The Book of Jonah Chapters 2 – 4

[Aired February 15, 2025]

The first study in Jonah finished with the great fish swallowing him. It seems that Jonah wasn’t the least bit concerned about being drowned since he was asleep ‘in the sides of the ship’ as it rolled and pitched violently in the tempest. His lethargy is akin to us formerly at ease in Zionist Christianity, oxymoronically with both the dull eyes of a whore and highly alert eyes of a harlot, hoping to catch the attention of leering paramours (Amos 6:1. Eze 23:20). We saw some of the Bible’s most notable scriptures profoundly related to Christ’s death and resurrection emanating from Jonah’s attempted escape from the Lord. What a marvellous understanding it is, if we are the Elect, to recognise our guarantee of being resurrected in this life, along with Christ’s promise to empower us in completing the task of saving our brothers and sisters in Nineveh the world in the Lake of Fire. The Saints, like Jonah’s symbolic death three days and nights in the deep, is our unnerving spiritual progression (No. 3) in the deep of our flesh through judgement, no matter how hard we resist, to be faithfully delivered to our expected destination.

Mat 12:39  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Mat 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mat 12:41  The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Mat 12:42  The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

I recently had a very good Babylonian Christian friend semi-consciously and effectively state that he’d take his chance in the Lake of Fire and suffer whatever fear Christ dished out to him rather than give up his materially rich lifestyle and, today, follow Christ’s truth. His understanding was long ago taken away from him, not realising that “unquenchable fire” keeps burning while he retains that impudence. He will, and like Jonah, have his ‘ease in Zion’ spiritually burn him until he does cry out of the fish’s belly, the womb of his re-creation.

Mat 3:11  I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Mat 3:12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Many years ago, when I did a basic first aid course, the ambulance instructor said that people saved from the fire, though suffering extensive third-degree burns, and while their nerve endings are all burnt off and they feel amazingly free of pain, they are at peace with the near inevitability of death. I, too, experienced that while body surfing. My brother and I were swept out several hundred meters from the shore. Utterly exhausted, I did the ‘dead man’s crawl’  doing a dog paddle vertically in the water while sinking; at peace, resigned to going down. A prayer and burst of energy got me to my back, and there I stayed and kicked with all my remaining might and eventually crested the back of a mighty wave and made it to shore. God had unfinished work to do in me in an unseen future event, and like Jonah’s watery saga was about to get worse,

Significations:

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

Jon 1:17  Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 

Jonah’s Prayer

Jon 2:1  Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly [H990 = womb], 
Jon 2:2  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 
Jon 2:3  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 

In these stories, there are two ways of responding: either with lethargy or fear. Lethargy, while life is good in Babylon, is normal until pain sets in, as did the claustrophobic nature of the fish’s belly for Jonah. So, too, is what happens to us when we fail to repent and, out of sheer terror, look to Christ, our ‘holy temple’.

Jon 2:4  Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 
Jon 2:5  The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 

Christ created us and knows precisely how to get our attention. Jonah, being in the soft mush of a fish’s belly with seaweed wrapped around his head, is the equivalence of despotic military waterboarding torture and worse than drowning. It is where the person is tied down blindfolded with a towel around his head and face while water is steadily poured over the towel, with rarely an opportunity to chokingly gasp for air, rendering a constant panic of drowning, only to have it all repeated for as long as the psychopath desires. No doubt that is what Jonah felt for three days and nights, and it is indicative of our troubled and narrow spiritual progression while enduring judgment in this life. As Christ is and was, so, too are we in this life.

Psa 18:4  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
Psa 18:5  The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
Psa 18:6  In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Joh 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Jon 2:6  I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. 
Jon 2:7  When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 
Jon 2:8  They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 

Even though the oceans are created salty, salt is a derivative of burnt sulphur, indicative of the Dead Sea following Sodom and the cities of the plain’s sulphurous burning. Jonah’s fleeing to the West in a ship headed for Tarshish (Southern Spain) from the light of God behind in the East and his resignation to drowning in the salty sea is, as was Noah’s, a type of baptism in water. His subsequent ‘saving’ by the giant fish in the terrifying pitch blackness of its belly points to the future Saint’s being baptismally salted with like spiritual fiery trials. Ironically, Jonah, a kind of giant worm (Isa 41:14) in the fish’s belly, fearful of fulfilling a more noble task, was spat out back on a beach in the East from whence he came to sullenly accomplish his God-given task in the light of God’s insistent demand.

