Biblical Overview of the Plan of God, Part 9:  The Jubilee

[Study Aired October 17, 2025]

Lev 25:8  And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
Lev 25:9  Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

Pentecost is preceded by seven weeks, seven weekly sabbaths, seven weekly days of rest.

Exo 31:15  Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

The year of jubilee is preceded by seven sabbath years when the land was to be given rest. If we hope to know the meaning of these two sabbaths… Pentecost after seven weekly sabbaths of rest, and Jubilee after seven sabbath years of rest for the land, it will help greatly to understand the significance of the words ‘sabbath of rest’.

Hebrews four provides us with that bit of information, but before we look at the fourth chapter let’s first see what the introductory words ‘Let us therefore’ are referring to. Here are the last three verses of chapter three:

Heb 3:17  But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18  And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Heb 3:19  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Now Paul is going to give us the spiritual significance of the words “sabbath of rest” of Exodus 31:15:

Heb 4:1  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus [Greek: ‘Joshua’] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
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.

That is the spiritual significance of “a sabbath of rest.” Our ‘rest’ is the gift of the spirit of God and His grace which is setting us free from our own beastly carnal mind and sins which have reigned over our lives:

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

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Being made free from the dominion of sin in our lives necessitates that we must therefore become slaves to righteousness:

Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants [G1402: ‘douloo’, slave] of righteousness.

Now we should begin to see that a “sabbath of rest” whether it be the weekly sabbath, the seven weekly sabbaths from the days of unleavened bread until Pentecost, or the seven sabbath years which bring us to the jubilee, the only heirs of that rest will be believers who come up through great tribulation and wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb:

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

Rev 7:9  After this [After being shown the 144,000 “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, (Rev 7:1-8)] I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation “lake of fire”], and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful [“to the end”].

Those who ‘endure to the end’ in this present time are the bride of Christ. It is Christ’s bride who are signified by seven weekly sabbaths culminating in the feast of Pentecost, the day on which the Lord’s bride was born through the giving of the holy spirit in Acts 2. We are those who are numbered as 144,000, “firstfruits unto God and The Lamb… the Bride The Lamb’s wife… Jerusalem above, the mother of us all”.

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

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

There is another group which cannot be numbered. They, too, must “come up through great tribulation and wash their robes white in the blood of The Lamb” (Rev 7:14). These are the fruit of the womb of the bride of Christ. The great multitude which no man could number are signified by the fiftieth year. The Jubilee year which follow 7 sabbath years.

Lev 25:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
Lev 25:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.
Lev 25:3  Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
Lev 25:5  That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

The Lord’s jubilee comes on the fiftieth year, the year after seven  sabbath years.

Lev 25:8  And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
Lev 25:9  Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
Lev 25:10  And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Lev 25:11  A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
Lev 25:12  For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
Lev 25:13  In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
Lev 25:14  And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another:
Lev 25:15  According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
Lev 25:16  According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.
Lev 25:17  Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.
Lev 25:18  Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
Lev 25:19  And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
Lev 25:20  And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
Lev 25:21  Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
Lev 25:22  And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

This series of studies has been entitled The Biblical Overview of the Plan of God as Revealed in the Holy Days. I did not include the words ‘As Revealed In The Holy Days’ in the title of this study simply because this part of the plan of God, His year of the jubilee, is not in the purview of the holy days which the Lord gave to ancient Israel. The seven weeks leading up to Pentecost and the birth of the New Testament church, who are signified by the number 144,000, the firstfruit elect of God, are called the bride of His Son, Christ. Christ’s bride is a precursor to the salvation of all the rest of mankind as the fruit of “the marriage supper of the Lamb. The fruit of that marriage between Christ and His bride is the jubilee harvest which signifies the great multitude which no man could number who will also come up through great tribulation and wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb as the children of Christ’s bride. This event is not featured in the seven holy days which end with the eighth day, the last great day. The last great day of the feast signifies the short season of rebellion against the ‘camp of the saints’. That rebellion gives the Lord the ‘occasion’ He is seeking to destroy the nations in the four quarters of the earth and thereby begin the process of destroying death via the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/ second death. The lake of fire is the “great tribulation” which must try all who are given to be that part of the plan of God which is revealed by the holy days brings us to the very beginning of the judgment of the nations in the great white throne judgment.

When Christ cried out on the  last great day that anyone who was thirsty should come to Him, believe on Him and become a well of living waters for others:

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 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

 It will be through us, through spiritual Israel, through “they that believe on Him… by the church”, that the “all in all” goal of the plan of God for all men will be accomplished, even as all of the holy days of the three seasons of the year are also being fulfilled in and through “Christ and Christ in [us]” (Col 1:27):

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 [which is] in the saints,
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world [G165: ‘aion’, age], but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

“The church which is His body [is], the fulness of Him that fills all in all.” It is a rare person who is even given to understand that this is so, because Christ’s “inheritance [is] in the saints”. (Eph 1:18)

It is even fewer who realize that this “all in all” goal is not typified by the holy days. It is typified for us outside of the seven festivals of the three seasons of the year. The goal of the plan of God, God being all in all, is outside the scope of this earthly vessel of clay. Therefore it is represented, not in a day which follows seven sevens of weeks, but in a year which follows seven sevens of years which we are given in the Old Testament law of the year of the jubilee:

Lev 25:9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
Lev 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

You will notice that the trumpet of the jubilee is sounded on the day of atonement. It is also on the day of atonement that the scapegoat was offered for the iniquities of Israel. While it is not specifically stated in Revelation 20 that it will be the saints who will judge every man according to His works, it is specifically stated that Christ is the judge of all men:

Rom 2:16  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

2Ti 4:1  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

Exactly who is “Jesus of Nazareth?”

Act 22:8  And I [Self-righteous Saul of Tarsus, signifying you and me] answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Christ’s Father will “judge the quick and the dead… by Jesus Christ” (Rom 2:16; 2Ti 4:1].

What will that ‘judgment’ produce?

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.

That is what the fiery judgments of God will produce, whether it is the first judgment which is now on the house of God or the later ‘great white throne… judgment’ when the great multitude which no man could number will be resurrected from the dead and judged as spiritual sons of their father the devil:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye [All men before being judged] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Joh 8:46  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
Joh 8:47  He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Christ makes this incredible statement concerning us as His Christ:

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

We just read in Romans 2:16 and 2Timothy 4:1 that “God will judge the living and them by Jesus Christ.” Here we have Christ telling us, “As My Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

Is there a second witness in scripture which states that we will judge spiritual sons of the Devil? Indeed there is just such a verse:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels [In the lake of fire at the white throne judgment]? how much more things that pertain to this life?

For whom is the lake of fire prepared?

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting [G166: ‘aionios’, age lasting] fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

All the words of Christ and all the words of His apostles are addressed primarily to His elect firstfruits who are also called “the bride, The Lamb’s wife”. It is to us that He makes these admonitions:

Mat 5:29  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Mat 18:8  Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
Mat 18:9  And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

The “everlasting fire” of Matthew 18:8 is the same “everlasting fire” of Matthew 25:41 where we are told this fire is “prepared for the devil and his angels”. The very next verse here in Matthew 18 refers to this “everlasting fire” as “hell fire” and the word ‘hell’ is G1067, ‘Genna’ or ‘Gehenna’, which refers to the valley of the sons of Hinnom just south of Jerusalem which was used as the city dump where fires were kept burning to devour the waste of the city. Christ used this term to refer to the lake of fire where the great white throne judgment will take place and death and the refuge of all flesh will be devoured and destroyed.

We must never confuse the process with the product. The lake of fire is the process of judgment which we patiently endure:

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

God’s judgments, which He works through His saints, produces righteousness in “all men”. That “righteousness of Christ”, that “mind of Christ” is the “God… all in all” for which the Lord is working in and through us, “the church”.

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

Rom 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.

This is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians and it should be our prayer for each other:

Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

[Click here to go to the next chapter.]

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-hebrews-heb-136-10-be-content-with-such-things-as-ye-have/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-hebrews-heb-136-10-be-content-with-such-things-as-ye-have Thu, 06 May 2021 22:47:17 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=23507 Heb 13:6-10 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have”

[Study Aired May 6, 2021]

Php 4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 

 

Php 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 

 

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

 

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

 

Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 

 

Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. [1Co 14:3]

 

Mat 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

 

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

 

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

 

[Buy of me gold, white raiment and anoint your eyes as opposed to doing what is written in Isaiah 4:1 that speaks of our former conversation.]

 

Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent [Heb 12:6]

 

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

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 

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

Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace

Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

 

Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it [Rev 3:18, 1Pe 1:7].

Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Luk 6:44  For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 

 

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

 

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

 

[A seed that dies and is baptized into His death hidden in the earth, the church, the body of Christ (Rom 6:3 , Joh 12:24).]

 

Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 

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

 

Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain [Luk 12:15-21].

1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

Luk 12:15  And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: [Mat 6:32-33] for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 

Luk 12:16  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 

Luk 12:17  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 

Luk 12:18  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 

Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 

Luk 12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee [1Ti 6:7]: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

Luk 12:21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

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

Php 1:7  Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 

2Ti 4:6  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 

2Ti 4:7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 

 

Php 1:23  For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 

 

1Co 9:26  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 

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

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. 

 

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 

 

Mar 14:30  And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 

Mat 26:34  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 

Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. 

 

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. 

 

Mar 14:50  And they all forsook him, and fled. 

 

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts. 

 

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 

2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. 

Joh 18:9  That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 

Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 

Heb 11:35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 

Heb 11:36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 

Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 

Heb 11:38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 

Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 

Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 

Rom 4:16  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 

Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be [Gal 3:16].

Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 

Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 

Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 

Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 

Rom 4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 

Rom 4:24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 

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

Mat 9:17  Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. 

 

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. 

 

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 20:6  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. 

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession [Rev 3:11].

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.  

Pro 24:21  My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: 

Pro 24:22  For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

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

Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 

Eph 3:12  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him [Php 3:3].

