Concealed and Nagging Shame Can Point to the Bondage of a Lying Spirit

[Study Aired February 22, 2023]

Shame is frequently a result of one’s moral virtues being broken. Many Christian Babylonians, with much prayer, have degrees of moral integrity and overcome drug, alcohol and other addictions and sins through various programs with acclaimed success. Why do we in the Body of Christ sometimes experience a painful thorn of a particular sin in our side seemingly forever?

This study highlights one possible oversight dedicated to “shame” to inspire any number of Saints battling entrenched sins to overcome spirits in their high places. For the Elect and Babylonians alike, there are enormously powerful emotions intrinsic to sin where the feeling of intense shame frequently supersedes and disguises the underlying forbidden action. Overwhelmingly in scripture, shame is an essential and elementary agent to motivate change, yet, seemingly in our DNA, the first response is to hide to mitigate the mental torment.

Optimistically, the study will stimulate personal breakthroughs, from grinding struggles to freedom from a dogged sin.

Mankind that is sinful flesh is by nature sin, and we thus frequently live a bit too comfortable in sin, especially their perceived lesser sensed sins and, subsequently, the probability of perpetual shame.

1Ti 4:1 But the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons, 
1Ti 4:2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, being seared in their own conscience. (MKJV)

When our consciences are repeatedly seared, it lays down resistance to a soft heart for change, just as a soft blister on one’s hand will lay down a slightly tougher layer of skin. When the same abrasive action is repeated in the same location, the body responds by laying down more tough skin that eventually will entirely resist the harshest assault. Similar action on our minds produces the same psychological layering of a “seared conscience”. We see massive oppression against the Lord’s word on all fronts in this age, where particularly vile actions are now progressively flaunted as dignity and searing consciences.

The feeling of shame has no greater impact than its first experience of the perceived sin. Sins that are transgression evoke shame in the sinner and with the audience, with the latter’s eyes burning the shame deeper into the trespasser’s heart. Shame and guilt go hand-in-hand with breaching a law. We are unlikely to admit guilt since we know the next step is a debilitating shame since speaking about it perpetuates the often crippling emotion of humiliation. The longer the humiliation resides in our hearts, its devouring nature stigmatises recovery. Knock guilt off of its perch, and humiliating shame disappears.

Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Mat 18:2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Shame and humiliation are almost indistinguishable and are uncomfortable or painful due to recognition or consciousness of impropriety, dishonour or other wrongs in the opinion of the person experiencing the feeling. Both are often felt as a recall of a particularly painful event by oneself or by others reminding us.

A quote from William Shakespeare says, “Have you no modesty, no maiden name?” and is reminiscent of the Great Whore within. Revelation says, (Rev 18:7 As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says,) ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’ ~ and hence her nakedness of not being covered by a husband. Subsequently, through her own works, she has covered her shame with personal orthodoxy reasoning and a seared heart of self-righteousness. 

Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothing; only let us be called by your name, to take away our shame.

Of course, all unmarried women in Christ, the Body of Christ, are covered by him; thus, the shame of their nakedness upon repentance is covered. Unmarried women, the rejected church in Babylon, are unwittingly covered by their father, Satan, and cannot see the shame of their nakedness.

Joh 8:43 Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
Joh 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Young children almost always burst into tears with sorrow for their guilt. Conversely, adults become more ingenious than children at hiding and covering humiliation rather than calmly and unreservedly identifying the contentious issue by simply learning to acknowledge a sin before God with the authentic joy of a converted spirit.

If the guilt isn’t quickly expressed and forgiveness asked, shame can become a crippling emotion. Shame induces hiding, and when concealment becomes a habit, it consolidates the sin with layers of scarring for a possibly seared conscience. Where particularly offensive acts are evident, keeping the transgression between oneself and the Lord is far more honourable and scripturally sound than blurting the offence to the Body. Plainly, we confess our sins to the only one who can forgive the sin, Christ.

Mat 6:5 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward. 
Mat 6:6 But you, when you pray, enter into your room. And shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

Jas 5:13 Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. 
Jas 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 
Jas 5:15 And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Jas 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

All Christians are well acquainted with mankind’s first recorded shame response, specifically for their self-consciousness of nakedness. Of course, our minds instantly go to Adam and Eve’s attempt at fig leaf couture (dressmaking) for disobeying the Lord. Incidentally, the Lord’s humour with his covert inspirations for them to choose fig leaves, notably for their shape and for Adam’s more visual pudenda, was considerate.

Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. 

Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Of course, scripture doesn’t immediately say Adam and Eve felt shame upon eating the forbidden fruit; only it is imputed by their hiding. Yet our unclothed bodies ascribe shame everywhere in scripture, most importantly its spiritual shadows. Interestingly, when we read “and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” we automatically attribute shame to that phrase merely by the action “[they] hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.”

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.

Acknowledgement of guilt is good and is a confession of wrongdoing. It’s hopefully a learned lesson not to be repeated. The unacknowledged sin that should evoke guilt perpetuates the sometimes debilitating emotion of humiliation. The longer the humiliation resides in our hearts, its devouring nature hinders recovery.

Humiliation is the emotion one feels when our status is lowered in front of others. Adam and Eve knowing that they were naked was a God-induced response. If God had not created that response from disobedience to His word, they would have been like the other animals in the Garden, oblivious to intellectual reasoning. 

The eyes of the animal beasts in the Garden stare contemplatively without seeing as their kin copulate and do all sorts of antisocial (by our standards) attentiveness to their own and each other’s genitals. The Lord created a huge disparity between them and us for His purposeful lesson. It is through nakedness and the fear of humiliation, largely by seeing the difference between His bodily presentation and ours, by spiritual clothing is the message. (“the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked”).

The Lord’s sheep are schooled by the “good shepherd” to come out of the world’s massive sheep pen for the slaughter and follow Him. With no inherent defence, sheep are created to be protected and farmed. The entire world of sheep will follow different shepherds who offer the seemingly best food and protection. Only the Lord’s personal “little flock” knows His voice and will not comply with the voices of falsehood. It is common knowledge among sheep graziers that to get sheep to go anywhere, especially where they don’t want to go, is to use a goat’s inherent wily intuition. The sheep will always follow him; hence the goat is colloquially called a “Judas goat” ~ leading the sheep up a ramp into a truck for market and unwitting slaughter. Of course, even Babylon knows that the goat represents Satan (but they are blinded to see that the “scapegoat” is Christ in my flesh. Col 1:24 – The Scapegoat).

A highly notable character of the infamous WEF recently used the Lord’s fair jewels of knowledge for his own nefarious purposes when he allegedly said, “people are hackable animals.” He is dead right! The entire world will follow their goatish slave masters in government, particularly the Babylonian Christian church, with eyes that don’t see their collective nakedness.

Upon Jesus feeding the four thousand with seven loaves of bread and some small fishes and sailing to Dalmanutha, he explained His miracle to His disciples. Little by little, their eyes opened through many subsequent miracles. Jesus said,

Mar 8:18 Having eyes, do you not see? and having ears, have you no hearing? and have you no memory?

Christ said, have you no spiritually reflective memory of what you have seen through numerous miracles!? The disciples hadn’t yet been given the more significant measure of their Lord’s spirit, and the uptake of their understanding was naturally slow.

As always, miracles mesmerise people, and the disciples were no different. Our senses are always attuned to the most dynamic occurrence, frequently distracting us from its underlying meaning.

Mat 13:10 Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?” 
Mat 13:11 He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 
Mat 13:12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 
Mat 13:13 This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ 
Mat 13:14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
Mat 13:15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 
Mat 13:17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (BSB)

The Lord made us His ‘sheep’ with eyes that don’t see and ears that don’t hear until He opens them in His own good timing.

The first and most powerful emotion to our sins being revealed and the inevitable humiliation is fight or flight, to uphold our integrity or flee (hide) before our personally idealised integrity is shredded. With everyone’s eyes burning upon you, being told or perceiving that you are wrong insults our prideful intelligence. As did Adam and Eve with their new and dreadfully disconcerting new emotion of shame, hiding seems easier since it is not our nature to admit wrongdoing. 