Mar 9:47  And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
Mar 9:48  Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 
Mar 9:49  For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. 

To “observe lying vanities” is the same as indolently giving heed to lying doctrines. Any time we witness Christ to a Babylonian Christian, a spirit-led Elect can read their disinterest in their glazed eyes, overlaying Christ’s truth with the traditions of Gentile Christianity; consequently, they, as we in our time, have traded truth for the immediacy of sensualities, like Essau for a pot of bland lentils fulfilling the term ‘forsaking our own mercy’. Conversely, an Elect will glorify God for his fiery trials with thanksgiving for the vow Christ has given us to finish the New Adam in him.

Jon 2:9  But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. 
Jon 2:10  And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. 

One of the greatest expressions of love towards our Lord is the sacrifice of thanking him for our trials and chastisements, knowing that they bring forth righteousness unto salvation.

Psa 116:16  O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
Psa 116:17  I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.
Psa 116:18  I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
Psa 116:19  In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

Just as the Lord vomits our works of the flesh out of his mouth, Jonah is about to pay his vows in the presence of those outside the Camp of Israel in Niveneh, typically as we do at every opportunity among our Gentile Christian friends. Our Lord will give us the words to say as we somewhat fret their judical enquiries.

Mar 13:10  And the gospel must first be published among all nations [typified by Jonah in Nineveh]. 
Mar 13:11  But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the holy ghost.

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

Jon 3:1  And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 
Jon 3:2  Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 
Jon 3:3  So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. 
Jon 3:4  And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 
Jon 3:5  So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 

The Lord, upon coming to Jonah and us a second time, is a patient double witness against our inevitable tardy obedience. We are that evil great city of Nineveh. Like Christ’s timeframe of submitting to the Father and fulfilling his three years of ministry is reflected in us symbolically taking three days to cross that ‘great city’ to fulfil the progression of merely taking one day, “a short work’ for our Lord to change our hearts. Such is the responsiveness of the ‘very Elect’, enlivened with Christ’s spirit, is given a progressive change of heart yet typified by the people of Nineveh, their excited consternation going ahead of them person to person no doubt before a timeframe of three days was up.

Joh 2:18  Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
Joh 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up [in our God-given spiritual understanding]. 
Joh 2:20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
Joh 2:21  But he spake of the temple of his body.

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.

It took Jonah three days to cross Nineveh since he obviously spent many hours stopping to forewarn its highly attentive people of the expected coming disaster; no doubt otherwise, by walking continuously a nominal 9-hour day’s journey at four mph, the city would absurdly be 36 miles across, and it would have taken much less time, maybe only a day. In fact, records state that the old city was 7.5 miles across. Jonah’s unwilling yet forced submission to God’s authority denotes our formerly unrepentant hearts in Gentile Christianity, condemning others of our very same sins and retiring to the safe distance in our church’ to smugly see their demise in the delusional eternal burning hell fire. Nineveh’s response corresponds to those in the One Thousand Year reign by the rod of iron and their alarm for the coming prophesies, yet they are unable to sustain a genuine change of heart.

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men [thankfully today in those he is judging first]. 
2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 
2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Jonah’s 40 days of prophecy against Nineveh represent the progression of tribulation in our lives in Christ, recreating the New Adam within.

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.

Upon the Beast we are, our hopefully eager acknowledgement of our iniquities and submissive de-throning from God’s rightful seat is our spiritual fasting through deep introspection of our corruptible hearts illustrated by Nineveh’s amazing about-face.

Heb 5:7 [Christ, and he in us] Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

The People of Nineveh Repent

Jon 3:6  For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 
Jon 3:7  And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor Beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: 
Jon 3:8  But let man and Beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 
Jon 3:9  Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 
Jon 3:10  And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. 

The king and people of that great city, Nineveh, proved wiser and more apt to respond to God’s signs and wonders more readily than initially the Lord’s prophets, his Elect, “for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” – Luk 16:8. The children of the world are already unwittingly “taken” by Satan and don’t always suffer the same intensity of attack as the children of light, and more so in the One Thousand Year reign are in an uneasy forced peace in Zion, and in this case, Nineveh,  to make wiser decisions. But not so Jonah, representing the Lord’s Elect, at Satan’s hand constantly before the Lord, hoping to instigate our death.

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

The decree that not just the men of Nineveh are commanded to fast, but the beasts of their herds and flocks, too, denotes us giving our whole heart to the Lord.