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

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

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 

 

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

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: [don’t be “carried about with divers and strange doctrines“], but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 

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

 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

 

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

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Isa 61:1-11 Double Shame, Double Possession

[Study Aired June 28, 2020]

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isa 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Isa 61:4  And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
Isa 61:5  And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
Isa 61:6  But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
Isa 61:7  For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
Isa 61:8  For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Isa 61:9  And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.
Isa 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isa 61:11  For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

This is the chapter from which Christ read in His first recorded sermon.

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Christ was rejected by His own people in His hometown of Nazareth because He told them in advance that they would reject Him and that He would take His gospel to the Gentiles:

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

It is instructive for us to notice where Christ stops reading here in Isaiah 61. He stops with the words, “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” in the middle of verse two. Stopping there emphasizes and makes it clear that He considers the words of scripture to have a ‘here and now’ application… “Today is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” That inward present understanding is the primary application of all scripture.

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

“The acceptable year of the Lord” is “the day of vengeance of our God”, and that day is also a “comfort to all that mourn” and who “sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of the” Lord’s people.

Ezekiel 9 gives us much insight into ”the acceptable year of the Lord… the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn”:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

That is what the holy spirit calls “good tidings unto the meek.” These words are addressed to every ‘joint’ of those who makes up the body of Christ and who “are the light of this world” (Mat 5:14-16, Eph 4:15-16, Col 1:24):

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

“Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women” is a command to totally destroy the kingdom of our old man. It is the same as saying:

Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
Deu 20:17  But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

This is not just some far-off past or future event. “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” means ‘this very day’ if indeed we are given the faith to believe the Lord’s words.

Eph 2:8  For by [chastening]  grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

“Grace… through faith” is a “strait and narrow” doctrine with no room for either of the two false doctrines of ‘salvation by our own good works’ or the false doctrine of ‘greasy grace’. This is the Truth of the Word of God concerning the narrow Biblical doctrine of ‘grace through faith’, and how we obtain our salvation. It is to be found in:

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

Are good works required for salvation? Oh, yes, good works are indeed required! We simply cannot “continue in sin that grace may abound”:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Who is it that produces these ‘good works’? Let’s read it again very carefully:

Eph 2:8  For by [chastening]  grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Impossible as it seems to our natural mind, the truth is that every act of every day in the life of every man who has ever lived was written in God’s book of each of our lives “before there were any of [those days]”:

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

Our days and our years are both written in the Lord’s ‘book’ before there were any of them:

Isa 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

It is only “them that mourn in Zion” in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), who are “appoint[ed]” to be “given beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, in this age:

As the Lord provides the faith to believe that He really is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are the called according to His purpose, we will not let outward circumstances keep us from knowing the truth of those words. Even as we watch this entire world fall apart around us, the Lord will give us His peace, and we will rejoice in the beauty of knowing where it is all headed and what it is all designed to accomplish.

Isa 61:4  And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

If we are granted such faith, the Lord Himself is at this moment building His church within us. Our old man will be dying daily, and our new man will be being ‘renewed in the spirit of [his] mind… day by day’. The kingdom of our old man who worshipped the great red dragon and who worshipped the beast, will be “the old wastes [and]… the former desolations” with Christ as the foundation of a new man with the name “New Jerusalem” for the capital of the kingdom of Christ within that new man:

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Isa 4:5  And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.

This “cloud and smoke by day” is Jesus Christ:

Rev 10:1  And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

“The shining of a flaming fire by night” is the very same “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). That is the “glory [for] a defence” which is “upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion” which is who we are in Christ.

It was “every dwelling place of Mount Zion” to which Christ referred when He made this statement:

Joh 14:2  In my Father’s house are many mansions [G3438: mone, abodes, ”dwelling places”]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Joh 14:4  And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

This Greek word ‘mone’ appears only one other time in the New Testament, and it is right here is this same 14^th chapter of the gospel of John where it is translated more properly as “abode”:

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [G3438: mone, dwelling place, residence] with him.

The root of this word is G3306, and it is similar to ‘meno’:

G3306
μένω
menō
men’-o

A primary verb; to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy): – abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry (for), X thine own.

This word appears 118 times and is always translated in some form of ‘abide’.  If Christ and His Father ‘abide within us’ then this is what will be given us, within and without:

Isa 61:5  And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

We are given the example of Saul of Tarsus to help us to internalize these words. Saul was exceedingly zealous to keep the traditions of His fathers:

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

When all that carnal zeal was redirected into the Lord’s service, it all became the strangers standing and feeding the Lord’s flocks and the sons of the alien serving within us as our plowmen and our vinedressers in the Lord’s vineyard.

Only those who are given to subdue and redirect the zeal of their own flesh will be given to take part in the outward fulfillment of these words during the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ, and then carry that service to the Lord over into the lake of fire where we will be granted to show to others the same mercy shown by Christ, which He is showing to us in this present time:

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

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

It is to “the manifested sons of God” that these next words are first and primarily addressed:

Isa 61:6  But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

We are at this very moment in “the earnest of the spirit” “kings and priests” who are even now ministering to the Lord by filling up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh, for His body’s sake, which is the church:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Exactly how do we “fill up in our flesh… that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ?” It is not a pleasant experience for our flesh. It is nothing short of death itself as we come to see that everything we ever believed was a lie. When the Lord gives us eyes that see and ears that hear, after a lifetime of thinking we were already seeing and hearing His Truth, we are forced to choose between believing Him or believing all the far more popular doctrines of the great whore and all of her harlot daughters. We must stand on His Word, and in so doing we will be “hated of all men” (Mat 10:22). We will be separated from all our old friends and even our own families. Our own families and friends will be ashamed of who we now are, and they will separate themselves from us lest they appear to be approving of our unacceptable and shameful ways.

The Lord prepares us for this shame filled dying experience in His own very clear words:

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.

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

It is few indeed who are not ashamed of Christ. The truth is that we all prefer acceptance by men, and we are all first ashamed of our Lord:

Psa 4:2  Sons of men! till when is my glory for shame? Ye love a vain thing, ye seek a lie. Selah. (YLT)

It is the Lord Himself who “makes us to err from His ways” and brings shame upon us:

Psa 44:9  But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
Psa 44:10  Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
Psa 44:11  Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
Psa 44:12  Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
Psa 44:13  Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
Psa 44:14  Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
Psa 44:15  My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

Psa 44:22  Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

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

It is a simple biblical truth that all our weaknesses and all our sins are the work of the Lord’s hands to humble us.

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

To be humbled is to be made ashamed of our own evil ways. The Lord wants us to know that it is the Lord Himself who has created all the darkness out of which He is calling His elect:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

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

The Lord wants us to know that our special calling has nothing to do with what we are of ourselves. He will make us to know that we are no better of ourselves than those who will be cast into the lake of fire. Our special calling is just one part of “all things” which He wants us to clearly understand are the work of His hand. All our good and our evil “works… are His workmanship”. Our sins and evil works are no more of ourselves than the act of selling Joseph into Egypt was the work of his brothers:

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

Do we really believe these words apply only to this one event? No, not in the least is this the only time God worked evil deeds “after the counsel of His own will.” The fact is that even the most heinous crime ever committed was done by His will.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Knowing the all-encompassing Truth of those verses should make it abundantly clear that we have nothing at all to do with being called to be the Lord’s elect in this age, if indeed that is what we are. If we are His elect, this is the only reason for our election:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

What the Lord is telling us is that He is the One who is giving us “double… shame… and… confusion [in] this present time” for this one reason:

Isa 61:7  For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

The physical law of a double portion to be given to the firstborn sons is merely a type and shadow of the spiritual inheritance of the Lord’s firstborn:

Deu 21:17  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

The Lord tells us that physical Israel, as a type of “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:15-16), was counted as His firstborn, in spite of the fact that Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, was born first:

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
Exo 4:22  And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

Just what did the Lord require for Israel, meaning you and me, to bring us to this double-portion status? Remember Israel was in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years before she heard the voice of the Lord:

Gen 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Then they heard the voice of their Lord:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

We must be in Egypt before we can “come out of her”, and we must be judged before we will learn righteousness:

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

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

It all happened to Israel “and it was written as a type of us”:

1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things, (CLV)

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (CLV)

The Lord knew from “before the world began” (2Ti 1:9, Tit 1:2) that “Israel” was always intended to be the name given to His elect called out of every nation on earth:

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

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

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

Therefore we, and anything having to do with us of ourselves, have nothing at all to do with the Lord calling us to be His first born… His firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Rev 14:4). It is all a matter of the sovereign hand of our Lord working all things after the counsel of His own hands.

By that same sovereign will it has before been ordained that we must be the first to be judged “in this present time”, and for that reason alone we are called “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

The judgment of our Lord is the greatest blessing He can place upon anyone for this reason:

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

The Lord came into this world for the purpose of judging it, but it is very few He is judging in “this present time”.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Instead, Christ is calling out a few elect and sending us to do exactly what His Father sent Him to accomplish – to die with Him for the sins of this world:

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

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

So Christ has also sent us… “for judgment… into the world”, and when our judgment is in the world, men will learn righteousness. We are the judges of Revelation 20:1-6.

Isa 61:8  For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Isa 61:9  And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

“I hate robbery for a burnt offering” means the Lord will not accept an idol of the heart for His Truth, nor will He accept our works as His works.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The fact that things are getting “worse and worse” is a sign to the Lord’s elect that “our salvation is nearer than when we believed”:

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

These words are just a different way of saying what Peter said:

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

If this day has already come within us, then a day is coming without in which:

[Our] seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and [our] offspring among the people: all that see [us] shall acknowledge [us], that [we] are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

According to His promise, we look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness both within and without. “We are of God: he that knows God hears us…”

Isa 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isa 61:11  For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

It is we “who first trusted in Christ” who will be “to the praise of His glory… springing forth to all the nations.

