Rev 12:14-17 – Part 2 – The Earth Helped the Woman

[Study Aired Dec 29, 2024]

In this study we will seek to understand the spiritual significance of the statement… “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon cast out of its mouth…” in this verse:

Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Christ tells us that when His words spoken through us are rejected by this world it is the same as rejecting Him and His words. That is also the way it is with the adversary and those who speak for him. Therefore when we are told, “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon cast out of its mouth”, what we are being told is that the woman is accepting of the words coming out of the mouth of the dragon via all of His ministers.

The Pharaoh [of the book of Exodus] attempting to destroy all the male new born of Israel, typifies the dragon’s desire to devour the man child as soon as he is born. Pharaoh typifies the beast and his spiritual father within us all. The scriptures reveal that when we serve ourselves and do what we want to do without regard to the admonitions of scripture, we are treating ourselves as if we are god, but at the same time we are unwittingly “worshiping the dragon”. It matters not that we are “Abraham’s seed”. The only thing that matters is if we ‘do the things’ Christ and His Word tell us to do.

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?

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

Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

Anger toward God’s messenger, Moses, is exactly what “the woman in the wilderness”, Israel, felt as she watched the armies of Egypt approaching, and that is exactly how we feel when we see that no one else in the world sees or agrees with the things which have led us to begin to come out of Babylon. We are God’s Israel, and like Jeremiah and Israel, we too, slowly come to see just how much we must sacrifice to remain faithful to the calling we have been given. This is Jeremiah, and this is each of us.

Jer 20:7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jer 20:8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jer 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jer 20:10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

We will never understand any of the symbols of scripture if we are not careful to retain their Biblical meaning instead of the meaning arbitrarily given them by the false prophets in the temples of Babylon. Pharaoh’s armies are a type and a shadow of the legions of evil spirits which darken the Sun and the air, which want to destroy God’s witnesses and which keep us from seeing the light of the Sun. A ‘woman’ in scripture is always the wife of God, either as a harlot or as a faithful wife. It is to preserve this ‘harlot woman who brought forth a man child’ that “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of His mouth”. This ‘woman’ is signified in scripture by the harlot Hosea was told to marry to typify how Israel has treated her own faithful husband, Christ:

Hos 1:2  The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
Hos 1:3  So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
Hos 1:4  And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Jezreel was born of a harlot and yet the Lord “avenge[d] the blood of Jezreel” just as He will avenge the blood of Christ upon the kingdom of our old man.

It is with good reason that we are told that this flood comes forth of the dragon’s mouth. It is given to us in these words based upon this principle:

Mat 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Mat 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

This “flood out of the dragon’s mouth” is also called “locusts upon the earth” in Rev 9.

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

Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

200 million witnesses to the lies of Babylon stand in sharp contrast to God’s “two witnesses”. It is few who are willing to stand up to such odds. Here is another way of saying the same thing, but because we see the number three, we know that some form of progression is in view:

Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

These are not three separate sources. The dragon empowers both the beast and the false prophet, but He does so in a certain predestined order of progression.

We certainly are not able to withstand the odds of ‘200 million to two’ as we first begin our exodus from either Egypt or Babylon. The earth swallowing the flood that comes out of the mouth of the dragon will be lost on us if we fail to notice that this woman cannot yet be caught up to God and to His throne, and if we forget what we have learned is the symbolism of “the earth”.

Here is what “the earth” means in scripture:

Jer 22:2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

The earth was swallowing up the flood of lies which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

“Thy people that enter by these gates” is the symbol of God’s own rebellious and backslid people who were more than eager to believe the lies of the adversary. Now look at how the holy spirit addresses those who know God and then turn their back on Him and His doctrines, here in this same 22nd chapter of Jeremiah.

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

This explains why Israel wished they had never left Egypt when they saw the armies of Egypt, and this explains why they immediately blamed their own savior for their apparent dilemma.

Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

So “the woman” cannot be caught up to God and to His throne, because she is no better off spiritually than Pharaoh at this stage of her walk. This woman in Rev 12 is saved by the earth swallowing up what comes out of the Dragon’s mouth because this woman is the earth, and she is on the same page that dragon is on. Only her man child, who has been separated from her, is “caught up to God and to His throne”, while she flees into the wilderness where her rebellions continue unabated as typified by unfaithful Israel’s actions:

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

While we are told that Pharaoh’s armies were destroyed by the waters of the Red Sea, that is interpreted as “the earth swallowed them”.

Exo 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
Exo 15:5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
Exo 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Exo 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
Exo 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
Exo 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
Exo 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Exo 15:12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

But how do the armies of Egypt being destroyed in the sea apply to our lives? Here is one example of what a flood is in spiritual, scriptural terms:

Isa 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

The lies of the adversary are signified by “a flood” from his mouth. That is the negative application of the word ‘flood’. The positive application refers to the words of Truth from the Lord, from His mouth and from the mouths of His elect:

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Luk 6:45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

The Lord tells us that His Truthful words are spirit (Joh 6:63), and it is His words of Truth which are our refuge and our defence, which are “lifted up as a standard” against all the lies of “the enemy”. Every soldier of the armies of Egypt and Babylon are a symbol of the lies of the Adversary. Every ‘soldier of Christ’ speaks only His Truths:

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2Ti 2:5  And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

‘Striving lawfully’ for Christ requires that the soldier of Christ “endure hardness”. It requires that we “resist not evil: but… turn the other cheek also”:

Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Enduring that kind of ‘hardness’ infuriates the adversary:

Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Once we are made to see this woman is “in the wilderness” and we see her as being on the same page with the serpent in seeking to destroy God’s elect, then we will begin to understand why the dragon makes war, not with her, but “with the remnant of her seed…” Only then will we begin to understand why her seed is prophesied to always be at war with the seed of the serpent. Now we can understand why the seed of the serpent is prophesied, from the very beginning, to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, while her seed is prophesied to bruise the head of the serpent.

Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Israel is both a type of God’s elect on the one hand, and she is also a type of God’s harlot wife who wants to kill the Christ and His Christ in another instance. Only when we see that the first Adam is a figure of the last Adam, and the first Pharaoh in the story of Joseph typifies the Father, while the Pharaoh of Moses’ day typifies the beast as the seed of the serpent, will we understand how the woman of Rev 12 can be described in such glowing terms and still be “in the wilderness” and completely unqualified to be with Christ on His throne. It is because the woman of Rev 12, who is not caught up to God and to His throne, is the same as the woman of Rev 17-18, with the same sins as the seven churches who have in them the Nicolaitans, and who also suffer “that woman Jezebel to teach”, and yet thinks she is “rich and increased with good and has need of nothing” in Revelation chapters 2-3.

Rev 2:15  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans [Greek ‘rule the  laity’], which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Rev 2:18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet [are] like fine brass;
Rev 2:19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last [to be] more than the first.
Rev 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

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:

Like the church in Thyatira, there are many good things to be said about the woman who brings forth the man child. She is “clothed with the sun and the moon is under her feet”. She is filled with “gold, silver, and precious stones”, the necessary materials for the true temple of God.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

Rev 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

But they are not yet “tried in fire”, which is essential to the gold, silver and precious stones that make up the true temple of God. The churches of Revelation 2-3 have the same self-satisfied spirit we find in the harlot of Revelation 17-18:

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;
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.

That “trying fire” is the words concerning God’s wrath and his judgments upon our ungodliness that these chapters 12-15 are leading up to and are introducing. This is all “the days when the seventh angel begins to sound”. Chapters 12-15 are the ‘bitterness in the belly’ which these judgments produce in our lives when we eat the little book in the angel’s hand:

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Rev 10:8  And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

We have seen that the woman of Rev 12 is the same woman found in the seven churches of chapters 2-3, thinking so highly of herself, when she is nothing more than a “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked… whore”. She is the same “great harlot” found in chapters 17-18. What we have learned is that the man child who comes out of this woman is also the true bride of Christ, and that this woman in Rev 12, for all the glowing words used to describe her, is still the same harlot woman of chapters 17-18:

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

This woman of Revelation 12 is completely unqualified to ascend up to God and to His throne as the true bride of Christ, which is what the man child, who comes out of this woman, signifies and is found worthy to do.

I once had a prominent Concordant minister condescendingly tell me… “Mike you can’t be ‘wife’ and a ‘son’ at the same time”. I asked him… “Why then does Paul tell us that we “are the sons of God” in Romans, and “I have espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” in 2 Corinthians?

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of 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.

That minister had absolutely no response and yet his pride would not permit him acknowledge that Paul calls us both “sons of God” and “a chaste virgin presented to one husband… Christ”.

We have seen that God refers his work of bringing this woman into the wilderness as “bearing her on eagles’ wings”, the same words used to tell us how He had brought Israel to Himself in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. We have seen that “a time, and times and half a time” is the same as 1260 days or 42 months, and we saw once again that this is the symbol for the time we spend both receiving God’s witness while we are yet “under the law”, while we are “in our place prepared for us of God” to be nourished with bread which will “bring us to Christ”, but which is not itself the true bread of life.

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

We saw that this same period of time also symbolizes the time we spend witnessing for the Lord to those who are still under the schoolmaster and under the bondage of the law of Moses.

Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

We have seen that the flood that comes out of the mouth of the dragon is the lies that always come from his mouth, and we saw that those lies were well received of the woman, serving to deflect the wrath of the dragon off of the woman and onto “the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. In other words, what we saw is that the woman who is being carried on eagles’ wings, is all the while on the same page with the great dragon who blames God and His messengers for bringing her into the wilderness to die. Both she and the dragon want to destroy her own seed, the “man child”, who also happens to be the symbol of the true bride of Christ, who is qualified and worthy to sit with Him on His throne in the heavens.

Finally we have seen the scriptures, which demonstrate that the earth and this harlot woman who is not qualified to sit with Christ on His throne, are spiritually and scripturally one and the same.

In our next study, if the Lord wills, we will begin to see how our worshiping of the beast is revealed to be “and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority”, us worshiping the great red dragon.

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:ear

Rev 12:14-17 – Part 1 – The Earth Helped the Woman

[Study Aired Dec 27, 2024]

Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

All the symbols of scripture are taken from previous verses. The two witnesses are explained in Zechariah 4 as those who speak “the Word of the Lord” according to Zec 4:6. The ‘woman’ of this chapter, and the 17^th and 18^th chapters signifies the harlot of Isa 1:21.

Zec 4:3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
Zec 4:4  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
Zec 4:5  Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

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.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: butIsrael doth not know,my [apostate] people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

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

If we hope to understand the meaning of this “signified” revealing of Jesus Christ within us, and if we have any hope of understanding how we are to “keep the things written therein”, then we must always go back to the Old Testament to discover what the “two wings of a great eagle… a flood… [and] the earth opened it mouth ” means.

Mat 13:52  Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new [Testament] and old [Testament].

When we do that then we will discover that it was the same ‘woman’ in the Old Testament, who was “carried into the wilderness” upon these same ‘eagle’s wings’ that were used here in the New Testament to “fly Israel into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished… [and kept safe] from the face of the serpent” even as she continues to rebel against her own Savior:

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

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

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them,so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

We will also discover there in that Old Testament story of the Lord’s sad relationship with His own people when He delivered them from the bondage of Egypt what is meant by “the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman”, and we will see how “the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed up the flood…”

Finally, if we want to be “instructed unto the kingdom of heaven”, we will also have to use “things old”, things in the Old Testament, to determine who are those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.

Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Here is where “the wings of an eagle” are first mentioned in scripture. It is while Israel, the Lord’s own people are “in the wilderness”, at Mount Sinai, at the giving of the law of Moses to Israel.

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

But where is Israel when God is telling them these words? Like this woman who brings forth this man child, Israel is “in the wilderness”, at the base of Mount Sinai, just before Israel turns her back on God and makes the golden calf whom she then claims as her God who brought her up out of Egypt. They are yet to rebel against Him ten times.

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

Israel herself, is rebelling against the Lord even as He is in the process of delivering her from her own bondage. Yet this is how the Lord provided for Israel while they were “the church [“the woman”] in the wilderness”:

Exo 16:4  Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

Israel, the ‘woman’ who brought forth the man child, rebelled against the Lord even as He nourished her with symbolic “bread from heaven”. But it wasn’t “the True Bread From Heaven”:

Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

The law of Moses signifies the manna which was “not that [True] Bread From Heaven”. The law of Moses signifies the “land of milk and honey” which is for carnal babes in Christ who cannot yet receive the ‘strong meat’ which is “the True Bread From Heaven”. The law of Moses signifies the basic principles of the doctrine of Christ which will retard out spiritual growth if we do not go beyond those basic principles:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

This ‘woman’ who brings forth this mature ‘man child’, is taken into the wilderness on “two wings of a great eagle”. The only other place in scripture where a ‘woman’ is taken into the wilderness “on eagles’ wings” is:

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself [in the wilderness].