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 
Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Compassion

Jon 4:1  But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 

Wow! Jonah, like we in our fiery journey, is a hard man to toss. His petulant response is reminiscent of Cain’s anger at the Lord’s rejection of his offering.

Gen 4:5  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

It is very wise of us to “do well” and eagerly agree with our Lord’s commands rather than repeatedly flee from his presence; otherwise, too late in our testing of him, our Lord may give us up to fiery serpents or, worse, the Lake of Fire.

1Co 10:9  Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

Rev 22:11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Rev 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Jonah is about to argue with God, pointing out that he had already done all that the Lord commanded, and the people rejected him and God and he was not thrilled to be additionally humiliated. Jonah’s approach is akin to us obeying the first milky works in Christ, relying on our own strength and failing the more fiery trials, giving up and going back to Babylon, where life is peaceful, rich and safe from troubles, signified by the greasy grace of Tarshish’s gold and silver.

Isa 60:8  Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
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.

Jon 4:2  And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. 
Jon 4:3  Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. 

Again, remembering the Lord’s same response to Cain,

Jon 4:4  Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? 
Jon 4:5  So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 

Jonah’s sullen compliance denotes a small advancement in our spiritual growth by him sitting on the sunny ‘east side of the city’ with his back to the rising sun, in his booth, a temporary dwelling, and a disappearing ‘shadow’ of the transitory fleshy nature of our journey in becoming Christs. Of course, we know what will become of that city, our old man, negatively and positively. We are incredibly grateful that our sins are stripped from our land, little by little and not in one devastating death throw. Nonetheless, the inevitability of metaphoric ‘cutworm’ of chastisement suitable for the occasion is thankfully for evermore a sword upon our temporary house.

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

Psa 121:5  The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
Psa 121:6  The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
Psa 121:7  The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
Psa 121:8  The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Jon 4:6  And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 
Jon 4:7  But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 

Jonah’s self-made booth facing west towards Nineveh would have been inadequate as the sun peaked at midday and, on its descent, shone harshly under the entrance eve on his frailty. The vignette portrays the Lord’s great mercy to his Saints in their progression spiritually. Being shaded from the early heat of his chastisements prepares us for the direct afternoon light of God shining directly on our frame. Even then, the Lord’s mercy provided a miraculously very fast-growing gourd to shade Jonah’s booth, only the next day, to likewise as Jonah to wither rapidly in the heat. Our lives are but a mist that disappears as the sun rises. The entire account establishes that we are God’s workmanship, and he will smite and treat us how he wills to create in each of his Elect a uniqueness for his use today for saving the rest of humanity.

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.

Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.

The Lord’s chastisements ebb and then violently rise and threaten to destroy us, as did the tempest upon Jonah’s ship bound for Tarshish. Just as one trial finishes, another is at our very door. The Lord knows perfectly how far he can push us to the point of our imagined death, thinking that we are not able to suffer anymore, only like Job, have another trial hot on the heels of the previous one.

Jon 4:8  And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 

Job 2:9  Then said his wife unto him [Job], Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
Job 2:10  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Jonah, along with us, must reflect just as Job did with his wife. Astonishingly and most embarrassingly, Jonah, much like Cain, clings to his self-righteousness and fearlessly fires back at God – a humiliating lesson for the Saints.

Jon 4:9  And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. 
Jon 4:10  Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 
Jon 4:11  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? 

The gourd also represents the many called and not chosen, including those outside the camp of Israel and the world, who are not given to suffer the fiery heat of Christ’s commands. They are expressed by the “sixscore thousand”, safe as Nineveh for the time being but destined as cattle for the slaughter at the end of the One Thousand Year reign under the rod of iron, perishing in the night, having overcome nothing in their lives to be raised to judgement and ultimate saving on the Eight Day.

Eze 18:23  Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
Eze 18:24  But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
Eze 18:25  Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
Eze 18:26  When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
Eze 18:27  Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

The Book of Jonah ends abruptly, and Jonah is left introspective and humiliated for questioning God’s chastising grace. The legend is for our understanding, glorifying God our deepest gratitude for burning the idols of self-righteousness out of our hearts for resisting his wonderful works within.

We conclude with these verses:

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.

Joh 16:22  And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

Psa 92:4  For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

Amen

Rev 11:1-3, Part 2 – Leave Out The Court

[Study Aired Oct 11, 2024]

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Introduction

We concluded our last study by demonstrating that ‘the court’ of the Temple was the area where the multitudes of the nation of Israel could come to worship their God, but the multitudes were never permitted to go beyond the brazen altar at the front of the temple. Only the priests were permitted to wash in “the sea of brass” that stood between the brazen altar and the temple. No one but the priests were ever permitted to enter into the holy place within the temple, and no one but the high priest was ever permitted to enter into the holy of holies at the west end of the tabernacle and temple, and that was done but once each year on the day of atonement.