To the ‘natural man’, being found out for our misdeeds doesn’t mitigate the choice of fighting or hiding; our pride causes both actions. Hence, the title, “Concealed and Nagging Shame Can Point to the Bondage of a Lying Spirit.” It does not always, but it can.

Of course, Ananias and Sapphira are classic cases of a lying spirit. Scripture doesn’t say if they concealed other occasions of ‘hiding’ from their consciences through the enslavement of other vices. However, judgment for their account of holding back a portion of profits from the pledge to the temple following the sale of land was blindingly swift; they had no time to attempt hiding. Scripture doesn’t say if they felt guilt for withholding a portion of the money from selling their land for themselves.

Act 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
Act 5:2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Act 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Act 5:4 While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Act 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
Act 5:6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
Act 5:7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 
Act 5:8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 
Act 5:9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
Act 5:10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. 
Act 5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

Our Lord is just and merciful to His little flock, and judgment isn’t always as swift as it was for Ananias and Sapphira. Righteousness by slowly putting on our Lord’s clothing to hide our nakedness is often a drawn-out and fiery affair. Change comes after much deliberation, dodging and weaving of a lying spirit until we acknowledge our transgressions from the heart.

Isa 26:9 My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
Isa 26:10 Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.
Isa 26:11 O LORD, Your hand is upraised, but they do not see it. They will see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame. The fire set for Your enemies will consume them! 

Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. 

2Pe 3:15 Consider also that our Lord’s patience brings salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him.

The Body of Christ is well-versed in experiencing forgiveness from our exceptionally patient Lord for our most obstinate sins.

Mat 18:21  Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 
Mat 18:22  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times! [Mat 18:21-35]

Following multiple fiery trials, the Body’s individuals become more comfortable in the fire by quickly seeing their nakedness and acknowledging their sins (Jer 3:6-13).

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

Acknowledging sins quashes humiliation; it is a liberating experience.

Cain classically tried to hide from the Lord. Upon killing his brother, Abel, he followed in the footsteps of his father, Adam and humanity’s endemic nature to hide from our sins. 

Gen 4:1 And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man,” she said.
Gen 4:2 Later she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, while Cain was a tiller of the soil. 
Gen 4:3 So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD, 
Gen 4:4 while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
Gen 4:5 but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 
Gen 4:6 “Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen? 
Gen 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.”
Gen 4:8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 
Gen 4:9 And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 
Gen 4:10 “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 
Gen 4:11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Gen 4:12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
Gen 4:13 But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 
Gen 4:14 Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
Gen 4:15 “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.
Gen 4:16 So Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

We all begin life as Cain; only the Lord chooses not to hide His face from a few who are given to see the Lord’s face in His word. The world’s overwhelming multitude of ‘Cains’ sees the Lord’s face with eyes that don’t see and ears that don’t hear (Mar 8:18).

Everyone in the Lake of Fire, including Cain, will be astonished by the Lord having steered them in this life into horrendously serious sins and evil experiences, mostly in this age for the Elect’s sake. Naturally, for them, as with us, the first emotion is an outrage at the Lord’s manipulation ~ Him, the master potter, having directed Satan’s hand in everyone’s sin and resulting humiliation for a righteous outcome.

Joseph’s brothers were inspired by Satan at the Lord’s hands to sell him into Egypt. Joseph says,

Gen 45:7 God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—Lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Likewise, and for our most humiliating sins, it wasn’t us that sent us into our Babylon of disgrace, but God. 

Rom 9:19 You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will? 
Rom 9:20 Yes, rather, O man, who are you answering against God? Shall the thing formed say to the One forming it, Why did You make me like this? [lITV – Isa 29:16]

Adam, Cain and Joseph’s brothers all hid from their shame. Hiding from wrongdoing leaves a debilitating and nagging legacy of humiliation to being found out. The only remedy to shame and humiliation is to “acknowledge your sins” and, from your heart, seek forgiveness. It really is that simple!

Once a sin is acknowledged from our heart before the Lord, not a soul in the world, including oneself, has a right to recall the sin and thus perpetuate humiliation!

King David was a man after the Lord’s own heart purely for his God-given willingness to acknowledge his sin. Yet, he, too, dragged his feet to come to that acknowledgment, but once his nakedness was revealed, he sought forgiveness, often with tears.

Jer 3:23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. 
Jer 3:24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God. 

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

The lying spirit of hiding from the Lord really is easily blown away in the summer breeze by the Lord’s word, “only acknowledge your sins”, and they will be forgiven.

[Study Posted July 31, 2022]

Shame is frequently a result of one’s moral virtues being broken. Many Christian Babylonians, with much prayer, have moral integrity and overcome drug, alcohol and other addictions and sins through various programs with acclaimed success. Why do we in the Body of Christ sometimes experience a painful thorn of a particular sin in our side seemingly forever?

Acknowledgement of guilt is good. Guilt is an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. It’s hopefully a learned lesson not to be repeated. Shame, on the other hand, is less about a specific behaviour or a specific action and more about a deep-seated feeling. Shame etches deeper than an immediate embarrassment, and as Adam and Eve graphically experienced, it deeply rasps our conscience that some unidentified matter is wrong.

This study highlights one possible oversight dedicated to “shame” to hopefully inspire any number of Saints battling entrenched sins to overcome spirits in their high places. It is not meant to be the elixir Job’s miserable friends hoped to deliver ~ but at the Lord’s hand, it could.

Joh 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven, [and sometimes only revealed to him alone, as similarly,] 

Dan 10:7 And I Daniel [the individual’s name] alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 

Shame, as does fear, causes us to run and hide, but the one whose eyes are opened sees with clarity of vision for change.

Optimistically, this study will stimulate the audience’s spiritual minds for personal breakthroughs, from grinding struggles to freedom from a particularly dogged sin.

For the Elect and Babylonians alike, there are enormously powerful emotions intrinsic to sin where the feeling of intense shame frequently supersedes and disguises the underlying forbidden action. Overwhelmingly in scripture, shame is an essential and elementary agent to motivate change, yet, it can be an obstacle to repentance that carnality is drawn for possibly unwitting blindness.

Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Mat 18:2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Young children almost always burst into tears with sorrow for their guilt. Adults, on the other hand, become more ingenious than children at hiding and covering shame rather than calmly and unreservedly identifying the contentious issue by simply learning to acknowledge a sin with the authentic joy of a more “converted” spirit.

If the shame isn’t quickly expressed and forgiveness asked, it can become a crippling emotion. Shame induces hiding, and when covering becomes a habit, it consolidates the sin with layers of scarring for a seared conscience.

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.

Pro 28:13  He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Jer 3:13 Only [simply and from the heart] acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways [both good and bad seed] to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

One would think that those three simple verses are the key to repentance, which is found in authentically acknowledging your iniquity ~ and it is!  However, many artful nuances of sinful flesh find ways to mitigate or even avoid the simplicity in that foundation. One such possible nuance is the deeply etched emotion of “shame”.

Covering one’s sin is the first impulse. With a truthfully contrite heart, confessing our sins to Christ is the most liberating experience.

Joy for recovering from sin comes in the morning when we appreciate the spiritual reality of change more than the grinding shame. It is only through the practice of recovering from disobeying our Lord that inward grovelling shame is more joyfully cast aside. The approach of quickly and authentically acknowledging our sins brings immense joy and privilege to leave behind those servile elements which keep us submerged in the “deep”.

Psa 30:2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 
Psa 30:3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 
Psa 30:4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 
Psa 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Those verses succinctly order the flow of guilt. In our spiritual immaturity, as do children, we feel more humiliation from being caught in our sin than the broken law. After a night of restless reflection, in the morning we acknowledge our transgression meekly.

The Bride should not be shocked by her nudity before herself, in the Body of Christ or before her Husband! It is a ridiculous notion that she is appalled by her nudity while she searches for spiritual spots and wrinkles. We cry out in alarming shame for being “caught with our pants down”, a classic adage for unintentional nudity and its consternation, first experienced by Adam and Eve, rather than composedly recognising our nakedness and serenely covering up. It takes many years of humiliation to attain, by the Lord’s strength, to cover up with Christ’s righteous clothing and move on decorously.