Why isn’t this ‘woman’ caught up unto the Lord and to His throne with the man child that comes out of her? The reason this ‘woman’ is taken into the wilderness where she has a place prepared of God is given us is these verses:

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

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

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.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

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

“The woman” who brought forth “a man child” is “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”:

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.

If we are “in Christ” then we are at this very moment “seated with Christ in the heavens”:

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

If we are “in Christ Jesus” then we are the “man child” who was “caught up to God and His throne”, even while being “the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

In our next study we will see how the scriptures reveal that the “manchild” is both in heaven and at the same time is on this earth as “the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.

Nevertheless, we are told that this time we spend in rebellion against our own husband and as a part of a great harlot worshipping a golden calf is all an integral part of God “bringing us to Himself”:

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself [in the wilderness].

Rev 12, 13, 14 and 15 all chronicle us as those who are being judged for our unfaithfulness in this present time leading up to the pouring out of God’s wrath upon our own unrighteousnesses, and this is what we are told twice about all of these things revealed in these chapters.

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the beast and the dragon], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

“All that dwell upon the earth shall worship the beast”, is followed by “Here is the patience and faith of the saints”. We will encounter this same apparent contradiction in the 14^th chapter where we will again be told that those who worship the beast will be tormented day and night and “the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever”, immediately followed by the same apparent contradiction we read in chapter 12:

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

To get the full impact of these counterintuitive verses let’s read them in their full context:

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

The few who are given eyes that see and ears that hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God will acknowledge that “fire [and brimstone] shall try every man’s works of what sort they are”:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire [and brimstone, Rev 14:10]; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work [in “this present time”, Rom 8:18] abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work [in “this present time”] shall be burned , he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

It is enduring these trials and tribulations and enduring the pouring out of God’s wrath on all of our ungodlinesses, in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) which “is the patience and faith of the saints” (Rev 13:10). “Blessed are they that read, and hear, and keep the things written therein, for the time is at hand…” to keep all these sections of scripture. It must be so because, after all, exactly how many men receive the mark of the beast?

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

How could we have missed seeing this plain statement except we were blinded by the One who came to blind all who claim that they do see?

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.

Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

The natural man reads this verse here in Rev 12 and concludes that this woman is at variance with the dragon. After all we are told that she “is nourished… from the face of the serpent.” But does “nourished… from the face of the serpent” mean that the woman is at odds with the doctrine of the serpent? Absolutely not! Israel worshipped a golden calf even as the Lord was dragging her out of Egypt. If the woman were really at odds with the doctrine of the serpent, then she too would have been caught up to God and to His throne with the man child she brought forth. Instead we see her, just as we see Israel at the time of her exodus from Egypt, fleeing into the wilderness, all the while seeking the destruction of God’s typical “man child”, Moses.

Exo 17:4  And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

Israel, the type of the “woman [who] brought forth a man child”, is to be found “in the wilderness… nourished… from the face of the serpent”, yet wanting to “return to Egypt”, and siding with the adversary against their God and His messenger, Moses. That is the spiritual state of this “woman” who has “flown into the wilderness where she is nourished… from the face of the serpent”. It is only our lack of knowledge of the scriptures which keeps us from getting the point that is being made.

Again, how are we told she was taken there?

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

If this verse were not here along with Rev 12:14, we would not know that God considers our time in the wilderness to be given to us by the agency of “the wings of a great eagle”, an unclean bird. The very fact that this statement is given to Israel at the base of Mount Sinai, “which answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, tells us that God considers our time in the wilderness as well as our time in Babylon, as an integral part of His “bringing us to Himself”.

Here is what the holy spirit has inspired to be written concerning this woman at Mount Sinai, in the book of Galatians:

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 [“Jersalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”] 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 [Gentile Galatians] are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

“The desolate has many more children than she which has a husband”? How is that possible? That is definitely not a natural statement. The natural man sees the words “born after… the freewoman” and just naturally thinks of Sarah’s natural children in physical Jerusalem. But as is always the case, the things of the spirit are hidden and counterintuitive to the natural man. So we are told that life comes only through death, sight comes only through blindness, peace comes only through sending a sword, and Sarah’s natural children have become “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, while Hagar and her Gentile children, are now brought near to God by the cross of Christ. These words here in Gal 4 are seen and read, but they are not perceived by the natural man because:

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

So it is with this “woman… in the wilderness.” Only those who are given the gift of “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” will understand how Sarah’s physical seed has become “the [spiritual] children of the bondmaid”, while the Gentiles who accept Christ, even if they are physical Galatians or the physical seed of Hagar, have now become “the children of the freewoman… through the faith of Christ”.

Gal 2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

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:

Because this is so easily missed, for those who are given to see this, here it is again:

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren [Gentile Galatians], as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son [physical Jerusalem, and physical Jews]: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman [Gentiles who are in Christ].
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we [Gentiles in Christ] are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Notice, it was both Pharaoh and Israel who wanted Moses dead. Nevertheless, Pharaoh, the agent of the serpent with a serpent upon his head in all the sculptures and coffins of the Pharaohs, sought to destroy the “seed of the woman [who was] the mother of all living”.

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

We have seen that being “nourished for a time, and times and half a time” is the same as “forty and two months, or one thousand two hundred and sixty days”. They are all the same symbol of both the time we are witnessed to by God’s elect while we are yet of our father the devil, as well as the time we spend as God’s witnesses to those who are still “the seed of the serpent”. Here we are as those who are being witnessed to by God’s “two witnesses”:

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

Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

And here we are first as unconverted ‘Gentiles’, and later as God’s two witnesses to the woman in the wilderness, also know as “that great city wherein our Lord was crucified”.

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
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.

Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

Here in Exo 14 is the Old Testament type of this “woman [who] brought forth a man child” and who is then pursued by the serpent who “casts out of his mouth water as a flood… that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood”. Here in Exo 14 we also see how both this woman and the serpent feel about Moses, who in this case is the symbol of “the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”:

Exo 14:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 14:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
Exo 14:3  For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They [are] entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Exo 14:4  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
Exo 14:5  And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
Exo 14:6  And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
Exo 14:7  And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
Exo 14:8  And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
Exo 14:9  But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
Exo 14:10  And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
Exo 14:11  And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12  Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

Israel, the shadow of the woman in the wilderness, is on board with Pharaoh in seeking to destroy God’s elect who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. In a very real sense, “the serpent was wroth [‘along with the woman’ as well as] with her seed”.

We will pause our study at this point and in our next study we will seek to understand the spiritual significance of the flood which the dragon cast out of His mouth by which he hoped to carry away the woman and the remnant of her seed.

Ezekial 10:1-22 The Cherubims and the Wheels

[Study Aired March 25, 2023]

Introduction

Our discussion for today is centered on the vision the Lord gave to Ezekiel pertaining to the cherubims and the wheels when he was by the river of Chebar in Babylon. This was the second time that Ezekiel had this vision regarding the cherubims and the wheels. This second vision was to establish what the Lord has shown Ezekiel regarding the cherubims and the four wheels.

2Co 13:1  This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

This chapter also deals with the scattering of the coals of fire, which were taken from between the cherubim, upon the city. The study also gives us insight regarding the removal of the glory of God from the temple, and its subsequent position over the cherubims.

The Work of the Man Clothed with Linen

Eze 10:1  Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

By comparing scripture with scripture, we can see that the cheribims are the same as the four living creatures described in Ezekiel chapter 1 as follows:

Eze 1:22  And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

Eze 1:26  And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

Eze 10:15  And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.

As we indicated in chapter 1, the four living creatures, or the cherubims, represent the whole of the Lord’s elect of every generation. This conclusion was based on Revelation chapter 5 where the living creatures are symbolized by the four beasts and the twenty-four elders before the throne, and they all confessed to representing every tongue and tribe.

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.

The firmament that was above the heads of the cherubims in verse 1 is described in chapter 1 of Ezekiel as having the color of a terrible crystal.

Eze 1:22  And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

The likeness of the firmament or expanse appearing as the color of the terrible or fearful crystal over the heads of the living creatures brings to mind the overcomers standing on the sea of glass. This appearance of the firmament as a fearful crystal is the same as the sea of glass the overcomers were standing on in the Book of Revelation. The difference between the two narrations is the position of the elect. In Ezekiel, the living creatures representing the elect were yet to experience the appearance of the fearful crystal, since it was over their heads. In the case of the sea of glass, the elect had experienced it and had overcome.

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Rev 4:6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

The sea refers to the laver filled with water between the tent of meeting and the altar where only the priests were to wash and cleanse themselves before entering the temple. It is also called the molten sea, which is consistent with the sea of glass mingled with fire. The sea of glass is therefore the fire of the word of the Lord which washes us of everything of the flesh to make us transparent before God and man.

Again, by comparing scripture with scripture, we can see that we are given to know who sits on the throne of our hearts and minds – the God of Israel. This God of Israel is our Lord Jesus Christ who comes with His judgment as He comes to us to sit in the throne of our hearts and mind.

Exo 24:10  And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

The sapphire stone which appeared over the cherubims represents the truth of the word of the Lord as shown in the following verse:

Rev 21:19  And the foundations of the wall of the city (the New Jerusalem) were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

The sapphire pavement before the throne of Christ therefore indicates that being given to know the truth of the word of the Lord means Christ coming with His judgment of our old man to sit in the throne of our hearts and minds.

The Scattering of the Coals of Fire Over the City

Eze 10:2  And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.

As indicated in the previous study, the man clothed with linen represents the Lord’s elect as shown in the following verses:

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.

As we indicated in the study of the wheels under the four living creatures in Ezekiel chapter 1, the wheels represent our lives here on earth which must be controlled by our lives in the spirit signified by the four living creatures or the cherubims. That is, when we walk in the spirit or sit in heavenly places with Christ, our earthen vessels (the wheels) are carried along by the spirit to please the Lord. The Lord asking the elect (the man clothed with linen) to go in between the wheels, under the cherub, to fill his hands with coals of fire from in between the cherubims signifies that it is when we come into the church of the firstborn or the assembly of the elect that we are given to experience the fire of the Lord’s words, which is the judgment of our old man.

1Jn 1:1  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
1Jn 1:2  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
1Jn 1:3  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Scattering these coals of fire over the city means spreading the news or making known the fire of the word of the Lord, which is the judgment of our old man in the church symbolized here by the city. 

The Cherubims and the Glory of the Lord

Eze 10:3  Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. 
Eze 10:4  Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD’S glory. 

The position of the cherubims in the house of the Lord is significant. In verse 3, the cherubims were standing on the right side of the house of God when the man clothed in linen entered. As indicated, the cherubims represent the Lord’s elect. Standing on the right side of the house of God means being on the right side of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being at the Lord’s right hand means that the Lord will surely uphold us or save us because of His righteousness.

Isa 41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Psa 16:11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psa 138:7  Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

The cloud that had filled the inner court represents the Lord coming to us through His elect, who are symbolized by the cloud of witnesses. In this dispensation, it is through us, His elect, that the Lord speaks to His people since we are Jesus whom the world is persecuting.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Exo 19:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

The glory of the God of Israel, which went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house in verse 4, indicates that it is when we enter the church of the firstborn or the house of the Lord, that is, the threshold, that we hear His words out of the midst of the fire of our affliction.

Deu 5:24  And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

Exo 24:16  And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 
Exo 24:17  And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

What these verses tell us is that in this age, those who are privileged to see the glory of the Lord are those who are hearing His words in the midst of the furnace of their affliction. In Exodus 24:16, this glory of the Lord was covered by the cloud for six days. The number six represents mankind. What this means is that, in this age (six days), you can only see the glory of the Lord through the elect. The seventh day is when we shall be called by the Lord to reign with Him as we rest from our labors.

The brightness of the Lord’s glory in verse 4 refers to His words which He makes available to us when He comes into our lives with the spirit of His mouth.

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Eze 10:5  And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.

The sound of the cherubims wings which was heard even in the outer courts in verse 5 refers to our being given to hear the Lord’s voice unmistakably, even while we were in Babylon (outer courts). That was when we started to know the truth of His words from the lies that we were accustomed to in Babylon. 

Eze 10:6  And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.
Eze 10:7  And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.

As indicated, the wheels stand for our lives in this earthen vessel. Standing by the wheels in preparation to obey the command to take fire from between the wheels and the cherubims in verse 6 means realizing our frailties or weaknesses as we live in these earthen vessels. It is when we see our frailties that we come to understand the need to be judged for what we have done in this earthen vessel. That is when we are given to experience the judgment of our old man, signified by the cherub taking the fire between the cherubims and putting it into the hands of the man clothed in linen as shown in verse 7. The man in linen taking the fire and going out means his acceptance of the Lord’s judgment of our old man.

