Worship – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty Mon, 13 Jan 2025 16:46:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cropped-headerlogo-32x32.png Worship – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com 32 32 The House of Prayer – Part 2: The power believers have been given https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-house-of-prayer-part-2-the-power-believers-have-been-given/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-prayer-part-2-the-power-believers-have-been-given Sun, 24 Nov 2024 05:07:07 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31484 “The House of Prayer” – Part 2

The power believers have been given

Posted September 14, 2014

In the first part of this series, we focused on the important aspect of the “house of prayer” being the temple of God and those in whom the Spirit dwells.

While we have all learned many ways to pray in our Christian lives, there are specific guidelines to how we are to look at and apply prayer in our lives as “disciples indeed”.

Yes, we are to be disciples “in deed.” (Truly)

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.

“Worship in the Lord’s house”

Jer 26:2  Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:

Today we are going to focus on the ‘words commanded’ and spoken concerning how we handle prayer and how we worship in Spirit and Truth concerning prayer in our daily lives.

In this second part of the series, we are going to look at scriptural witnesses and scriptural instructions on how to worship the Father through our prayer.

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

“Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship” The contrast being made today will be between “you know not what you worship” versus “we know what we worship”.

The focus on Part 1 was on those who are of the house of prayer, but that group was being contrasted with another group.

When I say “group”, the true spiritual contrast is being made between the natural and the spiritual, the old and new man, the first Adam versus the second Adam.

The house of prayer is compared against a den of thieves.

Mat 21:13  And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a denG4693 of thieves.

I ask everyone reading this if “ye” is you? Have you made the house of prayer a den of thieves? Before you answer that, let us examine the thieves who live in a den versus a house.

Here are a couple of examples of where this word ‘den’ appears in the New Testament:

Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38  (Of whom the world was not worthy: ) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

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?

The first example is of those who receive a good report through faith, but they don’t receive the promise. Yet, we know there is only One Faith. The promise we are given concerning Faith is to partakers of the “One Faith”. We’ll get to that in a little while.

The second example is of those who ‘tell the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Jesus Christ.’

So, what separates the thieves who are a den of thieves from those who are the house of prayer as “receiving the promise”?

Luk 24:45  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Luk 24:46  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luk 24:47  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luk 24:48  And ye are witnesses of these things.
Luk 24:49  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Act 2:32  This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Act 2:33  Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 2:39  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Through the Spirit, I will attempt to connect what worship, Truth, Spirit and prayer have to do with one another.

We just read that those who worship God, who is Spirit, must do so in Spirit and in Truth. Therefore, we must know and understand what this means. Otherwise, how can we ever presume to be praying properly so that we are heard by God?

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.
Joh 6:64  But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65  And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

So, the Words spoken by Jesus are Spirit and Life. It is also true that Jesus is Truth.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

How does someone come to Jesus?

“No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father….” And “no man cometh to the Father but by Jesus Christ.”

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” says Jesus.

It is not speaking above what is written to combine all of these verses to conclude the spiritual Truth that the Words which Jesus speaks are Spirit and Life, Words which speak the Truth and are the Way to the Father.

As a matter of Truth, Jesus says this to His disciples, after explaining the spiritual Truth of Him being the Way, Truth and Life:

Joh 14:7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Joh 14:8  Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Joh 14:11  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
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.
Joh 14:13  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Joh 14:14  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

After explaining the Spirit behind seeing the Father, and who Jesus is in this process, He tells His disciples (indeed) to keep His commandments.

Now that the stage has been set, let us look toward His words as they pertain to being a house of prayer versus a den of thieves.

Joh 10:8  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

Mat 6:16  Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17  But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18  That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

What do thieves do? They break through and steal treasures. However, the treasure we have “laid up” is heavenly.

Why would Jesus mention this in connection to fasting? When we are fasting for the appearance of “giving of ourselves to the Lord” and to be seen of men to be fasting, our reward is EARTHLY. It is for the FLESH in others to see it and think of how “godly” we are, and it is for our flesh and carnal mind to believe we are “doing the works of God”.

When you connect this idea with prayer (fasting and prayer go hand and hand) when telling someone we are “praying for them” or we are “keeping them in prayer” and we are not doing it as if it were we ourselves in this situation needing prayer. We are doing it to give the appearance of true prayer, knowingly or unknowingly.

Those that have come before the true Jesus Christ are those that are thieves. They come through to steal our reward, because by giving us their doctrines, their ways of praying, their examples of how to fast, we have to realize that our home with them is in a cave or den.

It is not the house of prayer we belong to in this situation.

Why am I mentioning fasting and prayer together?

Psa 35:11  False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
Psa 35:12  They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.
Psa 35:13  But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
Psa 35:14  I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
Psa 35:15  But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:

Dan 9:3  And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, WITH fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
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;

Mat 17:19  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21  Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

How then is our fast (Jesus and His mind concerning fasting) directly coupled with our prayer?

Isa 58:4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and THAT YE break every yoke?

