Matthew 26:31–75 Peter’s Denial of Jesus

[Study Aired December 8, 2025]

Our study for today deals with Jesus praying in Gethsemane, His apprehension and being presented before Caiaphas and the Council. The study also highlights Peter’s denial of Jesus.     

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

Mat 26:36  Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. 
Mat 26:37  And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 
Mat 26:38  Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 
Mat 26:39  And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. 

The name “Gethsemane” means an oil press, which is a device that uses high pressure to squeeze oil from seeds and nuts. At this point in Jesus’ life, He was pressured with the weight of offering Himself as sacrifice for the sins of the world. It is through this pressure that oil which symbolizes the Holy Spirt is produced. That is to say that it is through the Lord’s sacrifice that the Holy Spirit will come to dwell within His elect to show them all things.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 

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. 

Jesus taking the three disciples (Peter, John and James) to the garden of Gethsemane is to let His elect of every generation know that His sorrowful state and heaviness of heart is all part of the process we have to go through to become spiritually mature through His judgment (the significance of the number three).   

If there is one thing we have to learn from our Lord Jesus’ life here on earth, we can see that He was very prayerful. Jesus always separated Himself to pray to His Father. If we are to lead an overcoming life like Christ, then we must find time to pray. 

Mar 1:35  And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.  

Luk 5:15  But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. 
Luk 5:16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. 

This time of Jesus’ life on earth was very critical in the sense that He had to offer His life as a sacrifice to reconcile the whole of the human race to God. As Jesus said to His disciples in verses 37 and 38, this was the time that His soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. He needed to be strengthened, comforted and delivered from His anxiety of what awaited Him. Through the word of the Lord, we know that it is through prayer that we are strengthened, comforted and delivered from anxiety. He therefore came to the garden of Gethsemane to pray so that God will intervene in His circumstance. 

Php 4:6  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 
Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

2Co 1:3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 
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. 

Eph 3:14  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
Eph 3:15  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 
Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

These things are written for our admonition so that when we are overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, we will follow the example of our Lord and pray. It is also instructive to note that in spite of what Jesus was going through, His sole aim was to do the will of His Father, as shown in verse 39. This was the driving force of His life here on earth. As He is, so are we. We must make it our aim to do His will, no matter the circumstance. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus stated that entering the kingdom of heaven is not for those who simply say “Lord, Lord,” but for those who “do the will of His Father which is in heaven.” 

Mat 7:21  Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 

Joh 4:34  Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 

Mat 26:40  And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 
Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 
Mat 26:42  He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. 
Mat 26:43  And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. 
Mat 26:44  And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 

Jesus coming back to find the disciples sleeping reveals the spiritual state of the disciples at that time of their walk with Christ. They were carnal or babies in Christ. We all start our walk with Christ as carnal before the Lord comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness. 

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

The Lord saying that the disciples could not watch with Him for one hour is to let us know that at that time, the disciples were not united in purpose with the Lord since the number one signifies unity. Here we find Jesus in an agonizing state, and the disciples were not agonizing with Him. In verse 41, Jesus gave the reason for this. That is, although the disciples were willing to support Him, the weakness of the flesh makes it impossible to do so. These disciples represent us, and when we are overwhelmed by the flesh, there is no way that we can please the Lord even though in the spirit, we are willing. That is why we must be judged so that the flesh influence is destroyed.  

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 

The fact that Jesus came the second time to find the disciples sleeping serves as a witness to the fact that we must fall away before we are given to be faithful to Christ. 

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

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

This falling away is to give the Lord the occasion that He is seeking to come and judge us. 

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 
Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. 

Mat 26:45  Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 
Mat 26:46  Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. 

It is important to note that when the Lord comes back to the disciples the third time, he tells them that they can sleep from now on. As indicated in verse 45, sleeping here means that we can now rest in Him because He was ready to offer Himself as a sacrificial offering to takes away our sins. Our rest in Christ is based on the work that He has done for us.  

Psa 4:8  I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. 

Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

Mat 26:47  And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 
Mat 26:48  Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. 
Mat 26:49  And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. 
Mat 26:50  And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. 

This betrayal by Judas was prophesied in the scriptures as follows:

Psa 41:9  Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. 
Psa 41:10  But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them! 
Psa 41:11 By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. 

We can see from the Psalm above the raising of Christ from the dead silenced the shouting of triumph from the enemy, the devil. As He is, so are we. Our being raised from death to life in Him in this age, is what gives us victory over the devil. It is insightful to note that the multitude who arrested Jesus, through the instigation by the chief priests and elders of the people, came with swords and staves. This reveal the strategy of the devil when He comes like a flood to attack us. The sword here represents the false doctrines propagated by the devil through his agents. According to Strong, the staves can be defined as a branch of a tree or part of the body. This implies that sometimes our trials come from our brothers and sisters in the body who spew false doctrines to us through the instigation of the devil.

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

On a positive note, a kiss signifies our love for one another as shown below:

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

1Pe 5:14  Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The negative application of a kiss has to do with betrayal of a brother as seen in Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. 

Mat 26:51  And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. 
Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 
Mat 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 
Mat 26:54  But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? 
Mat 26:55  In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. 
Mat 26:56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.  

The one who stretched out his hand with a sword and smote off the ear of the servant of the high priest was Peter.

Joh 18:10  Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 
Joh 18:11  Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? 

Jesus’ response to Peter was that if we take up the sword, we shall perish by the sword. Spiritually, what the Lord is telling us is that when we use violence to achieve a means, we shall be visited or destroyed by violence. 

Psa 7:15  He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. 
Psa 7:16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. 

The Lord also told Peter that His purpose was for the scriptures to be fulfilled concerning Him and not to demonstrate His ability to call on twelve legions of angels to come to His aid. There are times in our walk with Christ that injustice is meted out to us, and our natural reaction was to call fire from heaven to consume those responsible. However, to what end will this achieve? We will just be like the people of this world. What makes us different is that we know that vengeance belongs to our Lord and therefore in our patience we must possess our souls.

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. 

Luk 21:17  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. 
Luk 21:18  But there shall not an hair of your head perish. 
Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls. 

The disciples forsaking Jesus and fleeing is to let us know that we must first fall away before we are given to be faithful to our Lord. As indicated in 2 Thessalonians, our falling away is for the purpose of the revelation of the man of sin or our flesh, who sits in our hearts and minds thinking himself to be God because of the false doctrine of man making his own decisions just like God. As we are aware, even Jesus did not make His own decisions.