The Body of Christ reverently notices his brother or sister’s nakedness of sin without voyeuristic intentions, as we all, from time to time, inadvertently do in our physical families. For our learning, Ham capitalised on the fortuitous occasion of his Father Noah’s nakedness, for heightened ridicule by engaging his brothers. His brothers saw their Father’s nudity and respectfully covered it. Ham’s chance to amplify the humiliation by including his brothers backfired as they didn’t buy into the violation.

Righteous shame is excellent for motivating repentance, yet, frequently, the exaggerated sensitivities of the unfortunate one caught physically naked exacerbate his disgrace to be identified as the sin rather than the underlying transgression. As is our bias, Adam and Eve, born of the flesh, primarily recognised the emotional consternation of shame that their uncovered privy parts evoked as the sin more than disobedience to the Lord.

Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

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.

Our scarred memory of seemingly endless humiliations causes us to run and hide the object that causes immense emotional pain that, by God’s design for all but a few, soundly hides its purpose.

As always, the spirit quickens understanding, not the underlying shadow that points to the spiritual and is more frequently identified as the object to be avoided. As such, we default to making our clothing cover the seat of disgrace when it should be Christ’s spiritual clothing that glorifies Him. Over and over, we beat ourselves up to try harder to overcome and thus quench the strength of Christ.

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.

The classic example of shame is Christ hanging naked on the cross, yet he despised the physical shame for his Elect to see their spiritual shame of their nudity progressively. It is oh so stressful to get to that joyful, comfortable place of being spiritually naked in the fire before Christ and His Christs where one doesn’t feel ridiculed as did Noah by his son, Ham, who sought to dramatise the humiliation by believing his brothers would automatically find pleasure in the opportunity to disgrace their dad.

Upon realising our sin, like Cain, we can become sullen and bitter and identify the colossal shame as the greater evil than receiving chastisement with joy.

Gen 4:13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

King David is a timeless example of hiding from his shame following his affair with Bathsheba that cascaded to greater depths of humiliation. The prophet Nathan exposed David’s sin and amplified his immense embarrassment before all of Israel. We much prefer hiding our shame (as did David) for months or even years rather than quickly exposing our spiritual nudity.

To their enduring frustration, some openly state their sins and are bewildered by the sometimes years it takes to be free, not remembering that we are the Lord’s workmanship for Him to indulge His good pleasure ~ the creation of the Bride is not a rushed work. We are His workmanship of a long firing in the furnace for perfection. Through much pain and suffering, we possess Christ, the promised inheritance through patience.

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls, [and during the often years of the same old grinding sin if our utter dependence is on Christ,]

Luk 21:18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.

Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Num 32:22 And the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the LORD, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD.
Num 32:23 But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.

Mankind to this day is physically and spiritually nude like Adam and Eve, our God-given natural state and the nudity are symbolic of sin. Flaunting that nudity is sometimes us being the Corinthian fornicator in shameless pride of self-righteousness and “be sure your sin will find you out.”

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness [and joy] 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. 
1Jn 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

Shame is the most destructive of all the feelings that holds us back, keeps us down, and quenches our spiritual growth. We fail to see that fear is often a cover, a protective layer to keep us from feeling shame; the more significant worry should be for disobedience, not the torment of disgrace.

Upon Goliath’s slaying, the soon-to-be King David portrayed a positive side of unintentionally displaying our privy parts and despising the shame. With his toga twirling and writhing, David energetically danced moves that would inspire modern-day rap dancers while being semi-conscious yet mostly uncaring for possibly exposing his pudenda. His and his men’s joy at re-establishing the power of God in Israel superseded the puerility of Ham-like voyeuristic opportunists ~ except for Michal, his wife. She self-righteously identified more with the shadow of shame than the reality and joy of the coming powerful and righteous leadership. The greater shame was her unconsciously attempting to rule her husband by her prissy evaluations of David’s indiscreet gyrations and repressing virtuous leadership in Israel.

If we fear the physical humiliations and identify them mainly as the objects of shame to be eradicated, our love is not perfect; their spiritual applications quickeneth and not the emotions of the flesh that causes us to hide in shame from our Lord and brethren.

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

We are without excuse if we have known the heavenly gift of spiritual discernment and go back to the weak and beggarly elements of serving the flesh more than God.

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth [the spirit] of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

In all of its genuinely natural glory, the creation points to the spiritual, the Beast that we are, and without God’s spirit, we default to its worship. To which entity does our devotion belong? Are we attempting to serve two masters – the creature and the Creator?

Consider that the shame of any seemingly hopelessly entrenched sin can serve the creature more than the Creator. Shame induces hiding and throws away the key to the shackles of slavery.

In confusion, Adam unconsciously blamed his sin on his genitalia. His overall nakedness caused him to focus on his exposed privates and how vulnerable he felt when the other living being in the Garden, Christ, was clothed.

Adam and Eve were made in the likeness or outward form of the Lord, and it is natural for humans to want to belong to their kin and not the beasts of the field. The latter unconsciously and blithely procreated before all and sundry whilst chewing their cud without a hint of shame at being unclothed.

Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, [Christ] and eat, and live for ever:

Gen 2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

Now the object of immense shame, his exposed genitalia skewed his focus from the colossal sin of overall nakedness ~ for seven thousand years! He was intensely focused on covering the physical seat of his shame rather than the unwitting hidden reality of the entirety of his spiritual nakedness, his unrighteous endemic nature. Unconsciously, his kin, the Lord, having the same outward image and likeness, was his spiritual mentor to eventually gain equality with God. Adam and Eve’s shame wasn’t so much their disobedience to God for taking from the forbidden tree; more willingly, it was their feelings of awkwardness for not being clothed like their spiritual father; they eagerly desired identity, dressed indistinguishably in both righteous and unrighteous clothing. The more significant and hidden shame was their God-given blindness that takes a seven thousand-year experience of evil to identify the Christ and be clothed in his purity.

Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Nobody told Adam and Eve they were naked! Nakedness was a God-induced spirit of shame that directly caused Adam and Eve to identify the difference between the only similar kin in the Garden and them.

Had the Lord not been clothed and without shame, strolled in the nude with hypothetical genitalia, Adam and Eve would have felt normal and accepted. Although the Lord was dressed in incorruptible spiritual clothing, Satan to Adam and Eve appeared indistinguishable; in fact, a lot more intriguingly dressed with knowledge, the Lord refused them!

2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Satan was clothed with apparel of light; to Adam and Eve’s eyes, identical; in fact, experimentally better than the Lord’s.

Adam and Eve desperately wanted to feel a kinship with someone, even with the temporary pleasures of the mind which the fascinating Tree of the knowledge of good and evil incited. A new, unidentified, devastating emotion of shame emerged, and they both knew they wanted to evade the torture associated with nudity. Their child-like nature was to hide from the tormenting inescapable spirit of the mind by physically running away ~ but they couldn’t elude their mental distress; it followed them everywhere! The reason for their anguish was that they (the old Adam within) were not given to recognising their spiritual nakedness. Their spiritually immature reasoning caused their minds to go into overdrive to fathom, for now, the spiritually unfathomable, eclipsed by shame; confusion began to reign as the cornerstone for the tower of Babylon was laid in their hearts.

Adam and Eve’s physical nudity was the difference between them and their nearest kin; they now were compelled to do anything to change the contrasting shame ~ fig leaves were the immediate option.

Except for the Elect of God and seven thousand years, Adam’s warped focus and reaction is on the shame of his physical nudity rather than the aionian-unfathomable spiritual reality for disobedience.

Since that first devastatingly etched and new emotion of shame, man has been intent on justifying his nudity to rid himself of its disfiguring psychological scars. “How dare God eternally condemn the beautiful pudenda that give us the epitome of joy!” And so, mankind celebrates sex at every opportunity. Well, it is the very first of many strong delusions. God didn’t condemn our privy parts; He merely used them to highlight our intrinsic nakedness of sinful flesh that is highly prone to celebrating, even worshiping our most sensual members.

Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Adam and Eve effectively worshiped themselves, “the creature more than the Creator” by unconsciously honouring their shame rather than a composed acknowledgement of their direct violation of the Lord’s command not to touch the tree being the knowledge of good and evil. Their shame results in an arduous seven thousand-year worship of the creature, the Beast, more than their Creator.

Gen 3:7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

To hide the devastating new emotion of shame now directly identified with their genitals rather than the more crucial disobedience to God. The endearing natural humility of a little child, unashamedly being naked for the short term before our Husband and the Christs, is precious as we learn to acknowledge our transgression with joy and receive white linen.

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.

We should be joyful for our spiritual nudity being exposed and not give power to the emotion of shame once it has done its hopefully short work that points us to the healing power of Christ and Him fighting for us.

Wits’ End

“I have done all the above by acknowledging my sin yet remain enslaved.”

Purely for its quote and not necessarily a recommended work, C. S. Lewis, with his essay, “Startled into Hiding,” speaks on the subject of shame and says, “Over time, we learn to retreat behind walls and clenched fists of control. We resort to hiding without seeking, surviving without exploring; the body constricts and goes numb in a desperate attempt to deflect attention and disappear”.

Shame should always be a positive vehicle that leads to swiftly acknowledging the guilt of sin. However, it is common for folk to confess their sins before Christ, his family and the Body of Christ and distressingly remain entrenched in a vice. The condition can go on for years, even the best of a lifetime, taking a heavy toll on the person’s worth before the Lord.

Whether the sin is an annoying “child”, a “giant”, or a giant with deep roots and one is riddled with guilt and shame, be of some cheer; that shame is beautiful!

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.

What further steps can be taken to be free from a particularly stubborn or addictive sin when we have genuinely and fearlessly acknowledged our sin before the Lord and even the Saints and remain shackled in despair? We mostly every day ask the Lord for help; our Elders, family and friends give sound counsel and endless supplications; we have cut loose from the physical devices that promote access to the particular sin, and the fiendish condition remains entrenched! Some people end their wretchedness in suicide, only to face the same circumstances in the Great White Throne Judgment now with two problems: taking your life and the original matter. It is best to have the sense of easier torture before the Lord and his Angels today than the more profound torture in the GWTJ, where the more immeasurable shame is felt before our brothers and sisters with whom we once shared holy communion.

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:

To you, that suppurating carcass chained around your neck is an abomination, yet learn to love your enemy since you are guaranteed to win over “him”. It is a beautiful thing to learn to be of good cheer in your patience for the work the Lord is doing with that oppressive sin with His timing for release.

Ecc 3:1 To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Ecc 3:10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
Ecc 3:11 He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world [1Jn 2:16] in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

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

“Everything” and “all things” means the totality of everything, including the negative of our evil “beautiful” trials.

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is [becoming and is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The Lord gives his perfectly evil servant, Satan, the nod to test us but not beyond our endurance ~ how good is that! So whatever entrenched sin is being fought, it will be easily or tortuously conquered; not necessarily twenty years ago or today, but with the Lord’s measures, you will rule over it.

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, [replace with your name] Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? [Why do we feel so utterly dejected, even unto death, for the giant in our land?]
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.

So, what additional measures can a person review to hopefully escape a deep-rooted sin when he has done all that is required for repentance?

Well, it could be the simple measure of patiently waiting on the Lord. In the meantime, search the heart for the nagging shame of a lying spirit.

Ahab, a King of Israel, elegantly portrays a lying spirit (2Ch 18:1-34, well documented in IWWB studies) who wanted Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, to join him in picking a war with Syria at Ramothgilead.

The Lord always requires us, as budding Kings and Priests, to ask Him to go before us into battle; if we attempt to fight a foe on our terms, we will, in all likelihood, be defeated. If we are not beaten in battle, the idol of our heart for our works begins to establish a hardened heart that can entrench the underlying sin.

Ahab itched to fight at Ramothgilead, and he knew that if he asked Micaiah, the Lord’s prophet of the time, for His blessing in victory, he would be denied the action. Ahab hated Micaiah’s righteousness as it always opposed what Ahab wanted to achieve. Ahab secretly sought kinship with a prophet outside the Lord’s prophets to get the answer he coveted. Ham, too, attempted to garner support by including his brothers to deride their Father. For us, that support is almost always hidden within our scheming hearts that make us appear righteous, yet the reality is a lying spirit driving that intention. It is spiritually known as an idol of the heart.

By all intents and purposes, we can lie to ourselves, our family and the Body of Christ when we have boldly confessed our sin, acknowledged it before Christ, and appear righteously at our wits’ end ~ how can it be a lie?

Ham, Ahab, and we worship the Beast and his image when we hear the trumpet blast for impending war within and refuse the nagging shame to authentically ask the Lord for Him to go before us to battle. Our heart is to rely on the false prophet within to concur with our heart. We consistently lose the fight by not genuinely desiring the Lord’s truth over our desire; to all family and peers, we are in right standing with God, and they put our struggles and wits’ end down to having to wait on the Lord for release from the chains ~ when in fact, the root problem is not worshiping the Lord with all your authentic heart in action and not a forked tongue.

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

Eze 33:2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When [not if] I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: 
Eze 33:3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
Eze 33:4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, [within for the slavery] and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
Eze 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
Eze 33:6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. 
Eze 33:7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 

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.

If not checked by the trumpet warning of the still small voice from within, corruption continually cascades in steps, beginning with a lustful thought.

Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

At the Lord’s hand, we, the Ahab within, curse ourselves in many ways. None is more damnable than the unclean spirit of worshiping ourselves, the Beast; and when initially tempted, not quickly, and from the heart, asking the chief prophet in Israel above, Christ, for him to go before us into battle. Unrighteous lust always comes from the ruling thought of going near the harlot’s door or any sin, by testing one’s imagined robust resistance to indulge just a little of the titillation rather than immediately exhilarating the Lord to lavish His power of resistance. The foundational problem is unbelief by refusing to heed the trumpet.

Unbelief is not believing with all of your heart. It stems from our indifferent eye for our fiancé’s (Christ’s) ardent desire for us, just as a harlot naturally has dull eyes for her renter. By prayer and fasting, we must consistently crave strong meat by being where the eagles are daily gathered at the carcass.

In Mark 9:14-29, the apostles were perplexed by their inability to cast out the dumb spirit inflicting the boy. Christ says:

Mar 9:19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

Mar 9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? 
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

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.

At the Lord’s hand, Adam and Eve’s terrifying new emotion of shame shackled them to their unwitting father, Satan, for hiding a series of unfamiliar evil experiences of equal alarm for which they soon grew accustomed ~ for seven thousand years, life became wonderfully rich in Babylon.

Jdg 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. 

From the outset, the hidden King from Eden steadily revealed himself and his Father to a few in this age, showing them how to identify the bondage of a spirit that relies on one’s own strength by the stealth and nagging shame of a lying spirit.

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?

Amen.

Shame ~ How do we Cope with its Increase in the Latter Days

[Study Aired May 22, 2022]

Luk 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

I no doubt speak for everyone on the strange irony that our flesh earnestly desires to be adored by everyone, approved by the world’s unwitting unrighteous mammon. The hidden spirit of that desire is that when we are approved of men, we are equally yoked with their ideologies and thus incompatible with Christ. You will love one and hate the other.

Deu 22:10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.

For this example, it means not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers.

Of course, almost all of God’s word to unbelievers sounds like hate speech. It will be used against us, hopefully soon, to facilitate the destruction of man’s government pictured by the smashing and grinding to powder of Nebuchadnezzar’s image.

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 

Psa 40:13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. 
Psa 40:14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. 
Psa 40:15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. 

Rom 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 
Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 
Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Pro 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee. 