Said in the CEV translation:

Isa 58:4  You even get angry and ready to fight. No wonder God won’t listen to your prayers!
Isa 58:5  Do you think the LORD wants you to give up eating and to act as humble as a bent-over bush? Or to dress in sackcloth and sit in ashes? Is this really what he wants on a day of worship?
Isa 58:6  I’ll tell you what it really means to worship the LORD. Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly. Free those who are abused!

What the prayers of the “house of prayer” are coupled with is the POWER we have been given to free those who are bound to wickedness, take away heavy burdens, to let those who are oppressed go free from their oppressors and to break every yoke weighing someone down.

What do we do these things with? We do it with the Word of God! We couple the Word of God with prayer!

In not so many words, we comfort those in need of prayer with the Word of God, with the Shepherd in us, by speaking to them in a voice they understand (His voice), and we let them know we are petitioning the Father on their behalf in BELIEF that “His will be done”.

“Disciples Indeed”

How do we do this? How do we act on what Jesus tells us to do with prayer? Will His example give us any direction?

Joh 11:35  Jesus wept.
Joh 11:36  Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
Joh 11:37  And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
Joh 11:38  Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a caveG4693, and a stone lay upon it.
Joh 11:39  Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
Joh 11:40  Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
Joh 11:41  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
Joh 11:42  And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 11:43  And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
Joh 11:44  And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Have you ever asked yourself how it is Jesus was heard of the Father? It is obvious that Jesus prayed to the Father in secret, but then thanked the Father openly for being heard.

What was Jesus’ prayer coupled with? “Take away the stone…loose him and let him go”. If you would believe, you would see the glory of God.

Before I am misquoted or misunderstood, am I saying that if a person simply believes something when praying for it then that belief will be granted to them?

No, I am not saying that at all.

True Faith only comes from one place, Jesus – the Word of God – and that is why it is so important for the eye to be single.

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Eph 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

In a previous study, I spoke about grace heavily as it pertains to God working His awesome hands in our lives.

In particular, I compared the Sea of Galilee being north of the dead sea to the spiritual concept that if we have the waters of the Jordan flowing through the Sea of Galilee from north to south, the Sea of Galilee is flowing with life.

The sea of Galilee is where Jesus called disciples to follow Him (Mat 4:17-20). It is where He healed people of various afflictions (Mat 7:31-37) including deafness and dumbness, cast out unclean spirits (Mar 1:23-27), and performed many more miracles including feeding the masses with five loaves of bread and two SMALL fishes.

In Mark 1:35, after having done many miracles, Jesus showed us the importance of prayer.

Mar 1:34  And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.
Mar 1:35  And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

I mentioned the Sea of Galilee to point out that it has an inlet and an outlet for the Jordan River waters which flow through it.

However, when the Jordan River exits out of the south of the Sea of Galilee, those waters travel for a distance south and empty into the Dead Sea which has no outlet.

If we are given anything of the Lord whether it be One faith, One baptism, One Spirit, One calling, our One Lord, One Hope, or One God and Father of All, and we do not have an outlet for it, we will be as the Dead Sea.

We become stagnant and lifeless, and nothing flows out of us. How can we be the “house of prayer” and not a “den of thieves” if this is true of us?

How this applies to prayer is that the Lord places a “dead Lazarus”, who someone cares about, in front of us. He places a “deaf and dumb” person in front of us to say “Ephphatha, that is, Be opened,” so that they are healed and raised from the dead.

If we are among the dead, as typified in the Dead Sea, how then can we so these things? However, if “Christ be in you”, you can do ALL THINGS through Him who strengthens you.

Prayer is our realizing that we are ALWAYS HEARD.

How do we know this to be true?

Joh 11:42  And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Pro 8:32  Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
Pro 8:33  Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
Pro 8:34  Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
Pro 8:35  For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

There it is! When we are dragged to the Father, through Jesus and the Words of God, we are to DO THE Words! When we do them, we are building our house (the house of prayer) on a foundation which cannot be shaken.

When we are given to come to the Lord to hear His sayings, we can be confident that we are being heard by the Father when we pray to Him.

Our confidence comes in knowing that we answer all things according to the SAME EXAMPLE Jesus gave us and lived by.

“I came to do the works of my Father …. Thy will be done.”

If you have any doubt that the Father hears our prayers always, then weigh your prayers against the way in which Jesus taught us to pray. Here is where we have been given power.

Mat 6:5  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:6  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:7  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.
Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Have Faith. Our Father knows what things we ALL NEED before we EVER ASK HIM for them. We are presented with a tremendous power to be able to PRAY for ourselves and others, and when we pray, we pray in Spirit and Truth when our prayer is “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.

This is True Worship. We acknowledge that all things are being worked after the counsel of His own will.

In the next study, I am hoping that the Lord will bless me to speak about how or why we are, or are not, to pray for the world, how we are to pray or not for the “earth, earth, earth” and how we are to practically “pray without ceasing”.

[Next study in this series is here.]