Joh 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 

Psa 73:21  Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
Psa 73:22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

Psa 51:1  To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 
Psa 51:2  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 
Psa 51:3  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 
Psa 51:4  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

The cherubims and the Wheels

Eze 10:8  And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings.

Having the hands of a man under their wings in verse 8 shows our dual citizenship. We live in the flesh here on earth, but at the same time, we are seated in heavenly places with Christ in the spirit.

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;) 
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.

Eze 10:9  And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.
Eze 10:10  And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

As we have indicated, the cherubims are the same as the living creatures who represent the Lord’s elect. The number four means the whole of the Lord’s elect from every generation. The four wheels by the cherubims are controlled by the spirit of the Lord as shown in the following verse:

Eze 1:20  Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

What is significant is that this wheel was upon the earth but filled with the spirit of the Lord. The earth signifies us, as earthen vessels, and therefore the wheels on the earth with the spirit of the Lord in them represent the treasure in earthen vessels.

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

This means that the four wheels represent the whole of the elect as earthen vessels that are led by the spirit of the Lord. The cherubims signify the elect in our heavenly status where we are raised up to sit with Christ in heavenly places. The wheels represent us as earthen vessels where we are moved by the spirit of the Lord which empower us to live a life pleasing to the Lord to become witnesses here on earth. This means that without the spirit of the Lord, we are just like the people of this world.

Act 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Verse 9 confirms our assertion that the wheels symbolize the elect as the appearance of the wheels resemble the color beryl. The mention of the color of beryl reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ whose body appeared as beryl in a vision by Daniel. 

Dan 10:5  Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:
Dan 10:6  His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.

Beryl is also one of the twelve precious stones that serve as the foundation of the wall of New Jerusalem. These precious stones signify the precious words of the Lord who is also Christ. What this implies is that the appearance of the wheels and their works as the color of beryl is another way of saying that as He is, so are we here on this earth. In other words, we are like Christ here on this earth, and our works serve as witness of Christ even as the Lord Jesus’ works here on earth serve as witness to our Father God.

Rev 21:19  And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
Rev 21:20  The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

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

Verse 10 also mentions that the four wheels had one likeness in their appearance. The one likeness means the elect of every generation all have the same spiritual experience and therefore they all go through the same judgment of our old man to exhibit Christ. 

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 

In verse 10, the appearance of the wheels was likened to a wheel within a wheel. In Ezekiel 1:16, we are given additional information that the work of the wheels was likened to a wheel within a wheel. It is Christ who lives within His elect, and therefore the wheel within the wheel is Christ within the elect. 

Eze 1:16  The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

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.

Eze 10:11  When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went. 

The wheels are such that they go in any of the four directions without turning as they go. This was because they follow after the head who is Christ, in whom there is no shadow of turning. This is the same as Paul saying that in pursuit of the higher calling of God, we must not turn to look behind but reach for those things which are before us.

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Eze 10:12  And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.

Comparing this verse with Ezekiel 1:18, we can see that the rings are the same as the wheels who were full of eyes round about.

Eze 1:18  As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

Here in Ezekiel 1:18, we are given to know that the “rings” or the rims in the wheels were so high and dreadful and are full of eyes.  The adjective “high” is used in the positive sense in the word of the Lord to signify the heavens. The following verses make this clear:

Job 11:8  It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

Psa 103:11  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

The word “dreadful” on a positive note is another accolade of the Lord especially to those who do not know Him.

Mal 1:14  But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

Dan 9:4  And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

The rings being the same as the wheel and being as high as the heavens refer to our walk here on earth which is in the spirit. To those who do not know the Lord, our walk in the spirit is a dreadful or horrible experience because of the fiery trials that accompany it. Being full of eyes roundabout suggest that we, His elect, have been given the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven to guide our walk here on earth.

Eze 10:13  As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.
Eze 10:14  And everyone had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 

As He is, so are we here on earth. The number four means the whole of the matter, and therefore the four faces show us the whole of Christ while He was here on earth. The face of a lion shows us the Lord as the lion of the tribe of Judah. The Gospel of Matthew describes the Lord as a lion of the tribe of Judah. Like a lion, the Lord did not turn back from all the trials and tribulations that He encountered in this life. He will not rest until He makes our enemies (our flesh) a footstool, that is, defeat our enemies. What He starts, He is able to bring to completion!!

Rev 5:5  And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. 

Pro 30:30  the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any;

Isa 31:4  For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.

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: 

The Lord is also described as an ox. This is especially portrayed in the Gospel according to Mark where the Lord worked tirelessly during His time here on earth. We are given indication of this as Mark uses the expression ““and straightway… and immediately”. This implies that as His elect, the Lord is tirelessly working out our salvation. We must also work while it is day. 

Pro 14:4  Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

Mar 1:10  And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

Mar 1:21  And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.

The wheels also had the face of a man. The Gospel according to Luke shows us Jesus as a man. That is why at the beginning of the Book of Luke, Luke traced the genealogy of Christ back to Adam, the son of God. The Lord Jesus was a man in every way. That is why He represents us as our High Priest since He went through all that we are going through. As a result, we are able to come boldly before Him to receive mercy and grace at our point of need. 

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.
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.

The wheels had the face of an eagle. The Gospel of John focuses on the revelation of the Lord from a heavenly perspective of an eagle, which represents the spiritual realm. In other words, John paid attention to the spiritual aspect of the life of Christ since it is the spirit that gives life. We must therefore focus on having our spiritual understanding enlightened as we seek to know Christ.

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

As an eagle, the Lord is bearing us, His elect, on His wings as He protects us and leads us in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake. In conclusion, as Christ is, so are we. We therefore must have the faces of a lion, ox, man, and an eagle.

Deu 32:9  For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
Deu 32:10  He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 
Deu 32:11  As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
Deu 32:12  So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

Eze 10:15  And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
Eze 10:16  And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. 
Eze 10:17  When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. 

The cherubims being lifted up signifies the elect being raised to sit in heavenly places with Christ. The wheels also represent the elect having treasure in their earthen vessels here on earth. It is when we are sitting in the heavenly places with Christ, empowered by the spirit, that we are able to influence our earthen vessels or bodies to follow wherever we go.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 
Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Eze 10:18  Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. 
Eze 10:19  And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

As we have shown earlier, seeing the glory of the Lord is being given to hear the Lord’s words out of the fire of our affliction. The glory of the Lord standing over the cherubims in verse 18 indicates that hearing the voice of the Lord and its accompanying fiery trials is a prerogative given to only the Lord’s elect in this age. It is as the glory of the Lord stands over us, causing us to hear His words, that we are lifted up to sit in heavenly places with Christ as we mount up with wings like an eagle. 

Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Eze 10:20  This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.
Eze 10:21  Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
Eze 10:22  And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.

This is the second time that the Lord showed Ezekiel a vision relating to the cherubims and the wheels by the river of Chebar in Babylon. It is therefore to establish the fact regarding how we are seated in heavenly places with Christ and at the same time living as ordinary men here on earth. Our lives here on earth is therefore like having a treasure in earthen vessels. This treasure is Christ in us, the hope of glory. If we are indeed seated with Christ in heavenly places, then our lives here on earth must be directed by our walk in the spirit.

2Co 13:1  This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

May the Lord be merciful to us as we learn to walk in the spirit and therefore deny the desires of the flesh.  Amen!!

Malachi 4:1-6  Healing In His Wings

[Study Aired January 18, 2024]

Last week we looked at how John the baptist was the messenger of God who prepared the way of the Lord in the wilderness for Christ (Isa 40:3-5, Mat 3:1-3), as a type of the elect bride of Christ who will be prepared to receive her husband (Rev 19:7) in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye at the first resurrection (1Th 4:16-18). 

Mat 3:3  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

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. 

Our life of overcoming in this flesh is a process that is explained by John himself who realized he must decrease and Christ must increase (Joh 3:30). In John’s mind, that was a very physical statement, as he was acknowledging the greatness of Christ in the earth (Joh 1:27), but for the elect it is an inward statement that we are blessed to contemplate as we think upon our hope of glory within, Jesus Christ, the treasure in earthen vessels (Col 1:27, 2Co 4:7), who increases in us by the growth that God gives, even as we decrease (1Co 3:6-8). 

The meek who inherit the earth are typified by John the baptist, and through Christ God’s elect become the generation who have no confidence in the flesh (Php 3:3  how that fleshly confidence is taken away Mat 24:34, Heb 12:6, Heb 5:8), while at the same time we don’t cast away our confidence in Christ, which has great recompense of reward (Heb 10:35), thanks to the faith of Christ that makes it possible for us to endure until the end in order to be saved in this age (Luk 22:31-32, Mat 24:13). That recompense of reward is to be the bride of Christ and to be blessed to inherit the earth as His bride (Mat 5:5, Oba 1:21, Gal 4:27), we being His inheritance and He ours (Eph 1:18-19, Psa 16:5-11).

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,

Psa 16:5  The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Psa 16:6  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
Psa 16:7  I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
Psa 16:8  I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Psa 16:9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

In this last chapter of Malachi, we’ll look at how all the prophets of old, including John, prophesied not to themselves but to us, the body of Christ (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11), and how Elias who had restored all things in his day, and John the baptist in his day, are all types and shadows of the true spiritual restoration which will come to the world through the church, of which Christ is the head (Eph 3:10, Col 1:18). Christ is our preeminent forerunner in all things (Col 1:18), and His body, the church, must fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24) identifying with this statement of Christ (Mar 9:12-13), being “accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36) who must supernaturally be armed with the mind of Christ, the faith of Christ to endure unto the end in order to be “more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Mar 9:12  And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.
Mar 9:13  But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

[John coming in the spirit of Elias is a parable of how Christ came in the spirit of His father and how we are sent as Christ was sent with the same spirit (Joh 20:21, Joh 6:37, 1Jn 4:17) Whatever was restored was restored up to that point which God had intended according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). Christ went on to say that, with God’s holy spirit, the body of Christ would do greater works than what He had done, speaking of the spiritual restoration of those called and chosen in this age, and that which the body of Christ would do beyond this age as well (Joh 14:12)]

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:

Joh 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

This day “that shall burn as an oven” is referring to the day of our visitation, the day of the Lord for those who are being judged now (1Pe 4:17), and also referring to the lake of fire or great white throne judgment for those who will be judged then (Rev 20:14-15). 

Ultimately all the sin of the world will be washed by the blood of the lamb (Joh 1:29) and “all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble“, which represents all the sin of the world that God tells us “the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Those things are first burnt out of the elect so that their lives can be transformed and conform with Christ’s life (Rom 12:2). We are preserved through that judgment (Jud 1:1, 1Th 5:23) that takes away all of our false foundations that we all start off with in Babylon, represented by this statement – “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.“

Joh 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

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.

Jud 1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Mar 4:24  And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
Mar 4:25  For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch“

Jud 1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 
Php 2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Php 2:16  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;^H3671 and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

It is the “Sun of righteousness” that bears us on eagle’s wings (Exo 19:4) causing us to “grow up as calves of the stall.” Christ represents the bullock in the offerings of the old covenant (Exo 29:14), and it is those who fear His name who will “grow up as calves of the stall” just as He grew up fearing God and was heard of Him “in that he feared” (Heb 5:7-8, Luk 12:5). 

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings^H3671, and brought you unto myself.

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

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

The bullock is taken without the camp to be burnt and when we go without the camp with Christ who is represented by that bullock and lay down our lives for each other, we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake (Col 1:24), a dying daily event of having no fear of what man can do to our flesh (Mat 10:28), but rather supernaturally going where our flesh does not want to go, even giving no thought in that hour what you shall speak, not even premeditating on it, because the Lord will be our strength and the holy spirit will give us what to speak in that hour as God makes “known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27, Joh 21:18-19, Mar 13:11-13). Christ has preeminence in fulfilling all these living sacrifices of the old covenant that represent what he has done for us, and because we partake of the life of Christ through our communion in him (1Co 10:16), we also can be strengthened as he was to go without the camp and fulfill God’s will in this life through those sacrifices. In other words carrying our cross and following Christ is what is preparing us for whatever God has set before us to His glory (1Jn 4:17, Heb 13:13-16).

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

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:

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Heb 13:16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Mal 4:3  And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

Christ is our strength, as the bullock within (Col 1:27) who gives us the power to “tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.” Like the bullock that is sacrificed without the camp and burnt until there is nothing left but ashes, so is our first Adamic life put off through a life time of much tribulation (Act 14:22) that burns up that wickedness, eventually, onto the third day (Luk 13:32), leaving “neither root nor branch” within our naturally carnal and desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9), to the point where we can overcome the wickedness of this world within and without and not be controlled any longer by our former conversation in the earth as we go without the camp with Christ (Eph 2:1-6).

