses to show us that God is indeed sovereign and responsible for all things in this creation, and nothing can function outside God’s intended 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:

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

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

Nothing in this creation malfunctions, because nothing is out of the control of God – that is what sovereignty means. Even Satan, “the waster”, was created for a specific purpose:

Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

This “waster” was a murderer and liar “from the beginning”, and God gave this adversary “power…and great authority” to deceive those in the first Adam (Gen 3:1-5; 2Sa 24:1; 1Ch 21:1; Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-6; Rev 13:2). Jesus said these words to those Jews who actually believed in him, but followed him after the flesh:

Joh 8:44 Ye [those who reason according to their carnal mind] 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.

Every creature is doing exactly what God wants them to do – nothing more and nothing less. It is only those who believe in the false doctrine that creatures have a so-called “free” will who will deny this truth. God can do with His creation what He “pleasures” as His counsel will stand (Isa 46:10). He does not need anyone’s permission to mar or make a vain human “pot” (a vessel “unto dishonour” and “fitted to destruction”) at first before He makes it again in spirit – “a vessel unto honour” (Rom 9:20-22):

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.

This is what the sons of Israel, and all at their appointed time are learning. There is no malfunctioning in God’s works. We are all clay in the Potter’s hand.

Redemption is a process in the Potter’s hands

The physical nation of Israel which was being formed in Egypt was promised their own land, and this is what Joseph also now reiterates before his death in Egypt:

Gen 50:24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Gen 50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you…

This “visit” of God was, of course, first through hardships in which this physical nation was actually formed and bonded together. As the physical Israel was a type of the spiritual Israel of God, so is the physical land of promise a type of the spiritual inheritance which is fulfilled through the kingdom of God (Rom 2:28-29; 1Co 15:28). Joseph knew that Egypt and all its splendour and glamour was not where he must be, not even for his dead bones:

Gen 50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

The removal of Joseph’s bones from Egypt is again emphasising the total destruction of everything associated with this earthy life and “this death”:

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.

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

The removal of Joseph’s bones is pointing to this truth that not even a speck of dust will remain of this creation when the new creation has come in its fullness, even the very substances or bodies associated with these two ages (Rev 21:1-6):

1Co 15:37 And that which thou sowest [in the earth], thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:

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

Even in this age this church knows that their redemption from this old heaven and old earth is experienced “from glory to glory” although it is still in downpayment now (Exo 23:30; Deu 7:22; 2Co 3:18; Eph 1:13-14). The whole creation is waiting for the deliverance from this restriction of flesh, but it is only the church of God in Christ who has this hope already manifesting through the faith of Jesus in them!

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.
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.

Joseph’s body was embalmed and placed in a coffin which again brings interesting insights to the fore.

Joseph’s death in Egypt

Gen 50:26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Embalming in its negative application points to our natural attachments to flesh and how the earthy things ensnare us so easily, even coming with a strong desire for a miraculous rapture out of our trials and tribulations. Nevertheless, it is by enduring the trials and going through death which indeed brings the victory over “this death” which qualify those in the first resurrection (Col 1:22; Heb 2:14). We can only rule over what we have endured and overcome – not escaping it, which the whole life of Joseph is such a powerful witness of:

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.

Embalming in its positive application therefore points to the elect of God who are being prepared for their own burial through trials and tribulations (Act 14:22; Gal 6:1-10; 1Pe 4:12; Rev 15:6-8):

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.

The church is the physical flesh and bones of the spiritual Head Jesus Christ, and if we say we love and serve the Head and ignore His body, we are deceived (Mal 3:16; Heb 10:19-25; 1Jn 5:2-3). Christ’s church is dying to this world and gathered together in that sense:

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

After being embalmed, the corpse of Joseph was placed into a coffin. This is the first time in the scriptures a coffin is mentioned as being used to enclose a body. Here is Dr James Strong’s explanation of the Hebrew word which was translated as “coffin” in Genesis 50 verse 26:

H727
ארן ארון
‘ârôn ‘ârôn
aw-rone’, aw-rone’
From H717 (in the sense of gathering); a box: – ark, chest, coffin.
H717
ארה
‘ârâh
aw-raw’
A primitive root; to pluck: – gather, pluck.