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

Joh 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 

Jesus Before Caiaphas and the Council

Mat 26:57  And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. 
Mat 26:58  But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest’s palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. 
Mat 26:59  Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; 
Mat 26:60  But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, 

It is instructive to note that on the day of atonement, Aaron the high priest, shall take two goats and casts lots upon the two goats. The one on which the lot fell shall be offered for a sin offering. Jesus being brought before the high priest Caiaphas after His arrest is therefore significant in the sense that He represents the goat upon whom the lot fell to be offered for the sin offering. It is also important to note that Peter followed Jesus afar off into the high priest’s palace. Peter, who is a symbol of the Lord’s elect, represents the scapegoat which was set free into the wilderness of this life. We, His elect, are therefore like Peter who also came to the High priest’s palace but was set free.    

Lev 16:6  And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 
Lev 16:7  And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 
Lev 16:8  And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 
Lev 16:9  And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 

As we are aware, the lamb to be offered for sacrifice must be without spot or blemish. Because Jesus lived a blameless life here on earth, He was the perfect sacrifice, prepared by God for our sins. That was why they could not find a false witness against Him.  

1Pe 1:19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 

Mat 26:61  And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. 
Mat 26:62  And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? 
Mat 26:63  But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. 

What this false witness said about Jesus was true as Jesus stated in one of His discourse with the Jews that the temple will be destroyed and built in three days. However, the temple He was referring to was our bodies, which is the temple of God. 

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

The three days for the building of the temple signifies the process of spiritual maturity (building our temple) through the Lord’s judgment of our flesh. Jesus could have responded to the high priest but remained silent to fulfil scripture as follows:

Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 
Isa 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 

Mat 26:64  Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 
Mat 26:65  Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. 

What Jesus said about the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the cloud of heaven refers to His physical appearing at the end of this age. That is when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. We can see that in spite of the ominous situation where Jesus found Himself, He was eagerly looking forward to the reward which was to sit on the right side of His Father and to rule the world with His elect.  

Psa 110:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Psa 110:2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 

Just as Jesus was determined to endure the cross because of the reward, we must also do the same. As we go through the sufferings marked out for us in this life, we must also focus on the reward of sitting on thrones with the Lord and ruling the world with our Lord Jesus.  

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

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

According to the custom of the Jews, when they heard or saw anything done or said, which they looked upon to be a reproach to God, they rent their clothes. The high priest therefore rent his clothes because he thought Jesus had blasphemed. 

Isa 36:20  Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
Isa 36:21  But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. 
Isa 36:22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. 

However, while Caiaphas would be thought of by the people as extremely zealous for the Lord, he was himself the greatest blasphemer for renting his clothes, since a high priest is not required by the law to do so. 

Lev 21:10  And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes; 

Caiaphas here represents the leaders of the church system of this world, who outwardly, seem to have the zeal of the Lord, but are actually the greatest blasphemers or wolves in sheep clothing. We were also blasphemers until Christ came to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness. 

1Ti 1:12  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 
1Ti 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 

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

It is also important to note that Caiaphas renting his clothes implies that he has rejected the righteousness that comes with Christ. It is as we are judged by the Lord that we learn of this righteousness. 

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.  

Caiaphas also represents the church system of this world or Babylon. It is therefore not strange to see that the church system of this world has rejected the righteousness of Christ through the judgment of our old man, in favor of the righteousness which comes from the law, which no man can attain.

Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 
Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 
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:  

Mat 26:66  What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. 
Mat 26:67  Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, 
Mat 26:68  Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee? 

Our Lord Jesus did not sin but was condemned for our iniquity. 

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

The people spitting on Jesus’ face was a severe cultural insult, symbolizing ultimate shame, rejection, and condemnation of Jesus. This humiliation of Jesus was all for our sake and was prophesied in Isaiah as follows:

Job 30:10  They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

Isa 50:6  I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Isa 50:7  For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. 

Peter Denies Jesus

Mat 26:69  Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. 
Mat 26:70  But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. 
Mat 26:71  And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. 
Mat 26:72  And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mat 26:73  And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech betrayed thee. 
Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. 
Mat 26:75  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly. 

As we indicated, there is the need to fall away first before we can become His sons and daughters. Peter denying the Lord three times is to let us know that falling away is part of the process of spiritual maturity through the Lord’s judgment (significance of the number three). When Peter remembered the word of the Jesus concerning his betrayal, he went out and wept bitterly. This means that Peter repented of his actions.

1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
1Jn 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 

The steadfast love of the Lord never fails or comes to an end. It is renewed every morning. Great is the Lord’s faithfulness! Amen!!

1Ki 3:16-28 – “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown”

[Study Aired August 26, 2021]

1Ki 3:16  Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
1Ki 3:17  And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
1Ki 3:18  And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.
1Ki 3:19  And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it.
1Ki 3:20  And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
1Ki 3:21  And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
1Ki 3:22  And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.
1Ki 3:23  Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.
1Ki 3:24  And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
1Ki 3:25  And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
1Ki 3:26  Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
1Ki 3:27  Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
1Ki 3:28  And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

In this study we will look at the fruit revealed in Solomon’s life regarding the prayer that was made in the night while he was dreaming “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?“of 1Kings 3:9.

The ability to judge and discern good and evil is a gift from God that is received of those who are given a hunger and thirst to ask for it in faith (Jas 1:5, 1Jn 5:4, Mat 5:6, Rom 3:27).

Jas 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

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

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

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

Light will come out of darkness while we lie dead in the street as God’s two witnesses (Rev 11:8). Christ likens the two witnesses’ death, and all death, to sleep (Joh 11:11-14), which tells us that when we are dead to our sinful flesh, then are we alive in Christ (Rom 6:11).

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Joh 11:11  These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Joh 11:12  Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Joh 11:13  Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
Joh 11:14  Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The living waters God gives to those who thirst for it, are being stored up in the lives of God’s elect (Joh 7:37, Joh 6:44) and are being distributed as we come together often to break spiritual bread and drink spiritual drink in Christ (1Co 11:27-28). We are being judged now so that we learn to “eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord” worthily.