]]> The Book of Hosea – Part 4, Hos 4:1-19 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-hosea-part-4-hos-41-19/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-hosea-part-4-hos-41-19 Sat, 04 May 2024 04:06:39 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=29909 Audio Download

The Book of Hosea – Part 4, Hos 4:1-19

[Study Aired May 4, 2024]

Since the sole theme of this study in Hosea, Chapter 4, is our Lord’s direct accusation of His wife, Israel, for her adulterous ways, we won’t repeat the verses as is sometimes customary; rather, we will launch right into them individually.

The Lord Accuses Israel

Hos 4:1-19  Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Even a Babylonian babe unwittingly worshiping ‘another Jesus’ (2Co 11:4) can easily see the historical account of Old Israel’s sequence of see-sawing obedience, then prostituting disdain for the Commandments of God, severe chastisement and Gomer-like impenetrable heart’s return to her Husband only to do it all over repeatedly. Of course, today, the Lord’s faithful wife looks back upon those historical accounts, knowing fully well that they represent her disappearing spiritual prostitution. Her most humbling knowledge is that all these things, from Genesis to Revelation, are mostly all for her sake. She takes no glory in her figurative 1,000 sisters in Babylon (symbolised by Solomon’s 1,000 wives [1Ki 11:1-6]) and their unwitting spiritual suffering, inclusive of their increasingly horrendous physical suffering. She, the heavenly mother (Jerusalem) of us all, and like any mother in more ethical and moral times past, anguishes over her children’s contempt for their father’s instructions and headship. Subsequently, the lack of truth, mercy and knowledge will make them the basest of men, silly doves (Hos 7:11) taken in their own craftiness. The Lord has a “controversy” with the incipient Bride of Christ and is now showing her that in past times, she didn’t reside in truth, mercy or knowledge. He is revealing to her her skirts above her loins, her nakedness to be covered by His word. All things, both good and evil are hers for her increasingly enthusiastic knowledge and understanding.

1Co 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 
1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 
1Co 3:20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 
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 [and His Christs] is God’s. 

Hos 4:2  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. 

No greater original “swearing” was there than Old Israel, our Lord’s espoused first wife solemnly agreeing to her marriage vows.

Exo 24:7  And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.
Exo 24:8  And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. 

Hos 2:19  And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 
Hos 2:20  I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. 

Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 

2Co 11:1  I would that you were bearing with me a little in foolishness; but indeed bear with me. 
2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one Man, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Next, after swearing allegiance to her unwitting inability to keep the espousal agreement, she is full of God-given scheming deceptions (lies) irksomely endemic to her gender. Solomon termed them “inventions”, which are devices of deceit to control her relationship with her husband.

Ecc 7:27  Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account:
Ecc 7:28  Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. 
Ecc 7:29  Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

In the same breath as swearing, stealing, lying, and adultery are “killing” and resultant “blood touching blood”, and the act of killing, symbolising the entire bloody affair.

Blood spiritually is Christ’s word, His very body! Blood, the physical essence of life, prefigures death to the Old Man and life to the New Man. If blood is spilt spiritually, it means the death of the truth or lies. Since the Elect metaphorically kill another person with the fiery sword of God’s word, that action results from them having killed us for our rejection of God’s word, just as we killed Christ physically and spiritually – it all is figuratively spilling blood.

Pro 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

Isa 59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 

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.

Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood [Her zealous killing of God’s word] of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Christ’s blood is His spirit, His word that is the truth. When we speak God’s word untruthfully, we kill Christ all over again; we spill His blood or others’ blood by our heresies. In doing so, we steal our Lord’s gold and silver and make them into idols of our own which we diligently serve and thus commit adultery.

Mat 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 
Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Blood must be spilled when sin is found. We must die daily, and we figuratively are killed and our blood spilled. Sin requires death and spilled blood, first, physically in the Old Covenant and then, spiritually in the New. 

Luk 11:50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; [no individual generation, but the generation of whoever reads that verse].
Luk 11:51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation [The incipient Bride of Christ]. 
Luk 11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! [False Christs; preachers] for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

Hos 4:3  Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 

Solomon’s 1,000 wives, including Leah, Jacob’s ‘hated wife’, all languish in bewilderment because their husbands do not desire them. Why? because they all want to eat and drink their own bread of self-righteousness and symbolise all the rest of mankind, “the beasts of the field,” giving up since God’s word is given to be too hard to understand. They throw up their arms in Babylonish confusion to blithely gorge themselves in her delights. The result is that they all are “taken away” and seen prefigured by Israel’s exile into Babylon.

Just as mankind was taken away in Noah’s flood, so, too, is every man into Babylon; so, too, are all left after the First Resurrection into the rule with the rod of iron in preparation for the final casting into the Lake of Fire of God’s word.

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

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul [flesh in God’s image in the process of being made spirit]; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural [?]; and afterward that which is spiritual [because God is in the process of creating God in man and He begins first with the natural, the flesh to become a new creature of spirit, as He is].

Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Hos 4:4  Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 

Since all things were preordained before creation, our Lord, by whom all things are created, designed man’s every thought, word, and action by His own will. No man other than the Elect of God, who knows their Lord’s judgments, is able to righteously reprove another man. The churches of the world, all 40,000 + splintered sects, thus strive contentiously with each other, “the priests”. Unknowingly, they are striving with the Priest and His Priests, that is, Christ and His Christs.

Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

2Co 10:7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.

Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Hos 4:5  Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.

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 [We, the embryonic Bride of Christ] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

The Lord’s Bride first falls by the brilliant light of Christ’s fiery word in the day, and upon going to bed, sleep flees her where her sins in revealing thought, cast as dreams in the night, devastatingly destroy her faith in Babylon, her mother. She sees herself as having been deceived by the harlot churches of Babylon with their magic arts.

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 [figuratively an innumerable 200,000,000 of them (Rev 9:16)]: 
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Hos 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

A Biblical quintessential notable forgetting God’s law is Israel’s rejection of Samuel’s representation as their King and Priest who shockingly can represent the Lord’s few chosen to forfeit their inheritance, Christ’s wedding feast. Our Lord’s deliberate design of Israel, representing us in our time, is awfully humiliating to Him for us effectively returning to Babylon to have some Christian priest, a worker of magic arts to rule over us.

1Sa 8:4  Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
1Sa 8:5  And said unto him, Behold, thou art old [we are sick of Christ’s boring doctrines], and thy sons [Babylonian Christianity] walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
1Sa 8:6  But the thing displeased Samuel [God], when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 
1Sa 8:7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people [and give them the idol of their hearts] in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 
1Sa 8:8  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 
1Sa 8:9  Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them [speak sternly, resolutely with authority], and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. 
1Sa 8:10  And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 
1Sa 8:11a  And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you:…

Here lies precisely what the world is experiencing today: a peaking crescendo of violence of every man’s hand against his neighbor and wars and rumors of wars in response to the ‘kings’ of government we chose with our lovely Democratic Capitalist Bolshevism (Marxists) ruling over us. Samuel goes on to prophesy exactly what will happen.

1Sa 8:11b … He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots [your young men will go to endless wars]. 
1Sa 8:12  And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest [Lord it over other nations], and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
1Sa 8:13  And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries [Ointment-makers, perfumers = haughty harlots with mincing steps; churches deluding the world], and to be cooks [guardsmen of church doctrine], and to be bakers [cooking up doctrinal lies].
1Sa 8:14  And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants [outwardly, the West is being overrun by immigrant’ servants’ whose moral foundations serve other gods and strange doctrines and intermarry those doctrines with Oholibah’s churches]. 
1Sa 8:15  And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 
1Sa 8:16  And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work [Slavery on all fronts!].
1Sa 8:17  He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 
1Sa 8:18  And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

That account of us wanting our chosen ‘king’ to rule over us is superlative of the current world’s government’s slavery of its citizens. Yet, we know that it all is speaking a precise mirror of ourselves, spiritually. It all revolves back to Hosea 4:5 “Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet [Samuel and the Elect, and the Elect now inwardly] also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother [the Great Whore within and without] 

Hos 4:7  As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. 
Hos 4:8  They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. 
Hos 4:9  And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. 

If we have unity in a righteous or unrighteous ideology, a church doctrine, the people are in harmony with their priest, just as the Bride is in righteous harmony with her Lord.

Joh 17:16  They [the Bride of Christ] are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 
Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 
Joh 17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 
Joh 17:19  And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 
Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 
Joh 17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 
Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 

Beginning in the one-thousand year rule with the rod of iron, the world will fearfully begin to know that these people ruling over them have a very different spirit from them. An unwavering unity of spirit is forced upon them, thus causing them to grudgingly inconsistently keep Christ’s commands yet without eyes and ears in the same joyful unified spirit.

Psa 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

In the one-thousand year reign, those alive will eat of the Lord’s word and not be filled with understanding, thus not being unified with the spirit of Christ and His Christs. They thus remain unfaithful to His word and remain harlots. Eating and drinking His word will not satiate a hunger that doesn’t exist as they eat their own bread and drink their own water, believing that they were fair virgins, not knowing their harlotry. Of course, the Lord’s Elect know that all these things refer first to her in this age who are given to thirst for Him. 

Amo 8:13  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 
Amo 8:14  They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

Hos 4:10  For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
Hos 4:11  Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

New wine takes away the heart since those without eyes that see and ears that don’t hear do not understand the New Covenant spiritually. Subsequently, they remain jubilant in unwitting whoredoms of false doctrines and another Jesus and don’t increase the fruits of Christ’s commands.

Hos 4:12  My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. 
Hos 4:13  They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. 
Hos 4:14  I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall. 