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

The question always remains, “Who is doing this work within us?” As always, the answer never changes. It is Christ ‘the bullock’ working within us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure. If our eyes are set on the strength which God has promised He will give us through Christ, we will be more than conquerors through Him, and we will not grow weary in well doing (Gal 6:9-10) as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling knowing that it is Christ who is working in us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure in our lives (Php 2:12-13).

Gal 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

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

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 [Col 1:27, Joh 14:20].

Mal 4:4  Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Verse four of Malachi is juxtaposed against the last two verses. In verse four we’re told to “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant.” That is the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9) that does not change the heart, and all the “statutes and judgments” only typify a better covenant, the law of the spirit of life in Christ (Rom 8:2) which will be typified by the prophet Elijah whose life is a shadow of the life of God’s elect who have been called to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.”

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,

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

The law was given in Horeb^H2722, a name that is typical of how the law cannot produce any good spiritual fruit in anyone’s life: [desolate ,  parch (through drought), that is, (by analogy) to desolate, destroy, kill: – decay, (be) desolate, destroy (-er), (be) dry (up), slay, X surely, (lay, lie, make) waste].

Horeb  H2722 chôrêb kho-rabe’

From H2717; desolate; Choreb, a (generic) name for the Sinaitic mountains: – Horeb.

Total KJV occurrences: 17

H2717 chârab    chârêb khaw-rab’, khaw-rabe’

A primitive root; to parch (through drought), that is, (by analogy) to desolate, destroy, kill: – decay, (be) desolate, destroy (-er), (be) dry (up), slay, X surely, (lay, lie, make) waste.

Total KJV occurrences: 40

The law was for all of Israel, which in this instance Israel typifies all the world that are under governors and tutors, under the schoolmaster, whether that schoolmaster is the ten commandments for Jews and Christians or the law unto themselves that gentiles are in the world (Rom 2:14-15). 

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Both parties are governed by law, but that law does not convert the heart of mankind. Rather it shows us how inadequate we are and incapable of our own selves to reflect a righteous spirit which can only come from God (Rom 7:13). Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to God (Isa 64:6), and that will be revealed in time by God who creates this contrast for humanity so that in time we will all be able to “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” within ourselves first and foremost (Mal 3:18).

Mal 4:5  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 

What exactly is “the great and dreadful day of the LORD” in which Elijah the prophet will be sent just prior to its unfolding? The dreadful day of the LORD is the dreadful day when our old man is exposed by the brightness of Christ’s coming, nothing more and nothing less (2Th 2:2-13). Elijah typifies the spirit of God that comes into our lives to destroy that man of sin on the throne of our hearts preparing the way for the physical Christ in his case as oppose to these verses in Thessalonians that reveal a time when the holy spirit will convict those who God has given his spirit (Rom 8:9) so that they can be prepared for the return of Christ as His bride (Rev 19:7).

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Mal 4:6  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

In the last verse of Malachi, we see the fruit of what Christ coming into our land produces (Isa 26:9), and it is an admonition for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear today that God is able to turn us to observe His truth (Joh 6:44). He is the one who turns the heart of the fathers to the children, meaning He gives us the desire and strength to labor in His word and continue in the truth (Joh 8:31-32). The doctrine is likened to seed and children, and if we are blessed to have a hunger and thirst for that word, we will continue to be drawn as disciples to Christ who alone can satiate that hunger and thirst for righteousness (Mat 5:6).

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. 

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

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

The father represents the head and Christ is our head, and if he is leading us he is turning us to God’s word “fathers to the children.” He is also using the church to receive those who are being dragged to Christ “children to their fathers“, and so Christ admonishes us to not just look to our own needs but to all the needs (Php 2:4) of the body as well and to receive the children as Christ did (Mat 18:10-14).

Php 2:4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Mat 18:10  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 
Mat 18:11  For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Mat 18:12  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
Mat 18:13  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Mat 18:14  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

The children are drawn to the fathers, meaning to the mature among us, to the leaders, to the heads in the church, and our response must always be to support and love one another, bearing the infirmity of the weak, the young spiritually (Rom 15:1-3), and not taking for granted what it is that our Father is doing in His house (Heb 2:3, Heb 10:25).

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 
Rom 15:2  Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. 
Rom 15:3  For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

If we do not pay heed to this commandment, and to all of God’s commandments, it will be of the LORD as well, and He will “come and smite the earth with a curse” for our inattentiveness to what He is accomplishing within the body of Christ. If we are called and chosen and faithful to the end, that chastisement will only make us that much more zealous and capable through Christ to accomplish that which He has called us to in this age (Heb 12:6-7, Tit 2:11-12, Eph 2:8).

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

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

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

God has already determined from the foundation of the world who it is that will be able to endure until the end of this age and find spiritual healing in this life via the “healing in his wings” (Mat 23:37, Gal 4:26), which typifies the life of Christ within them, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”

Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. [“even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings“]

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.

Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city [the church that says we will go to Jerusalem above where we are raised in heavenly places Lord willing], and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:[spiritual increase that comes from God alone (1Co 3:6-9)]
Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 
Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil [Rom 3:27].

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

Psa 139:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Psa 139:2  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Psa 139:3  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Psa 139:4  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Psa 139:5  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Psa 139:6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

“And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight” Heb 4:13

Psa 139:7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Psa 139:8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Psa 139:9  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Psa 139:11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
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.
Psa 139:13  For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

“Fear not, thou worm Jacob” Isa 41:14

Psa 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Psa 139:15  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Psa 139:17  How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Psa 139:18  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

“Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume” 2Th 2:8

Psa 139:19  Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
Psa 139:20  For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Psa 139:21  Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
Psa 139:22  I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

There are four distinct parts to this Psalm 139; the first describing God’s omnipotence, the second section giving us insight as to how God sees all of His creation, the third section more specifically how He sees the church, the body of Christ the workmanship of His hands, and the fourth describes how God brings light out of darkness through the judgment upon the church (1Pe 4:17). That judgment brings us to loathe sin and have a strong desire to overcome all wickedness in this age through Christ so that we can be blessed and holy to have our part in the first resurrection (Rev 20:6).

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

Psa 139:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

This first verse sets the stage for this Psalm to help us see that God is not searching us out because He doesn’t know us, anymore than He did not know where Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:9, Heb 4:13-14). Rather, God is judging the elect today for whom these verses are initially written and bringing us to give an accounting for who we are in Adam so we can become a new creation through this process of having the Lord bring us to know ourselves in Him (Pro 20:27-30, 2Co 13:5).

Gen 3:9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
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.

Pro 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
Pro 20:28  Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.
Pro 20:29  The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.
Pro 20:30  The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

God’s elect are “chief musicians” meaning we are first fruits or principle players in His spiritual orchestra which he is orchestrating (Joh 15:5) and glorifying God through the judgment we are experiencing that will in turn make the body of Christ ready (Rev 19:2-8) to be those kings and priests whom God has predestined for the very purpose of judging the rest of His creation (Rev 5:10, Oba 1:21).

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

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

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Psa 139:2  Thou knowest my downsitting^H3427 and mine uprising^H6965, thou understandest my thought afar off.

God knows the desires of our hearts because He is the one who has put those desires there in the first place (Psa 21:2, Psa 139:14-15), and God understands our thoughts afar off, our downsitting^H3427 and uprising^H6965 because they were ordained from the foundation of the world that we would continue in the Lord, or “continue in the blood of her purifying” as it is described in the old covenant for a woman who had conceived a man child (Eph 1:4-6, Lev 12:2-4, Joh 8:31-32).

H3427 yaw-shab’ downsitting

A primitive root; properly to sit down (specifically as judge, in ambush, in quiet); by implication to dwell, to remain; causatively to settle, to marry: –  (make to) abide (-ing), continue, (cause to, make to) dwell (-ing), ease self, endure, establish, X fail, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit (-ant), make to keep [house], lurking, X marry (-ing), (bring again to) place, remain, return, seat, set (-tle), (down-) sit (-down, still, -ting down, -ting [place] -uate), take, tarry.

H6965 koom uprising

A primitive root; to rise (in various applications, literally, figuratively, intensively and causatively): – abide, accomplish, X be clearer, confirm, continue, decree, X be dim, endure, X enemy, enjoin, get up, make good, help, hold, (help to) lift up (again), make, X but newly, ordain, perform, pitch, raise (up), rear (up), remain, (a-) rise (up) (again, against), rouse up, set (up), (e-) stablish, (make to) stand (up), stir up, strengthen, succeed, (as-, make) sure (-ly), (be) up (-hold, -rising).

Psa 21:2  Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.

Psa 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Psa 139:15  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

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.

Lev 12:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. [Lev 14:5-6]
Lev 12:3  And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
Lev 12:4  And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. [Lev 14:7, Rev 15:8]

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

Abraham’s seed was only typical of the holy seed God is forming through Christ (Gal 3:16), so they answered him in the next verse: “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” Joh 8:33

Psa 139:3  Thou compassest^H2219 my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

What exactly is happening when we follow Christ is that we are losing our life and gaining His life (Mat 10:39, Joh 3:30) by way of the winnowing process we are undergoing as the first fruits who are being ripened through judgment in this life (Mat 3:12).

H2219 zârâh zaw-raw’ compassest

A primitive root (compare H2114); to toss about; by implication to diffuse,  winnow: – cast away, compass, disperse, fan, scatter (away), spread, strew, winnow.

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

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

Mat 3:12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

We are His wheat which He is gathering into His garner, even as He burns up the chaff with unquenchable fire within us. When He “compassest^H2219 my path and my lying down“, it is through this process of judgment that we come to cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1, 2Ti 2:12) as our faith becomes tried in the fire that compasses us.

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

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

Being “acquainted with all my ways“, the good and the evil, the Lord knows how to deliver us from all sin (1Pe 1:7, Pro 16:4, 1Co 10:13, 1Jn 2:1).

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

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

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

1Jn 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

Psa 139:4  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

All our days are numbered and written in His book (Psa 139:16 – ASV), and this message is prophesied and spoken of throughout the word of God, every book written, and every book being written and that will be written doing exactly what God ordained that specific book to do for the overall purpose of bringing all of His creation unto salvation through Christ. Our God is so great that He writes these books in advance and says, “This is what I’m going to do declaring the end from the beginning” (1Co 15:28, Gen 4:4-7, Isa 46:10).

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.

1Co 15:28  And when all things [Eph 1:11] have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.

Gen 4:4  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

[Through the grace and faith of Christ, we bring this fat to God which is our whole life being given as a living sacrifice (Eph 2:8, Rom 12:1, Eph 1:11)]

Gen 4:5  but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. [In our appointed time, this is us (Pro 16:4, Eph 1:11]
Gen 4:6  And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door: and unto thee shall be its desire, but do thou rule over it. [In other words, in time Cain will be saved, but in the order that God has ordained]

Let’s look at these following verses (Jer 1:9-12, Joh 3:27, Heb 10:7) which witness to the fact that “For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether“

Jer 1:9  Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth:
Jer 1:10  see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
Jer 1:11  Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond-tree.
Jer 1:12  Then said Jehovah unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it.

Joh 3:27  John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven.

Psa 139:5  Thou hast beset^H6696 me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

This fifth verse explains what happens when God’s hand is on us “behind and before” encompassing us in the fire which purifies our hearts as we are sanctified through His word that is used to “beset^H6696″ our old man and bring us into alignment with the will of God (Isa 40:3).

The word “beset^H6696” really shows us what God is doing to our old man so that we can cease from sinning and live the rest of our lives to the will of God (1Pe 4:2, Joh 6:40)

H6696 tsûr tsoor  beset 

A primitive root; to cramp, that is, confine (in many applications, literally and figuratively, formative or hostile): – adversary, assault, beset, besiege, bind (up), cast, distress, fashion, fortify, inclose, lay siege, put up in bags.

1Pe 4:2  that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Joh 6:40  For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Psa 139:6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Like the miracle of physical birth [Both of these verses are to be understood inwardly (1Th 5:3, Joh 16:21)] that typifies our being born again and finally brought to mature sonship in the Lord (Eph 4:13), the journey that gets us there is through knowledge that is “too wonderful for me“, meaning it is too high for our old man to understand.  However, with the mind of Christ it is very possible to understand and see and hear as the spirit searches all things, even the deep things of Christ which we see through a glass darkly, a glass that represents our earnest relationship in the flesh (Eph 1:14). David was inspired to say these words for our benefit so we don’t forget the journey that we are on as the body of Christ being “fearfully and wonderfully made”, and we can rest in the Lord knowing that “Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written” (1Co 2:14-16, 1Co 2:10).