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

That is our study for today. Lord willing, we will continue in chapter 62 next Sunday:

Isa 62:1  For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
Isa 62:2  And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.
Isa 62:3  Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
Isa 62:4  Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Isa 62:5  For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Isa 62:6  I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,

[Study Aired February 9, 2020]

Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Isaiah chapters 52-54 are the most quoted chapters of the Old Testament which concern the prophesied sufferings endured by our Lord to “bear the sins of many”. The scriptures of the prophets, who were of Abraham’s own physical seed, prophesied that just as they had hated and sought to kill Joseph, David and all the prophets, they would also hate and even kill their own messiah, the Christ.

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!

Here are the last two verses from our last study in chapter 53:

Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

“He shall… bear their iniquities… and He shall bare the sin of many… because He has poured out His soul unto death”. This sacrifice which is the subject of these three chapters of Isaiah, is not being offered for the iniquities of the Gentile nations who are sinning against and persecuting the Lord’s people, as the Jewish scholars would have us to believe. These chapters are not speaking of the iniquities of the Gentiles committed against the Lord’s people. 

This is the specific iniquities  and transgressions for whom this sacrifice is being made:

Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

In the anti-type, Isaiah is telling us that it is those who have for so very long considered themselves to be the Lord’s spiritual bride who have “rebelled against [Him]” and have gone after other gods and have believed the doctrines of other gods. It is they for whom this sacrifice is primarily being made. 

The Lord is a jealous God and will not share His wife with another:

Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 

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

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

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

We must therefore be made aware of what became of all the churches in Asia which Paul had been given to raise up. This is what happened to the apostle Paul and to the apostle John before they died:

2Ti1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

“All they which are in Asia” include “the seven churches of Asia” to whom the apostle John addresses the book of Revelation (Rev 2-3). ‘Seven’ is the number which signifies completion, which is why we are told “He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the [seven] churches”. A link to a study on the number 7 is here.

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

The reason John addresses the book of Revelation to the seven churches is that they, too, had forsaken him. Notice what the Lord reveals to us:

3Jn 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 
3Jn 1:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

It is the Lord’s own people, it is you and I, those who have known Him and then have lost our first love, that have fallen prey to the doctrines of Balaam, the doctrines of those who Lord it over the Lord’s flock. We have all fallen for the false doctrine of the Nicolaitans, the doctrine of Jezebel, and those who have committed spiritual fornication, all the while telling ourselves that we are spiritually rich and in need of nothing. 

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

That is what “Judah and Jerusalem” typify at the very beginning this prophecy:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Israel, just like Christians, considered themselves to be the Lord’s wife. A rebellious wife has become a harlot and has come to be the very people whom the Lord has sent to carry them away from Him. His own people have become “Babylon the great”. His own people are a “great whore”, and in spiritual anti-type, in spiritual reality it is the Lord’s own people who kill His prophets and His witnesses.

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

The Lord’s faithful witnesses are at this very moment dead in the streets of Babylon the great:

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.

Who is “spiritual Sodom”? We need not guess:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Who is the great whore of Revelation 17 and 18, who kills the Lord’s prophets? Again, we need not guess:

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

The Lord died “for the transgressions of His [own] people”, but as Isaiah reveals to us:

Isa 44:18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

It is the Lord’s own spiritually blinded people, those who want His spiritual name but do not at first want to eat His spiritual food or wear His spiritual apparel, you and I who are the very people who have killed and offered up our own sacrifice for our own sins:

Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women [The ‘seven churches’ of Rev 2-3] shall take hold of one man [Christ], saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel [our own doctrines and our own works]: only let us be called by thy name [‘Christians’], to take away our reproach.

These “seven women” typify the entire nation who, as the Lord’s wife, have turned on Him and have become a harlot (Isa 1:21). They are the unfaithful wife which persecutes the righteous men and the prophets who are sent to the Lord’s apostate people. The other side of the same coin is the few faithful righteous men and faithful prophets who typify ‘the barren wife’, which is typified by all the barren wives of scripture, by Abraham’s beloved wife, Sarah, Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, Samson’s mother, and Hannah the loved but barren wife of Elkanah, the father of Samuel (1Sa 1:5). All these women were beloved by their husbands but were at first barren and could not conceive children.

We have no record of Hannah conceiving again after the birth of Samuel. All we know for certain is that she had one child, and yet this is what she is inspired to say when she dedicates her only son to the service of the Lord:

1Sa 2:1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 
1Sa 2:2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 
1Sa 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 
1Sa 2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
1Sa 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

“The barren has born seven” is a spiritual statement because Samuel was just weaned when Hannah gave him to the service of the Lord’s tabernacle under Eli, the high priest. 

According to Matthew, Christ’s generation was the 42nd generation from Abraham. Christ was not physically married, and He was crucified having no physical offspring.  In the previous chapter Isaiah therefore poses this question concerning the Lord’s family:

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.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isaiah 53 is the section of Isaiah the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when he was approached by Philip: 

Act 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
Act 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

Hannah’s words are the answer to the question, “Who shall declare His generation? for His life was taken from the earth.”

1Sa 2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
1Sa 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

“The barren… desolate” wife is the bride of Christ who is plainly stated to be the antitype of the barren wife of Abraham:

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

There it is again in verse 27-29:

Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 
Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

Those ‘Christians’ who demonstrate their love for their fellow man by being obedient to Christ’s commandments to ‘speak evil of no man” (Tit 3:2); love your enemies (Mat 5:44); resist not evil but turn the other cheek (Mat 5:39), will never be found speaking evil of, persecuting or killing or crucifying anyone but themselves, and that is being done daily in the spiritual manner we are commanded to consider ourselves (Rom 6:1-4; 1Co 15:31; Gal 2:20, Col 1;24, and Heb 12:1).

Galatians 4 tells us Christ has a wife whose son is bound by the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9-10), by the fear of what men might think of him, and by the flesh, and cannot be heir with the children of the wife whose children are of faith and of promise and are not children of the works of the law for the lawless:

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

A righteous man will never, under any circumstance ever hate, speak evil of, or murder his fellow man. Those who claim Christ but are willing to murder those they deem worthy of death are the children of the bondwoman. The righteous man, on the other hand is the son of the freewoman and is free of the fear of men. However, the son of the freewoman is comparatively barren in this age. Nevertheless, the son of the free woman, the righteous man, in the end, will have far more children than “she that has a husband” and bears many children in this age, because she is the bride of Christ “who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth” (1Ti 2:4), through the mercy which the children of the free woman, the righteous man, will be given to pour out on all men of all time:

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

As the mother of the few in this age, we are encouraged:  

Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Judaism was the church of Christ’s day, and the church of Christ’s day typifies the church of today which would, and still does, spiritually crucify Him and His doctrines until this very day. 

When I say that ‘Christendom would and does crucify Christ today’, that is easily demonstrated by the fact that all the leading ministers of all the major churches, both Protestant and Catholic, encourage their members to get involved in the affairs of this age and join the militaries of their respective nations and be willing to die physically fighting to preserve the lives of their families and their countries, knowing that these words are the doctrine of our Lord:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Those who are faithful to Christ are indeed truly few, fulfilling the Lord’s Words:

Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

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

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Luk 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 
Luk 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

The Lord’s children are also called His wife. We are betrothed to “one husband”:

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

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

We are also called “the sons of God”:

1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

“The world” which did not know Christ was the deceived religious world of His day, and things certainly have not gotten any better: 

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Christ and His followers were very few and greatly despised. The church of His day was in deep dark deception, and here He is telling us that the deception of that time would only get worse and worse. In spite of these very clear words of warning, our flesh tells us that all these very educated religious men leading the churches of our day cannot all be wrong. What we are taught is that instead of getting “worse and worse” the Christian world grew to dominate most of the world and is even today the largest religion on earth.

However, the Truth still remains:

Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

“He that was born after the flesh” is not speaking of the pagan world. It is referring to the rejected “seed of Abraham” who hates and mocks the Lord’s elect, and who say of His elect, “We will not have this man to rule over us.” (Luk 19:14) It is the Lord’s rejected elect anointed who hate those whom the Lord has sent to replace their old man and to be used as their saviors:

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

It was all prophesied here in Isaiah:

Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 

The shame of our youth and the reproach of our widowhood are both from the perspective of the unbelieving, rejected seed of Abraham, “the son of the bondwoman”. We are “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”, and while the rejected seed of Abraham has physically killed our husband, death could not hold Him, and He rose on the third day to become the propitiation not just for our sins but for the sins of the whole world:

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

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.

‘The son of the bondwoman’ is the rejected ‘seed of Abraham’. ‘The son of the bondwoman is also our rejected old man who simply is not given to know Christ and therefore cannot receive His doctrine:

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

How can we know we do hear His Word and that we are His children and not the children of the bondwoman?

1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 
1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Christ is both our Creator and our Husband:

Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 

These words detail the circumstances of our calling. If we are not forsaken, grieved in spirit, and if we have not been refused by the children of the bondwoman, “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, then we are not the freewoman bride of Christ.

If indeed we are that ‘forsaken, grieved in spirit’ son who is refused by the children  of the bondwoman, then we will be blessed to endure the excruciating loss of the dominion of our flesh and experience the same feeling of being forsaken even of our husband Himself just long enough to experience His wrath upon the kingdom of our old man and to experience the death of our old man to the fear of what men can do to us and to the fear of what others think of us:

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

This experience is what elicited these words from the mouth of our dying Lord as His corruptible flesh and blood were being offered up as the sin offering for the sins of all men of all time:

Mar 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

A very interesting thing about…

Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 

…Immediately followed by:

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

…Very clearly demonstrates that just as we have seen we are both “the sons of God” as well as “His bride” who comes out from Him, even so Christ who also “came out from the Father” and is both the Son of His Father, as well as a wife to the Father as His head…

Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

Joh 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Joh 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

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;

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 as the first physical ‘wife’ is called ‘the mother of all living’, so we are told that the Father used Christ to be the womb by which He conceived and brought into being everything in heaven and in earth:

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

Christ is following the example of His Father who sent Him “that the world through Him might be saved.”