All priests are Levites of the tribe of Levi, but not all Levites are priests. Only the sons of Aaron were priests, and they alone had access to the temple and the holy things of the temple.

In the New Testament it is only those who are faithful to the words of our Lord who are “disciples indeed”:

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

6) The Gentiles?

In scriptural terms there are only two groups of people, and those two groups are Jews and Gentiles. So once we establish who is the one group, we will know automatically who the other group is. From Rev 11:2 and the rest of scripture, we know that no Gentile is ever allowed to enter into the temple of God:

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

So it is essential that we come to know who scripturally is “a Jew” and who scripturally is “a Gentile”.

Before we look at the verses which give us our answer to this question, let’s remember what Christ told the Samaritan ‘woman at the well’.

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.

If we can believe Christ, then we can believe Paul when Paul agrees with Christ when he tells us this:

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.

It is given to very few to believe that an outward physical Jew “is not a Jew” in the eyes of God. But that is nevertheless, the doctrine of scripture. Here is how Paul presents this same truth in Eph 2:

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;

“Both are now one” and the fact that “there is neither Jew nor Gentile” does not mean that there are no longer Jews in Christ. What it does mean is that those who were once excluded by virtue of physical birth can now be “called uncircumcision” and are now ‘the true circumcision’ if they are in Christ.

Gal 6:15  Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do– submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!
Gal 6:16  All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God— his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them! (MSG)

So those who walk by Christ’s rules are the true Jews, and those who say ‘Lord, Lord’, but do not do the things He says, are the true Gentiles.

1Co 10:20  But I [say], that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

All false doctrines are “the… sacrifice [of] the Gentiles… to devils.” It is all explained in this same second chapter of Romans quoted earlier, where we are told that “an outward Jew is not a Jew”.

Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God.

I ask rhetorically, If there is no respect of persons with God then why are we told “to the Jew first”? The answer is that Paul is speaking of both in spiritual terms just as John does when he tells us:

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the [spiritual] Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Our next question is…

7) What is the holy city?

If the scriptures are true and “he is not a Jew which is one outwardly”, then it is also true that Jerusalem is not Jerusalem which is outward, but the holy city also “is inward, in spirit, and not in the flesh”.

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.

We have already demonstrated that whatever is under one’s feet has been subdued by that person. So our question is: What is the holy city which is trodden under the foot of the Gentiles for forty and two months?

While the whole world waits for physical Jerusalem to be conquered by the Gentiles, the truth of God’s Word is that “the time [was] at hand [2,000 years ago for] the holy city” to be “trodden under the foot of the Gentiles”,  and it has always been being trodden under the feet of the Gentiles inwardly, just as surely as “he is a Jew which is one inwardly.”

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.

So what is “the holy city” which is at this very moment being trodden under the feet of the Gentiles? It is all those who are true to Christ. The holy city is those who are faithful to Christ and His doctrines. The holy city is the bride of Christ. Here are those who are today being trodden under the foot of the Gentiles:

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.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Christ’s “bride” is the same as God’s “dwelling place”, and that dwelling place is within us.

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

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

The “New Jerusalem” is “the tabernacle of God.” Therefore, if you and I are God’s elect, then the tabernacle of God, the New Jerusalem, is within God’s elect, as indeed the Lord Himself tells us the whole of “the kingdom of God is within you”.

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.

It is those who are true to the name and doctrines of Christ, those who are “hated of all men” (Mat 10:22), who are “trodden under the feet of the Gentiles forty and two months”. But exactly…

8) What is forty and two months?

‘Forty and two months’ is the same as ‘one thousand two hundred and sixty days’. That just happens to be the same length of time God’s “two witnesses” of the very next verse are allotted to do their witnessing. It is not called ‘forty and two months’, but it is the same span of time expressed in days instead of months.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

“Forty and two months” is also the same thing as “a time, times, and half a time” or “three and one half years”. We will discuss those words and that way of wording this span of time when we come to them.

It is most instructive now to notice that the time allotted to the beast to blaspheme the name of God is the exact same span of time allotted to the Gentiles to trod the court of the temple under foot, and it is expressed in the same words.