Daughters committing whoredoms are lecherous acts deemed too insignificant (depicted as a babe learning truth – a “daughter”), correlating to Israel’s thinking that God wouldn’t be concerned with trifling sins. More damnable are they when committed by her parents. A complementary view of a daughter engaging in whoredoms reflects a juvenile understanding of doctrine by the daughter or her parents.

Verse 14 is a subtle spiritual reference to the one-thousand year reign with the rod of iron since people are punished, yet no change of spirit is given; they thus remain unjust and filthy. For those chosen to have their eyes and ears opened in this age, they are stripped naked of their filthy clothes and given by their Husband the clean white linen of the Saints.

Rev 22:11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

Our loving Father chastises every son whom He loves. Upon our suckling stages of learning to walk in Christ’s commands by His faith and strength, we, just like young children, view those relatively light chastisements as deeply hurtful. Subsequent to our adult equivalence of pouting, kicking and screaming, we learn to receive those disciplines joyously since we immutably know that our acknowledgment of sin is quickly followed by a bountiful increase in spiritual growth! As seen previously in Hosea 5:8, They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.

Eating up the sin of my people are people with an appetite for gluttony. To boot, their impenitent hearts are so seared that their sins become an idol of their heart. When Ancient Israel did that to her fullness, she represented us formally in our journey, insisting on keeping pet iniquities.

An incredibly insidious problem will emerge that is likely to land a backsliding Saint in the Lake of Fire because of the spirit of whoredoms, as seen in Hosea 4:12 above! When our Lord blesses us with a figurative 40 years of chastisement, and we become a “backsliding heifer”, it reflects our utter refusal to change, and we will unwittingly find ourselves on the knife edge, maybe seeing too late that we didn’t have a wedding gown of His righteousness; OR, if we are preordained since before the Creation to be an Elect, we will suffer chastisement far more intensely until we do acknowledge our iniquity. Regardless, the statement, “he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still,” portrays the Master Potter creating His vessel in each of us to His precise dimensions at His will to be either filthy, righteous or holy as He pleases in a particular age for His purpose.

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. 
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 

Ecc 11:3  If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. 

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. 

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

Yet, continuing in this age, ancient Israel’s harlot ways are as a figurative revolving wheel (Gilgal H1537) brightly spiritually mirroring in the Middle East today, their preordained returning to vomit for us to remember to not be ‘filthy still.’ Thus, we, as Judah representing the Priests of God, decreasingly re-offend on our fiery course in becoming His ‘Christs.’ Being given our Lord’s faith, we utterly rely on His strength to not reoffend.

Hos 4:15  Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal [H1537 Definition: Gilgal = a wheel, rolling 1. the first site of an Israelite camp west of the Jordan, east of Jericho], neither go ye up to Bethaven [Beth-aven = house of vanity], nor swear, The LORD liveth.
Hos 4:16  For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. 

Israel being fed “as a lamb in a large place” depicts the Lake of Fire for predestined humanity, which is a very “large place” that will contain all of mankind since Adam, as numerous as the sand of the seashore or stars of the heavens.

As seen in Part 3 of Hosea, the Jews today who say that they are Jews and have never been given to go forward spiritually to thus “backslide.” That truth is soon possibly reenacted by the sacrifice of their probable ‘red heifer’ for the dedication of their physical temple on Solomon’s original temple mount site in Jerusalem. It will be exciting to see what the Lord has to transpire. Maybe a rebuilding and then destruction. Regardless, it will be destroyed, as will all edifices of Christian worship in the one thousand years.

Lev 26:30  And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 
Lev 26:31  And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. 
Lev 26:32  And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
Lev 26:33  And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. 

Eze 6:13  Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. 
Eze 6:14  So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

For the time being, it is not given to those not dragged to understand.

Hos 4:17  Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

Ephraim represents the entirety of Israel, the world of humanity left alone to continue in their sins and remain filthy. It is just that we need to thoroughly fast within to see ourselves spiritually in ALL of these outward examples.

Hos 4:18  Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
Hos 4:19  The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. 

The spirit of God, the wind, has, for the time being, made ancient Israel faint, as we were within, earthbound, unable to be lifted up on eagle wings and thus made ashamed because of whoredoms and sacrificing haughtily to our Queen Vashti-like idolised selves [2Th 2:1-4].

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.

]]> Ezekiel 6:1–14 The Judgment Against Idolatry https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/ezekiel-61-14-the-judgment-against-idolatry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ezekiel-61-14-the-judgment-against-idolatry Mon, 26 Feb 2024 15:12:30 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=29458 Audio Download

Ezekiel 6:1–14 The Judgment Against Idolatry

[Study Aired February 26, 2024]

Introduction

Today’s study is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the promise of destruction of the people of Israel for their idolatry, together with the destruction of their idols. The second part focuses on the return of a remnant of the people of Israel to God as they shall exhibit true repentance and reformation. The third part gives direction to Ezekiel to lament on the iniquities and the calamities that have befallen the people of Israel.