Joh 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

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

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

It is through this communion we share that teaches us to judge all things, through a judgment which starts at the house of God that we will in fact learn of His righteousness in our earth (1Co 11:31, Luk 6:37, Joh 7:24, 1Pe 4:17, Isa 26:9).

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

Luk 6:37  Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

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?

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

This section of the book of Kings is instructive in showing us how Christ judges us in this age so the manchild can mature as we put off our flesh and learn there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Rom 8:1).

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The world within us (1Jn 2:16) represents the harlot who wants to destroy the manchild’s life by taking it from its true mother, who represents Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26). With God’s spirit within us we can each be a joint that supplies in love (Eph 4:16), a love that provides the spiritual nourishment the manchild will need to grow to maturity in this life as we overcome those powers and principalities through Christ (Eph 6:12, Eph 1:19-21). Those negative powers are represented by the harlot who inadvertently killed her child by laying on it (Gen 45:5), a shadow of burying God’s gift in the earth (Mat 25:25), and then misappropriated the name of Christ by saying that the living child that represents Christ was hers, laying claim to His name (Isa 4:1).

Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

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.

It is by going to king Solomon, a type of Christ, that we will be given the discerning spirit to know how to continue to fight a good fight of faith and protect the crown of life we’ve been given by resisting false doctrines unto the shedding of blood. That resisting of sin is represented by the crown of thorns that were put on Christ’s head, the “thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned” (Gen 3:18, Heb 6:8) that only our head can give us the power to overcome (Heb 12:4, Joh 19:2, Joh 8:36). The crown of life is the life of Christ in us, represented by the manchild, the living child in this story, and Christ promises those who overcome through resisting false doctrines, which are sin, once we know it is wrong (Jas 4:17) “will I make a pillar in the temple of my God” (Rev 3:11-12, 1Ti 6:12).

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Joh 19:2  And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,

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

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown [the manchild].

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

God is coming quickly, and He is quickening God’s elect to give birth (Joh 6:63, Exo 1:19-20) giving witness to the world of His workmanship operating by His faith (Eph 2:8). God is our true husbandman, and Christ is the author and finisher of our faith (Joh 15:1, Heb 12:2-4)./p>

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.

Exo 1:19  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.
Exo 1:20  Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

[God’s elect are typified as the Hebrew women who are not as the Egyptian women or churches of Babylon, and we are also the midwives to the Hebrew women helping them in the birthing process as we bear each other’s burdens in this life (Gal 6:2), burdens or tribulation (Act 14:22) which must accompany the maturing of the manchild who is being judged in this age (Rev 12:5). The validity of the statement of the midwives – “the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them” – is not what is in question. It is what it means for God’s elect, and so we see that God was hiding the manchild as we are hidden in Christ (Col 3:3) and the quickness in which the babies were delivered is a type and shadow statement of the quick work God will do on the earth in the body of Christ(Rom 9:28)].

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

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

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.

1Ki 3:16  Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
1Ki 3:17  And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

These verses in 2Timothy 2:20 and Romans 9:21-23 explain to us who the two harlots are being spoken of in this section of Kings that represent the same lump, which is why “I and this woman dwell in one house” (Rom 11:16).

2Ti 2:20  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Rom 11:16  For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so  are the branches.

Of one of the women God was “willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known” as He “endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” who was represented in this story by the harlot whose child died. The other woman in the story, who has the living child, is there to show us, “that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” In short this entire story is a parable revealing to us what we find written in this section of Romans 11 and is an admonition for us to never take anything for granted as we behold the severity and the goodness of God being expressed in this story of the two harlots in the one house (Rom 11:22 Rom 11:31-36).

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

Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed [woman without child], 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!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. [the woman who gives birth to the child (Joh 3:3). It is with that mind of Christ that we do instruct one another in the Lord through the manifold knowledge of God made known by the church (Eph 3:10)].

God reminds us that all flesh is Gentile and cannot inherit the kingdom of God and that there is none righteous (Rom 3:10), and so we have two harlots who witness to this truth – “Then came there two women, that were harlots“. Even after all the creation is redeemed, God deemed it necessary that we never forget where we came from by being called beasts around the throne of God who are now spiritually domesticated servants of the living God and Creator of all things (Rev 4:6-11). God is God, and it was for his pleasure that these things were created and unfolded in the order in which He ordained them to unfold from the foundation of the world “which he had afore prepared unto glory”.

The first woman to speak is the one who represents Christ’s first fruits, who are like Christ in having preeminence (1Jn 4:17, Col 1:18) which is demonstrated by her boldness to come first before the throne of grace to obtain mercy in time of need in type and shadow (Heb 4:16). All she could do at this point is just what we all can do and that is to come before God and throw ourselves on His mercy: “And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.” This story of the two harlots and the children involved explains how God will, and does, through heresies make manifest who is approved (1Co 11:19). At this juncture of the story, Solomon is just gathering the information and not rushing to judgment (Pro 25:8-12).

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

Pro 25:8  Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.
Pro 25:9  Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:
Pro 25:10  Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away.
Pro 25:11  A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Pro 25:12  As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.

This story reveals who has the obedient ear between these two woman, and we’ll see that it is the one who does not want to divide Christ, who is represented by the living child, she being filled with mercy and compassion placing the greatest value on the life of the child even to the detriment of her own great loss, which she was willing to endure to keep the child alive (Eph 4:3-6, Mat 10:39).

Eph 4:3  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eph 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

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

1Ki 3:18  And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.

The events revealed of this woman who was the mother of the living child demonstrate that these women represent God’s anointed and God’s rejected anointed respectively. They both delivered “the third day” which we know represents a process of judgment, and for one this judgment was bringing about a new life and for the other the child was lost. They were both “together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house” reminding us that the tares and the wheat grow together in the house, and in their infancy there is no detection of a “stranger with us in the house“, and yet the mother whose child died was truly a stranger to Christ in how she callously treated and stole from the other woman (Joh 10:10-11).

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

She then went on to claim that she was the rightful mother to this child, demonstrating what we do in Babylon when we claim that the Christ child is ours and should be nourished by us, even as the words or doctrines of Christ are rejected (Luk 6:46). There really is no stay of bread or water to feed this baby (Isa 3:1). In the final analysis she had no regard for the living child (Luk 6:46). Without God’s judgment in our lives we would have no regard for the spiritual life and death importance of not dividing Christ. So the woman with the child that lives represents those who are judged in this life being received of God through those judgments which reveal His love for us that can only be learned through fiery chastening trials (1Pe 4:12, Heb 12:6).