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

As Joseph told the Pharaoh, “the dream is one”:

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

The time God’s elect are trodden under the feet of the Gentiles and the time the beast blasphemes the name of God are also the same length of time, and just as Joseph and all Egypt lived through both the years of plenty and the years of famine, we also live through the years of blaspheming the name of God and the period of being trodden under the feet of those who blaspheme the name of God. In other words we all must “read, hear, and keep” being blasphemers before we become “the holy city” trodden under the feet of those Gentile blasphemers. After all, “all things… written therein… are ours”:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

If indeed ‘all things are ours’ then we are first “the children of disobedience” who “tread under foot the court of the temple” and ‘kill’ the Lord’s elect. Afterward, if God is merciful, we are transformed by the Lord’s “workmanship” (Eph 2:10) into those who, as our Lord was, are the temple of God and who are tread upon and spat upon by ‘the Gentiles’.

Mar 14:65  And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

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

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

The symbols of the third verse are…

9) My two witnesses

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Christ tells us that we are never to condemn or judge a brother at the word of a single witness. Instead, our judgments are to be based on the witness of “two or three”.

Mat 18:16  But if he will not hear [thee, then] take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

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.

Peter tells us that this principle is also to be used when reading the Word of God.

2Pe 1:20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private [Greek – idios, its own] interpretation.

Since the revelation of Jesus Christ is to be read, heard and kept because the time to do so has been “at hand” for the past two thousand years, God’s two witnesses are, and always have been, any and all of His elect who remain faithful to the Word of God. This will become especially clear in our consideration of the “two olive trees” in our next study.

10) A thousand two hundred and three score days

As mentioned above, it is not a coincidence that the period of time allotted to these two witnesses, is the same period of time allotted to those who trod under foot the court without the temple. The wording is different but the time and the message is the same. Instead of ‘forty and two months’ as the trodding of the temple court and the time of the blaspheming of the beast, the time allotted to God’s two witnesses is expressed as ‘a thousand two hundred and three score days’. These are the same words used to express the three and one half years the “woman [who] brings forth a manchild” is nourished in a place “prepared of God… in the wilderness.

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days.

What is the spiritual significance of this period of time? If ‘seven’ is the Biblical number signifying that which is complete, then ‘1260 days’ or ‘forty and two months’, or ‘a time, times and half a time’, are all symbols of that which is only half completed. But if, as the scriptures declare, Christ’s testimony was cut short “in the midst of the week” of years, then His testimony, and His witness, as well as His afflictions, are filled up in us as “His body which is the church.”

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

Our testimony, witness and afflictions fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our bodies for a thousand two hundred and three score days.

Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

“The word of God” and “the afflictions of the Christ” are both “fulfilled [and] filled up in our bodies which are the church.”

Our last symbol in this week’s study of these first three verses of Rev 11 is…

11) Clothed in sackcloth

Why are we told that God’s two witnesses are “clothed in sackcloth”?

In scripture, sackcloth is the attire of those in deep mourning. Here is the first time in scripture this phrase is used, and it makes clear the meaning of “clothed in sackcloth”. It is the story of Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery and leading Jacob to believe that Joseph had been killed by a beast. Here is Jacob’s reaction to that terrible lie:

Gen 37:34  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

When Joab maliciously murdered King Saul’s captain, King David forced Joab to mourn for Abner.

2Sa 3:31  And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David [himself] followed the bier.

But the question remains, why are God’s two witnesses “clothed in sackcloth”? If we can remember, this is all still part of the sixth trumpet, and the reason these symbolic “two witnesses” are “clothed in sackcloth” as the symbol of those who witness to what they have “read, heard, and kept [in] the things which are written therein” and in that “little book in the hand of the great angel”, is because of what is in that little book.

Eze 2:9  And when I looked, behold, an hand [was] sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10  And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

We all just naturally think that God’s wrath is for some evil person out there in the world. We must be given to see ourselves as the church of Laodicea who thinks of herself as rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing when in reality she is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”.

The little book that Ezekiel ate was full of lamentation, mourning, and woe, and Ezekiel 9 reveals a little of the lamentation, mourning, and woe we must eat and experience, in the bitterness in our bellies:

Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
Eze 9:8  And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? [The seven last plagues of Revelation 15-16.]