This is also the first time the Hebrew word “ârôn” appears in the scriptures, and in this instance it is referring to a box in which a body is “gathered” in terms of preservation. The “coffin” in its positive application points to a separation from the world, even as Joseph reveals his faith in the promises of God in this regard:

Heb 11:22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

The coffin also therefore points to those who are gathered together by the death of Christ (Gal 2:20; Php 1:23). This is God’s elect who belong together and are taken to be seated with the Christ (Eph 2:6):

Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Death is a powerful witness of God’s life

God teaches us through opposites. This pattern was established right at the first day of this creation with which this book of Genesis opens – we first experience darkness before the Light comes:

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

When physical Israel suffered through slavery in Egypt, which lasted four hundred and thirty years, this coffin of Joseph was among the children of Israel during that whole period as a powerful testimony. The words of Joseph and the oath of the children of Israel were passed on through generations, as we also read how the bones were removed from Egypt and buried in Canaan (Gen 50:25):

Exo 13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

Jos 24:32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

Throughout his life we see that Joseph displayed this silent and powerful witness when he was always a living example of obedience to God. Sometimes the vocal Word of God becomes silent to give us the opportunity to be the powerful display of the word and life of God through our works (2Co 3:2-3; Php 1:17; 1Pe 1:15; 1Pe 3:1-2; 1Pe 3:16):

Jas 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

This is Joseph in life and in death – he lived what he confessed and was either hated or loved for that. In the same way, the death of Christ and His resurrected life is working in a few in this age to bring forth a good conversation or lifestyle for those around to witness. As the godly wife wins her unbelieving husband to the truth which she lives out, so does the true church of Christ show His testimony also by the good conversation they have in the world “without the word” (Rev 1:1-3):

1Pe 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation [conduct] of the wives;
1Pe 3:2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
1Pe 3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

There is indeed a time to speak and a time to keep silence:

Ecc 3:7b ….a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

————–

[The author may be reached for questions or comments at glgroenewald@gmail.com]

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Numbers in Scripture
Gathered Unto His People
Is The Flesh ‘Being Sown’ Our Physical Death?
Is Our Moment of Death Our Resurrection?
Who Is Taken, and Who Is Left?

(Sections from Genesis 37 – 41)

Within this theme of spiritual glorification, we are confronted with many aspects which God’s elect must endure within the process of being seated together with Christ in rulership over the earth and the heaven (Mat 20:28; Eph 2:6; 1Co 6:2-3; Rev 20:4-15). One of these aspects is physical confinement or imprisonment, even in terms of its spiritual application in this age. This concept of physical imprisonment first appears in the scriptures in the life of Joseph. Many people mentioned in the scriptures also experienced physical imprisonment – a few names that come to mind includes Samson and some of the prophets in the Old Testament like Jeremiah, Micaiah, Zacharias and Daniel. In the New Testament we read about physical imprisonment in the lives of John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, Silas, Paul, Epaphras, Aristarchus, Junia…even Jesus was physically laid hands on and incarcerated:

Mat 26:50 And Jesus said unto him [Judas], Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they [the “great crowd with swords and clubs, being sent from the chief priests and elders of the people”], and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.

Prison life is characterized with much sighing, suffering, groaning and death (1Ki 22:27; Psa 66:10-12; Jer 52:11; Mat 14:3-10; Act 16:23-24; 2Ti 2:9):

Psa 79:11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die.

Psa 102:20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.

The physical creation and all carnal spirit beings were created by God to be in a spiritual prison in which all these creations of God are appointed to a death experience (Gen 2:7-8; Job 4:18-19; Rom 7:24; Rom 8:5-6). Whenever we read about prisons in the scriptures, it is therefore a spiritual type which includes life in the flesh of all in the first Adam (Rom 1:20; 1Co 15:45-50). It is indeed an experience of evil and death which God is giving to the sons of man to humble them in it (Jer 52:11; Heb 13:3):

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 [Hebrew: “âdâm”] to humble them by it.