God uses the most precious example in the flesh, a newborn child, to demonstrate to us how precious His word is that is not to be divided or handled carelessly by a stranger, as this woman was (Mat 22:14, 1Co 4:6, 1Jn 4:6).

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

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

1Co 4:6  And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

1Ki 3:19  And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it.

What we are being told in verse 19, in type and shadow, is that the doctrines of Christ will die in the night if we bury them underneath us in the earth “because she overlaid it” (Mat 25:25), but if we are truly hearing the voice of the true shepherd then those doctrines will be rightly divided as we are received as a mother hen receives her chicks (Luk 13:34). We “would not” be that brood gathered under her wings unless we were dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44) and so boasting is excluded by the law of faith (Rom 3:27) which tells us that the Lord did all these things in the order He did to bring about the salvation of all (Gen 45:5).

Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

Luk 13:34  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

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

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

Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

1Ki 3:20  And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
1Ki 3:21  And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.

This selfish act of desperation on the part of the woman who had lost her child, “she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me” is akin to some man, any carnal man, trying to take our crown, and is an admonition for us to hold fast to the doctrine of Christ (Rev 3:10-11). We are as God’s elect bound to the altar (Psa 118:27), and so although we all lose our first love (Rev 2:4), if we are His that love will be rekindled, and this very short-lived event of being separated from the living child that represents Christ will be turned around when the mother discerns “in the morning” that what was hers “which I did bear” has been taken and replaced by another child. The expression “in her bosom” and “in my bosom” is significant in that it reminds us that we can hold life or death in our bosom, but God has granted His elect to enter into His rest today where the manchild is in his bosom (Luk 16:22, Joh 13:23).

Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown [2Sa 12:7].

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Luk 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

Joh 13:23  Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

When Christ gives us victory over sin by rightly dividing the word “when I had considered it in the morning” in our life as Solomon did for the woman who was the real mother of the child, then she entered into that rest that came about by Solomon’s judgments being in her life, which typify God’s judgments in our lives that teach us His righteousness (Heb 4:9-12, Isa 26:9).

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. [This verse in Hebrews 4:12 typified in “the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment” (1Ki 3:28)]

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

We are admonished to watch and pray (Luk 21:35-36) because we don’t know at what hour our Lord is going to return, and yet if God tells us to watch, we know assuredly that we won’t (Rom 7:19) until we are awakened through Christ to trim our lamps (Mat 25:5), which in this case was typified by what she did in the morning with eyes that were now awake to what God was allowing. Now she knew the child is not hers because it couldn’t receive even the milk of the word which is what we are being told when she says “And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead“.

Luk 21:35  For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Mat 25:5  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

In regards to the other mother who took the child, this is the negative example of trimming your lamp at “midnight” as it had nothing to do with losing her life and making the light of Christ burn brighter in her heavens, but rather was all about making the best of a bad situation even at the expense of someone else. This mother who lost her child is telling us something very important in this age, and that is that the world has no regard for those things we consider to be precious and priceless and are willing, as she was, to steal and starve the manchild, the crown of life that God had given to us and does not belong to her (Mat 10:22, Rev 3:11, Heb 13:10).

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 [Php 4:13].

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

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

God shows us through this story what is really in the heart of the churches of this world without the manchild in their midst. They want the living child without receiving the counsel of God that says buy gold tried in the fire so you can see: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” (Rev 3:18).

It is not theirs to be rebuked and chastened in this age and so there is no repentance possible if God is not orchestrating that in their lives: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent “(Rev 3:19). The most horrible of all feelings that your child has been stolen from you is a shadow of how great our fear should be of God, not wanting to lose our crown of life and the immeasurable blessing of being in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Heb 5:7, Rev 20:6).

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

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

When Christ is in our lives we will discern the voice of the true Shepherd in each other as well as not follow the voice of another who is not Christ (Joh 10:27-29). This is being expressed in type and shadow by the mother who knew this was not her child “but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear“.

Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

1Ki 3:22  And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.
1Ki 3:23  Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.
1Ki 3:24  And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

God’s word is the final arbiter in this story which is why “the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king“. It takes safety that is found in a multitude of counsellors in order to remove Babylon from our thinking, and these two woman represent the first and second Adam who both lay claim to Christ each saying ‘yours is the dead child [false doctrine] and mine is the live child [true doctrine]’, but only one is the rightful mother of the living child who represents the manchild of God who is caught up to heaven (Rev 12:5, Gal 4:26).

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

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

1Ki 3:25  And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
1Ki 3:26  Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

Solomon’s new found wisdom, which is a gift from God, is now on full display for these two women who represent who we are when we are in Babylon and who we are when we are coming out of Babylon (2Co 6:17). They are both going to hear what Solomon knows is going to manifest is in each of their hearts (1Jn 4:6). The lack of regard that we have for God’s words while we are in Babylon is shown to us by the woman who thinks nothing of dividing the child who represents Christ and His doctrine, which is not divided (1Co 1:13).

Our perception of Christ is all wrong at this point as we think He is an austere man who would carry out such a cruel act. Yet now we know that Solomon, who typifies our Lord, was only saying these things to show who of the two womean was froward in heart and who of the two women was pure in heart (Psa 18:26), and so “the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other“. Then, the woman who represents our time in Babylon says, “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it“.

Luk 19:22  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

Psa 18:26  With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

Tit 1:15  Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Tit 1:16  They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

When we look at the descriptions of the other woman who represents the true church, a picture is painted for us of how the bride of Christ thinks with the mind of Christ, uttering these words: “Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it“. This great contrast between the two woman is shown for our sakes. The mother to whom the child belongs had “bowels” that “yearned upon her son” not wanting a hair on this child to be touched (Luk 21:18) “and in no wise slay it“, a type and shadow of the strong desire God is working in the body of Christ to keep us “of one mind” with “bowels of mercy” and with a likemindedness that comes with the singleness which is in Christ, reflecting His love toward one another (2Co 11:3).

1Pe 3:8  Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Php 2:1  If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Php 2:2  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity [singleness] that is in Christ.