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Next time, Lord willing, we will continue with the 2nd part of this study subtitled “And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight” Heb 4:13.

Psa 139:7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Psa 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Psa 139:9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Psa 139:11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
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.
Psa 139:13  For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

Audio Links

Awesome Hands – part 66

“The remnant”

October 15, 2014

In our previous study covering Exodus 18, we covered the judges being setup of Israel. We covered what and who they represent scripturally, so now we are going to cover why this important event happened when it did.

We know that the timing of this event is important because the Lord has seen fit to place a time frame in the Word to tell us when this happens to us, spiritually speaking.

“In the third month”

Exo 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
Exo 19:2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

As was covered in the previous study, we are now at the “mountain of God”, the mount of Sinai. We’ve had judges set to judge, and now God wants to tell the house of Jacob something.

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

We just read that the Lord, in the third month, called for Moses from the mountain. The message the Lord has is that the children of Israel need to:

1. Remember what the Lord did to the Egyptians
2. Bared the Israelites on “eagles wings”
3. Brought them to Him

As a result of telling this to the house of Jacob, the Lord goes on to tell them to “obey His voice and keep His covenant”. If they keep the covenant they will be a:

1. A peculiar people above all people
2. A kingdom of priests
3. A holy nation

Do you think it is important to “name it and claim it”? In other words, do you think it is important to recognize our calling in the Lord and call it as it is?

How did the Lord bring “them”, the Israelites to Him? It was on eagle’s wings. Why is that important?

Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

I realize there is much symbolism in the verses above, so I am going to give brief descriptions of them so that we can see what being “bared on eagles wings” by the Lord is all about.

So, we have a lot of symbols which I am going to list now. I am following a similar pattern which was used by Mike a long time ago when he wrote an email response to a question which pertained to these verses.

I am not going to list the same exact things, but I will use the same method to lay these spiritual symbols out in a visually easy to understand way.

In the verses above we see:

1. Heavens and those dwelling there
2. Inhabiters of the earth and sea
3. Devil with great wrath
4. Dragon persecuting the woman
5. Woman bringing forth the man child
6. Woman with two great eagle wings
7. Time, times and half a time
8. Water as a flood
9. Earth opening up her mouth to swallow the flood
10. War made with the “remnant of her seed” who keep the commandments of God and have the Spirit of Prophesy, the testimony of Jesus

I think you will agree that there is a lot of spiritual symbolism being spoken here. Do not be dismayed because all of these symbols will actually work to prove to us (those given to “see” and “hear”), without doubt, that we are talking about a particular event.

Remember, we are going to relate this to the story we see unfolding in Exodus 19 when Moses is called to tell the Israelites the “words of the Lord” of which they are to obey. This is RIGHT AFTER judges have been set to judge Israel.

We see opposite factions being described with these symbols so we need to identify the different parties involved so that we can determine who it is that rides on eagle wings.

We see those that dwell in the heavens versus those that inhabit the earth and sea. We see devil with great wrath and the dragon persecuting the woman. The devil and the dragon are on and the same as defined in chapter 12 earlier.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

So the woman is persecuted but that woman is also bringing forth the “man”. “Child” is not in the text.

So, it is at the time that the woman is being persecuted with the great wrath of the dragon that the Lord gives her eagle wings to do what? She is given these wings to flee into the wilderness.

“Bare you on eagles wings”

If we connect Exodus 19:4 with Revelation, then we will start to see a pattern in WHO it is we are describing.

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

The Lord sends Satan to do all the work that the devil needs to accomplish. In the case of the Israelites, the Pharaoh persecuted them with his wrath due to what the Lord has put on his heart and mind. He believed if he didn’t get the Israelites under control they would become greater than Egypt and take over.

We then know the Israelites fled into the wilderness where we now see them being given the commandments of the Lord.

This is a simple question, but what is the PURPOSE of the commandments of God? What do those commandments accomplish?

Those commandments are used to sift those who will obey them from those who will not. Those commandments are used to make a comparison between those who love God and those who DO NOT.

The real kicker is that we do not get to define love. We do not get to say “we love God”, God is my Lord, OUTSIDE OF keeping His commandments.

2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1Jn 3:10  IN THIS the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
1Jn 3:11  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

How is it that we know we are DOING the righteousness of God and LOVING our brother? We are not permitted, YEA we are NOT COMMANDED, to define these terms on our own. These terms like righteousness and love are defined for us.

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe ON THE NAME of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Gal 5:14  For  ALL THE LAW is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Is it not becoming clear? We cannot say we love God or our neighbor by our own definitions.

We are to BELIEVE ON THE NAME of His Son Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ is not an English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Latin, Greek or Hebrew name we speak with our physical tongue.

The name of Jesus Christ is THE WORK the Son of God came to do. He brought doctrine and He said to DO IT.

2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we  WALK AFTER his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should WALK IN IT.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

Mat 7:20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that WORK INIQUITY.
Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

So again I ask a simple question, but what is the PURPOSE of the commandments of God? What do those commandments accomplish?

The commandments accomplish separating the goats from the sheep. They accomplish who will REMAIN on/in the earth, being seed of their father the devil or seed of the Father in Heaven, the remnant.

The woman can easily be seen as the “house of Jacob,” the Israelites, in this story. It is OUT OF the house of Jacob that a remnant is chosen.

Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

It was water that was used to baptize those who walked through the Red Sea. It is water that baptized those crossing the river Jordan.

It was water that was used to SEPARATE the “seed of God” from the “seed of the serpent” as was seen with the great flood that Noah and his family experienced.

It is the earth which helps the woman, but after the earth helps the woman the dragon focuses his attention on remnant of the seed.

The dragon has no use for the woman any longer once the remnant of her seed comes forth and keeps the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus.

Those that are called, which this “woman” represents, are those that GO BACK to their carnal ways, GO BACK to the “earth, earth, earth” where Satan walks “to and fro” seeking whom he may devour.

The “remnant of the seed” represents those who are chosen to keep the commandments of God.

All of this has been stated to set the foundation for the rest of Exodus 19.

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

For a time, the Lord calls us out of Egypt and Babylon. He bares us all on eagles wings to be brought into the wilderness.

It is easy to say “come out of her my people” and have no clue what that means in scripture. When you evaluate what we are being called “out of” or from, it is to be called into the wilderness to move forward with KEEPING the commandments of God.

As we have seen in scriptures listed, Love is not something we can define outside of scripture. Anyone that is sins is of the seed of the devil, and sin is in us all.

Since we are told to believe on the name of the Son Jesus we can confidently conclude that whatsoever is not of Faith is sin.

So then, the end conclusion is that Faith accompanies DOING the WORK and WILL of God. Without the “WORKING OUT” and walking out of “keeping His commandments”, your FAITH is DEAD.

Jas 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Jas 2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Where this leads us is to desiring to know what is it we are to obey. In the story of Exodus 19, this is the very next step the Lord brings us to.

Moses called for the elders of the people and laid before their faces the words of the Lord which has been commanded Moses. Then as a reply, the people answer and said they would do them all.

Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
Exo 19:8  And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

Here then starts the judgment of the Lord on the “words out of their own mouths”.

Exo 19:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.
Exo 19:10  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Exo 19:11  And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

Does this not yell out symbolism to the reader and hearer of these words?

The Lord is going to come in a thick cloud to speak to the people so that Moses will be believed forever. The word used here as thick conveys the idea of a dark cloud versus a white or light cloud. A thick cloud brings judgment.

The Lord instructs Moses to tell the people to prepare themselves for the “third day” when He comes.

Did you notice the Lord says He will sanctify the people today and tomorrow and that they are to WASH their clothes?

We are all washed in the blood of the Lamb if we are His but that DOES NOT mean there is not the “keeping of His commandments” to live out.

Being called is not enough. Being chosen is not enough. Being called, chosen and full of Faith is what those who rule with Jesus are all about.

As was pointed out earlier, Faith is accompanied with WORKS.

“Why call me Lord, Lord and do NOT the things which I say”.

In the next study, we are going to finish chapter 19 of Exodus and build upon the premise that those the Lord is going to count as the faithful seed are those who listen diligently unto the words of the Lord and DO THEM.

Deu 28:1  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
Deu 28:2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

 

Video Links

Rev 12:14-17- The Earth Helped the WomanRev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

All the symbols of scripture are taken from previous verses. If we hope to understand the meaning of this “signified” revealing of Jesus Christ within us, and if we have any hope of understanding how we are to “keep the things written therein”, then we must go back to the Old Testament to discover what the “two wings of a great eagle… a flood… [ and] the earth opened it mouth ” means. When we do that then we will discover that this same ‘eagle’s wings’ were used there in the Old Testament to fly Israel into the wilderness, into her place, where she was nourished… from the face of the serpent”. We will also discover there in that Old Testament story what is meant by “the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman” and we will see how “the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed up the flood…”
Finally, we will also have to use previous verses, though not in the Old Testament, to determine who are those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.

Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

Here is where “the wings of an eagle” are first mentioned in scripture. It is at Mount Sinai, at the giving of the law of Moses to Israel.

Exo 19:3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Exo 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

But where is Israel when God is telling them these words? Like this woman who brings forth this man child, Israel is in the wilderness, at the base of Mount Sinai, just before Israel turns her back on God and makes the golden calf who she claims brought her up out of Egypt. They are yet to rebel against Him ten times.

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

Nevertheless, we are told that this is all an integral part of God “bringing us to Himself”. Rev 12, 13, 14 and 15 all lead up to the pouring out of God’s wrath upon our own unrighteousnesses, and this is what we are told twice about all of these things revealed in these chapters.

Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [ the beast and the dragon], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

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

It is these trials and tribulations and the pouring out of God’s wrath on all of our ungodlinesses, which “are the patience and faith of the saints”. “Blessed are they that read, and hear, and keep the things written therein, for the time is at hand…” to keep both of these sections of scripture. It must be so because, after all, exactly how many men receive the mark of the beast?

Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

How could we have missed seeing this plain statement except we were blinded by the One who came to blind all who claim they do see?

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.

Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

The natural man reads these verses here in Rev 12 and concludes that this woman is at variance with the dragon. After all we are told that she “is nourished… from the face of the serpent.” But does “nourished… from the face of the serpent” mean that the woman is at odds with the doctrine of the serpent? Absolutely not! If the woman were really at odds with the doctrine of the serpent, then she would have been caught up to God and to His throne with the man child she brought forth. Instead we see her, just as we see Israel at the time of her exodus from Egypt, fleeing into the wilderness, all the while seeking the destruction of God’s elect ‘man child’. Israel, the type of the “woman [ who] brought forth a man child”, is to be found “in the wilderness… nourished… from the face of the serpent”, yet wanting to “return to Egypt”, siding with Pharaoh against their God and His messenger, Moses. That is the spiritual state of this “woman” who has “flown into the wilderness where she is nourished… from the face of the serpent”. It is only our lack of knowledge of the scriptures which keeps us from getting the point that is being made. And how are we told she was taken there?

Exo 19:3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Exo 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

If this verse were not here along with Rev 12:14, we would not know that God considers our time in the wilderness to be given to us by the agency of “the wings of a great eagle”, an unclean bird. The very fact that this statement is given to Israel at the base of Mount Sinai, “which answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, tells us that God considers our time in the wilderness as well as our time in Babylon, as an integral part of His “bringing us to Himself”.
Here is what the holy spirit has inspired to be written concerning this woman at Mount Sinai, in the book of Galatians:

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.

“The desolate has many more children than she which has a husband”? How is that possible? That is definitely not a natural statement. The natural man sees the words “born after… the freewoman” and just naturally thinks of Sarah’s natural children in physical Jerusalem. But as is always the case, the things of the spirit are hidden by the natural realm. So we are told that life comes only through death, sight comes only through blindness, peace comes only through sending a sword, and Sarah’s natural children have become “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, while Hagar and her Gentile children, are now brought near to God by the cross of Christ. These words here in Gal 4 are seen and read, but they are not perceived by the natural man.

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

So it is with this “woman… in the wilderness.” Only those who are given the gift of “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” will understand how Sarah’s physical seed has become “the [ spiritual] children of the bondmaid”, while the Gentiles who accept Christ, even if they are physical Galatians or the physical seed of Hagar, have now become “the children of the freewoman… through the faith of Christ”.

Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
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:

Because this is so easily missed, for those who are given to see this here it is again:

Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren [ Gentile Galatians], as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son [ physical Jerusalem, and physical Jews]: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman [ Gentiles who are in Christ].
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we [ Gentiles in Christ] are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Notice, it was both Pharaoh and Israel who wanted Moses dead. Nevertheless, Pharaoh, the agent of the serpent with a serpent upon his head in all the sculptures and coffins of the Pharaohs, sought to destroy the “seed of the woman [ who was] the mother of all living”.