Death and the fear of death rule us in this time of our fleshly imprisonment, and it is only by the spirit of the Father that spiritual liberty and deliverance from this prison can come through Christ (Isa 61:1):

Psa 142:7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me [Christ], 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.

Jesus Christ took part of the same prison-life in flesh to open the way to spirit-life for all in this prison through His resurrection from this death:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Paul also describes this prison of flesh and its carnal mind as a law under which we must live before the law of the spirit in Christ Jesus will start to operate in us to set us free and give us rulership:

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

We also know that God does not despise His prisoners which He appointed to this death experience, especially those in this age who are given to see that they are indeed poor in spirit being in this fleshly existence and in desperate need of God’s spirit and His redemptive work through Jesus Christ:

Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Psa 69:33 For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

To be raised to the glorious spirit-life of the Father we need to be baptised with the death of Christ, which means we must carry His cross and die to our own flesh and to the spirit of the world with all its pride and lusts in us (1Jn 2:16). This also links to us being despised and rejected for His name’s sake as we drink this cup with Him (Mat 10:38-39; Mat 20:22-23; Gal 2:20; 1Co 15:31):

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

This death and resurrection was all pictured and typified in the global flood where the same spirit of Christ preached before the flood came to those people whose “spirits [were] in prison” and who were under the dominion of sin “in the days of Noah” (Gen 6:1-7). Even the ones who were supposed to be God’s messengers (“the sons of God”) through the generational line of Seth, sinned and were trapped in the “chains of darkness” through those in the generational line of Cain (Gen 4:16-24; Gen 4:25-26; Gen 5:1-32). Only Noah was kept perfect by God in that generation of Seth, and with his family they escaped the prison life of that “old world” as a type of how few in this age will be given first preference to escape this old flesh (Mat 22:14):

Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels [Greek: “aggelos” = messengers] that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Greek: “tartaroō” = death/spiritual incarceration], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.

1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God’s elected few are called to bring the other spiritual prisoners from their prisons at the time appointed by the Father:

Isa 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Although all in the first Adam are “concluded under sin”, this resurrection from the prison of death of the flesh is firstly ordained for these few elected ones, even as they are experiencing this now in faith as a downpayment (Rom 8:22-30; Eph 1:13-14; Jas 1:18):

Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

It is through the life of Joseph that these different aspects of spiritual glorification through imprisonment are first brought to the fore in the scriptures. We first meet Joseph in the scriptures at the age of seventeen, and from this time until he was placed on the throne in Egypt a period of thirteen years transpired:

Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren…

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

These thirteen years in Joseph’s life were always characterised by some type of prison or restrictive living conditions under which Joseph had to live. The number thirteen in the scriptures spiritually connects with our old man and its focus on self and its kingdoms which are in a natural rebellion against God while it depends on its own strength and abilities (Gen 14:1-4; Gen 17:25; Num 29:13; 1Ki 7:13).

These thirteen years in Joseph’s life also bring the positive application to this number thirteen in the sense that these years were very important, because these trials prepared Joseph for rulership. These trials in Joseph’s life started off when he was placed in physical confinement within a pit by his envious and hateful brothers:

Gen 37:23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;
Gen 37:24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit [Hebrew: “bôr” = cistern, dungeon, fountain, pit, well]: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

The scriptures indeed confirm that the earthly life was created in the beginning as a spiritual pit filled with darkness, being void of the spirit life and light of God (Gen 1:2). The haughty strongholds in our carnal mind obstruct the light of the truth, and we cannot see God’s purposes with us and this creation. However, the day of judgment is the process in us where we see the demise of our earthly kingdoms and the establishing of God’s rulership in us:

Isa 24:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
Isa 24:22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Isa 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

The apostle Peter describes this time of darkness when the spirit of God starts its work in our lives as follows (Joe 2:1-2; Joe 2:31; Eze 32:6-8; 1Pe 4:17):

Act 2:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This is the time when the seals of our book are opened and the judgment is announced by the seven trumpets which will take us through to rulership as John also alluded to in these words:

Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

This is what is typified with this pit experience and the subsequent enslavement and prison experience of Joseph. This thirteen year-long journey for Joseph reveals to us the judgment which first comes on God’s elect which will also come later on the rest of humanity who do not obey the gospel in this age, as per God’s design (Rev 20:11-15). Joseph’s brothers will be taken through their time of judgment later:

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?