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.

Then, for those who are given to receive it, Christ tells us:

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

Contrary to all the smooth-talking prophets of Babylon (Isa 30:10), ours is not a calling to a life of ease and luxury, or as I quote one Babylonian minister, ours is not a calling to a life of “coffee and doughnuts”. We are called to “offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), die daily (1Co 15:31), and to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and “fill up in [our] bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24), but if we are given to endure to the end this is what we are told:

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

Just as the whole creation has waited for the manifestation of Christ, it now waits for the manifestation of Him and His generation, His Christ:

1Jn 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

I pray we are all given to understand that “knowing Him that is true [includes] we in Him that is true” and that having been given that understanding “is the true God, and life eternal.

John makes this exact same revolutionary statement in:

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

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

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.

Finally, I also pray we are all granted to “have respect unto the recompense of [our] reward”, because very few indeed do.

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.

That is our study for today, and here are our verses for next week’s study:

Isa 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 
Isa 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. 
Isa 54:11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 
Isa 54:12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. 
Isa 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 
Isa 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 
Isa 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 
Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Isa 37:1-13 "Shall You be Delivered?" - Discussion

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Isa 37:1-13 "Shall You Be Delivered?"

Isa 37:1  And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
Isa 37:2  And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
Isa 37:3  And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
Isa 37:4  It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
Isa 37:5  So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
Isa 37:6  And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
Isa 37:7  Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
Isa 37:8  So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
Isa 37:9  And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Isa 37:10  Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Isa 37:11  Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
Isa 37:12  Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
Isa 37:13  Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

Last week we heard the threats of the Lord's enemies against His people. Rabshakeh, speaking for the king of Assyria, tells us we do not stand a chance if we attempt to resist the king of Assyria. Those were not empty threats, because the king of Assyria had demonstrated his ability to overcome all nations all around Judah, the Lord's people. He has even taken away our closest kin, our northern brothers, the nation of Israel. The Lord Himself has already labeled Assyria, the people of Babylon, as "the rod of mine indignation":

Isa 10:5  O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Being swallowed up by the lies of Babylon "is [the Lord's] indignation". The fact is, that it is a miracle that any of us do battle with the beast, the beast against whom no man can, of himself, do any battle:

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

Here is the only answer to that question:

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

The trial of our faith requires that our plight must look hopeless, because of ourselves we are hopeless! We must all be brought to our wits' end before we will renounce our own will and acknowledge that "all things" are of Him. The storms and the trials as well as the outcome of the storm and trials are all His doing. All things are the work of His hand. Archangels Michael and Gabriel are the Lord's hand, but so is Satan (Job 1:11-12 and 2:5-6).

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

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

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Nevertheless our victory "through Christ" is as certain as David's victory over Goliath, and this is why it will be the case:

1Sa 2:10  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

1Ch 29:11  Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
1Ch 29:12  Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.

It was faith in the truth of these words which inspired David to face Goliath, inspired Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego to refuse the king's order to bow down to his image, and it was this truth which inspired Daniel to remain faithful in prayer and let the chips fall where they may because, like Christ before Pilate, he knew these words were true. However, do not think that David and Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, and Daniel and Christ's faith was not sorely tried. The account of our Lord Himself is probably the most vivid of what all these men endured. It is not humanly possible to face Goliath, a fiery furnace, a lion's den, and crucifixion without symbolically sweating blood as our Lord did literally on the night of His apprehension:

Luk 22:41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Luk 22:44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Hezekiah is an Old Testament type of Christ in this same fiery trial:

Isa 37:1  And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
Isa 37:2  And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
Isa 37:3  And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
Isa 37:4  It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.

Hezekiah has already seen the humiliating results of bowing down to the king of Assyria. His father before Him and he himself had succumbed to that temptation and eaten the humiliating fruit of that faithless, rebellious heart and mind. Both Ahaz, Hezekiah's father, and Hezekiah himself, had voluntarily attempted to buy the mercies of a merciless "old man" king, and a merciless king could not give something he did not possess.

When Hezekiah says...:

Isa 37:3 ...This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

...He is simply acknowledging that of himself he is completely hopeless and helpless. This is what he is saying in spiritual terms:

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Listen to the hopelessness Paul feels in his own ability to make good on his will to serve God:

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

All of this happened to Hezekiah, and it is written down for our admonition just to let us know that we, too, are helpless and hopeless creatures if we are depending upon ourselves for our salvation.

1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things, (CLV)

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

Hezekiah has been crushed to powder before the Lord and before Judah. Isaiah had already prophesied of this exact day outwardly. We, too, must experience this same day inwardly, before the Lord will come to our rescue:

Isa 20:1  In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
Isa 20:2  At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
Isa 20:3  And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
Isa 20:4  So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
Isa 20:5  And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
Isa 20:6  And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?

"This isle" is referring to the nation of Israel. Spiritually 'this isle' is you and  me. We all see that everyone reaps what they have sown:

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

As we just read in Romans 7, of ourselves we can sow to nothing but the flesh.

Our own expectation, when we continuously rebel against our Maker, is to be carried away into spiritual Babylon, with nothing to cover our spiritual nakedness and with nothing to cover our spiritual feet. Sadly, when this is accomplished within us, we are not even aware that we are spiritually naked and have been swallowed up by spiritual Babylon. In fact we feel that the exact opposite is true:

Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

This 'fire', the 'white raiment' and the 'eye salve' are all the one and same Christ and His doctrine. The Lord is all Hezekiah now has to depend upon for his very life. As a type of us, he has been chosen by the Lord to be brought to his "wits' end", and he is now desperate for a Savior to deliver him from his plight, which he now acknowledges is hopeless. Hezekiah, typifying each of us, has now learned that the king of Assyria, typifying our own self-righteous flesh, would not be satisfied if we were to give Him the Lord's temple with all of its treasures. He has already tried that route and he has seen just how merciless the king of Assyria is.

So King Hezekiah humbles himself before the Lord, He tears up his own clothes of self-righteousness, and dresses himself and the Eliakim, who was in charge of the king's house, and his scribe and the elders of the priests, in sackcloth, to demonstrate their sorrowful, crushed and repentant hearts, and he sends them all to the Lord's prophet, to Isaiah.

Isaiah had even been made to know that Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, would be in this very position to lead the king's house in a right and proper way as nothing less than a type of Christ Himself, "in that day", the day of judgment upon the house of God (1Pe 4:17):

Isa 22:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
Isa 22:21  And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Isa 22:23  And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
Isa 22:24  And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
Isa 22:25  In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

This "key of the house of David" is just another way of saying "the keys to the kingdom of David". This phrase represents being given access to Christ and His doctrine, which is a gift given to all who know Him:

Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

If we have Christ within us, then we have "the key of the house of David", which is the house of Christ, as He Himself confesses:

Rev 3:7  And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

This entire prophecy of Hilkiah being exalted from a much less prominent position to replace Shebna, is all a prophecy for our own encouragement. This is a prophecy of how Christ is preparing us to oversee the Lord's house in the day of judgment and in times of trouble.

"Upon His shoulder" has the same meaning as:

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The government of the entire earth will be upon the shoulders of Christ and His Christ. He and His Christ are our "Counselor" and when we ignore His counsel, we will reap what we have sown.

Getting back to the actions of King Hezekiah as a type of the Lord's elect rulers, he is one who was crushed and humiliated and brought to His wits' end and then chosen to repent of his sins in giving the Lord's gold and silver to the king of Assyria. He is now, at long last, aware that he must depend upon the Lord alone for his salvation from the strength of the king of Assyria. He has humbled himself and has humbled all of his house and has sent them all dressed in sackcloth, the symbol of humility and repentance, to the Lord's prophet to ask the Lord for His mercy and the salvation of His strength.

This is the exact opposite state of mind to that of the elders who many years later, after being taken to Babylon, came to inquire of the Lord through the priest prophet Ezekiel:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

Eliakim, Shebna, and the elders and priests, came to the prophet Isaiah "covered with sackcloth" to inquire of the Lord. The idols of their hearts had already been crushed to powder, and the stark reality of that crushing experience was now staring them in the face in the form of Rabshakeh and a great host of Assyrian soldiers who had indeed destroyed and subdued all the nations around them. Now they were come to destroy the people of the Lord, and it would take a miracle for Hezekiah and his people to be delivered from the great king Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. The destruction of all the armies of the adversary within each of the Lord's children, the destruction of the pride within each of us and the humbling of our old man comes only through this same, physically impossible situation in our own lives. It is nothing short of a miracle of God that any of us are here today or that we will endure the trials of this life to the end:

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

The Truth is that our blindness and our sight are both miracles of God. The things of the spirit are foolishness to our natural man. It appears to Hezekiah that there is no way out of his dilemma. "Who can make war with the beast?" No one has ever before overcome the beast. But God is merciful to His elect and He gives them faith in Himself to do the impossible:

Isa 37:5  So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
Isa 37:6  And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

When we set up our own "idols of the heart" and place them as stumbling blocks of iniquity before our faces and then come to the Lord, His Word, and His elders and His prophets, with a made up mind telling the prophet the way it is going to be, that prophet and all who are given to hear the word of the Lord at his mouth are told "Be not afraid of the words that you have heard... blaspheming Me". Our idols of our hearts and all the lies we are told we must believe in order to be saved are not lies against any man. They are nothing less than blasphemous, rebellious, doctrines which contradict and deny the Truths of the Word of God.