1Ki 3:27  Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
1Ki 3:28  And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

This type and shadow language of King Solomon, who is a type of Christ, is of great comfort to God’s elect as it reminds us that what God has ordained to happen will happen because the king has commanded it: “Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof“. Giving her the child is another way of saying ‘give her the inheritance, an inheritance that can only be nourished by “the mother thereof” which we know is Jerusalem above the mother of us all’. Solomon then saying “in no wise slay it” is the same as Christ saying: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (Joh 10:28-29).

So, we need to watch and pray, and not cast away our confidence which has great recompence of reward, knowing the scriptures are written for our learning that we might have comfort and hope (Rom 15:4). When we fear the king as “they feared the king“, we understand that fear spiritually as obedience to the life of Christ in each other. This brings about unity in the body of Christ, a unity and singleness of mind that will render this last verse of tonight’s study applicable to each of us, individually and collectively as a body, because of the life of Christ within us: “And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment” (Col 1:27, Php 2:12-13).

Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

It takes “all Israel” hearing the entire body of Christ, the Israel of God (Gal 6:16), to fight against the wiles of the devil and having done all stand “in the evil day” (Eph 6:12-13) as we continue to believe (Joh 6:29) these words “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Rev 3:11).

Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Rev 3:11 Behold^{G2400 [G5628]}, I come^{G2064 [G5736]} quickly^G5035: hold that fast^{G2902 [G5720]} which^G3739 thou hast^{G2192 [G5719]}, that^G2443 no man^G3367 take^{G2983 [G5632]} thy^G4675 crown^G4735.

Behold G5628
Tense-Second Aorist See [G5780]
Voice-Active See [G5784]
Mood -Imperative See [G5794]
Count-459

I come quickly G5736
Tense-Present See [G5774]
Voice-Middle or Passive Deponent See [G5790]
Mood -Indicative See [G5791]
Count-618

hold that fast G5720
Tense-Present See [G5774]
Voice-Active See [G5784]
Mood -Imperative See [G5794]
Count-582

which thou hast G5719
Tense-Present See [G5774 [Gen_4:7]
Voice-Active See [G5784]
Mood -Indicative See [G5791]
Count-3014

Gen 4:7 If thou doest well,[“hold that fast which thou hast”] 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.

that no man take thy crown.G5632
Tense-Second Aorist See [G5780]
Voice-Active See [G5784]
Mood -Subjunctive See [G5792]
Count-449

“Marriage in Scripture” Series

What Is the Purpose For The Institution of Marriage?

This is the first study of what will be a series of studies on marriage – its purpose, selecting a mate, problems faced in marriage, etc. We will be asking and answering with the scriptures, many questions you may have had, and maybe many questions you have never had, but should have asked before you ever got married. We will first establish with the scriptures the purpose for the institution of marriage. Then we will be discussing the stresses upon the marriage union, and what the Creator of this institution of marriage has given us to keep our marriages strong and unified in the one mind of Him who created and instituted the marriage union.

So what is the purpose for the institution of marriage? Why do we need marriage? Is there a spiritual lesson for us in this institution? Why did God give Adam a woman instead of another man? Why are women called “the weaker vessel”?

1Pe 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Here is the history of how the Lord gave us the institution of marriage. Let’s read this story and see what lessons we can learn from what we are told:

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.
Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Gen 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

There is a huge spiritual revelation in this true story of how the Lord gave us the institution of marriage, and the scriptures reveal that this union has many very edifying spiritual revelations for us.

After giving us many wonderful admonitions that will, if obeyed, keep our marriages healthy, Paul tells us this:

Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul also tells us this:

1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

When Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that the institution of marriage, when “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” is actually speaking “concerning Christ and the church”, then we know that our physical marriages are really just a type and shadow of “Christ and the church”.

Accepting that as the Truth, let’s look the institution of marriage “comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and see what we can learn. Let’s ask ourselves what is the spiritual meaning of “she was taken out of the man.” What is the spiritual meaning of “sleep”? What is the spiritual meaning of “flesh… and bone”? And what is the spiritual meaning of “they shall be one flesh”?

The spiritual meaning of “she was taken out of the man”

The spiritual lesson behind this statement is of utmost significance. Without knowing what this statement means we cannot “know God and Jesus Christ who He has sent”. And if we do not “know God and Jesus Christ” we do not have life eternal.

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

Knowing just how important a matter this is Christ Himself reveals to us the meaning of this statement. This is what that part of the history of the institution of marriage is teaching us:

Joh 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

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

This is not speaking of Christ as the firstborn from the dead, as Babylon teaches us. This certainly includes that meaning, but it is specifically teaching us that God the Father created Christ and in that sense Christ came out from His Head, for the specific purpose of creating the physical universe and for the specific purpose of creating all men of all time, and becoming the savior of all men.

Here are two places in scripture where this is plainly stated for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear:

Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

The word ‘for’ in verse 16 is translated from the Greek word ‘hoti’ and it means ‘because’. Christ was “the firstborn of every creature BECAUSE by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth…”

Then we also have this verse of scripture:

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

That is the spiritual meaning of “she was taken out of the man”.

The spiritual meaning of ‘sleep’

To understand the spiritual meaning of ‘sleep’, we need to go to the New Testament story of the death of Christ’s good friend, Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. When Christ was told of the sickness of Lazarus, He waited until Lazarus had been dead four days before he got there to pray for Lazarus. Lazarus had already died, and after his death Christ told his disciples:

Joh 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Joh 11:12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Joh 11:13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
Joh 11:14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

So being in “a deep sleep”, as Adam was when God took a rib from him to make him a wife, is a symbol of being dead. If we are given the understanding that the first Adam is a type of the last Adam, then we will know that the first Adam had to, “in a figure”, die before he could be given a wife who would, just like the last Adam, be given a wife who also must come “out of [himself]:

Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

If we are so blessed, spiritually we are the espoused “chaste virgin”, who is the bride of our husband, Christ:

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

How was this accomplished? It was accomplished only as Adam’s “deep sleep” typified, “through death”:

Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

The Spiritual Meaning of “Brought Her Unto the Man”

We were told that Christ brought Adam’s wife to him:

Gen 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

Who then gave Christ His wife?

Joh 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, 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.

The type carries through to the point that the first Adam, and Christ, the last Adam, both willingly died for their respective errant, sinful wives:

1Ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman [as the type of Christ’s called out ones] being deceived was in the transgression.

Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Very few know or understand just how integral Christ’s espoused wife is to His own purpose. Very few understand just how integral she is to His death, His resurrection, and His own inheritance.