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

We have seen that being “nourished for a time, and times and half a time” is the same as “forty and two months, or one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” They are all the same symbol of both the time we are witnessed to by God’s elect while we are yet of our father the devil, as well as the time we spend as God’s witnesses to those who are still “the seed of the serpent”. Here we are as those who are being witnessed to by God’s “two witnesses”:

Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

And here we are both as first unconverted ‘Gentiles’, and later as God’s two witnesses to the woman in the wilderness, also know as “that great city wherein our Lord was crucified”.

Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [ and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
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.

Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

Here in Exo 14 is the Old Testament type of this “woman [ who] brought forth a man child” and who is then pursued by the serpent who casts out of his mouth water as a flood… that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood”. Here in Exo 14 we also see how both this woman and the serpent feel about Moses, who in this case is the symbol of “the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”:

Exo 14:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 14:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
Exo 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They [ are] entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Exo 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
Exo 14:5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
Exo 14:6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
Exo 14:7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
Exo 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
Exo 14:9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
Exo 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

Israel, the shadow of the woman in the wilderness, is on board with Pharaoh in seeking to destroy God’s elect who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. In a very real sense, “the serpent was wroth [‘along with the woman’ as well as] with the seed”.
Pharaoh typifies the beast within us all. The scriptures reveal that when we serve ourselves and do what we want without regard to the admonitions of scripture, we are “worshiping the dragon”. It matters not that we are “Abraham’s seed”. The only thing that matters is if we do the things Christ and His Word tell us to do.

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

Anger toward God’s messenger, Moses, is exactly what “the woman in the wilderness”, Israel, felt as she watched the armies of Egypt approaching, and that is exactly how we feel when we see that no one else in the world sees or agrees with the things which have led us to begin to come out of Babylon. We are God’s Israel, and like Jeremiah and Israel, we too, slowly come to see just how much we must sacrifice to remain faithful to the calling we have been given. This is Jeremiah, and this is each of us.

Jer 20:7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jer 20:8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jer 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jer 20:10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

We will never understand any of the symbols of scripture if we are not careful to retain their Biblical meaning instead of the meaning arbitrarily given them in the temples of Babylon. Pharaoh’s armies are a type and a shadow of the legions of evil spirits which darken the Sun and the air, which want to destroy God’s witnesses and which keep us from seeing the light of the Sun. A ‘woman’ in scripture is always the wife of God, either as a harlot or as a faithful wife. It is to preserve this ‘woman’ that “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of His mouth”.
It is with good reason that we are told that this flood comes forth of the dragon’s mouth. It is given us in this way based upon this principle:

Mat 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Mat 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

This “flood out of the dragon’s mouth” is also called “locusts upon the earth” in Rev 9.

Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

200 million witnesses to the lies of Babylon stand in sharp contrast to God’s “two witnesses”. It is few who are willing to stand up to such odds. Here is another way of saying the same thing, but because we see the number three, we know that some form of progression is in view:

Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

These are not three separate sources. The dragon empowers both the beast and the false prophet, but He does so in a certain predestined order of progression.
We certainly are not able to withstand the odds of 200 million to two as we first begin our exodus from either Egypt or Babylon. The earth swallowing the flood that comes out of the mouth of the dragon will be lost on us if we fail to notice that this woman cannot yet be caught up to God and to His throne, and if we forget what we have learned is the symbolism of “the earth.”
Here is what “the earth” means in scripture:

Jer 22:2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

“Thy people that enter by these gates” is the symbol of God’s own rebellious and backslid people. Now look at how the holy spirit addresses those who know God and then turn their back on Him and His doctrines here in this same 22nd chapter of Jeremiah.

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

This explains why Israel wished they had never left Egypt when they saw the armies of Egypt, and this explains why they immediately blamed their own savior for their apparent dilemma.

Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

So “the woman” cannot be caught up to God and to His throne, because she is no better off spiritually than Pharaoh at this stage of her walk. This woman in Rev 12 is saved by the earth swallowing up what comes out of the Dragon’s mouth because this woman is the earth, and she is on the same page that dragon is on. Only her man child, who has been separated from her, is “caught up to God and to His throne”, while she flees into the wilderness where her rebellions continue unabated.
While we are told that Pharaoh’s armies were destroyed by the waters of the Red Sea, that is interpreted as “the earth swallowed them”.

Exo 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
Exo 15:5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
Exo 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Exo 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
Exo 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
Exo 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
Exo 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Exo 15:12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

But how do the armies of Egypt being destroyed in the sea apply to our lives? Here is one example of what a flood is in spiritual, scriptural terms:

Isa 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

God’s spirit is His words (Joh 6:63), and it is His words of Truth which are our refuge and our defense and which are “lifted up as a standard against “all the lies of “the enemy”. Every soldier of the armies of Egypt is a symbol of the lies of the Adversary.

Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Once we are made to see this woman is “in the wilderness” and we see her as being on the same page with the serpent in seeking to destroy God’s elect, then we will begin to understand why the dragon makes war, not with her, but “with the remnant of her seed…” Only then will we begin to understand why her seed is prophesied to always be at war with the seed of the serpent. Now we can understand why the seed of the serpent is prophesied, from the very beginning, to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, while her seed is prophesied to bruise the head of the serpent.

Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Israel is both a type of God’s elect on the one hand, and she is also a type of God’s harlot wife who wants to kill the Christ and His Christ in another instance. Only when we see that the first Adam is a figure of the last Adam, and the first Pharaoh in the story of Joseph typifies the Father, while the Pharaoh of Moses’ day typifies the beast as the seed of the serpent, will we understand how the woman of Rev 12 can be described in such glowing terms and still be “in the wilderness” and completely unqualified to be with Christ on His throne. It is because the woman of Rev 12, who is not caught up to God and to His throne, is the same as the woman of Rev 17-18, with the same sins as the seven churches who suffer “that woman Jezebel to teach” in Revelation chapters 2-3.

Rev 2:18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet [ are] like fine brass;
Rev 2:19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last [ to be] more than the first.
Rev 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Like the church in Thyatira, there are many good things to be said about the woman who brings forth the man child. She is filled with “gold, silver, and precious stones”, the necessary materials for the true temple of God.

Rev 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

But they are not yet “tried in fire”, which is essential to the gold, silver and precious stones that make up the true temple of God.

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;
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.

That “trying fire” includes the words concerning God’s wrath upon our ungodliness that these chapters 12-15 are leading up to and are introducing.

We have seen that the woman of Rev 12 is the same woman found teaching in the seven churches of chapters 2-3, and she is the same woman found in chapters 17-18. What we have learned is that the man child who comes out of this woman is the true bride of Christ, and that this woman in Rev 12, for all the glowing words used to describe her, is still completely unqualified to ascend up to God and to His throne as the true bride of Christ, the man child, who comes out of this woman, is found worthy.
We have seen that God calls his work of bring this woman into the wilderness “bearing her on eagle’s wings”.
We have seen that “a time, and times and half a time” is the same as 1260 days or 42 months, and we saw once again that this is the symbol for the time we spend both receiving God’s witness while we are yet “under the law”, while we are “in our place prepared for us of God”  to be nourished with bread which will “bring us to Christ”, but which is not itself the true bread of life. We saw that this period of time also symbolizes the time we spend giving God’s witness to those who are still under the schoolmaster of the law.

Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

We have seen that the flood that comes out of the mouth of the dragon is the lies that always come from his mouth, and we saw that those lies were well received of the woman, serving to deflect the wrath of the dragon off of the woman and onto “the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. In other words, what we saw is that the woman who is being carried on eagles wings, is all the while on the same page with the great dragon who blames God and His messengers for bringing her into the wilderness to die. Both she and the dragon want to destroy her own seed, the “man child” who also happens to be the symbol of the true bride of Christ, who is qualified to sit with Him on His throne in the heavens.
Finally we have seen the scriptures which demonstrate that the earth and this harlot woman who is not qualified to sit with Christ on His throne are spiritually and scripturally one and the same.
Next week, if the Lord wills, we will begin our study of the three beasts who are all really one beast in three separate stages of development in Revelation chapter 13. Here are the verses we will cover next week:

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [ the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

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Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11  And they had a king over them, [ which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [ is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [ his] name Apollyon.
Rev 9:12  One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

Introduction

We have established that these locusts are the fruit of the smoke of the bottomless pit, because we are told that they come out of the smoke. This smoke and the locusts it produces are what is “by nature” within us.

Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mar 7:22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
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.

One of the “locusts,” that is one of the lies which come out of this smoke of the bottomless pit which we saw in our study of Rev 9:1-2 is within us, is the doctrine that denies what Christ had to say about what is “by nature… within… the heart of men.” This doctrine teaches that God created man in communion with Him, and concludes that communion equals perfection. That is the false doctrine of a totally unbiblical “fall of man.” That is a phrase which neither Christ nor any of His apostles nor any New Testament writer ever uses. “Falling from grace”, which is a Biblical phrase, has nothing at all to do with the false doctrine of “the fall of man.”
God created man of dust and not of spirit; nothing else is truth.

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

He created mankind ignorant of his own shameful nakedness. He created mankind unclothed and without the righteousness of the saints.

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

That is just another way of saying that they were completely unaware that they were created “marred in the hand of the Potter.”

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

This particular ‘locust” uses the name of Christ and quotes many scriptures about Christ being within. But this locust does not mention that Christ has to remove what is naturally within us before He will take up His abode within this earthen vessel.
We have seen that this smoke out of the darkness that is within us darkens our heavens and our air. In other words, this smoke that produces these locusts and darkens our heavens and our air is ignorance of the Truth of God’s Word of which ignorance is the source of the many false doctrines we have entertained so long, which have blotted out the light of the Truth and has defiled God’s dwelling place, keeping our hand out of God’s hand for many years via the “darkened air”, the blinded spirit of darkness and deception which has taken up residence in God’s own home, which we are destined to become. This is how that is done.

Mat 12:22  Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.
Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

The spiritually blind always think they see, and the spiritually dumb bring many false doctrines and are totally incapable of speaking one word of Truth.

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.

If we accept and acknowledge our own blindness and we acknowledge that it is only Christ’s Words which “are spirit and Truth”, then, and only then, will we be given eyes to see that it is only in those words of Christ that we can hope to learn what is the meaning of the symbols of these verses which describe these locusts which come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit, which is within each of us.

The description of these lying locusts

Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power [ was] to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

The symbols which describe these locusts are very revealing for those who know what the scriptures reveal concerning the meaning of these symbols. There are six symbols which the holy spirit has used to describe these locusts which come out of the smoke that ascends up out of the bottomless pit.
1) They are shaped like horses prepared to battle.
2) They appear to have crown of gold on their heads.
3) Their faces are “as the faces of men”.
4) They had hair as the hair of women.
5) They had breastplates, as breastplates of iron.
6) The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. The last symbol of this fifth trumpet is:
7) the king that is over these locusts. His name is Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek.
We covered the symbols of verse 10 when we were on verses 3-5, so we need not repeat that study here. Here are those verses, side by side.

Rev 9:3  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment [ was] as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

These three verses concern the power that God himself uses to break us to pieces, and bring us to our wits end, and to humble us and bring us to repentance, and to Himself. These three verses are summarized by verse ten.

Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

Then in verse 11, we have our final 7th symbol in these verses. It is the symbol of the king of these locusts which come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit. His name is given in both the Hebrew and in the Greek, and he is called “the angel of the bottomless pit.”
So let’s look at how the scriptures interpret these symbols which describe the locusts which come out of the smoke which proceeds from the bottomless pit within us. The first symbol is…

1) They are shaped like horses prepared to battle.

Those who are not given to discern the things of the spirit will, once again attempt to discredit scripture and say ‘You cannot look like both a grasshopper and a horse.’ But God’s Word is not limited by our lack of understanding. As we have already pointed out, this is a book of symbols which were never intended to be understood by what they say, but they are to be understood by what the scriptures reveal they mean. So each word symbolizes a point that is being made. The locusts symbolize the complete and systematic destruction of Egypt and all that Egypt has produced within us. So we do not care that a grasshopper does not look like a horse. All we want to know now is what do horses symbolize in scripture? Here are some verses which answer that question:

Job 39:19  Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?
Job 39:20  Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
Job 39:21  He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
Job 39:22  He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword.
Job 39:23  The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.
Job 39:24  He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
Job 39:25  He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

The horse is the symbol of fierceness and strength, and does not fear or even hear the sound of the trumpet as he goes to do battle with armed men. Christ comes on the strength of a white horse, but these are not said to be white horses. We are told that they come out of the smoke that darkens our sun and our air. These horses are doing battle against anything that would allow the light of the gospel to come to us. Here is what God thinks of these “horses.”