This is how the Lord deals with such reprobates:

Isa 37:7  Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
Isa 37:8  So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
Isa 37:9  And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Isa 37:10  Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Isa 37:11  Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
Isa 37:12  Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
Isa 37:13  Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

Outwardly Hezekiah has not lifted as much as a finger against the king of Assyria, and all of a sudden everything has changed and the king of Assyria is suddenly preoccupied with more pressing matters than the conquering of Jerusalem. The Lord, who is working all things at all times after the counsel of His own will, has done all of Hezekiah's fighting for him in causing the king of Assyria to "Hear a rumor, and return to his own land" where it is the king of Assyria who falls by the sword of the Lord at the hands of evil wicked men, just as King David had prophesied many years earlier. Just look at how these words of King David apply to King Hezekiah's plight:

Psa 17:7  Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
Psa 17:8  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
Psa 17:9  From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
Psa 17:10  They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
Psa 17:11  They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
Psa 17:12  Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
Psa 17:14  From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
Psa 17:15  As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

King David and King Hezekiah typify us as the Lord's very elect who will "awake with [the Lord's] likeness" in that "blessed and holy... first resurrection".

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

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.

Next week, Lord willing, we will see who the king of Assyria within us has blasphemed, and the week after that we will see what the Lord does to blasphemers:

Here are next week's verses:

Isa 37:14  And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
Isa 37:15  And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,
Isa 37:16  O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
Isa 37:17  Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
Isa 37:18  Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
Isa 37:19  And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
Isa 37:20  Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.
Sennacherib's Fall
Isa 37:21  Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
Isa 37:22  This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
Isa 37:23  Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 37:24  By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
Isa 37:25  I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
Isa 37:26  Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
Isa 37:27  Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
Isa 37:28  But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

Do All Go Through the Lake of Fire?

Mike,

I hear people, especially church folks, yell at the top of their lungs that they are saved. How can one be saved if one is still sinning? And to be totally cleaned, don’t we all have to go through the “Lake of Fire?” The Bible tells us that all sin. Please clear this up for me.

F____

Hi F______,

I challenge anyone to show me where anyone is already saved.

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

It is in the Greek ‘aorist’ tense, and it is what we would call the present progressive.

This is always the case in the Greek when it comes to our present spiritual standing. In the first three chapters of Revelation we are told that “he that overcometh…” will I give to “eat of the tree of life” etc.

The only thing offered to those who are not overcomers in this age is death. Salvation in the first resurrection is only offered to “he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.”

If we don’t ‘endure to the end, we won’t be saved.

When it comes to the phrase ‘lake of fire,’ we are never to apply this phraseology to the overcomers.

Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

The second death is ‘the lake of fire,’ and the lake of fire “is for the devil and his angels:”

Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

We really need to keep these phrases scriptural. We endure a “fiery trial.”

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:

Yet we are promised that we will not be hurt of the second death, which is the lake of fire.

It is indeed the very same fire, but it really is important to maintain a “pattern of sound words.”

I hope I have cleared this up for you.

Your brother,

Mike

On the other hand, this is what I was told by four apostatized elders:

“The Holy Spirit has inspired John to label the raising of the “rest of the dead” to life after 1,000 years as the FIRST RESURRECTION. How can that be if the Elect were ordinally raised 1,000 years earlier and we call that the first resurrection? We have a major discrepancy in our doctrine teaching there are TWO resurrections. This is a consequence of not applying ALL the words of the prophecy of Revelation to us the Elect in this age. There is only ONE Resurrection that comes in two parts (the coming of Christ) via the down payment and the fullness when the rest of the dead (the Gentiles within and without us) are raised. This is perfectly in harmony once we dig deep and examine it which I hope this multitude of counsellors will now do.” [End of quote]

This is teaching us that “we which have the firstfruits of the spirit” and who are promised that if we overcome we will not be hurt of the second death”, that we will after all, be hurt of the second death, but we will be the first to experience the second death. I think that represents that false doctrine accurately. Here is a direct quote from the paper Partakers of the Second Death: “…all men will experience the purifying fire of the one event of the second death.”

Of course, the truth is that if we are the first to fall into the ground and die, then there is no requirement to be hurt of the second death in order to live by every word of God.

Yes, it is true. I did teach this false doctrine for several years, and along with the other faithful elders, we were all used by the Lord to do so, just as Peter, Paul and John and all of the apostles were used of the Lord to tell the Jews that they must live under the law of Moses. This teaching was extant from the day of Pentecost when the holy spirit was first given to men until Paul’s letters from his Roman prison many years later. For decades the apostles taught that the Jews must live under the law of Moses, and then they did a 180 degree turn in their doctrine. That happened because the Lord opened their eyes to see that what He had already shown them was really the truth; which truth was there really is “no difference” between [the Jews and the Gentiles (Acts 15:9)].

Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

After pointing out that God “put no difference between [the Jews and the Gentiles], and after making it clear that “neither our fathers nor we were able to bear [the law of Moses]”, Peter and Paul still agreed to place a big difference between the Jews and the Gentiles with the letter to the Gentiles which the apostles and elders sent out to the Gentile Christians following this Jerusalem conference about that very subject. James recalls what they had all agreed to decades later when Paul is apprehended of the Jews in Jerusalem:

Act 21:17  And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
Act 21:18  And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
Act 21:19  And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
Act 21:20  And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
Act 21:21  And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
Act 21:22  What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.
Act 21:23  Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
Act 21:24  Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.
Act 21:25  As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
Act 21:26  Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

All the apostles kept the law of Moses up until after Paul was put in prison, and the scriptures were opened up more to his heavens, and he wrote these words:

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

We are the temple of God, and when the second death is through, there will be no physical temple for those who are hurt of the second death because then God will be all in all, and Christ and His Christ will be the city and the temple:

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

There will be an outward physical and natural judgment of the great whore – all the religions of the world – in preparation for the wedding supper of the Lamb at the beginning of the millennium. We know this is true because we are told:

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

There is an order to the Lord’s plan, and He cares not that some teach “if you see it as ordinal, then you can, and you will fail to see the spiritual inward application.” Nothing is further from the truth. The beasts around the throne have eyes before and behind as well as within;

Rev 4:6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
Rev 4:8  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

So the truth is the opposite – if all you see is inward, then your spiritual vision will be distorted because:

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:

God’s true and faithful elect can see what has happened in the past, they can see what is before them, and they can see within at this very moment. Those who know the voice of Christ therefore know that when the great whore is judged outwardly, her outward judgment takes place before the marriage supper of the Lamb just prior to the thousand years. Those who are granted to be His wife are those who will bring forth His children through the birth pains of the second death which destroys death and brings all men to God Who will then be “all in all”:

Rev 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
Rev 19:2  For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
Rev 19:3  And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
Rev 19:4  And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
Rev 19:5  And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

So what is the very next thing in the Lord’s plan? That might be hard to discern if you think it is a sin to say your Father loves you more than He loves those He casts into the lake of fire/second death. Nevertheless, this is what we are told happens next in the revealed order of the predestined events of the Lord’s plan for the redemption of all men. The Lord needs a wife through whom to produce many children, so we are told in the very next verse:

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

During the thousand-year period, the world is being reigned over by the Lord and His wife, and Satan is put in prison for a thousand years. None of this pertains to those in the second death. No one in the second death will reign over the kingdoms of the world for a thousand years. Will they come up through great tribulation and make their robes white in the blood of the Lamb? Of course, they will. There is no other name whereby men can be saved. But living by every word does not change the fact that this “great multitude which no man can number” will never be the “144,000 firstfruits unto God and the Lamb.” This is what the Lord meant when He told the rich man:

Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Lazarus’s rewards cannot be given to the rich man, and the rich man’s torment and curses cannot hurt Lazarus. That is the tenor of all scripture, and even if I were a part of teaching otherwise, it will not change this message which is found throughout both the Old and the New testaments:

Deu 7:6  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7  The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: [Gideon’s army]

Christ reaffirms it in the New Testament in these words:

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Now let’s continue reading what happens after the great whore is destroyed:

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

What happens after the “marriage supper of the Lamb” to His wife, who we are told is those who rule with Christ a thousand years? The statement in Revelation 19:9 “Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb” is the same as:

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

This is what happens after the thousand years which is the marriage supper of the Lamb and His wife making herself ready to bring forth much fruit through the judgment pains of all those who will be hurt of the second death:

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

“The armies in heaven…clothed in fine linen” are “the righteousness of saints” of this earlier verse:

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

In other words, the bride of Christ is the armies in heaven, and the thousand years is over, because we are told, “He does judge and make war.”

We are told there is another “supper”, but this ‘supper’ is not called “the marriage supper of the Lamb” because He is not marrying His bride in this supper. His bride are the “few” who overcome the wicked one and who overcome the weaknesses of the flesh. This supper is not for the blessed few, rather it is for “all men”. This ‘supper’ is not at the beginning of the thousand years; it is at the end, and it includes “all men”:

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev 19:16  And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:17  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18  That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

The “fowls that fly in the midst of heaven” are Satan and his angels who have been restrained from deceiving the nations for a thousand years. They have now been released from their millennial prison and go forth to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth. They have been given dust to eat, and they are now having a feast at “the supper of the great God.”

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

What does Satan do when he is “loosed a little season”?

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

This is the supper of the great God. By deceiving mankind, the devil and his angels are “eat[ing] the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great”, and this is what happens when Satan has mankind for his nourishment at “the supper of the great God.”

Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

All flesh is destroyed from the face of the earth at this point, and the stage is now set to begin to bring all men of all time to be at one with God, bringing in the final revelation of God being “all in all” as Paul reveals in:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he [“and His Christ”] must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
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 may be all in all.