Look at this verse:

Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

The word ‘for’, which appears twice in this verse, should actually read “through”, because it is both times, translated from the Greek word ‘dia’, which means ‘through’ and from which we get our English word ‘diameter’, which is the distance ‘through’ a circle to the other side. What this verse reveals is that Christ was delivered up to be crucified ‘through’ our offenses, and was raised from the dead ‘through’ our justification. That is just how integral His own wife is to His inheritance. She is given to him “through death”, and this is all typified by God causing a symbolic “deep sleep” to fall upon Adam, and taking a rib from him and making of that rib a wife which He then brings to Adam. That is the spiritual significance of the word ‘sleep’ in the story of the institution of marriage.

The spiritual meaning of “flesh and bone”

Let’s notice carefully what we are being told about Eve’s origins:

Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Eve coming “out of Adam”, for those with eyes to see, reveals that Christ Himself is the one out of whom Adam came. Christ is the Word who said “Let us make man in our image…”, and that is exactly from whence we are told Adam came:

Col 1:16 For by him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

The scriptures teach that when God creates another, a second for that which He created first, under those circumstances, that which is first, becomes the stronger, and becomes the head of that which was created for the first and preeminent creation.

Here are the scriptures which make this spiritual lesson so clear:

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Christ was created before the man, Adam was created before the woman, and the Father is He “of whom are all things” (1Co 8:6). This is the lesson of the institution of marriage. “Through death, “a deep sleep”, the wife of the first Adam came out of Adam, just as the wife of the last Adam “through death”, comes out of Christ” to be “bone of [His] bones, and flesh of [His] flesh”. All of this is done for the purpose of showing us that a married couple are to be “one flesh”, spiritually typifying the one spiritual mind of the one body of Christ and His bride.

Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

While the earthy type is created in a “marred… made to be destroyed” condition and composition, the spiritual anti-type is being made to be of an “immortal” condition and composition, “a spiritual body”. The first Adam is of this earth, earthy. Nevertheless he is a figure of the last man Adam:

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

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

Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure [Greek, tupos, type] of him that was to come.

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made [‘”marred… in the Potter’s hand”] subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Why Did God give Adam a woman instead of another man?

Why are women called “the weaker vessel”?

“Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living.”

Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Here is the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘Eve’ the name Adam gave his wife.

H2332
חוּה

chavvâh
khav-vaw’
Causative from H2331; lifegiver; Chavvah (or Eve), the first woman: – Eve.

The wife was made for the husband for the purpose of giving life to others by her husband. Witness the billions and billions who have come “through the woman”.

As unpopular as it is to just read it out of the Bible, the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the holy spirit, tells us that this headship of God over Christ, and Christ being the head of the man, and the man being the head of the woman, is all ordained to be symbolized by a man having short hair and thereby having an “uncovered… head”. The very same symbol of submission to God’s ways is also symbolized by a woman having her head covered by her long hair:

1Co 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head [Christ].
1Co 11:5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head [her husband]: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
1Co 11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
1Co 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

And what is the point being made by the holy spirit?

1Co 11:8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. [and Christ for His Head]
1Co 11:9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. [As the man was created for Christ]
1Co 11:10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels [the messengers of Christ].

1Co 11:11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
1Co 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

1Co 11:13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

So exactly what does “uncovered” mean?:

1Co 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
1Co 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.

1Co 11:16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom [of long haired men and short haired women], neither the churches of God.

Just like outward adultery and outward fornication demonstrate our infidelity to the spiritual laws of God, so does a man having long hair, and a woman having short hair, demonstrate that we are not very worried about our Lord’s spiritual commandments.

Please do not think that we should begin measuring the hair of our brothers and start setting limits on exactly what is to be considered as long hair, and what is to be considered as short hair. We do not want to think above what is written, but we do want to be faithful to what is written, and let the holy spirit do its own convicting work within each man and woman.

What all of this reveals is that this is the exact same submissive, fruitful function that Christ fulfills for His head, His God the Father:

Let’s put these two sections of scripture together and see if we can see what the institution of marriage reveals to us:

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Col 1:15 Who [Christ, whose “head… is God”] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Why must Christ be “the firstborn of every creature”? Here is why:

Col 1:16 For [Greek, ‘hoti’, because] by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Nowhere in the New Testament is there any mention of anyone in “the Godhead” other than Christ and His Head, “the Father of whom are all things” (1Co 8:6). It is the lesson we are taught by the institution of marriage which delivers us from the yoke of the false doctrine of a trinitarian Godhead. We are told that the invisible things are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even the Godhead:

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 not left to speculate which “things that are made” make the “Godhead” to be clearly seen. We are told throughout the New Testament that “the head of Christ is God”, and we are told that “the Father” Himself is the “one God”, and that besides that “one God, the Father of whom are all things, [there is also] one Lord Jesus Christ by whom [like Eve, “the mother of all living”] are all things.” There is no mention of “third person” in the Godhead.

1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Just a few verses later we are made to know just how integral Christ is to His Head and just how integral Christ’s wife is to Him:

1Co 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

“The man is by the woman” tells us that Christ is a woman to His head, His “one God, the Father, of whom are all things…” (1Co 8:6). “The man” came by Christ, as Col 1:16 make so clear:

Col 1:16 For [Greek, ‘hoti’, because] by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

There certainly is not room in the institution for a third “coequal” head, and it is the institution of marriage which teaches us that “the head of Christ is God”.

Just as a marred creature, such as these Adamic vessels of clay, is a very accurate “figure” of “the last man Adam”, so too, is the physical institution of marriage an accurate type of the relationship between Christ and His Creator and His head, His “one God the Father. The institution of marriage also teaches us that we are the weaker vessel, the called-out bride of our husband and our head and our Creator, Christ. But the institution of marriage also reveals to us that Christ is “the weaker vessel”, in His relationship with His head and His Creator the “one God, the Father, of whom are all things”, including Christ, by whom the Father has chosen to give life to all men.