This is what Christ calls “gold tried in the fire”, but it is not a marketable commodity for the natural man.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

This 18th verse of Rev 3 is addressed to the church of Laodicea and to “he that hath an ear to hear.” In other words, it is for you and me, if indeed we have been so blessed. The message is that we all think, like the church at Laodicea, that we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, when in reality we are poor and miserable and naked and blind, before we repent and buy of God gold tried in the fire and eyesalve that we may see.

Summary

We have covered 11 symbols in this study.

The symbols of the first verse are:

1) A reed like a rod, which we saw was an implement for measuring, and we saw that Christ is the reed by which those who are in His temple will be measured.
2) The temple of God was our second symbol and we reviewed the verses in 1Co 3 which state plainly that we are that temple and that the spirit of God dwells in that temple.
3) The altar of God, our third symbol, where we saw again that it is the cross and is the symbol of our lives being offered to God as a living sacrifice.
4) Them that worship in that temple is our fourth symbol, and is the symbol not just of us, but of all the kingdoms, powers and principalities within us which must all be subdued and placed under the foot of the great angel with His foot on the sea and the earth. “Them that worship therein” are the doctrines within us which must be subject to the doctrine of Christ.

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

The symbols of the second verse were:

5) The court without the temple, which we saw was that part of our own lives when we are “without the temple” and are not yet the sons of Aaron and are not yet worthy to handle the holy implements of the temple. “The court that is without the temple” symbolizes that part of our life when we are “yet carnal… babes in Christ”, unable to receive anything more than the milk of the word.
6) The Gentiles, was our sixth symbol, and they symbolize the same thing as those who are in the court which is without the temple. Gentiles symbolize all who are incapable of receiving the things of the spirit.
7) The holy city is our seventh symbol, and we saw that it symbolizes the bride of Christ, who is subjected to and forgiven of whoredoms before she becomes Christ’s bride.
8) Forty and two months.

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months.

We saw that this length of time is the same as three and one half years and we saw that three and one half years is half of the complete witness of seven years. We saw that the other half of the week is the other afflictions of Christ which we fill up in our bodies:

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:

The symbols of the third verse are:

9) My two witnesses, which we saw are simply the Biblical symbol for those who, down through the years, have been the faithful witnesses to the truths of the doctrines of Christ. We saw the scriptures which demonstrate that God requires a second witness to establish the truth of any question which arises, including questions concerning His own Word.

Our tenth symbol was:

10) A thousand two hundred and three score days, and we demonstrated that these words describe the same period of time as ‘forty and two months’ but are used in describing the time allotted to the two witnesses and the period in which the woman who brings forth the manchild is nourished of God in the wilderness. We pointed out that the ‘one thousand two hundred and sixty days’ of God’s witnesses, corresponds to the ‘forty and two months’ of the time allotted to tread down the court of the temple, and we were reminded that Joseph told the Pharaoh that the different details of Pharaoh’s dream were really saying the same thing. That being the case we, like Joseph, will live through both the time of the treading down of the court without the temple, as well as the time allotted to the two witnesses, just as Joseph lived through both the good years and the years of famine. “All things are yours” (1Co 3:21-22).

Our last symbol was:

11) Clothed in sackcloth. We demonstrated that this symbol is completely compatible with the “lamentations, mourning and woe” revealed in the writings of the little book with which this sixth trumpet is concerned.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Eze 2:9  And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10  And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

As even King David mourned the loss of King Saul, “the Lord’s anointed”, we too, will mourn the loss of and the destruction of our old man, who is also God’s anointed, “first man Adam”.

2 Sa 1:16 David said to him, “Your blood is on your head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord’s anointed’.”

In our next study, Lord willing, we will discover the power of the testimony of the two witnesses.

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

[Study Posted July 27, 2020]

Est 4:1  When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; 
Est 4:2  And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 
Est 4:3  And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. 
Est 4:4  So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not. 
Est 4:5  Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was. 
Est 4:6  So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate. 
Est 4:7  And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. 
Est 4:8  Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people. 
Est 4:9  And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 
Est 4:10  Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; 
Est 4:11  All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. 
Est 4:12  And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words. 
Est 4:13  Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 
Est 4:14  For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 
Est 4:15  Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 
Est 4:16  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. 
Est 4:17  So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. 

Chapter 3 of Esther focused on the plot by Haman to exterminate the Jews. That is the raising of the storm by the Lord to bring us to our wits’ end with the ultimate goal of getting us to our safe haven. As discussed, Haman represents the beast within who is used by God as His left hand to become the agency for our fiery trials with the view of destroying the old man within us (Haman). The trials that Job endured (seven plagues) are the same that Esther had started enduring in this chapter. However, this is not news that the flesh wants to hear because we love our lives. The passages of scriptures we are dealing with today have to do with our fiery trials.  That is what every elect goes through. Let’s go into the details of these trials marked out for us as exemplified in the life of Mordecai and Esther.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Job 1:9  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10  Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Est 4:1  When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; 
Est 4:2  And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 
Est 4:3  And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. 