We did not choose to be placed in this flesh, and we had no options in terms of our families and physical environment. We also do not even choose our enemies and the struggles we encounter in this life. God made those decisions for us, and we all struggle with these “wonderful works of God” at our own appointed times (Psa 107). After God brings His light, these obscurities and our silly contentions with His decisions start to lift, and we slowly learn that all things are fitting exactly into a perfectly ordained time period and purpose which are all worked after God’s glorious counsel and will (Eph 1:11):

Ecc 3:11 (CLV) He has made everything fitting in its season; However, He has put obscurity in their heart So that the man may not find out His work, That which the One, Elohim, does from the beginning to the terminus.”

It is exactly through all these works of God that we are being taught how to be humbled and how to submit to an awesome God and His glorious plan for us. This is part of the foundation of all wisdom in our lives when we can see the “fitting” purposes for these necessary evils in our lives:

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) 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.

At this point in time, Joseph had no idea what was ahead of him as God also mercifully does not reveal “what shall be on the morrow” (Jas 4:14). We are also perplexed at times, but with patience we learn that all darkness of this earthly pit will be taken away when God’s revelation is given. Like Paul, we gain deeper understanding of God’s works as we grow through these perplexing trials:

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.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

It never ceases to amaze how God’s elect are saved through these trials that sometimes seem to take the very life from us. In the case of Joseph, this is also written for our comfort that God will bring an outcome which our natural mind cannot work out:

Gen 37:25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
Gen 37:26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
Gen 37:27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

Joseph’s brothers then took him from this pit in order to sell him to the slave traders who brought him to Egypt where he was working as a slave in the house of a man called Potiphar. This was again a type of prison as Joseph’s movements were restricted under the orders of his slave master in Egypt for many years (Gen 39:1-6).

The elect of God are not limited by their physical environment or fleshly restrictions because their service is to a God whose wisdom rules far above what the eye can see or the ear can hear (1Cor 2:6-10; Col 3:17). God’s elect will be diligent and industrious whatever is thrown at them:

Col 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men;
Col 3:24 knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ.

In this sense Joseph could also not avoid being a prosperous man, as the Lord was with him. Even the world will have to acknowledge this witness in the lives of God’s elect, typified here by Joseph’s industrious attitude:

Gen 39:2 And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
Gen 39:3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
Gen 39:4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.

Even when we do our best, we will be naive to think that deeper struggles will not come or that those opposing the truth will be kept away from us. The opposition to Joseph’s impact in the prosperity of his master came from a very powerful and influential source – it came in the form of a temptation from Potiphar’s own wife. This wife of Potiphar symbolizes the false church who seduces many with its false integrity and fleshly security. Spiritual Babylon is given this power of seduction by God, and she herself is a spiritual prison. Joseph was continuously under the watchful eye of this adulterous wife of Potiphar as she also spoke to him “day by day”:

Gen 39:7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.

Gen 39:10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

Jesus was also tempted like we are on a daily basis, but Jesus never succumbed to any temptation at any time during His time in this fleshly prison (Heb 2:17; Heb 4:15). This is what Joseph also typified as he never gave in to this woman’s daily temptations. When Joseph rejected her at all occasions, she eventually had him framed by giving a false report to her husband that Joseph wanted to sleep with her. Potiphar believed his wife, as he represents our carnal mind which cannot see through the lies and deceit of Babylon. These false reports and attacks on our integrity are all part of the plan in the lives of God’s elect, even as Joseph was thrown in yet another prison:

Gen 39:19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled.
Gen 39:20 And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.