Psa 33:17  An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
Psa 147:10  He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
Psa 147:11  The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Do not ever underestimate the strength of the flesh or of the Adversary. He has been granted “great strength” so that no man “can make war with the beast.”

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him t o make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

But as King David tells us in Psalms, if Christ is living in us, “a horse is a vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength”, and the Truth of this matter is:

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

So Christ’s strength is much greater than the strength of these horse like locusts, or the strength of the beast or the strength of the Adversary.

2) They appear to have crowns of gold on their heads.

Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

And this is where these locusts as horses get these crowns like gold.

Eze 16:12  And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
Eze 16:13  Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
Eze 16:14  And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 16:15  But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

Babylon is full of “gold, silver and precious stones”, and only those who know how to try the spirits can tell the gold of Babylon from the gold that is upon the breasts of God’s elect. It is God’s own gold with which these horse like locusts are crowned. But they are crowns of pride that will be stripped in due time.

Isa 28:1  Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

The lies of these lying locusts as horses are one and all perversions of God’s Truths which have been perverted into the “images” or doctrines “of men”, and you and I have worshiped those “idols of our hearts.”

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?

3) Their faces are “as the faces of men,”

What do the scriptures mean by the word “men”? These verses should tell us why these destructive, strong locusts, wearing golden crowns of God’s own gold covering the idols of our hearts, are said to have “faces of men.”

Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

These are “men” who are in councils or the Sanhedrin and who are in synagogues. These are religious “men” of whom we must “beware”.

1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [ there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
Tit 1:14  Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
1Pe 2:4  To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

These are “carnal… men who will “scourge you in their synagogues.” That is the significance of  “their faces [ were] as the faces of men.”

Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
1Th 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, y e received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

It is “the word of men” that we need not have “any man to teach us.” It certainly is not the word of God which “God has set… teachers… in the church,” for that very purpose of teaching His body of His Words.

Act 8:29  Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
Act 8:30  And Philip ran thither to [ him], and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
Act 8:31  And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. .
1Jn 2:27  But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
1Co 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

4) They had hair as the hair of women,

What is the spiritual significance of “the hair of women”? What is the Biblical difference between the hair of women and the hair of men? Is it color? Is it texture? No, there is no Biblical comment which distinguishes the color of a man’s hair or the texture of a man’s hair from “the hair of women”. The only Biblical difference between the hair of men and the hair of women is given to us in 1Co 11.

1Co 11:13  Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
1Co 11:14  Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
1Co 11:15  But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.

It is not the purpose of this study to cover the subject of the spiritual significance of the length of a woman’s hair, but these verses should establish the fact that these horses like locusts had long hair that is like “the hair of women.” What we are concerned with is why the holy spirit wants us to connect these locusts with women. What do women portray in scripture? Here is the answer to that question. It is right here is this same 11th chapter of 1Co.

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.

Paul informs us that our wives typify our own relationship to Christ. “The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man.” He comes right out and tells us this is so in Eph 5.

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The Greek for ‘women’ and ‘wife’ or ‘wives’ is the same one word. It is gune. Here is how Strong’s defines this word.

G1135
γυνη
gune
goo- nay’
Probably from the base of G1096; a woman; specifically a wife: – wife, woman.

The relationship between a man and woman, according to Eph 5, is a type of the relationship between Christ and His church, and the reason these locusts have “the hair of women” is to tell us that these locusts appear as a wife that is subject to her husband, Christ, and to his word, while in reality they are the words and doctrines of  a harlot who is not subject to her husband’s words, even though they have “the hair of women.”

Eze 16:15  But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
Eze 16:16  And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so
Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

5) They had breastplates, as breastplates of iron

We know what iron signifies in scripture:

Dan 2:40  And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

Iron is harder and stronger than any other Biblical metal. “Iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things.” So why do these locusts have “breastplates of iron”? The answer is that a breastplate covers the heart, and there is no way to get to the heart of these locusts because of the deep darkness and the pride and deception that is in our hearts at this stage of our walk.

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

Daniel’s image, which typifies our experience, begins with a head of gold, followed by arms of silver, followed by a belly and thigh of brass, followed by legs of iron, and finally it is standing on feet which are made of part iron and part clay. It is concerning the legs of iron that we read in Dan 2:40, that “iron breaks and subdues all things”. The reason these breastplates are of iron is to let us know that it will take the supernatural intervention of God and His Son coming into our lives to destroy these breastplates of iron and to destroy our hardened and darkened hearts, which are protected by these “breastplates of iron.

6) the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

Rev 9:9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

Our final symbol that describes these horse- like locusts as “the sound of their wings was a the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.” All locusts have wings, and the wings of these locusts sound like chariots of many horses going to battle.”
What we need to learn in this symbol is just a little more about the sovereignty of God over both the good and the evil. In scripture evil men are called the Lord’s sword.

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, [ which is] thy sword:

We need to acknowledge that the words ‘which is’ are not in the Hebrew and could just as easily have read ‘with’ instead of ‘which is.’ Nevertheless we are still told this in Pro 16.

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

So the Lord is definitely the Lord of both the good and the evil that is within us, and it is He who creates us as wicked first, for our day of evil, within. He also who sends the angel that opens the bottomless pit and darkens our Sun and air by these locusts which hurt us for five months and crush us and bring us to want to die with Him on His cross. Here is Rev 9 in Joe 1. It is the same event, and this is the “day of the Lord” which Peter said he had experienced just before the day of Pentecost.

Joe 1:1  The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
Joe 1:2  Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
Joe 1:3  Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
Joe 1:4  That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Joe 1:5  Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
Joe 1:6  For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth [ are] the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
Joe 1:7  He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast [ it] away; the branches thereof are made white.
Joe 1:8  Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Joe 1:9  The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’S ministers, mourn.
Joe 1:10  The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
Joe 1:11  Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
Joe 1:12  The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
Joe 1:13  Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
Joe 1:14  Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders [ and] all the inhabitants of the land [ into] the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
Joe 1:15  Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD [ is] at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Joe 1:16  Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, [ yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Joe 1:17  The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
Joe 1:18  How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
Joe 1:19  O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
Joe 1:20  The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Is this not what the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven plagues are when we “keep the things written therein?” (Rev 1:3) Is this not the very same “Lord’s day” which includes the events of the revelation of Jesus Christ? Is this not all the destruction of our old life, which we must all experience to bring us our new life? Speaking of this very battle, Joel continues:

Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
Joe 2:30  And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Christ mentions this very same battle in which these locusts as horses are involved:

Mat 24:29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
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?

None are able to stand against his wrath in this battle. The lies of all these locusts, their strength as horses, and their iron breastplates will all fall victim to Christ, and the armies that are with him. He has created this army of locusts for our destruction. When they have accomplished their evil deeds and have destroyed within us all that the lies of Egypt and Babylon have produced within us, then He will destroy the destroyer.

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.

Our last symbol is:

9) The angel of the bottomless pit

Rev 9:11  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

The Hebrew word ‘ababbon,’ becomes the name of the angel of the bottomless pit. This word appears 5 times in the Old Testament.

Job 26:6  Hell is naked before him, and destruction [ abaddon] hath no covering.
Job 28:20  Whence then cometh wisdom? and where [ is] the place of understanding?
Job 28:21  Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
Job 28:22  Destruction [ abaddon] and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
Job 31:12  For it [ is] a fire [ that] consumeth to destruction [ abaddon], and would root out all mine increase.
Psa 88:11  Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? [ or] thy faithfulness in destruction [ abaddon]?
Pro 15:11  Hell and destruction [ abaddon] are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?

Will God’s loving kindness be declared in the grave? The answer is, yes, it will. Will His faithfulness be declared in destruction? Again the answer is, yes, it will.

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

It is only through the destruction of our old man that our new man can be born.

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy [ Greek, apollumi] both soul and body in hell.
Mat 12:14  Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy [ Greek, apollumi] him.

It is a grave mistake to think that the king of the bottomless pit is Adam himself. If that were so, then where is ‘Adam’ in these verses?

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Joh 13:27  And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. 
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.

There is no one here who is denying that “that old serpent the devil and Satan” dwells within us, just as Christ dwells within us. What we are denying is that Eve was speaking to Adam when she was seduced by the serpent. Adam was already in King Saul before “the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.” Christ was not being tempted of Adam when He was in the wilderness 40 days. Adam did not enter into Judas “after the sop.” Adam was there all along. And finally, Adam will be on earth being ruled with a rod of iron all through the millennium, while Satan is bound in the bottomless pit within us all.
So Abaddon, also known as Apollyon, is the king of the lies which are symbolized by the locusts which come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit, simply because God created him to be his lying Adversary, “from the beginning.”

Joh 8:44  Ye 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.

Summary

We have covered seven symbols in this study. There are six symbols which the holy spirit has used to describe these locusts which come out of the smoke that ascends up out of the bottomless pit.
1) They are shaped like horses prepared to battle, tells us that we are fighting an enemy with great strength.
2) They appear to have crown of gold on their heads, tells us that they will at first be mistaken for overcomers, and those who are the servants of, and the angels of God.
3) Their faces are “as the faces of men,” tells us that these lies are nothing more or less than idols of our own hearts, which we have carved out of the truths that are the Word of God.
4) They had hair as the hair of women, tells us that these doctrines are one and all the doctrines of that great harlot woman, and they certainly do darken our sun and air.
5) They had breastplates, as breastplates of iron, tells us that it is impossible for any man to reach our hearts and destroy these lies and deceits, and that it will take Christ, Himself to do so.
6) “The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle,” tells us that these deceits are many and strong and they are ready and willing to do battle with our Lord and His Word.
The last symbol of this fifth trumpet is:
7) The king that is over these locusts is named Abaddon, in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek. This tells us that this is a life and death battle in all seven of these seven trumpets, and God had created the waster to destroy, and he is good at what he was created to do. That is to destroy all that we think we are, so that we can be “made again as seems good to the Potter to make us.” (Jer 18:4)
Next week, Lord willing, we will begin our study of the sixth trumpet, which is also called “the second woe.”

Rev 9:13  And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Rev 9:15  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

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Rev 4:6-7 – Part 6 – Sixteen Characteristics Which Chapters 1 and 10 of Ezekiel Have in Common.

Updated March 1, 2024

Introduction

Let’s begin by again remembering that all these glorious descriptions we are being given of the throne of God in the realm of the heavens are really just “patterns of the things of the heavens… figures of the true… heaven itself.”

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [“the blood of bulls and goats” vs 13 and 19]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

As we are studying these “figures of the true” we must remember that Ezekiel is not ministering to himself, because he had no idea that these were “patterns of things in the heavens” or that they were but “figures of the true.” It was given to Peter to reveal that to us in these verses.

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

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.

Understand that “the True” is “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is knowing this revelation that “brings grace to us.” You and I now know that “the True” heavens are not just one of us, but all who are in Christ and all in whom Christ dwells. We now are given to know that all the things in the temple were merely “patterns of the true” things within the true temple, “figures of the True.”

So now we can understand where Christ went when “a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Now we know where the true heavens into which He ascended are. Now we know what is the true house and tabernacle into which He has entered and in which He now dwells.

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.

2Co 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

The “Ye are the temple of God” must be understood as being both corporately and individually all the patterns of all the things in that one temple ‘which temple we all are.’ “Ye are the body of  Christ” must be understood as being both corporately and individually a ‘many-membered body’ with “each member in particular” carrying out its own predestined function in that “one body.” So also is “the temple of God” and “so also is the Christ.” “The one temple has “many mansions” within it, and every great man’s house has within that one house many “vessels.”

Joh 14:2  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [the] Christ.

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
2Ti 2:20  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

“The Lord knows them that are His.” His house has “not only vessels…” yet “a man” becomes “a vessel unto honor” if he is purged of  the “wood and earth” which are in the “great house.”

So these patterns are figures of the true ‘you’ and the true ‘me’ into which Christ has ascended and in which He now dwells. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is the secret which has been hidden from the ages.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of [the] 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:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

The Riches of The Glory of This Mystery

It is “the riches of the glory of this mystery” that we have taken time to examine and which we now continue to examine. We have eight more characteristics of these patterns of the things of the heavens which we will now examine.

9) The four wheels were “as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.” This is common to both chapters.

Eze 1:15  Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
Eze 1:16  The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

Eze 10:10  And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

This is a figure and a pattern of what we will understand “in that day.” Just as the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, so, too, we are in Christ, and Christ is in us:

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

The spirit of the living creature is in the wheels and they have “one likeness” because it is the “one spirit” of Christ in both:

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

1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

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:

It is the wheels which we are told are “upon the earth”, and we are plainly told that “Christ in you” is our “hope of glory.” Both He and we have experienced what it is to be “upon the earth.”