Before we go into the details of the study, we need to understand what idolatry entails and how it applies to us. Idolatry means worshiping someone or something other than God. In other words, anything that engages our focus in this life and therefore diverts our attention from the Lord constitutes idolatry. All of us at some point in our lives were worshiping idols before the Lord came to deliver us. It is the truth of the Lord’s words which has the power to help us focus on Christ. However, in our time in Babylon we exchanged the truth of the word of the Lord for the lies of the devil, which became the idols of our hearts in the sense that they diverted our attention from Christ. 

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

Many of the Israelites were uncomfortable with the idea of an invisible god. They preferred a god that could be represented in some solid, tangible and visible form. In many of the churches of this world, there are many statues of Jesus; His hanging on the cross, etc. These are all forms of idolatry. Aaron building the golden calf was therefore not meant to displace God, but to make the Lord more tangible to the Israelites. Flesh always begets flesh. In our carnal state, we always want something that is tangible or fleshy. However, a sign of maturity is believing even though we have not seen. This was what the Lord told Thomas when he doubted that the Lord had risen. 

Joh 20:26  And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 
Joh 20:27  Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
Joh 20:28  And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 
Joh 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Our life in Babylon was characterized by worshiping what we see as tangible. That is why Babylon is dependent on evidential proofs of the spiritual reality portrayed in signs and wonders and gifts of the spirit such as word of knowledge, tongues, etc. As we are aware, it is children who are always looking for gifts from parents. As we mature, we become less dependent on gifts. The fact that many come with signs and wonders must alert us to be wary since these signs and wonders are all rudimentary, as our brother Paul warned us. In his letter to the Corinthians, he told them that it is only love (obedience to the Lord’s words) that will endure. In other words, a mature person is the one who obeys or trembles at the Lord’s words. Other gifts of the spirit such as word of knowledge, prophecies, signs and wonders, are all elementary and as we mature, they become less and less significant. 

1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 
1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 

What we must understand as we mature in the things of God is that we serve a living God who is hiding Himself in this dispensation and it is only as we worship Him in spirit that we come to appreciate the spiritual reality of His existence, love, care and His wonderful plan of salvation for us. 

Isa 45:15  Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. 
Isa 45:16  They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. 
Isa 45:17  But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. 

One of the typical examples of idolatry in the Bible was when the Israelites worshiped a golden calf that they had made at the foot of Mount Sinai where they had camped to receive the Law from the Lord.

Exo 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Exo 32:2  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
Exo 32:3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 
Exo 32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 
Exo 32:5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD. 
Exo 32:6  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 
Exo 32:7  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

In verse 1, Aaron negatively represents our leaders in Babylon who put a stumbling block of iniquity – idols of the heart – before us and cause us to become worse than before we have started our walk with the Lord.

The idols of the heart, which are represented here as the molten calf, come at a cost. In other words, we exchange the gold we have received of the Lord’s words with false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition. This gold of the Lord’s words we have received is the truth of the word of the Lord, and is accompanied by our fiery trials which cause us to learn righteousness. Thus, exchanging the gold we have received for a molten calf or idols of the heart also means our rejection of the fiery trials we must go through in favor of the smooth words in Babylon which exclude our fiery trials. We all at a certain point in our walk with Christ worshiped or bowed down to the molten calf (idols of the heart) instead of Christ’s words. 

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, 

Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 
Isa 30:11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 
Isa 30:12  Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 
Isa 30:13  Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. 

As we go through today’s study, we shall learn more about our idolatrous state when we were in Babylon and how the Lord is gradually delivering us to become His remnant. 

The Mountains Shall be Judged

Eze 6:1  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 6:2  Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 

The reason for the mountains of Israel to be the target of Ezekiel’s prophecy was because almost all the mountains or high places of Israel had become places of idol worship. Worshiping idols in high places was how the Moabites worshiped, as shown in the following verses:

Isa 16:11  Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
Isa 16:12  And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. 

These mountains in Israel used to be the mountains of the Lord. However, over time, the Israelites were influenced by the Moabites’ form of worship of idols on these mountains.

Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. 

Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.  

Num 33:51  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; 
Num 33:52  Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: 

Lev 26:30  And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

The mountains used to be New Jerusalem but in the time of Ezekiel, the holy mountains had been defiled and therefore represent Babylon. When Christ first came to us, we were like the New Jerusalem, but we took the Lord’s words (gold and silver) and turned them into the wisdom and traditions of men when we were in Babylon.

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 Lord speaking to the mountains and the hills is the Lord speaking to us, His elect, about the fact that we are to face judgment.

Mic 6:1  Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 
Mic 6:2  Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 
Mic 6:3  O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

The mountain signifies the house of the Lord, which is the same as His temple, which we are. Thus, the judgment of the Lord regarding the mountains refers to our judgment since we are the temple of the Lord. 

Isa 2:2  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 
Isa 2:3  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 

Mic 4:1  But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 
Mic 4:2  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 

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. 

Eze 6:3  And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. 

Here in verse 3, the Lord mentioned the mountains, the hills, the rivers and the valleys to hear the word of the Lord. The valleys had all become places where idolatry was committed as shown in the following verse:

Isa 57:5  Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?