Conclusion

The institution of marriage shows us “clearly” what is the Godhead (Rom 1:20). It shows us that the Father was, is and always will be the head of Christ (1Co 11:3). It shows us that Christ is “subject unto the Father” (1Co 15:28), just as the church is “subject unto Christ in all things” (Eph 522-24). These are spiritual lessons which the institution of marriage impart to us. This is why God gave Adam a wife instead of another man. This wife, He tells us, came “out of the man”. It is through the institution of marriage that we are taught that the wife is “the weaker vessel” (1Pe 3:7), by whom “all living” came into this world (1Co 11:12). It is the institution of marriage between male and female which shows us we are to ‘bear fruit’ (Gen 1:28). It is the institution of marriage which the scriptures use to demonstrate for us that Christ’s relationship to His Father is as “the weaker vessel” (Joh 14:28), His “life giver” (Col 1:16) who, in the end will be “subject to Him who put all things under Him” (1Co 15:28).

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God [“the Father of whom are all things”] may be all in all.

There is nothing about the institution of marriage which so much as hints at Christ being “co-substantial, coequal, and co-eternal” with His Father. There is nothing about the institution of marriage which even hints at a trinitarian Godhead. Instead what we are clearly told many years after Christ had returned to His Father, is that “the head of Christ is [still] God” (1Co 11:3), that “it pleased the Father that in Him should all the fulness of the Godhead dwell”, and that the Father is “but one God, of whom are all things, [and besides this “one God of whom are all things” there is also] one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [like Eve] are all things”. What we are told that Christ, the anti-type of the first Adam, “is the first born of every creature, For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” We are even told in very clear language, which confirms the witness and lessons of the institution of marriage, that “the holy spirit” is “the holy spirit of God [the] one God, of whom are all things”:

Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Then finally we are told is that Christ will subject every man who has ever lived, along with every creature and every power in heaven and in earth to Himself, and that He will then, “be subject unto [His]… Head” just as “wives [are to be] subject unto their husbands in all things”.

All of this demonstrates scripturally how the institution of marriage helps us to ‘clearly see the invisible things of the Godhead’ (Rom 1:20). All of these scriptures demonstrate how the institution of marriage teaches us that all men come through Christ who is “the weaker vessel” in His relationship to His Head, His Father. All these scriptural witnesses teach us that Christ is also His Father’s Eve, His Father’s “life giver” and that through Christ, our “life-giver”, the very definition of the name ‘Eve,’ we will all “in [our] own order” be imparted an “immortal… spiritual body”.

Through the institution of marriage we learn that while we are the sons of Christ, we are at the same time also His bride, and He is our husband. In the same way, the institution of marriage teaches us that “the things that are made” (Rom 1:20), teach us that while Christ is the son of God and He too, is at the same time, the Father’s “life giver”, the Father’s ‘Eve’, the Father’s wife. “The head of Christ is God” (1Co 11:3).

Also ref: http://iswasandwillbe.com/The_Head_Of_Christ_Is_God.php

Hi Mike,

I just recently came across your website, and I’ve been so blessed thus far. I must thank God for empowering you to do the great work He is doing through you. Of the many truths your website has exposed me to, the one that I’m still chewing on is implication of the truth about “hell”. I absolutely agree with you that our loving Father would not subject any of His creation to eternal damnation as many of us were taught. However, in the revelation of this truth, I have just one question (but several within that one) that I could not find answers to and I pray God would use you once more to answer them: a) What happens when someone dies? b) What happens to their “consciousness”? c) Since we that have actually given our lives to Christ “die in faith of the promise”, am I correct to think that the likes of Paul and others that died believing in Jesus would be part of the first resurrection?
Using the seen to understand the unseen, is the answer to this series of questions “Death for a believer would be just like falling asleep, and waking up to Christ?” Just that this time we would awaken in a spiritual body? Is this what the apostle Paul was revealing in 1Co 15:51-52?
Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you. God bless you, keep on the good work, and I pray that Jesus Christ would continue giving you the grace, wisdom and revelation to help those like us who are still “young” in this exciting walk with Him.

E____

Hi E____, Thank you for your questions. You ask:

1a) What happens when someone dies? b) What happens to their “consciousness”? c) Since we that have actually given our lives to Christ “die in faith of the promise”, am I correct to think that the likes of Paul and others that died believing in Jesus would be part of the first resurrection?
Using the seen to understand the unseen, Is the answer to this series of questions “Death for a believer would be just like falling asleep, and waking up to Christ?” Just that this time we would awaken in a spiritual body? Is this what the apostle Paul was revealing in 1Co 15:51-52?

I will answer your questions in the order you ask them.
1a) What happens when someone dies?

The answer is as you surmise. When any believer dies, it is “just like falling asleep, and waking up in Christ… just that this time we… awaken in a spiritual body”. You are exactly right. The fact is that this is the case for all who die and not just believers. Adam himself is completely unaware that six thousand years have passed since he was created. He has been lying unconscious in the dust of the earth all this time. God however, has us all “hid with Christ in God”.

Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

These verses are addressed to those who know Christ now, but they apply to all men because:

2Sa 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

For the benefit of all who think that what God wills for all men, is but a wistful longing, He has given us to know:

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
1Ti 4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1Ti 4:11 These things command and teach.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us- ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

There are great advantages to being raised up in the first resurrection. Advantages like these:

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

The second death is the lake of fire:

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

This, on the other hand, is what happens to those who are resurrected before the thousand years begins:

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

“Thrones” are given to those who are resurrected at the beginning of the thousand years, “and they live and reign with Christ a thousand years”. This, along with the judgment we are now the first to endure, is what Paul refers to in this verse of scripture:

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

This verse is dealing with the internal affairs of those who are within the fellowship of “the church which is His body” (Col 1:24). We are not, at this time, to be judging “them that are without”.

1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1Co 5:13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Not one person in a thousand believes that we are to “judge them that are within”. Nevertheless, the fact is that “all things come alike to all”, and there is but “one event to all”.

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.

That “one event” is that all men will experience fiery trials and be judged for how they have lived their lives.

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day [ of judgment] shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Judgment is chastening. It is for no other purpose:

1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

The only difference between those who are being judged in this life, and are either “changed in a moment”, or are resurrected at the beginning of the thousand years, and those who are raised in the great white throne judgment, which is also called “the lake of fire”, is a matter of timing. Judgment is what is taking place in both resurrections, but those who are first resurrected are the first to be judged by the very same symbolic ‘fire’. “Every man’s works will be judged by fire”, but God’s elect, His firstfruits are being judged in this life, and will be resurrected before the thousand years begins:

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:6 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.