Mat 5:39 but I—I say to you, not to resist the evil, but whoever shall slap thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other; 

Heb 10:30 for we have known Him who is saying, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will recompense, saith the Lord;’ and again, ‘The Lord shall judge His people;’

One of the most outstanding hallmarks of Christ’s Elect in the latter days is being hated for the truth of Christ; and standing firm and sometimes mute in the face of shaming accusers and expected humiliating allegations while counting it all joy.

Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Vengeance is Christ’s and, ultimately, his Christ’s. Vengeance will be ours to give our accusers the equivalent humiliation and shame in the love Christ has given us to drink ~ even a double portion. To them, a seeming hopelessness they shall surely drink!

Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they [those in the Great White Throne Judgement] refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

Rev 6:10 And they [Christ’s elect] cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Remaining mute at times, as Christ did before his prosecutors, or not planning what to rebuff them with pre-planned speech is recommended. Instead, waiting on the Lord for His words will be the best witness against them. We know that in the end times, and exponentially, our Lord will permit the Devil to ramp up his putrid allegations against the Christs. The mere mention that God calls His small group Christs is despicable and worthy of death by these cryptos (fifth columnists) Jews who don’t know they are old school Jews since they attempt to keep a contorted version of the Old Covenant ~ they are unwitting anti-Christs with a bit of scripture ringing in their ears, “salvation is of the Jews”.

When we must account for our Christ-given faith within, we speak wisely and openly by Christ’s power and conviction and not be afraid of the Jews within and within our very families.

Joh 7:13 Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.

Sometimes it is best to hold our peace and not say anything by not answering a fool according to his folly.

Pro 23:9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. 

Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known: 

Rom 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 
Rom 3:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 
Rom 3:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:

They have no wit of how they shed blood since spiritually shedding blood is contorting God’s word and they only see it physically and are blind to what the Lord is doing within each of us ~ it is not their fault, for the Lord takes responsibility for blinding them.

Rom 3:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 
Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known: 
Rom 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Pro 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. 
Pro 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Mat 27:11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 
Mat 27:12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 
Mat 27:13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?

Our Babylonian brothers and sisters will increasingly accuse us of our many actual sins, mainly historically. As with Christ’s accusers, they were a host of witless trumped-up charges primarily based on their God-given self-righteousness.

Mat 27:14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.

Overwhelmingly, someone facing assured death will verbally fight his innocence to the last gasp; no wonder the governor marvelled greatly at Christ’s silence ~ as if Christ wanted to die, and he did! Likewise, and spiritually, as He is, so are we. We die for the truth and quietly die within from the snarling humiliations of our sometimes nearest and dearest husbands, wives, children, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law who delight in our scandals and downfall.

Of course, the more spiritually despicable Jew is within us when we break the least of these commandments. The unwitting ‘Jews’ outwardly of our time are our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters and sometimes former Babylonian Christians who have sided with the mixed multitude outside of the Camp of the Lord. They have returned to carousing a more vile “vomit” than they had in Christendom and take pleasure in being particularly repulsive in their verbal attacks. They mindlessly likewise blame us for doing the same to them.

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

We can’t help it that it sounds ostentatious, yet, they are not given to understand in this age.

The verses following are part of what happened after Jesus had healed the man crippled from birth at the sheep market pool called Bethesda.

Joh 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 
Joh 5:15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 
Joh 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 
Joh 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Likewise, we can expect our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters to verbally “kill” us through their God-given ignorance, precisely as the Jews in Christ’s time literally killed him by their God-given ignorance because He rightly claimed to be equal with God as we are with Christ.

Joh 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

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

Heresies within the Body are the most damnable version of hate.

To our earthly adversary’s dismay, we commonly echo the apostle Timothy’s expression that we, and currently of all people, are the chief of sinners! ~ and our archrivals rarely see that decreasing condition mostly hidden within, and since they love to remember our sinful history of weeks and even decades ago.

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

And again:

Luk 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

We never wear our sin as a badge of honour. We wear with honour that we are given to eventually see and acknowledge our many sins as Christ removes them from the temple within.

Act 6:11 Then they suborned [meaning to gather to themselves like minds] men, which said, We have heard him [that is, Stephen] speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.

Just as Christ was accused of blasphemy, so was Stephen, who cried out to our Lord not to count the stoning his accusers were giving him to their account. We, too, request the same attitude since their sins are food for us.

Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. 
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, [and he] calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Those who speak evil of our actual sins and their trumped-up charges are feeding us and are witless for the blessing they are providing for our spiritual development!

2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 

Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Our accusers love to remember our sins, hold us up against no higher authority of morality and personal ideology than themselves, and firmly establish the Beast for us to remember from where we all have come.

It is at the Lord’s hand for me to hopefully show how we can face the inevitable increasing shame of our accusers.

There are numerous studies on our site on the shame of being naked, so it is not my intention to review the excellent work already done; instead, to hopefully, at the Lord’s hand, encourage us by His faith to be strong in the face of both justified shame and unjustified shame.

All scandal, whether bonafide or fabricated, is humiliating, and to the dismay of our adversaries, we eventually learn to be gladdened by any mortifying shame since the accompanying fire of His word brings forth only gold. We all are in an outstanding company of humbled men and women in God-designed ragged clothing that serves to hide our identity too late for our accuser’s immense humiliation ~ the gulf of Lazarus will be unbridgeable.

Often in scripture, the elder shall serve the younger.

Ecc 10:16 Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! 

Pro 31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

Indeed, “woe” unto all the earth when the Bride of Christ comes from behind; when the entire world sees that we, the weak of the world vagabonds, the chief of sinners, are given rulership. It will be an odious measure for the Gentile Christians and our immediate fleshly families and worldly associates to swallow. They knew our sins and delightedly held them against us in joyful humiliation. We deem the shame as food, even hidden manna, to their dismay.

Christ found us alone in our blood, salted us, and made us the apple of His eye without us having any “gift” that the world recognized as worthy for their spiritual or financial benefit.

We are hidden in the night before the dawning light of His truth and arise before dawn to feed the household of God.

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

1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.  [A “busybody” takes the supervision of affairs pertaining to others and in no wise to himself, a meddler in other men’s affairs.] 
1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 

Of course, as we once did, our accusers would never consider that they were particularly ungodly. The Beast proudly rules.

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. 

We seek the Lord with all our heart when we are driven to our wits’ end by the Lord’s hand and frequently by evil seducers and family accusers.

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.

Those foes are predominately within, yet more often can be our spiritual family and our physical family and closest friends; and ironically in an outward sense.

Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 

2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 

1Co 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 
1Co 4:10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. 

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 
Ecc 9:3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Do we fret ahead of time to word our defense convincingly? How do we prepare for the inevitable humiliation and hatred?

The answer is that we don’t pre-plan our defense; since we are increasingly given to know Christ’s word, we are being prepared in this age with Christ’s confidence within.

Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 
Mat 10:18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 
Mat 10:19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 
Mat 10:20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

There are endless self-help videos and books on how to compose oneself in combating humiliation and shame, powerfully and eloquently putting down your opponents, and even grinding your adversaries into the ground “with pride”. We need not waste our time on their wisdom.

There are three categories of deceitful workers and abusers, and the most insidious can and will be within our ranks of the Tabernacle.

1. The Tabernacle ~ where only the priests handle the sacred things that is Christ.
2. Court ~ is where the Levites serve by handling the utensils and initial preparations of sacrifices. Today they are our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters who unwittingly serve the Tabernacle.
3. Camp ~ this is the rest of Israel, and within is a subgroup of a mixed multitude of figurative Egyptians and different ethnic groups who came out of Egypt with Israel.

Increasingly so, and at Satan’s request, certain entities from all three groups will stir up painful shame and humiliation to test us by Satan’s God-given authority.

Currently, and over the past few years, and as always since Christ, there will arise false Christs and workers of magic arts. The tares are the hardest to identify and reside within the Tabernacle and consistently appear as angels of light until their leaven has risen. These soothsayers will cause many to be deceived ~ we are a little flock, so one or two heretics can easily seem like the many rising against the Body of Christ. Yet we know that the entire world will be against Christ and his Christs to varying intensity.