This prison is where the Pharaoh’s prisoners were kept, also called “the king’s prisoners”. This prison will be used by God to be Joseph’s connecting point to be later placed in direct contact with the Pharaoh. God, who is the designer and keeper of all prisons of darkness and evil, will never forsake the righteous nor let go of His plan for His elect, even the prison of death (Isa 45:5-7; Act 2:31):

Psa 37:22 (ESV) for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
Psa 37:23 (ESV) The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;
Psa 37:24 (ESV) though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.
Psa 37:25 (ESV) I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

We are the King’s prisoners, and we were purposefully chosen and elected by God to suffer for the sake of righteousness in this life (Psa 69:33). God’s elect knows this inner witness, and they rejoice in tribulation, even as they serve others now and much more in the future (Jas 1:2-5). This servant attitude is what the apostle Paul also alluded to when he wrote these words as a prisoner of King Jesus (2Co 11:23; 2Co 1:10; 2Co 12:10; 2Ti 1:7-12):

Eph 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Eph 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Eph 3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Eph 3:4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Eph 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Eph 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Eph 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

Joseph’s visions of rulership never departed from him, even in the darkest trials. The diligent spirit of the Lord in Joseph made him to stand out from the rest of the prisoners:

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

What a testimony to the work of the Lord through His elect wherever they may be! It was here in this prison where Joseph met the butler and the baker of the Pharaoh. Both had dreams by which Joseph was used by God to correctly interpret and clarify these dreams. The baker was eventually killed, and the butler was restored to Pharaoh’s service. It was through this butler that Joseph was called to interpret the two dreams of the Pharaoh, and by doing that Joseph was placed in rulership over Egypt under the Pharaoh (Gen 41:38-44). This is a type of Jesus who is given the rulership over all by the Father:

Php 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Php 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Number 13
Spirits in Prison
Was Christ in Prison?
The King’s Prisoners – Part 1
The King’s Prisoners – Part 2
Are Angels Always Spirits?
Revelation 6:12-17 – Part 2

Audio Links

How The Kingdoms of The World Become The Kingdom’s of Our Lord and His Christ

God’s Four Sore Judgments, Part 5 -The Noisome Beast – A

Introduction

Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

Our study this week, as we continue to answer the question, “How will the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ?”, considers God’s sore judgment of “the noisome beast” and how “the noisome beast” will be used by God to give the rule of the kingdoms of this world over into the hands of His elect:

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.

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.

Before we consider what part this “sore judgment” will play in delivering the kingdoms of this world to our Lord and His Christ, we need to know exactly what this judgment is which in the King James Version is called “the noisome beast”.

When we look at what Strong’s reveals to us to be the Hebrew word translated as “noisome”, this is what we discover:

ra‛  râ‛âh
rah, raw-aw’
From H7489; bad or (as noun) evil (naturally or morally). This includes the second (feminine) form; as adjective or noun: – adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease (-ure), distress, evil ([-favouredness], man, thing), + exceedingly, X great, grief (-vous), harm, heavy, hurt (-ful), ill (favoured), + mark, mischief, (-vous), misery, naught (-ty), noisome, + not please, sad (-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked (-ly, -ness, one), worse (-st) wretchedness, wrong. [Including feminine ra’ah; as adjective or noun.]

Of the 644 times this Hebrew word appears in the Old Testament, it is translated as ‘evil’ 440 times. This is the same Hebrew word translated as ‘evil’ in this verse of scripture:

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The ACV has a much more accurate translation of this verse:

Eze 14:21  For thus says lord LORD: How much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!

Because we see both words “man and beast” in this verse, we are at first led to forget the truth of these verses of scripture:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 

Since “all go unto one place: all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. [therefore] they [mankind] themselves are beasts”, God is not informing us that He intends to release upon mankind all the caged beasts in all of the zoos all around the globe. That would be so easy for mankind to deal with.  The “evil beasts” He is telling us He will use to judge mankind are far more dangerous than any physical “leopard… bear [or] lion. The “evil beast” by which God is judging all men receives his power from the great red Dragon, who is Satan himself. The “evil beasts” by whom God will judge all men is the beast of Revelation 13:

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 
Rev 13:4  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?
Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him [as one of God’s four sore judgments] to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

This “evil beast” overcomes all of God’s saints! He is “given… power… over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship [this “evil beast”]. He goes so far as to ‘sit in the temple of God, proclaiming himself that he is God’. He kills by the sword, and he is killed by the sword. We are told that all of this “is the patience and the faith of the saints” who acknowledge that it is they, too, who must “keep the things written therein” (Rev 1:3 and Rev 22:7)

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.