The rivers mentioned in verse 3 refer to the false doctrines of Babylon which have become idols of our hearts and prevent us from knowing Christ. When the Lord comes to us with His judgment, He not only destroys our old man but our rivers and valleys.

Eze 6:4  And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 
Eze 6:5  And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

When the Lord comes with His judgment, He cleanses our temple (our bodies) by destroying everything within us, such as our altars and images, so that Christ can come and sit on the throne of our hearts and mind. 

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: 
Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

The slain men in verse 5 is the same as the dead carcasses before their idols in verse 6. They refer to the death of our old man through the fire of the Lord’s words. The bones which were to be scattered round about our altars signify our flesh or our old man as seen in the following verse:

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

An altar is where we offer sacrifices to the Lord. It is from our heart and mind that we offer a sacrifice of praise to the Lord and offer our bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord.  The altar therefore signifies our hearts and minds which must be cleansed through the Lord’s judgment. The bones to be scattered round about our altars as a result of the Lord’s judgment means that it is through the Lord’s judgment that we come to see how our flesh has dominated our heart and mind such that we cannot offer ourselves to the Lord as living sacrifices.

Exo 20:24  An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 

Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.   

Psa 86:12  I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. 

Eze 6:6  In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 
Eze 6:7  And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 

It is through the Lord’s judgment that our cities and altars are laid waste, the high places made desolate, our idols broken, our images cut down and our works abolished. Cities either represent the church of the first born or Babylon. In this case, it refers to Babylon. This implies that Babylon within us shall be destroyed. Babylon within us is that which makes us want to worship Jesus but at our own terms. It is therefore destined to be destroyed.

Jer 21:9  He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
Jer 21:10  For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

As we have indicated earlier, the altars signify our hearts and minds where we offer ourselves to the Lord as living sacrifices. However, if our hearts and minds are dominated by the flesh, then our altars become our high places and therefore need to be destroyed through the Lord’s judgment. As shown in verse 6, the Lord shall make our altars and high places desolate. Our idols represent our false doctrines which prevent us from serving the Lord. Through the Lord’s judgment of our old man, our idols of the heart are destroyed.

Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? 
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 

Our images represent another Jesus that we worship when we were in Babylon, which must be destroyed through the Lord’s judgment. Our works which must also be destroyed relate to all that we do outside of Christ. 

Exo 23:24  Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

Gen 31:19  And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.

Ecc 1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

In verse 7, the slain falling in our midst means that the death of our old man is all within us. Just as the kingdom of the Lord is within us, the enemy who fights against the building of the kingdom of the Lord is also within, and that is our old man which must be destroyed. As we see the old man within us die daily, we come to know who the Lord is as indicated in verse 7. 

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 

The Remnant

Eze 6:8  Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. 
Eze 6:9  And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 
Eze 6:10  And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. 

The remnant represents the Lord’s elect, who, although they shall go through the Lord’s judgment, they shall learn righteousness and shall hate themselves for the evil they had committed in serving another Jesus (verse 9). The fact that the remnant will escape the sword does not mean that they would not be judged by the Lord. However, as the Lord’s elect, we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear, and the Lord will, in all that we go through, provide a way of escape so that we bear the Lord’s judgment. The remnant escaping the sword therefore means that the Lord will provide a way of escape for us so that we can bear the judgment of the sword.

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.

It is through the Lord’s judgment that we come to know Him as explained in verse 10. Knowing Him in verse 10 means that we are assured that the Lord will perfect His work in us through His judgment. In other words, what He has started in us, He will surely bring to completion.

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 will Surely Judge Us

Eze 6:11  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 
Eze 6:12  He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them. 

Here in verse 11, we are told of the use of three of the Lord’s four sore judgments against the house of Israel which represents us. Three of the four sore judgments mentioned are sword, famine and pestilence. The negative aspect of sword refers to words that are spoken which destroy us. The sword refers to the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary. 

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

These negative words spoken is one of the tools the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Jdg 7:22 And the three hundred [men with Gideon] blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host [of the Midianites]: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

Famine as one of the four sore judgments of the Lord means absence of the truth of the word of the Lord which makes us worse off as we wander from sea to sea. 

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 
Amo 8:12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
Amo 8:13  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 

Through famine, we come to see who we truly are – that is, we are beasts before the Lord. Thus, our proud old man is brought low when the Lord comes to us as we come to cherish the truth of the word of the Lord.

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 73:23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 
Psa 73:24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

Pestilence comes from the Hebrew word “deber” which means murrain or plague. Murrain means destruction, and the only place the word was used in the Bible was in the fifth plague in Egypt when there was widespread destruction of the cattle of the Egyptians.

Exo 9:1  Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
Exo 9:2  For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, 
Exo 9:3  Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

As we learned in the previous study, the root word for the word “murrain” means ‘God speaking.’ Thus, it is the Lord’s fiery words at work in us which shall cause a grievous murrain of our old man, that is, our old man shall be completely destroyed. 