When these folk haul us up before their courts to be judged by their deceitful wisdom, they are the hardest to identify outwardly and yet the easiest to judge by the word of God. Nonetheless, emotionally their backstabbing is the most frustrating of the three categories since they allegedly knew the truth of Christ and now babble spiritual confusion since the whole stay of bread and water is taken away. As was Ahithophel to David, these people were our trusted friends.

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

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

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.

The second group in the Court of Israel is frequently our carnal families, the very people who are nearest and dearest, apart from the Tabernacle. It is exasperating when they abuse, shame, and humiliate us since they do not know what they do, like Stephen the disciple stated in the above scriptures. By their shame, it is virtually impossible to communicate any sense with them since the word of God to them is illogical and hidden. From that standpoint of their God-given cluelessness, they argue against Christ like a clanging gong. It is best to be polite and largely mute with these folk after one or two witnesses against their shame as they await their immense humiliation at having no husband.

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

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

The third and final group is the Camp of Israel. These folks are the remaining entirety of humanity and the mammon of the world in which all three groups rub shoulders.

Speaking of Christ’s Christs… 

Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, [of mammon] I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, [mammon] even as I am not of the world.

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 
Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 
Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 
Rev 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 
Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 

As has happened and is decreasingly happening to us ~

Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Our accusers will, at a future date, drink double the portion of the very same cup that we have been made to drink and say, as Saul who became Paul said:

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

Of course, the ultimate coup de grace of reversed humiliation upon all those who haul us up before their jeering and prejudiced courts is:

Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, [the entire world and Christiandom] which say they are Jews, [and unwitting 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.

How humiliating! No wonder they will wish the rocks to fall upon them to hide from the face of Christ’s Christs!

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

For a little while, we endure our vile body with its waning affections of the flesh.

Php 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 
Php 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Even though our words stink in the nostrils of our adversaries, the most incredulously disarming method for our accusers and most liberating experience for us is to be vulnerable and admit our sins one unto another. Our Lord will bless us to cast aside their haughty looks and snide remarks as we fearlessly become convinced that the Kingdom is ours.

Of course, every scripture is ours, especially inwardly.

Job 19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.

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. 

Eze 2:6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 
Eze 2:7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. 

Eze 3:7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted. 
Eze 3:8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 
Eze 3:9 As an adamant [flint is] harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 

Jer 1:7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 
Jer 1:8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. 
Jer 1:9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. 
Jer 1:10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. 

Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

We pray that the Lord blesses us to go from glory to glory in utter commitment to Christ’s commandments.

Amen.

Jer 5:1-13 They Have Refused to Receive Correction

[Study Aired March 14, 2021]

Jer 5:1  Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
Jer 5:2  And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.
Jer 5:3  O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
Jer 5:4  Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
Jer 5:5  I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
Jer 5:6  Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
Jer 5:7  How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
Jer 5:8  They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
Jer 5:9  Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Jer 5:10  Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’S.
Jer 5:11  For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.
Jer 5:12  They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
Jer 5:13  And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

The first verse of this fifth chapter of Jeremiah reveals that the story of the destruction of Sodom is a type of the destruction of our hypocritical, self-righteous old man, typified first by Jerusalem and then by Babylon.

Jer 5:1  Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

Let us compare this verse to what the Lord promised Abraham concerning Sodom:

Gen 18:32  And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

Abraham was taking full advantage of the Lord’s mercy and patience because this request was anything but “this once”. Abraham had started with “[If] there be fifty righteous within the city…”

Gen 18:23  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Gen 18:24  Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
Gen 18:25  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
Gen 18:26  And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

Abraham then pleaded for the Lord to spare Sodom for the sake of forty-five, then forty, then twenty and finally he stopped at ten.

The Lord knew there were not even ten righteous men in Sodom. Only Lot and his two daughters were spared out of Sodom and all the cities of the plain:

Gen 19:29  And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

The Lord also knows that He will not “find a man… that executes judgment [and] seeks Truth” even as He promises to pardon it if there is but one man. He knows there is not one man in Babylon, backslidden Jerusalem, (Isa 1:21) because every man who is “executing judgment and seeking the Truth has “come out of her”:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Babylon will not “acknowledge [her] transgressions”. Christ drags us out just as He dragged Lot and His daughters out of Sodom. Babylon is self-righteous and rebellious to the end:

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

Nothing had changed from the days of Jeremiah to the writing of the Revelation of Jesus Christ:

Jer 5:2  And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.

These verses describe each of us when we are in Babylon. We claim His name and say, “The Lord lives,” but we refuse to ‘eat His meat or wear His apparel’:

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

Seven signifies completion. The apostasy of the church is complete, and the seven churches of Asia demonstrate that point (Rev 1:4). The complete apostasy of the Christian church is signified by “the seven churches of Asia” fulfilling this prophecy here in Jeremiah. We are informed there is not one man in ‘Jerusalem’ (Babylon) who ‘executes judgment or seeks the Truth’.

Many wonderful works, casting out devils, and writing and singing many wonderful, inspiring songs, means nothing if we refuse of be obedient to our Husband:

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.

Such is the mind of the great harlot because this is the spirit of the Lord’s estranged wife at this time:

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

At this stage of our “experience of evil” (Ecc 1:13), we believe in the lie of the ten-second sinner’s prayer. We believe that if we simply claim the name of Christ, include His name in our songs of praise to Him, do lots of good works for others, then our doctrine, our food and our clothing will be accepted of Him and certainly will not separate us from Him. However, our Husband is having no part of that mindset, and regardless of how many good works we perform in His name and how many very inspiring songs we write and sing which say, “The LORD liveth,” if we do not have and live by His doctrines the truth remains “surely we swear falsely” (Jer 5:2), and in the time of our judgment these are the words we will hear:

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

This is who we are before we are humbled and brought to see our own self-righteous nakedness and shame. The very definition of self-righteousness is to ‘glory in our shame’, as the Pharisee looking down on the publican:

Luk 18:9  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

We are all self-righteous by nature. Therefore, we all just naturally glory in our own shameful self-righteousness.

Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

There is a time in our lives when we glory in our ‘shameful’ self-righteousness just as the world glories in its abominations. Nevertheless, Truth is always the Truth and as the parable of the Pharisee and the publican demonstrates, self-righteousness is the most egregious of all sins, and no circumstance can change that fact. Self-righteousness blinds us to the Lord’s chastening hand in our lives.

Jer 5:3  O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

“You have stricken them” is speaking of you and me. In Babylon we live the life of a hypocritical, self-righteous harlot while we blindly live and teach others to live lives which blatantly disobey and disrespect the Lord and His doctrines. While we are in the clutches of this great whore’s church doctrines, our Babylonian leaders have much more influence over us than the words of God in “that which is written”:

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

A “face harder than a rock” is the mind of an extremely self-righteous stubborn man or a spiritual harlot. It is common in many of the churches to belittle scripture as mere ‘ink on paper, nowhere near as powerful or reliable as the work of the holy spirit’. This doctrine teaches that the holy spirit can and does supersede scripture.

Of course, the Truth is that all this doctrine accomplishes is to place the man of sin in the temple of God proclaiming himself and his “above that which is written” thoughts and commandments superior to “that which is written”. When we given over to that lie, we simply nullify “that which is written”, placing ourselves in the temple of God, and telling the Lord “we will eat our own meat and wear our own apparel”.

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.

Christ Himself sees no such dichotomy between the written word and the spirit, as He makes clear when He tells us:

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

Paul tells us the same thing in these written words concerning “that which is written”:

Heb 4:12  For the word [“that which is written”] of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The “that which is written” words of God “are spirit and they are life”. They are far more reliable than the so-called words of the holy ghost proceeding out of the mouths of men which directly contradict “that which is written”. There has never yet been a secular trial or a ‘trying of the spirits’ (1Jo 4:1) without referring to “that which is written” (1Co 4:6).