Where in any prophecy of scripture does “all things come alike to all” require those who have been judged to “come forth to the resurrection of judgment?” Where does “all things come alike to all” require that the gulf between Lazarus and the rich man be bridged by a total distortion of ‘all things come alike to all?’ Why cannot ‘all things come alike to all/living by every word’ mean that all men die to their old man, and yet not require that those whose dying “first begins at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17) also “experience the purifying fire of the second death?” According to Christ ‘all things come alike to all’ does not require those whose death first begins at the house of God to also experience a second death because:

Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Let’s continue to see what the Lord has revealed to us as He received it from His Father, concerning what His Father is doing:

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

This is simply what Christ’s Father has made known to Him concerning how He is working with His creatures:

Rev 19:19  And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

This supper is for “the fowls that fly in the heavens.” Matthew 13 reveals these ‘fowls’ to be “the devil” and his angels. They are not yet in the lake of fire:

Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

It is “the wicked one” and his angels, his “fowls”, who are invited to “eat the flesh” of “all men both free and bond, both small and great.” At this supper there is no mention of being at a marriage supper. There is no mention of being arrayed in white linen, clean and white, and there is no mention of a millennial rule. All those things are unique to “the marriage supper of the Lamb” which takes place at the beginning of the millennium a thousand years earlier.

“The supper of the great God” is the deception by Satan of all the nations in the four quarters of the earth. That deception ends with all flesh being destroyed from this planet, and then the beast and the false prophet and all the religions of this world will be cast into the lake of fire/second death as the Lord begins His process of destroying death through “the second death”. The second death IS the resurrection to judgment. That judgment will take place at the feet of those who were the very first to die to their old man and then be judged “now, in this life”:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

I did not write the words “in this world”, but there they are. “This world” does not exist in the lake of fire, and those in the lake of fire will not bring forth “much fruit” as do those who “hate [their] lives in this world.”

Christ also talks about:

Mar 10:30  But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world [G165 aion] to come eternal life.

The lake of fire/second death is not “in this time”, and there are no “ages to come” after the all in all, which is the fruit of the second death.

Chapter 19 tells us that there is a marriage supper of the few chosen “in this world”, and it also tells us there is another “supper of the great God” which encompasses:

2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

I have no problem imagining the flack the apostles received when they changed their doctrine, because that is exactly what we are experiencing now. Phygellus, Hermogenes, Alexander the coppersmith and Hymenaeus worked very hard to make certain that everyone knew that Peter, Paul and John had all changed their doctrine, and they did all in their power to make that change appear as apostasy from the doctrine of Christ.

The apostle John, for example, was now calling the Passover “a feast of the Jews”.

Joh 5:1  After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

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

He did the same with the feast of tabernacles, distancing himself from any Christians who were still under the law of Moses:

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

On the other hand, Peter was doing all in his power to minimize the damage of this 180 degree change in doctrine by vouching for Paul’s apostleship:

2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

The error of the wicked was not the fact the apostles had changed their doctrine to align better with the scriptures. “The error of the wicked” was and is those who do not want to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”, and who want our emphasis to be on making our calling less special and less significant than it is, and making the curse of the second death less of a loss and a curse than it is by telling us that ‘we must all experience the one event of the purging fire of the second death’.

Of course, that flies in the face of the promise made to those who overcome in this age:

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

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

I have a question for anyone who thinks that living by every word entails being hurt of the second death. My question is, “Where does John say (to quote that heretical belief) the Holy Spirit has inspired John to label the raising of the “rest of the dead” to life after the thousand years as “the FIRST RESURRECTION”? Where did the holy spirit inspire John to say that??”

The answer, of course, is that the holy spirit inspired John to say no such thing, and anyone who knows the voice of Christ will not hear His voice in that statement because that statement simply is not true. This is where those dissidents get that patently false doctrine:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

These false teachers have taken Revelation 20:5 and contorted it to make it mean ‘the thousand years were finished and THIS is the first resurrection.’ Wow! They go on to make the statement that the rest of the dead live not again to be sins yet within the lives of the faithful elect overcomers which must yet be purged in the second death. Again, wow! Is that the voice of Jesus Christ who says:

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

The ERV (and other versions) has included the necessary parentheses.

Rev 20:5 (The other dead people did not live again until the 1,000 years were ended.) This is the first raising of the dead.

The very next verse explains that those in the first resurrection are the rulers during the thousand years which ‘rulers’ were also mentioned in verse 4:

Let’s just leave verse 5 out and see what constitutes “the first resurrection”:

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.

It is the rulers who reign with Christ a thousand years who constitute the first resurrection. “The rest of the dead” are the exact opposite of “the first resurrection” because we are told they do not live again until after the thousand years are finished, and “the rest of the dead” will then be raised up to “shame and everlasting contempt, [and] the resurrection of damnation”:

Dan 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Dan 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: judgment].

‘The resurrection to life and the resurrection to judgment’ are the only two resurrections mentioned for mankind in scripture. One is at the beginning of the millennium, and the other is at the end of the short season of rebellion following the millennium. All men of all time are raised up from their graves in these two resurrections.

So ‘the rest of the dead’ of Revelation 20:5 is speaking of anyone who is not ruling and reigning with Christ after the first resurrection. These verses have literally nothing at all to do with my new man with sins still in him. Those who are reigning with Christ a thousand years have been perfected and have no sins remaining in them. These verses have nothing to do with my new man either. They are referring to two groups of people – those in the first resurrection and ‘the rest of the dead’. What this verse reveals is that those in the first resurrection were the first to spiritually die to their old man as the scriptures so amply demonstrate.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

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

Revelation 20:5 says ‘the rest of the dead’. So those in the first resurrection were the first to die, even though you will not find the phrase ‘first death’ anywhere in scripture. Neither will you find the phrase ‘second resurrection’, but we know there is a second resurrection simply because we do find the phrase “the first resurrection”. In the same way we know there was a group of people who died to their carnal mind while yet in bodies of flesh and blood, and who overcame the wicked one while still in bodies of flesh. They did all this first, and that is why they will not be hurt of the second death any more than those in the first resurrection can cross the gulf the Lord has placed between them and those in the first resurrection. Let’s read it with our own eyes:

Luk 16:19  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: [“Have we not done many wonderful works in your name?”]
Luk 16:20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
Luk 16:21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
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;
Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luk 16:24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Luk 16:25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
Luk 16:27  Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
Luk 16:28  For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Luk 16:29  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
Luk 16:30  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
Luk 16:31  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Teaching anything which says that gulf can be bridged is denying what Christ teaches us here in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. If we teach that we must be hurt of the second death, we deny these words and minimize the blessings of our birthright when we are clearly informed that there is a thousand-year reign of Christ and all of His firstborn ‘Lazaruses’ between the two resurrections. Where in these words of Christ is this false doctrine of Lazarus experiencing the rich man’s curses or the rich man experiencing Lazarus’s rewards? Is not the exact opposite the emphasis of this parable?

Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

The first workers in the parable of the workers in the Lord’s vineyard were given life, but they did not receive life first. The fact the eleventh-hour workers received the same pay for just one hour of labor reveals the favor shown them by “the Lord of the vineyard”. In other parables we are informed that those same favored workers in the Lord’s vineyard will also be given rulership over the rest of mankind which will not be in the resurrection to life:

Luk 19:16  Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
Luk 19:17  And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

These words capture the essential message of all of Christ’s parables concerning the kingdom of God, both within us and when “the kingdoms of this world…become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.”

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Again I ask, “Where is the gospel of the mixing of administrations to be found? Where are we ever told that those in the first resurrection will be hurt of the second death? Where is the gospel of rulership in the kingdom by those who are cast into the lake of fire?” The obvious answer is that it is not to be found. Joseph’s brothers, in type, were saved by the Lord’s Christ, Joseph, but they were never and will never be given dominion over the kingdoms of this world. Neither was Joseph ever tormented by his brothers after they bowed down to him. This doctrine teaches that we must experience the second death. Not just death, but ‘the second death’, and that belief is dispelled in the story of Joseph who experienced all of his suffering before any of his brothers, just as Lazarus experienced his sufferings before the rich man, placing a great unbridgeable gulf between the two of them.

In calling our time of being ‘carnal babes in Christ’ our ‘millennium’ in the past, I misspoke just as the apostles telling the Jews they must keep the law of Moses were wrong.

In calling our fiery experiences our ‘lake of fire’, we again did not use a pattern of sound words (2Ti 1:13). The physical millennium does not typify what we physically live out in this age. We will be spirit beings ruling over a physical earth during the millennium. The revelation of the physical millennium in the book of Revelation does not typify physical fiery trials we endure in this age. Ruling during that time will prepare us for our work with “the rest of the dead” during the “lake of fire [which] is the second death.” The rest of the dead are any and all who were not in the blessed and holy first resurrection.

For us to call the millennium a type of our time as a carnal babe in Christ is to call the antitype the type. The antitype is the fulfillment of the type. The first Adam is the last Adam in that Christ lived in the flesh, and that Adam is in Christ.

Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Christ is the last Adam. Our experience of having Satan hedged out of our lives just before Christ comes and crushes us to powder is the physical reality of the time when we will, as spirits, rule over the kingdoms of this world during the millennium, not the reverse.

Those who are “hurt of the second death…lake of fire” will never rule over the physical kingdoms of this world, and they will never overcome the wicked one, and they will never judge the beast who worships the dragon because the dragon is right there with them being purified by the fire of the second death/lake of fire. The first Adam is not the last Adam even though Christ is the first and the last. Christ is only the first Adam in the sense He is the Creator of Adam and because all things “live and move and have their being” in Him. Satan himself was created by Christ, but that does not make Christ Satan.

Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

I know this recent division is all of God, and it is for His purpose that we, as the apostles did, have seen a more perfect way. This is a very good time to emphasize Peter’s rhetorical questions:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

If the righteous are scarcely saved by the ‘fiery trials’ of this time of being judged in bodies of flesh and being tempted by Satan, neither of which are even a factor in the lake of fire, “what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God” and “where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear”? Why is Peter even bothering to pose this question in two different ways if “all things come alike to all” means we must all endure the purging fire of the second death?

The answer is that those who do not overcome “in this time” will not appear in the first resurrection. They will not be resurrected to life, nor will they be ruling with Christ nor turning many to righteousness and shining as the stars in the firmament. They will not be the bride/wife bringing forth much fruit being the means by which Christ will show forth the excellent riches of His grace toward us because the lake of fire/second death ends the eons.