Those who are in the first resurrection are those upon whom God’s “scourging, fiery… judgments” rest in this age. Those who are in the second resurrection, are not being judged in this age, and will therefore be raised up in the second resurrection and will at that time endure the fiery judgments of the “great white throne… judgment… [ at] the second death”.
I hope all these verses of scripture have served to answer your questions: “1a) What happens when someone dies? b) What happens to their “consciousness”?”
The answer is that when a person dies, his spirit returns to God. Not as a personality, rather it is like the turning off of a lightbulb. When the electricity is withdrawn, the light dies, and that “light” in scripture is the understanding and consciousness of us all:

Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

You continue: “… am I correct to think that the likes of Paul and others that died believing in Jesus would be part of the first resurrection?”
Yes, that is exactly what will happen to all who have “died in Christ”.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Hi Mike

Are we now waiting for His call while in the flesh, not at some far into the future time?
And that time is when He calls our spirit to Himself; when He takes our spirit from our body and the body dies and our spirit leaves our body. Our spirit, or His ‘breath of life’ goes back to the Father.
That is the time of the division of the ‘Elect’ from the ‘Called’; the separation of the ‘Wheat’ from the ‘Tares’, the winnowing time, the separating and the gathering of His brothers to Himself.
Then those who have to go thru the cleansing process, the ones who were not chosen while in the flesh, are the second resurrection. But this all happens to all at the same time, at the time of their individual death of their body, when He calls the spirit, or breath of life, back to Himself.
I don’t think there is a mass resurrection, but each, in his own time is the separation of body and spirit. Hence, death of the body to go into the grave, and the resurrection of the spirit to become a Spirit.
I know I have been repeating myself, but don’t know how else to explain what I am thinking.
Thanks,
J____

Hi J____,
You ask if the moment of death is the same as the first resurrection?
It will certainly seem that way to every resurrected body inasmuch as an unconscious person is totally unaware of the passing of time. Adam himself will be raised completely unaware that about 6,000 years have transpired since his creation.
But the answer is, no, it is no the same as the first resurrection. The reality is that “if the dead rise not then they that are asleep in Christ are perished”, and we do not want to make the claim that the resurrection in its “redemption of the purchased possession” form is “already past”.

1Co 15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith [ is] vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, [ and] become the firstfruits of them that slept.
2Ti 2:17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also [ trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest [ Greek- pledge, downpayment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, [ resurrection from the dead] unto the praise of his glory.

Everything is ours now, but only in down payment or “earnest” form.
The story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead demonstrates that the return of the spirit to God is not in a conscious state. “Lazarus is asleep… that that ARE asleep in Christ…”

Joh 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Joh 11:12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Joh 11:13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
Joh 11:14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
Psa 104:29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath [ Hebrew- ‘ruach’, same word translated ‘spirit’ in the next verse], they die, and return to their dust.
Psa 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit [ Hebrew- ‘ruach’], they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

This is the Truth of the state of the dead:

Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Having a spirit which gives us life, does not mean we are a spirit. We are dust! “Dust you are”.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Ecc 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [ Hebrew- ‘ruach’, spirit]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten [ by men].

It was God made us to begin with, and He will make us new in a body of spirit. But that is a future event, and without that future even “they that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished”. God did not say ‘spirit thou art’, he said we “are dust”. So we are not spirits having a physical experience, rather we are physical beings, having a spiritual experience and in dire need of a resurrection from among the dead.
Our Lord is that resurrection for every man.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

I hope this helps to clear this up for you.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Joh 14:28  Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

How does Christ accomplish this? He comes to us through His Father’s spirit which His Father gave to Him:

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Joh 16:15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he [ the comforter, the holy spirit, the spirit of Truth] shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:16  A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. [ Read Is God A Trinity?]

That is what Christ meant when He said, “I come again unto you.”
Does this deny that some of his elect will be standing on this earth when He takes control of the kingdoms of this world? Absolutely not:

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

Those who happen to be standing on this earth when Christ takes over and gives the kingdoms of this world to His Christ will then be changed into spirit.
I hope this helps you to see that Christ’s second coming for His elect is spiritual and NOW, but for all others it is future.
Your brother in Christ.
Mike

Mike Thank you for your encouraging words! I do love to share what the Lord gives to me. It is the most thrilling thing I have ever experienced when I (see) something new in His word. Thanks for taking the time to share with me what you have seen in the book of Esther. Something I noticed was in…

Est 6:1  On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.

… comparing that with…

Psa 127:2  It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Sleep is death and we are seeking to die daily.

Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Just as king Ahasuerus could not sleep, there is a time we all seek that rest in the Lord and cannot find it. He commands that the book of chronicles be read. I guess in a physical way it was boring, and he found sleep. But in a spiritual way we find sleep when we see that the genealogies are what we live by in living out all those ‘beget- els’ leading up to the birth of Christ in us.  R____

Good morning R____,
That is a good point about sleep. It is only when we are “upon our bed… dying daily” that God is working. Look at this verse.

Dan 2:28  But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
Dan 2:29  As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.

Now add that to this:

Job 33:14  For God speaketh once, yea twice, [ yet man] perceiveth it not.
Job 33:15  In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
Job 33:16  Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,

Such was the case with Jacob, Joseph, the baker, the butler, the Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Ahasuerus, Christ’s step- father, Joseph, the wise men, Pilate’s wife and the apostles Peter and Paul. All had their “ears opened and received instruction from God, upon their beds.” We just can’t hear God’s voice when doing our own works. We must be dying daily.
It is a very interesting side- note that while these instructions were comforting, encouraging and instructive to God’s saints, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Ahasuerus, and Pilate’s wife, were all “troubled” while “upon their beds.”

Gen 41:8  And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but [ there was] none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.
Dan 2:1  And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.

If ever we come to see that we “live by every word of God,” we will then see that we are Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar  at this point in the beginning of our own walk with God. It is at this point that we ourselves are “troubled in our own spirits.” At first we will always consult with the priests of Egypt and Babylon, before we cry out to God for deliverance. Then He sends us Joseph and Daniel, and we are at length given His Word.
Like you, I still get excited at every nugget of His gold which He opens my eyes to see. And that is especially true when a brother shares with me the nuggets God has given him.
So thanks again, and please continue.
Your brother in the Christ,
Mike