Putting on sackcloth as seen in the scriptures is generally a sign of mourning due to the death of someone dear to us. In the spiritual context, the one dear to us is our flesh. The rending of Mordecai’s clothes and his putting on sackcloth signify the fact that he is dissatisfied with his own righteousness (his own clothes) and is ready to put on Christ’s righteousness, which is obtained through the death of our flesh, which causes us to mourn. Remember that the two witnesses in the Book of Revelation are clothed in sackcloth during their days of prophesying. Our lives as God’s elect are a long journey clothed in sackcloth as we mourn the daily dying of our flesh through various fiery trials. Coming to understand his words as Mordecai understood all the plans for the extermination of the Jews, we as God’s elect (Spiritual Jews) mourn. We all mourn because of what is written in the word of God concerning us as shown to Ezekiel. What is written is all about lamentations, mourning and woe because of our fiery trials.  This is not what our carnal man wants to hear.

These verses also tell us where we should express our mourning.  Mordecai expressed his mourning in the midst of the city of the King and also at the King’s gate. What do these locations tell us? The city is our Lord’s dwelling place, and so that is us (the new Jerusalem). We should be able to express what we are going through that makes us mourn in the midst of our brethren. As indicated in an earlier study, the King’s gate is where the porters of God’s elect are to help us with our load and to give us direction as to how we can get to our destination. Since we are all mourning, we can comfort one another in our trials.

Gen 37:34  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son [Joseph] many days.

2Sa 3:31  And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Eze 2:9  And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10  And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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

Est 4:4  So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not. 

Our mourning in the city and at the King’s gate will surely receive response from our brothers and sisters as we try to bear each other’s burden. In the case of Mordecai, Esther came to his aid by providing a change of clothes for Mordecai. However, Mordecai refused the offer. Again in our earlier study, we pointed out that Esther, though she represents an elect, was not matured. Her solution to Mordecai’s problem was that he should not mourn. She thought that perhaps, God will take him out of all these afflictions even as our brothers and sisters on the other side believe that God will take them out of suffering through rapture (a bogus doctrine from the carnal mind). The fact is, whether we like it or not, we will drink this cup of suffering!! This situation is the same as when Jesus told his disciples of His impending death, and Peter took him aside to convince him not to accept the cross. Jesus refused to listen to Peter, and his response to his disciple was that Peter had a carnal mind.

Mat 16:21: From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Mat 16:22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!”
Mat 16:23 But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Berean Study Bible)

Est 4:5  Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was. 
Est 4:6  So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate. 
Est 4:7  And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. 
Est 4:8  Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people. 

Through our brothers and sisters, we are able to understand these fiery trials which are marked out for us. That was exactly what Esther tried to do by sending Hatach to Mordecai. Mordecai took his time to explain the trials facing the Jews (the elect). During our trials, we are enjoined to ask our Lord to come to our aid. That was exactly what Mordecai told Esther; that is, to make supplications to the King. The Psalmist said in Psalm 107:28 – they cried unto him in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distress. As we make our request to Him, he is able to make a way of escape so that we may be able to bear the trials.

As you can see, we are not making our request to the Lord to escape our trials, but rather to bear the trials. Sometimes in our trials we get so discouraged, and to make matters worse, we hear voices within telling us that we are finished. David felt the same way when he fled from Absalom. Then, he cried unto the Lord with his voice and the Lord heard him out of his holy hill. His holy hill is His tabernacle, His dwelling place within us. His holy hill is also Zion, His elect. So we hear our Lord from both within (Because he lives within) and from our brethren, the elect!! Hearing him is what gives us the strength to bear what we are going through.

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.

Psa 3:1  A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.
Psa 3:2  Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
Psa 3:3  But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
Psa 3:4  I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

Psa 2:6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

Psa 15:1  A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

Psa 43:3  O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

Est 4:9  And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 
Est 4:10  Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; 
Est 4:11  All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. 