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

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats [Greek: thronos]: and upon the seats [Greek: thronos] I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Peter’s point in posing that question twice is to make us take note that the resurrection of the wicked is a far inferior resurrection to that of those who get paid first, those who overcome the wicked one, and those who rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years enthroned with Christ wearing “on their heads crowns of gold”.

There will be no ‘thrones or crowns’ at the ‘all in all’ because Christ gives the kingdom back to His Father at that time.

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 may be all in all.

Psa 74:18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
Psa 74:19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
Psa 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Psa 74:21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
Psa 74:22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
Psa 74:23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.

This last part of our study with Psalm 74 concludes with the psalmist crying out to the Lord to remember the reproach of the enemy and remember the foolish man who reproaches us daily. At first glance it sounds very outside of ourselves to make these pleas with the Lord, and yet, as always, we are reminded that the word of God was written for us and that our greatest enemies lie at the gate of our own hearts. When God’s word is properly applied and experienced we come to understand that all these verses have an inward and an outward application as well.

Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

What we’ve been looking at over the last few studies is truly how God is building up His abundant grace through the church who are filling up what is behind of Christ’s affliction (partly through reproaches) so that this abundant grace can be formed within us. We are blessed to be partakers of His suffering in this age and will be able to comfort the world with the comfort that God brings to us because He has granted that we can through Christ be buried into his baptism(s). We die daily and bear each others burdens along the way and learn to discern his plan and purpose for all of humanity, as His grace and faith unfold in each of our lives. Every person and situation that we encounter and that He puts us in is being accomplished to His glory and to the end that His word might “dwell in you richly in all wisdom”.

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

Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

God is teaching us through all our struggles and much tribulation that we can endure all things through Christ and His peace can rule in our hearts, a peace that is not as the world’s peace, but a peace that is connected to the outcome of grace and faith (Col 3:16). We must experience the unsettling ways of this world’s mountains crumbling around us (reproaches), and the winds of war that always seem so eminent (reproaches), to realize that our peace comes from God alone who alone can still these events so that we can hear the still small voice of our Lord whose grace and faith are given to us through the tribulations and fiery trials of this life.

1Ki 19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
1Ki 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

I hope we are all blessed and encouraged by the conclusion of our study which reminds us that God is our deliverer through every reproach which is given to us as the body of Christ. We are His turtledove, and ‘the congregation of thy poor’, and God is demonstrating to the world through the church that He does have respect to His covenant that is being fulfilled through the kind of first fruits we are. We will know how to deal with all the habitations of cruelty in this earth because of the fear and trembling process we have been blessed to go through and that the spirit of God quickened us to be part of (Joh 6:63). We are going to wipe away every tear eventually; but before that glorious day, we need to fulfill these verses which talk about our deliverance through the tribulation placed upon us in this age.

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

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

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Psa 34:17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Psa 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psa 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

Psa 126:3 The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Psa 126:4 Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
Psa 126:5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Psa 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Psa 74:18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

How long has this been going on? Right from the foundation of the world, right when Adam and Eve (type of the church) were created. And so we’re not surprised to see the reproach of Adam and Eve against God as they sinned against him, against Christ and gave the first witness to the foolishness that is in the heart of man that naturally blasphemes “thy name”, “thy word” right from the foundation of the world. What we are being told right from the start of creation is that the true enemy that is going to reproach Our Lord and blaspheme his name is all flesh.

The foundation of the church parallels this foolishness and reproach that comes forth from those who hear the word of God as did Adam of Eve but could not endure the words that we’re being given to them just as no one can today unless the Lord builds those words up and that spiritual house or ark that we are becoming through grace and faith that is the means by which his words are sanctified within His body.

2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

Gal 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

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

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

Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Psa 74:19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude^H2416 of the wicked: forget not the congregation^H2416 of thy poor for ever.

Our Lord went through a myriad of narrow escapes where God was demonstrating to us the certainty of His deliverance in our lives as well. We know that there is nothing that can separate us from His love, and that the angels of God are always there to pick us up less we dash our foot against a stone. These things must happen to us as they did to Christ to demonstrate his ever present help and Sovereignty over every moment of our life. It will be a great comfort to the world one day when they come to see the safe arms that Christ and His body were always in, as we will witness to the fact that our ‘soul’ not necessarily our flesh, will be delivered from the ‘multitude’.

Here are some verses that are parables of how the church today is narrowly delivered through the fleshly trials that we experience just as our Lord has (1Jn 4:17).

Joh 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Mat 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

Gen 19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

Luk 22:43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

Psa 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

God’s covenant as we know has to do with the heart of man being changed from within, and not a physical covenant of physical blessings in the old covenant which were the types and shadows of the abundant life that God would give to those after John (Mat 11:11), specifically to those who the holy spirit was given to. Only then could the promises of the old covenant see their spiritual fulfillment in the new covenant promises that God has “respect” unto.

Eze 16:59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
Eze 16:60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
Eze 16:61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
Eze 16:62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:

Hos 2:18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

1Ki 8:23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:

“The dark places of the earth” that are “full of the habitations of cruelty” are within each and every man’s heart to whatever degree lesser or greater that God caused to be witnessed. Having said this, we all are guilty of all the entire spectrum of possibility from Abel to Zacharias (Mat 23:35), and it will take the living sacrifice of Christ and his body to cleanse this temple of every man that is guilty of the death of the prophets all, from “Abel to Zacharias”.

Psa 74:21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.

This particular verse reminds us that God knows every part of our walk and calling that are not easy, and not for the faint of heart so to speak. If not for his mercy we would faint and the oppression we experience would be too much for us bear.

Psa 9:9 The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

Eze 16:61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

Eze 43:10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
Eze 43:11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.

The reproach or oppression the poor and needy experience will not only build us up but witness to how we are more than conquerors through Christ (Rom 8:37) who gives us the power and rich faith needed (Jas 2:5) to overcome and “praise thy name” even in the midst of the oppression that God allows in perfect measure upon Christ’s body (1Co 10:13).

Jer 20:12 But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
Jer 20:13 Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

Psa 74:22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.

There is a negative and positive use of the word ‘foolish’: we have “the foolish man” who reproaches you daily, and we have “the foolishness of preaching” by which we’re saved. We start off as unbelieving, slow of heart fools who can’t identify with Christ needing to be reproached and suffer along with his body.

Luk 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

God mercifully drags the elect along toward Christ so that we can see that the work we’ve been called unto is one of believing which causes us to enter into his glory (obedience), and that this believing is a gift that is given to very few in this age. We go from being the ones who reproach God and his word until we are the ones who are reproached for his name sake, which is our great and incredible blessing as God’s children, having our names written in heaven.

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.

Joh 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Act 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Mat 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Psa 74:23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.

Evil men wax worse and worse at the end of any age that has God’s spirit working in it (2Ti 3:13), and the reason being is that Satan knows that his time is short (Rev 12:12), and the inevitable is going to unfold, deliverance that comes to us through Christ after we go unto perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32).

Until that day, sin will continue to be at the door of our hearts, but we will hear the voice of the enemy for what it is because we hear the voice of the true Shepherd in contrast (Joh 10:5, Joh 10:16). The tumult of those who rise up against us will be more and more (Act 4:27), but rejoice in that day and lift up your eyes for behold your redemption draws near (Luk 21:28).

At the beginning of this study, in verse 18, we pray “Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached O LORD”, and end with the continual prayer to “Forget not the voice of thine enemies” in verse 23. The “multitude”^H2416 and “congregation”^H2416 of verse 19 reminds us that we are all beasts and that we are called to “come out of her my people”, and that the only way we do so is by the humbling experiences, fiery trials and judgement that is first upon us for purifying us and not to have us return ashamed (verse 21) but changed by his reproach that He allows to come upon us today as His sons and daughters (Heb 12:6).

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

In Amos 8:7 we are reassured that “The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works [the enemy]”. Judgment will come to pass, the sin offering and burnt offering and atonement (Lev 14:22), Lev 14:30-31, Lev 12:6-8) and the trespass offering (Lev 5:7) will be accepted (symbolism of verse 19 and the turtledove pointing to how and why this dove is sacrificed), and all will be saved.

God willing we are the beasts of Hoseah 2:18 who, by the covenant of the Lord working within us, are made to lie down safely and blessed to be counted to come out of great tribulation and have our robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb of Rev 7:11.

Psa 20:5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.

Psa 20:9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

Rev 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.



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Revelation 6:9-11 The Fifth Seal

[Study Aired Nov 18, 2009]

Updated April 30, 2024

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

Introduction

The fifth and sixth seals are the souls under the altar, the great earthquake, the heavenly signs and the great day of God’s wrath. These two seals graphically demonstrate the ‘is, was and will be’ nature and character of Christ and His Words. Christ told us plainly that His words “shall not pass away.”

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

All we will cover today is the fifth seal and the souls under the altar, but this entire prophecy is the “signified” words of Christ. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ:

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

As is always the case with “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, it will be a challenge for us to remember the words of verse one and the words of verse three as we read about the loosing by the Lamb of the fifth and sixth seals.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

How will Revelation 1:3 be applied to these two seals? How will we read, hear and keep the souls under the altar. How can we justify their desire for vengeance on those who have slain them? The only way we can do that is to remember that this entire prophecy is within us and about us, and about the necessary steps that bring us to see ourselves for the beasts we are and our need to die to that beast within. The only way we can even hope to understand “the things written therein” is to remember that the entirety of God’s word is all about just two men, and even then we must remember that both of those two men are within each of us.

We must remember the fact that just as “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luk 17:20-21), so, too, there is first a ‘seed of the serpent’, a beast with seven heads and a harlot within us, and they are all to be seen as within these seven seals. If we cannot see that these seven seals must be loosed before we can look behind us and see that we have read, heard and kept the sayings of the prophecy of this book as part of the process of entering into that kingdom, then we will get nothing out of this revelation of Jesus Christ. If ever we lose sight of this inward application to the signs and symbols of this prophecy, then we, too, will be relegated to speculating about what all these symbols mean, and we, too, will be subjected to placing all of this prophecy without ourselves onto someone else and into the future or into the past.