Of course, this not a literal statement. While rulers of men have indeed proclaimed themselves to be gods, such as the king of Babylon, Isa 14, and the prince of Tyre, Eze 28, most men simply place themselves ahead of God, and in that sense they “worship the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” All who have Christ in them know that Christ alone has been capable of ‘making war with the beast’ that is within us all. This is the noisome beast by whom God will judge “all flesh”, and will bring the nations to want God’s elect to take over the reins of government on this earth. (Psa 82:8; Isa 49:26 ; Isa 66:16; Jer 25:31)

Peter speaks of this very same beast, by whom God will judge all men:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

It is with “natural brute beasts” that God is at this very moment judging His house, and it is with “natural brute beasts” that He will outwardly judge this world and make the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, His Christ, who we are.

Notice what Peter tells us about the function of these “natural brute beasts”, the “noisome [evil] beast” by whom He is judging His people and the kingdoms of this world:

2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 
2Pe 2:14  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 
2Pe 2:15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 
2Pe 2:16  But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Let’s understand what we are being told. Christ Himself had a “natural brute beast [who was a] spot and a blemish sporting himself with his own deceit while feasting with” Christ and His Christ. That man “followed the way of Balaam” because he, too, loved the wages of unrighteousness. He thought he would be free when he betrayed Christ, but he very soon discovered the he was himself the servant of corruption, and was in fact in bondage to that corruption. He had escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord, but was again entangled in the pollutions of this world, and his latter end was worse than his beginning.

“…As He is so are we” (1Jo 4:17)

Just like Christ we, too, are promised “a kingdom” and “power over the nations”. We are told “the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”

Dan 2:44  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Luk 22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

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.

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.

Christ has already been given all power in heaven and in earth, and He is wielding that power at this very moment.

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

At this very moment, He is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”.

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 are predestined to “be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in the Christ,…[who] has been given all power in heaven and in earth”, and if it is true that “as He is, so are we in this world”, then we ought to be able to look at the life of Christ to see how the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. The fact is that we have already done just that when we examined the life of Joseph.

Joseph’s going from Potiphar’s house to prison typified Christ passing from “a body of flesh and bone” into the grave.

Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

On coming up out of the realm of death, Christ ascended to His Father’s throne, where He was given “all power in heaven and in earth”. But how did He get to that throne? King David tells us how God made it all happen. It is the same way He judges us, and it is the same way He will judge this world (1Co 6:2) and make the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ:

Psa 105:16  Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.
Psa 105:17  He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: 
Psa 105:18  Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
Psa 105:19  Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
Psa 105:20  The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
Psa 105:21  He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:
Psa 105:22  To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

The Word of the Lord tried Joseph, and it was the Word of the Lord which also tried Christ when He was tempted and tried of the Devil:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Christ believed His Father’s Words, and that is what Joseph did. It was a true trial to spend 13 years as a slave to the powers of Egypt waiting for the words of the Lord to come to pass.

These are the words of the Lord which tried Joseph’s faith in the Words of His Lord:

Gen 37:5  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Gen 37:6  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
Gen 37:7  For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

From the time Joseph was given the promise of becoming a ruler, his life went straight down the drain. Everything he had been promised seemed to get farther and farther away from him. First, his own brothers hated him. They put him in a pit, then they sold him into slavery. He served Potiphar as a slave for some time, but things were to get even worse when he was cast into the dungeons of Egypt, typifying the death of his flesh.

But the time came for those words of promised rulership to come to pass, and that is exactly what happened. His brother’s “sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to [Joseph’s] sheaf”:

Gen 42:5  And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Gen 42:6  And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

You and I are in the same place as Joseph. We have been told that we were predestined to be called to “be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in [the Words of] Christ”. Notice all the personal pronouns in these verses:

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

Does that sound like Paul doubted his election? These verses deal with all the blessings of our election. Judgment is not the subject of these verses. But it is God’s four sore judgments and all seven seals of the book of Revelation which are prerequisites of election:

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

2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

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

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.

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