Our election is not by our will or effort. We have to be called and shown mercy before we can enter the King’s inner court, the temple, to see the King. For he showeth mercy on whom he wills and hardens the heart of those he wills.  Our God showing mercy to us is the same as the king holding out the golden scepter to whomsoever he wills even though nobody deserves to come to his presence. While we are going through this process of judgment of the flesh, signified by the number 30 (30 = 3 x 10), we cannot enter the temple to worship or see the king. Another rendition of this is in Revelation 15:8 where no man can enter the temple until the seven plagues were fulfilled. That is the significance of Esther not seeing the King for 30 days.

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

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.

Est 4:12  And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words. 
Est 4:13  Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 
Est 4:14  For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 

Sometimes we think that somehow judgment will pass over us and we will be able to escape from these fiery trials. That may have been the thought of Esther. That was why Mordecai told her that she should not think that she will escape just because she is the bride of the King (verse 13). The unveiling of Christ in the Book of Revelation makes us aware that we will only be blessed if we read and keep those things (the fiery trials) which are written in the Book. In other words, we must go through hardships in order to enter the kingdom of God. Remember that the three Hebrew boys (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) went through the burning furnace, but they were not harmed.

If we do not want to go through suffering (i.e. if we hold our peace), we will not be part of the Lord’s deliverance but will be destroyed (we will face the white throne judgment) and others will be saved at our expense (verse 14). The fact is, we have been brought into the kingdom for such a time as this. Our deliverance is now!! As long as we are seeing Christ through the lens of our sufferings, we should be assured that our salvation is near, even at the door and we shall not pass until all the seven plagues are fulfilled in our lives!!

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.

Act 14:22 Strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. (NIV)

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Est 4:15  Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 
Est 4:16  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. 
Est 4:17  So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. 

Now that Esther had come to understand Mordecai’s message, which is about suffering with her fellow Jews, she braced herself for the inevitable. In this case, she was just like Jesus who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross despising its shame. We should pay heed to the things she requested Mordecai to do and her resolve during this time of trial.

The first thing she requested Mordecai to do was to go gather the Jews. Our gathering together equips us for the fiery trials we are going through. We get strengthened to go through our trials when we gather. There are several Old and New Testament examples of this strengthening.  Remember Jesus himself was strengthened by an angel. When Jacob was on his death bed, he got strengthened when Joseph and his children came to see him. We therefore also need to be strengthened by our brothers and sisters (who are angels), when we are going through fiery trials.

Gen 48:1  And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Gen 48:2  And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

Luk 22:41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

The second thing mentioned is that during this period of our trials, we should fast for three days – the three days being the process of our judgment, which is a lifetime. This fasting is not about afflicting our souls as we did when we were in the clutches of Babylon. This fasting is about stopping the feeding of our old man (so as to speed up its death) by not willfully engaging in sinful acts or not imbibing in false doctrines and lies from the harlot woman.  That is the fast that breaks every yoke. Isaiah suggested during this period of fast that we are to feed the sheep and not hide from our own flesh.  Not hiding from our own flesh is when we see ourselves as we really are – our self-righteousness, weaknesses, etc. – and it is only through the Lord’s chastening grace that we come to see who we really are.

Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

The third point about this period of trial is that we have to go and see the King to make our request known. All the preparation by Esther was that she wanted to see the king to make a request. She had a firm belief that the king would attend to her request. That is to say that we must have faith and come to God in prayer during this period of our trial knowing that God will attend to our prayers.

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

2Sa 22:7  In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.

Psa 120:1  A Song of degrees. In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.

Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

The final point to note is that our fiery trials should bring us to a point where we are ready to lose our lives. This is where Esther came when she said that if she perish, then so be it. As the scriptures say, if we love our life, we will lose it, and if we lose our life we will gain it!! There are three examples in the word of God where individuals came to the point of being ready to lose their lives but in the end, they gained it. Esther is one example.  The other two examples are Daniel and the three Hebrew boys (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego). Our ultimate example is our Lord Jesus who lost his life and has gained it as he sits at the right hand of God.

Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Dan 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Dan 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

The question is what does it mean to lose our lives? The statement in Matthew leading to the losing of our lives tells us what Christ had in mind.

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

From the passage above, loving our lives has to do with the way we treasure our relationships and what they offer more than our Lord Jesus. It is also about not being prepared to suffer (take up our cross). Loving our lives has to do with our natural affinity to enjoy pleasures of sin. As God’s elect, we need to give up all these for the reward just as Jesus and Moses did.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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

May the Lord grant us the grace to lose our lives so that we will gain them at God’s appointed time!!

Our next discussion will be based on Esther Chapter 5.