The Truth is that the ‘seven heads and ten horns’ are all within and upon  this one beast, which is, by the mercy of God, dying daily as it is being transformed from a vicious, poisonous, wild beast into a beast which can be found in the middle of and round about the throne of God.

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

This week we will only cover the loosing by the Lamb of the fifth seal, which is the souls under the altar.

Who are the souls under the altar?

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

The only “souls under the altar” are those souls who have been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. Have you been “slain for the word of God and for the testimony” which you hold? If you have not, then you are not one of the souls under the altar. Remember Revelation 1:1. This is a book of symbols, which symbols are interpreted only by “what has been written.” We are never to so much as “think above what is written.”

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 […] above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

As far as the scriptures or secular history is concerned, John himself was never physically “slain for the word of God and for the testimony which he held.” Any and all who know what Christ meant by ‘a corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying before it can bring forth fruit’, knows that “being slain for the word of God, and for the testimony we hold” is the symbol of our baptism and “cleansing… with the water of the word”:

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Here is what is meant by ‘being slain’ for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ:

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

So once again, we see the ‘is, was, and will be’ nature of Christ and His Words. “Our old man IS being crucified with Him.”

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

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

Contrary to what many of us have all been taught, these “souls under the altar” are not simply a future reality for those with eyes that see and ears that hear and know the ‘is, was and will be’ nature of the Word of God. These “souls under the altar” are you and me at this very moment, if we are indeed ‘dying daily’ and being “crucified with him.”

The question we need to answer now is what is “the altar” under which these souls are found? The altar, in ancient Israel, is the place where a repentant Israelite would bring his spotless sacrifice, place his hands upon the head of that sacrifice, thereby identifying with that sacrifice and then that repentant Israelite would slash the throat of that spotless sacrifice, thereby confessing that he is indeed the slayer of that spotless sacrifice. That is what happened at the altar of ancient Israel.

Lev 3:2  And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

What is this ‘altar’ in the New Testament? Where is this sacrifice offered in the New Testament?

Joh 19:17  And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
Joh 19:18  Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

That is right; the altar is the cross where we have crucified our Lord. It was you and me who placed our hands upon the head of that sacrifice and cut its throat. If it is granted us to acknowledge our part in that dastardly deed and to see that it was not the Romans and the Jews, but it was us, we are both the Romans and the Jews. We, His own people, are the very ones who have, with unjust hands, crucified our Lord. If we are granted to see and acknowledge this, then we may be granted a deep seated repentance for what we are and what we have done.’

What then are we to do? This is what we then must do, this is what is meant by “the souls under the altar.”

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If we “present our bodies a living sacrifice,” we may also be granted to be counted as ourselves being “slain for the word of God and for our testimony” and to become one of the “souls under the altar.”

Act 2:23  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye [“men of Israel” – vs 22] have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

This is the blessing of being one of the souls under the altar. Like our Lord we are “crucified and slain”.

Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

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

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

What is “the word of God and the testimony which they held?”

The answer to that question is in the second verse of Revelation one. Right after being told that this is a book of symbols, the holy spirit tells us this:

Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

So “the word of God and the testimony” which they held is the same as “the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ.” In other words, the souls under the altar are there because they refuse to compromise on the word of God in the face of losing their lives. No “carnal… babe in Christ can stand up to this pressure, and we all first “lose our first love” (Rev 2:4). We live by every word of God, so that is what we all do to begin with. In doing so, we live out these verses:

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

We all do that, but afterward, if God is merciful to us, He shows us our own weakness, and if it is His work in us, Christ replaces our old man, and we develop “root [Christ] within ourselves,” and we begin the “dying daily” process that places us as “souls under the altar.”

Who has slain the souls under the altar?

That is right, it was each of us who placed Christ on His cross.

1Co 15:3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

Gal 1:4  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

It was not the Romans or the Jews who drank the same cup our Lord drank. It is his own household, His own disciples, who drank ‘the wine of His blood’ in the New Testament. What do we think Christ meant when He told His disciples ‘I want you all to drink of this cup.’ It is His own household who has hated and denied Him and blasphemed His name among the heathen.

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

So they all did drink of that cup:

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 bewrayeth 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.

Luk 22:59  And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean.
Luk 22:60  And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
Luk 22:61  And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luk 22:62  And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

Peter signifies each of us, and that is an example of how we all deny our Lord and drink of His cup.  That was a loving and pitiful “look” from our Lord upon Peter, because you and I are Peter. Until we acknowledge our own guilt like Peter did, and our own culpability in the death of our Savior and in the death of the souls under the altar; until we, too, repent of how we have so often denied our Lord by our actions and words; until we all “go out and weep bitterly,” we will not be one of “the souls under the altar.”

As always we learn that we are both the souls under the altar as well as those who have slain them for the word of God and for the word of their testimony.

Do God’s elect seek vengeance?

Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Did not Christ forgive those who crucified Him? Yes, He did.

Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Why would the souls under the altar do any differently? Whenever we forget the inward, spiritual, “keep the things written therein,” ‘is, was and will be’, ‘live by every word’ character and nature of the words of our Lord, that is when “the letter killeth”, and His own words begin to appear to be contradictory and are actually used by God Himself as a means of deceiving us.

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

“The Lord” Himself has indeed deceived that prophet, and has blinded the multitudes who listen to those prophets. So we are plainly told:

Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

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

The Lord has deceived and blinded us all at our own time.

The explanation of this verse where the souls under the altar cry out for vengeance is a good place to mention what a brother called and told me, after our study last week. He said that the words “and see” in all four instances where the King James Version reads “Come and see”, were not to be found in the majority of the Greek manuscripts. He said that the structure, voice and tense of this word is actually the same as the structure, voice and tense of the word ‘come’ in this verse:

Rev 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

I asked Steve Morris [now deceased], who has a good understanding of the rules of grammar, to check out these observations, and to get back to me. Steve agreed that even though the Textus Receptus, which is one of the older manuscripts, has the words ‘and see’, the fact nevertheless is that the majority of the manuscripts, and many of our modern translations, do not include the words ‘and see’. What then are the four beasts doing when they say “Come?” What they are doing is the same thing the souls under the altar are doing when they ask to avenge their blood on those who dwell on the earth.

Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

That’s right, as noted above, we live by every word of God. What that means is that we are both the souls under the altar, as well as those who are yet dwelling on the earth. God’s elect are not asking God to take revenge on other men who have oppressed them. As we already know, “the earth” is Bible-speak for the old carnal man within each of us. That is the “them that dwell upon the earth” who God’s elect want to see destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Christ into their own lives. That is why the “four beasts”, each and every one, as the symbol of those who have been redeemed out of every nation; when the Lamb opens each of the first four seals, say to the rider of each horse, “Come… even so come Lord Jesus, and ride each of your powerful horses through my life so that I might wage war against the beast within and be crucified daily with you, and die daily to the carnal beast that dwells on my earth, in this body, and which loves this “earth” within me.”

None of this changes the truth of Ephesians 3:10:

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly [ places] might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

Knowing that the four beasts are inviting Christ to come and do His work in their lives, is quite an adjustment in our thinking about the work and words of the four beasts.

Just as surely as one head of our beasts can receive a deadly wound while the other six heads within us can remain as a healthy carnal wild beast, so too, can “our brothers which must die as we have” also be within us, still in need of being purged of all the wood, hay and stubble and all the false concepts and doctrines which keep us from being “gold tried in the fire.”

So just as the four beasts call out to Christ, imploring Him to do the powerful work of His four powerful horses, waging war within us and purging us of all that needs to be purged, so too, do the souls under the altar ask the lord to avenge them of that which is yet in need of being destroyed within.

Rev 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Our “fellow servants and our brothers that should be killed as we are”, are words coming out of the mouth of Christ, which will never pass away, and by which we must somehow live:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

So the souls under the altar are just another one of the many symbols needed to show us who are God’s elect. The souls under the altar are the same people who are symbolized by the four beasts of Revelation 4 and 5, and like those beasts, the souls under the altar are laying their lives down “for the word of God and for the testimony they hold.” It is the fact that they are seeking to die to the old man and his army of lies that causes them to ask, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” While you and I are “the souls under the altar”, we are also, at the same time, “them that dwell on the earth” against whom we are seeking vengeance. We must always remind ourselves that it is we who must “keep the things written therein”; not just the good and positive “things written therein,” but rather “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

What are ‘white robes’ and what is ‘the rest’?

What are the “white robes” given to the souls under the altar? There is no room for speculation:

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

What is the rest they enter into while they await the death of their brothers and fellow servants?

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.

Christ is both “the righteousness of saints”, symbolized by the white robes, and also the rest into which the souls under the altar symbolically enter.

As always, these verses are also all centered around the Christ. The souls under the altar are themselves the Christ of Christ who are “filling up in their own bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ” (Col 1:24).

Summary

Once again we see that the entire word of God is completely centered around Christ. But Christ is called both the first and the last Adam. Once again we have seen that all of God’s Word concerns these two Adams as the first Adam is being made to conform to the image of the last Adam.

So we saw that we are both the souls under the altar as well as first being those who slew them for the word of God and for their testimony. We saw that the word of God and their testimony is nothing less than the revelation of Jesus Christ as we “keep the things written therein.”

We have seen that the vengeance sought by the souls under the altar, is nothing more than seeking to die daily and to be crucified with Christ and to “fill up in my body what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ, for His body’s sake which is the church.”

We saw that the white robes and the rest into which the souls under the altar enter, are the righteousness of Christ, and Christ Himself, as we enter into Him, who is our rest.

Next week, Lord willing we will find out about the sixth seal:

Rev 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?