We are told to “Try the spirits to see whether they are of God”:

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

All who minimize the written Word as mere “ink on paper” have nothing with which to “try the spirits”, and they now have no anchor to keep them from being swept out into the merciless sea of false doctrines.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Here is what the Lord said of His own harlot wife while speaking to the prophet Ezekiel:

Eze 3:9  As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

The Lord repeats this description of our deep-seated rebellion against Him and His way in:

Zec 7:12  Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

These verses are just another way of saying, “They have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.” (Isa 5:3)

It is very instructive for us to know that the word translated as ‘adamant’ (H8068, shamiyr) in Ezekiel and Zechariah is most often translated as ‘briers’:

H8068
שׁמיר
shâmı̂yr
Total KJV Occurrences: 12
briers, 8
Isa_5:6, Isa_7:23-25 (3), Isa_9:18, Isa_10:17, Isa_27:4, Isa_32:13
adamant, 2
Eze_3:9, Zec_7:12
diamond, 1
Jer_17:1
stone, 1
Zec_7:12

‘Briers and thorns’ throughout scripture typify lying, self-righteous, false doctrines.

Isa 10:17  And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

Jer 5:4  Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
Jer 5:5  I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

It was “the great men” who ‘broke the yoke’ and actually took the lead in inciting the entire nation to reject their own Savior:

Psa 2:1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Psa 2:3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

It was the chief priests, who were Sadducees, and the Pharisees, “the great men” of Christ’s day, who set aside their differences to unite in their utter hatred of “the Lord and His Christ”, and until this very day it is the religious leaders of this world who incite us to turn our backs on the Word of God.

It is just such spiritual fornication which gives the Lord the occasion He is seeking to judge us and drag us out of Babylon and then use us to judge Babylon. This is what we read of this ongoing process later in this same prophecy:

Jer 25:34  Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
Jer 25:35  And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
Jer 25:36  A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.

Jer 5:6  Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

This “lion… wolf” and “leopard” are all one and the same “beast” [with] ten horns” which the Lord is sending “to fulfil His will” and to judge His harlot wife:

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

This entire prophecy of Jeremiah is addressed to the same harlot churches to which the entire book of Revelation is addressed. That includes Revelation chapters 17-18 which concern themselves with the judgment of this great whore who rules over all the kings of the earth:

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

‘The merchants of the earth’ are the Babylonian ministers who ‘peddle the gospel’.

2Co 2:17 For we are not as the majority, who are peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God in Christ, are we speaking. (CLV)

The pardon of our sins is always accompanied by the chastening wrath of our Lord:

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.

That is how we are pardoned. It is the chastening grace of God that leads us to repentance:

Jer 5:7  How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses [Babylonian harlot churches].

Being “fed to the full” in this verse refers to living with a hedge about us in an outward sense. It is the Lord’s chastening grace which brings us to repentance:

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

It is good to have all our physical needs met, but without trials, flesh simply cannot appreciate mercy, and being corruptible flesh, we become corrupt:

Jer 5:8  They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.

Fidelity is not a natural human trait. Infidelity comes to us all as naturally as breathing and as naturally as turning our back on our Lord. Our own self-righteousness and our own false doctrines are spiritual adultery. Self-righteousness is the worst most insidious form of infidelity because it denies that our righteousness is of Christ.

Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

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

We cannot rebel against the powers that be in heaven or on earth and expect to get by without being punished for our insubordination. God will avenge Himself of our transgressions against Himself:

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

In writing those words, Paul was simply aware of the scriptural doctrine of God’s vengeance against the  kingdom of our rebellious old man which our next verse demonstrates:

Jer 5:9  Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

“Vengeance is mine saith the Lord” answers that question, and while there are many verses which demonstrate the Lord’s wrath against our rebellious old man, I will add one more:

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

This is the Lord’s ‘judgment and vengeance’:

Jer 5:10  Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’S.

Walls symbolize spiritual defense, and “her walls” (the walls of Babylon) provide no defense at all against the judgments of the truths of the Words of the Lord. “They are not the Lord’s… battlements”, they are lies and self-righteous false doctrines against which the Lord will be avenged:

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

This “mighty city”, [this] whore is being burned up within us at this very moment, and she is also being hated and made desolate and naked and having her flesh eaten and being burned up with the fires of this prophecy outwardly at this very moment. You and I reading these words and applying them where they belong, both within and outwardly, are breathing out spiritual fire which is at this very moment producing “the smoke of her burning”. I will quote the first verse of our next study to make this point:

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.

“But make not a full end” refers to the fact that the Lord always leaves Himself “a remnant … [in] this present time”, who are “the first to believe” on Him, and upon whom He first pours out the bowls of His “judgment and vengeance”.

Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

“We” are the “souls… under the altar… their fellowservants also and their brothers, that should be killed as they were”. We are this “very small remnant” who are the “first” to be shown the Lord’s mercy at “this present time”. If we “endure to the end”, we are the channel through which the Lord will redeem all the rest of mankind:

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 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.
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!

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.

The Lord’s “ways… His… unsearchable judgments [are indeed] past finding out” for our natural man, “but God has revealed them unto us by His spirit”:

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him [Obey him (1Jo 5:2)].
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

What are “the deep things of God”? They are “His unsearchable judgments and His ways…” (Rom 11:33), with which we concern ourselves in all our studies of His Words.

Before we were dragged and judged for our transgressions, we first lived out these words:

Jer 5:11  For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.
Jer 5:12  They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

“They have belied the Lord [by saying] It is not He; neither shall evil come upon us…” is telling us that we taught the Lord will not judge us through the seven bowls that fill up His wrath against our Babylonian transgressions. Whether the false doctrines of a secret rapture or a place of safety, we have all believed and taught that the Lord’s wrath is only for those wicked people ‘out there’ somewhere. The wicked who must endure the wrath of God are anyone else but ourselves until our eyes and ears are opened to see that “every man’s works shall be tried by fire” (1Co 3:13) and that “no man can enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled” (Rev 15:8).

Many years back while working as a team with a brother who later separated himself from us, I read an entry on his web page forum which stated, “I do not like listening to anything Mike Vinson writes because all he ever talks about is judgment.” Reading that statement had the Lord’s desired effect on me. It did not make me deny that the Lord does indeed judge us, and I did not deny that He takes His vengeance upon the kingdom of our old man, but He also never fails to remind us:

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.

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.

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.

Having part in the first resurrection is the greatest honor the Lord bestows upon any man. That first resurrection is “the marriage supper of the Lamb” of which we are again informed:

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.

Even the great harlot, in her attempt to paint herself and make herself beautiful for her lovers, has over the years begun to speak less about her monstrous false doctrine of a day of judgment which condemns the vast majority of mankind to an eternity of excruciating physical pain in physical flames of physical fire.

Jer 5:13  And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

The brother with whom I worked so closely for several years had “the light that was in [him made] darkness”, and he literally screamed at me these very words, “I will not have you telling these babes in Christ that they must endure the seven last plagues of the wrath of God!!!”

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

It was clear to me at that point that my dear brother was given to fulfill these prophetic words of Isaiah, Jeremiah’s predecessor:

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

My partner in the gospel had come to identify with the man who had written in on his website forum. He, too, was tired of hearing about a most essential element of our salvation – the element of God’s fiery judgment which brings us to repentance and teaches us righteousness:

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 [our earth], the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God [His chastening grace, His judgments] leadeth thee to repentance?

When a prophet is deceived, he is deceived by the Lord Himself, and “Who can make straight that which the Lord has made crooked?”

Ecc 7:13  Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

Most Christians think those are two verses which do not belong in the Bible. They think in that way because “the Lord [has] deceived [them]”, and they have been given by the Lord “eyes that see but cannot perceive and ears that hear but do not understand”:

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

Let us, on the other hand, greatly rejoice in these words:

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.

That is our study for today. Here are the verses for our next study:

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 5:15  Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
Jer 5:16  Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
Jer 5:17  And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
Jer 5:18  Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
Jer 5:19  And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
Jer 5:20  Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
Jer 5:21  Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Jer 5:22  Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
Jer 5:23  But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
Jer 5:24  Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
Jer 5:25  Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
Jer 5:26  For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
Jer 5:27  As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
Jer 5:28  They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
Jer 5:29  Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Jer 5:30  A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
Jer 5:31  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Psa 69:20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
Psa 69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Psa 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
Psa 69:23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
Psa 69:24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
Psa 69:25 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

Christ did not feel any disgrace or reproach(H2781) or shame for the things which he did on the cross or during his life as he carried his cross daily, but rather he suffered there (on the cross and through a life of much tribulation) to take away our reproach or disgrace as typified in these verses.

Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Gen 30:22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
Gen 30:23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach(H2781):
Gen 30:24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

He bore our sins on the cross, and in that sense, he felt our reproach as our opening verse eludes to. He took upon him our sins, the shame, the sickness or heaviness which is described in verse twenty. Ultimately we come to know those afflictions and wounds so that we can comfort others as Christ first comforts us.

Psa 69:20 Reproach(H2781) hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Joh 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

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

It is only when we receive the comforter that we can then comfort others with the comfort that we are comforted with as we become living sacrifices on the cross with Christ. The altar of our heart has been changed from one of stone to a fleshly heart where we can now bear to read, hear and do or keep what we could not do before.

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.

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.

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.

Joh 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. [not on the cross with Christ Gal 2:20, and not able to fulfill the law of Christ by bearing each others burdens yet Gal 6:2].

It is because of the suffering that we endure that we can be made ministers to the world and to each other according to the dispensation(G3622) of God which is given to the body (ministry) for the body to fulfill the word of God, which is what Paul goes on to say in Colossians. We need to be reconciled if we are going to be able to be part of a ministry of reconciliation (2Co 5:18).

dispensation(G3622)
G3622
οἰκονομία
oikonomia
Thayer Definition:
1) the management of a household or of household affairs

1a) specifically, the management, oversight, administration, of other’s property
1b) the office of a manager or overseer, stewardship
1c) administration, dispensation

Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from G3623
Citing in TDNT: 5:151, 674

Col 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation(G3622) of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
2Co 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

2Co 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

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

2Co 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

Joseph represents the only begotten of the Father in type and shadow, being the new man in Christ typified as the firstborn son of Rachel, a type of the first of the first-fruits Jesus Christ. We can see by this living example of Rachel who typifies the elect bride of Christ who is typified by Jacob, that it is through this tender mercy of giving her this precious son that her reproach is taken away, just as ours is with Christ when we are born again into this new and living hope. Joseph’s life, of course, would be one filled with much tribulation as a type of what we must endure to inherit the kingdom of God.

Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

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:

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.

The fleshly heart that we have now is likened unto a flower that passes, along with our stoney hearts. The fleshly heart is the heart that has God’s spirit with earnest expectation and hope. God gives us the power and love and soundness of mind to be able to go from glory to glory and unto perfection on the third day unto the fullness, when we will see Him face to face and abide with our Father who is love.

2Co 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

Php 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
Php 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

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,

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

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

1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

In order to understand the fleshly condition, Christ was tempted in all diverse manner yet without sin (Heb 4:15). He knew that there was none good in the flesh (Rom 3:10, Mar 10:18). He knew that his life was a living sacrifice for the sins of all the world (1Jn 3:5, Joh 1:29). He knew that the world outside of himself and his own sinful flesh could not bring him any comfort (Ecc 4:1, Rom 3:10).

God willing, we will be reminded in these next few verses we look at tonight that there is no spiritual meat in the world or wine to comfort us on the cross, it is only Christ who can comfort Christ with the comfort that we share as a body when we come together to show the tender mercies we need to show and so much the more as we see the day approaching (Heb_10:25).

Our first three verses for tonight:

Psa 69:20 Reproach(H2781) (Gen 30:22-24) hath broken my heart (Mar 14:34); and I am full of heaviness(H5136) (Mar 2:17): and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters (Joh 14:16), but I found none.
Psa 69:21 They gave me also gall(H7219) for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Psa 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

In these first three verses we learn of both the loneliness and rejection that we feel on the cross with Christ for the reproach that He bears for our sakes and that we now bear for the world’s sake as He did for us. Nothing can bring lasting comfort but the spirit of God that was also given to Christ and ourselves to endure whatever we must endure unto the end of each of our ages.

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:

Php 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Php 4:14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.

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

We give Christ “gall for my meat” and not the meat of the word, meaning the meat that we think we have before we know the true gospel is tainted and poisonous and not something that can mature the new creation within. We give him “vinegar to drink”, which is wine that has gone bad or the word of God not fitly spoken or given in due season.

In verse 22 we see how with no stay of bread or water in the court the table that we serve at this time is a snare unto our soul and a trap. What we set out to do for God at first is based very much on carnal reasoning and our many wonderful works done in his name which snare us into thinking that we are in a right relationship with our Creator. The shadow of this event is also expressed with Jacob mistakenly sleeping with Leah and having to marry both Leah and Rachel. We become one with Leah (the court, the world) in the most intimate way is what God is showing us until grace and faith come which is represented by Rachel being given to Jacob after he fulfills his week for her, which seven days represents the complete ministry of Christ. Prior to that ministry we serve the flesh represented by Laban for seven years.

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

Isa 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

1Co 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

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

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?

Gen 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.

Gen 29:23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
Gen 29:24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid.
Gen 29:25 And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?
Gen 29:26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
Gen 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
Gen 29:28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.

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.

Luk 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,

Gen 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.

We receive “reproach” that breaks our hearts, and we are full of heaviness, which means we are sick or full of distress, and there is none to take pity on us and no comforter to comfort us. It is in this stoney part of our hearts that there is yet a “trap” that God uses to humble us in this age if He is working with us. When we reason with our own human reasoning and lean unto our own understanding it is the Lord causing this as he seeks the occasion against that part of our heart which is yet carnal. It is a blessing to have him chasten and scourge us this way as sons today, which God accomplishes by letting our table “become a snare before them”. Once the trap is set we will always take the bate if this is God’s predestined purpose for us, and this is all being accomplished for our spiritual “welfareH(7965)”.

Luk 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Pro 16:2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
Pro 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Pro 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

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

“welfare(H7965)”
H7965
שׁלם שׁלום
shâlôm shâlôm
shaw-lome’, shaw-lome’
From H7999; safe, that is, (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, that is, health, prosperity, peace: – X do, familiar, X fare, favour, + friend, X greet, (good) health, (X perfect, such as be at) peace (-able, -ably), prosper (-ity, -ous), rest, safe (-ly), salute, welfare, (X all is, be) well, X wholly.

3Jn 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Psa 69:23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
Psa 69:24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
Psa 69:25 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

We are told not to be deceived because what we sow we will reap, and the verses Psalms 69:20 to 22 are the cause of what is going to be revealed in verses 23 to 25. God sets in motion the events in our life or the counsels that bring about negative fruit that is twice plucked up to witness against our corrupt first man Adam.

Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

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 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

Jud 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

To have our eyes “darkened” is not a hard thing to have happen as it takes only a little leaven to leaven the whole lump, and so we must pray for the diligent spirit needed to keep our lamps trimmed and burning brightly in this world.

Gal 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Isa 60:2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

Luk 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;

Let your loins be girded about rather than have them “continually to shake” – the symbol of having our confidence taken away and our foundation as being faulty.

1Ti 6:19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Verses 24 and 25 of Psalms 69 is the event that we need to have unfold on our blindness and self-righteousness so that we come to see that it is only Christ who can be Christ. After God’s indignation and wrath are poured out on us, our habitation will be desolate of the beasts that inhabit the temple, and we will have a greater understanding of how we are sojourners in this world whose flesh or “tents” in this case are going to pass away. A side note that comes to mind is that in order to drive the beast out of the temple there is a three-cord fold process described in and witnessed by Christ making a scourge of small cords.

Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

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.

Joh 2:15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

Heb 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

Mat 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
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.
Mat 18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Joh 2:15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

Ecc 4:12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

God is showing us a pattern in these last three verses that His tender mercies are poured out upon us when He, as our loving Father, receives us as sons through chastening, and scourging. This is what takes away the blindness and gives us the zeal and desire we need to fulfill His purpose for us.

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

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?

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