10)  The color of the four wheels is beryl. These beryl-colored wheels are common to both chapters.

Eze 1:16  The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

Eze 10:9  And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.

I could find nothing that told me the color of beryl, but I did find this verse of scripture describing Christ himself:

Dan 10:6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.

The Hebrew word for ‘beryl’ is:

H8658
תַּרְשִׁישׁ
tarshı̂ysh
tar-sheesh’

Probably of foreign derivation (compare H8659); a gem, perhaps the topaz: – beryl.

When we look up H8659 we find that it is basically the exact same word:

H8659
תַּרְשִׁישׁ
tarshı̂ysh
tar-sheesh’

Probably the same as H8658 (as the region of the stone, or the reverse); Tarshish, a place on the Mediterranean, hence the epithet of a merchant vessel (as if for or from that port); also the name of a Persian and of an Israelite: – Tarshish, Tharshish.

The scholars all agree that “the color of beryl” is the color of the sea, that being either blue or a blue green.

Since we have already been told that His body is “the appearance of fire” it should be plain that these four wheels all being “the color of a beryl stone” is just another way of telling us that this particular pattern of the things of the heavens is also like Christ.

Eze 1:27  And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

As always, anything associated with Christ is also associated with fire;

Luk 3:16  John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

11) The wheels being full of eyes round about” is common to both chapters:

Eze 1:18  As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

Eze 10:12  And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.

We have already seen in the things that were peculiar to chapter 10, where we saw that these eyes are not just in the wheels but also all over the cherubims, that these eyes are eyes to see the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which understand that all things are ours, past, present and future.

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

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

So our whole body, our backs and our hands and our wings “and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.”

This is what these eyes signify and if we have the spirit then we, too, can see the things of the spirit:

Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Here is the New Testament interpretation of this Old Testament figure:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ’s; and Christ [is] God’s.

If we are “full of eyes round about,” then we see what is, what was and what will be. We understand that “all things are ours, things present, or things to come.” We see it all, and we see it in our own bodies, our backs and our hands and wings. We ‘see’ or understand that it is all ours, because we are “full of eyes round about.”

12) The firmament above the living creatures is common to both chapters 1 and 10.

In both chapters this firmament above the living creatures is the color of a sapphire. The phrase describing the color “as the color of the terrible crystal” or like the color of fearful or dreadful ice is only found in chapter 1, but the color itself is common to both chapters.

Eze 1:22  And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature [was] as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

The first thing we need to realize is the spiritual significance of the word ‘firmament.’ Here is what Strong’s tells us about the meaning of this word:

H7549
ra^ qi^ ya?
raw- kee’- ah
From H7554; properly an expanse, that is, the firmament or (apparently) visible arch of the sky: – firmament.”

“Raqiya, from 7554, properly an expanse.” What does H7554 have to reveal to us about how this expanse is achieved? Here is the meaning of the root of this word translated ‘firmament.’

H7554
ra^ qa?
raw- kah’
A primitive root; to pound the earth (as a sign of passion); by analogy to expand (by hammering); by implication to overlay (with thin sheets of metal): – beat, make broad, spread abroad (forth, over, out, into plates), stamp, stretch.

Is not this exactly what God does with us? Does He not expand our moral and spiritual understanding by hammering us until we are conformed to the image of His Son?

Jer 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

The root of this word ‘raqa‘ is also found in this verse of scripture:

Exo 27:20  And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

Here is Strong’s definition of the Hebrew word translated ‘beaten’ in this verse:

H3795
ka^ thi^ yth
kaw- theeth’
From H3807; beaten, that is, pure (oil): – beaten.

Christ was beaten for us, and we, too, are beaten for His body’s sake:

Mar 13:9  But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

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:

That is the root meaning of the Hebrew word translated ‘firmament.’ It is there in the ‘firmament’ of our lives that Christ is working with us all and where we are being “beaten for the light to burn always.”

The firmament is said to be “as the color of the terrible crystal.” What is “the color of the terrible crystal?”

Chapter 10 and 1 both explain.

Eze 10:1  Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

Eze 1:22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

While sapphires may come in other colors, they are generally blue. The firmament is said to be ice blue, and if you will read our study on colors, you will see that the color blue is associated with the things of the heavens themselves, especially as it pertains to these patterns we are now studying.

Colors – The Color Blue, Part 1

There is a reason why both the sea and the heavens are blue, and why the earth appears as a blue planet in all the photos taken from outside our atmosphere.

Here is Strong’s Definition for ‘crystal.’

H7140
qerach  qo^ rach
keh’- rakh, ko’- rakh
From H7139; ice (as if bald, that is, smooth); hence, hail; by resemblance, rock crystal: – crystal, frost, ice.

King James Corncordance entries for the Hebrew word translated ‘crystal.’

H7140
qerach  /  qo^ rach
Total KJV Occurrences: 7
frost, 3
Gen_31:40, Job_37:10, Jer_36:30
ice, 3
Job_6:16, Job_38:29, Psa_147:17
crystal, 1
Eze_1:22

Since the word ‘crystal’ is apparently better translated as ‘ice’, and its color is “as it were a sapphire stone”, the “terrible crystal” is apparently blue. It is the color of the heavens, the color upon which all the holy things sat and in which all these patterns and figures of the things of the heavens were to be wrapped before they could be moved by the Levites who were not priests.

Num 4:5  And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:
Num 4:6  And shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.
Num 4:7  And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:

Num 4:9  And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it:

Num 4:11  And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:
Num 4:12  And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put [them] on a bar:

13)  The description of the sound of the wings of the living creatures, is common to both chapters.

The sound of the wings of the four living creatures is like the sound of Niagara Falls. It is “as the voice of the Almighty”, the noise of great waters, the noise of a host. It is as the voice of all of His people. When they stood they “let down their wings.”

Eze 1:24  And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
Eze 10:5  And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.

Christ is our wings and our protection. His wings are our armor. When we stand, we stand in His armor and in “the shadow of His wings.”

Psa 36:7  How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

Psa 91:4  He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

We will pause here for now and do the last three characteristics which are common to Ezekiel chapter 1 and chapter 10 in our next study.

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Revelation 4:6-7 – Four Beasts, Part 5

Updated February 23, 2024

Introduction

Last week we discovered the spiritual significance of the cloud, the four living creatures and the four faces of those four living creatures. Let us not forget that these are all patterns of the things of the heavens themselves:

Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [the blood of bulls and goats]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

I have been telling you that there were fourteen things which these two chapters have in common, but as my studies continued, I discovered that there are at least sixteen. That is two more which we must examine. Last week we examined three characteristics which Ezekiel 1 and 10 have in common. This week we will examine another five of the remaining thirteen things which these two chapters have in common concerning the spiritual significance of the patterns of the heavenly things themselves.

The five topics we will look at this week are the spiritual meaning of 1) four wings on each of the four cherubs, 2) the hands of a man under the wings of each cherub, 3) the spiritual significance of “they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward”, 4) the spiritual meaning of “whither the spirit was to go, they went” and 5) “they four had one likeness” as it pertains to the four wheels which are by the four cherubims.

Patterns of The Heavenly Things Themselves

4) Each creature having four wings is common to both chapters. There are four wings because they signify the whole spirit of the whole body of Christ. Four is the whole of anything. In this case, it is the body of Christ and the spirit of Christ in that body.

Here is the link to the study of the number four: Number four

Eze 1:6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

Eze 1:11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

Eze 1:23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

Eze 10:21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

It is also under His wings that God protects his elect:

Rth 2:12 The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

Psa 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Psa 36:7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

Psa 91:4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth [shall be thy] shield and buckler.

Christ tells us that it is under His wings that we are protected.

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!

Psa 46:1 A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

‘Wings’ in scripture, as do all things in scripture, have both a positive and a negative application. It is on “the wings of a stork” that the “two women” take the curse of wickedness into the land of Babylon or Shinar.

Zec 5:5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what [is] this that goeth forth.
Zec 5:6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
Zec 5:7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
Zec 5:8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
Zec 5:9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
Zec 5:10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
Zec 5:11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.

5) “They had the hands of a man under their wings“ is common to both chapters..

Eze 1:8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

Eze 10:21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

The fact that we are reading of ‘hands’ tells us that God uses Christ as His own hands, and He has placed the implementation of His entire plan into Christ’s hands. Christ, in turn has called and sent us, just as His Father has called and sent Him.

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

Mat 10:40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

This is one more connection between these “four living creatures… four cherubims… and four beasts” to mankind who are “all in Adam.” Remember that many times when you see the word ‘man’ in the Old Testament, it is often translated from the Hebrew word ‘adam.’ These four living creatures, cherubims or beasts, may have wings and four faces on each creature, but one of those faces is “the face of a man”, and they have “the likeness of a man” in an overall way, and now we learn that they “have the hands of a man under their wings.”

Eze 1:5 Also out of the midst thereof [came] the likeness of four living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

Eze 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

These creatures signify just who they tell us they are:

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.

6) The fact that the four living creatures and the four wheels don’t need to turn to go wherever the spirit wants to go is common to both chapters. They always go straight forward. This is repeated a total of six times in these two chapters.

Eze 1:9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

Eze 1:12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

Eze 1:17 When they went, they went in their four directions: they turned not when they went.

This is repeated three times in this one chapter, and then three more times in chapter 10. This is the holy spirit placing great emphasis upon the sovereignty of God’s “no shadow of turning” hand in all things. This is nothing less than a commentary on both God’s sovereignty and His omnipresence. How else can the four faces never turning be explained?

Eze 10:11 When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.

Eze 10:16 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

What need is there for an omnipresent spirit to ‘turn as he goes’?

Psa 139:5  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Psa 139:6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Psa 139:7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Psa 139:8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Psa 139:9  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Psa 139:11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
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.

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

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:

The “marred vessel of clay”, which we all are, the serpent and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are one and all proclaimed by their Creator to be “very good” for fulfilling their God-ordained purpose (Gen 1:31). ‘Mankind is but a beast’ and our “evil experience” are all being worked “after the counsel of His own will” (Ecc 3:18, Ecc 1:13, Eph 1:11). There is “one event to all” and it was all ‘written in His book before it ever was’ (Psa 139:16). Therefore He “turns not as He goes.”

7) “Whither the spirit was to go, they went” is common to both chapters. The fact that these four living creatures and their four wheels are led by God’s spirit is emphasized in both chapters. We are thrice told “the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.”

Eze 1:12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

Eze 1:20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Eze 1:21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

Eze 10:17 When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

The wheels “upon the earth” and the four living creatures have one mind and one spirit and are working in total agreement and in unison.

Eze 1:19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

There is no schism in the true body of Christ. It wants only to please Him.

1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [the] Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

There is no mention of a chariot because, as we are later informed, this whole swirling cloud is His chariot. The Lord presents us as His means of transportation.

Psa 104:3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

8)  That the four wheels were all exactly alike is common to both chapters. What this tells us is that what these four living creatures experience, as God’s channel for saving all men, is the “one event” which is common to all men, “the righteous, and the wicked.”

Eze 1:16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

Eze 10:10 And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

This is the “one likeness” of “all things [which] come alike to all” of mankind.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as [is] the good, so [is] the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as [he] that feareth an oath.

Ecc 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.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Summary

The five topics we have examined today are:

1) Four wings on each of the four cherubs. We saw that four, as always, means ‘the whole’ of whatever is under consideration. In this case wings are under consideration, and wings mean protection. What we learn from the four wings on each cherub is that our entire refuge is the Lord, and we can do nothing without Him.

2) The hands of a man under the wings of each cherub. The fact that we are discussing ‘hands’ tells us that this is God’s channel for doing His works. He has placed His entire plan of salvation into the hands of a man named Jesus Christ, and Christ in turn has called and sent us as His Father has called and sent Him. The “hand of a man under the wings of the cherubims” once again connects these cherubims to mankind.

3) The spiritual significance of “they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.” This statement is a commentary on both the omnipresence and the omnipotent sovereignty of God. “There is no shadow of turning with Him and all things are being worked by Him, “yes, even the wicked” (Pro 16:4).

4) The spiritual meaning of “whither the spirit was to go, they went;” This, of course, is just one more of the many statements in scripture which inform us that we are not to allow heresies into our spiritual house, and we are to speak the same thing and be of the same mind as the spirit itself. That spirit, of course, is “the Words that I speak unto you.”

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

5) “And they four had one likeness:” as it pertains to the four wheels which are by the four cherubims. Once again, the unity of heart, mind, spirit and purpose is being driven home. There are no “nonessentials” anywhere in the Word of God. All mankind will live by every word of God and will all experience “one event”.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Next week, Lord willing, we will examine a few more of the patterns of the things of the heavens themselves.