In verse 12, we are made aware of how the Lord uses His four sore judgments to cause us to know Him. The Lord uses pestilence when we have gotten far away from Him. For example, when the children of Israel were in Egypt, the Lord used pestilence to get their attention. The Lord’s use of pestilence means that the people of Israel were given over to the devil, which in this case was represented by Pharoah who caused the people of Israel to be under great affliction.  

Lev 26:25  And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

Exo 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

Exo 1:11  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 

Exo 1:14  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in the  morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

Exo 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 

When the Lord got the people of Israel’s attention, He came to help them as the people drew closer to the Lord. Today, the Lord still uses pestilence to get our attention when we have drifted far from Him. For example, in the Corinthian church, Paul gave the man who slept with his father’s wife over to the devil so that he may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.  

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 

Unfortunately, as we come out of the world and draw near to the Lord, we end up in Babylon and therefore the Lord uses the sword and famine to get us out of Babylon as He prepares us to be part of the heavenly assembly or the church of the firstborn. 

Eze 6:13  Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. 
Eze 6:14  So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

In verse 13 and 14, we are given to know the end result of our judgment – that is, to know who the Lord really is!!  What a blessing therefore, to be judged in this age so that we can know Christ!!

May His name be praised!! Amen!!

]]> The Book of Romans, Part 22 – We Must Worship in Spirit and in Truth https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-romans-part-22-we-must-worship-in-spirit-and-in-truth/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-romans-part-22-we-must-worship-in-spirit-and-in-truth Tue, 19 Dec 2023 22:42:26 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=28912 Audio Download

The Book of Romans, Part 22 – We Must Worship in Spirit and in Truth

[Study Aired December 19, 2023]

Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 
Rom 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 
Rom 9:25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 
Rom 9:26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. 
Rom 9:27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: 
Rom 9:28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
Rom 9:29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. 
Rom 9:31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 
Rom 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
Rom 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

As we continue reviewing the book of Romans, Paul’s thoughts explain the deeper meaning of God’s sovereignty. In our last study, we reviewed the beginning of Romans 9, witnessing Paul’s fervent concern for the salvation of his fellow Israelites. We have the same concern for our “fellow kinsmen of the flesh” hoping they would see the things of the spirit as we do. Paul uses events from the past to show how God has always had a plan and how the people He chooses are part of His plan of salvation. As we progress to Romans 9:14-33, we will see further revelations from Paul that will describe the sovereignty of God.

Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

In Romans 9:10-13, Paul unfolded the story of Jacob and Esau, the twin sons born to Isaac and Rebecca. He emphasized that before the twins had a chance to do anything good or bad, God’s purpose in choosing was evident. The selection between Jacob and Esau was not contingent on their actions but on God’s sovereign will. Quoting from Malachi 1:2-3, Paul asserts, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”, underscoring God’s prerogative in making decisions and illustrating the concept of election. Jacob and Esau are types and shadows of the elect and the rest of mankind. Mankind (Esau) will be saved, but with the order God has chosen, the elect (Jacob) will experience salvation first.

Transitioning to Romans 9:14, Paul anticipates potential objections to the idea of God’s sovereignty in His decisions, asking, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?” This question serves as a prelude to Paul’s further examination of God’s actions and justice within the framework of His sovereign decisions. God’s actions are not determined by notions of fairness or unfairness as we might understand them. Instead, Paul is prompting a reflection on the nature of God’s justice, which transcends man’s standards and operates within the realm of His wisdom and purpose. We must recognize the limitations of man’s understanding when grappling with the ways of a sovereign and righteous God. 

Isa 55:8-11 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

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.

Paul once again uses Old Testament stories to make his point.

Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 

Paul is mentioning the fact that God’s plan will be followed no matter what men wish or hope to take place. We cannot dictate our way of life, and just as God caused Pharaoh to be the enemy of Israel, He is causing us to “come out of her my people.” God chose Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, and God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to foreshadow our journey out of “Christianity.” God’s mercy will eventually come to all mankind.

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Continuing with our verses.

Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 
Rom 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 
Rom 9:25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 
Rom 9:26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. 

In Romans 9:19-26, Paul addresses a potential objection concerning God’s sovereignty. Faced with the question of why God still finds fault and who can resist His will, Paul uses the story of a potter molding the clay to underscore God’s supreme authority in shaping vessels according to His purpose. Rebuking man’s presumption in questioning God’s designs, Paul emphasizes the limitations of mankind’s understanding in the face of God’s sovereignty. He speaks of the concept of God enduring vessels fitted for destruction, having them to fulfill their appointed roles in demonstrating His justice, while simultaneously revealing the richness of His glory in vessels of mercy. Paul concludes by highlighting the inclusiveness of God’s call, extending beyond the boundaries of the Jews’ heritage, “my kinsmen in the flesh”, to embrace the Gentiles, as prophesied in Hosea. This passage highlights both His justice and His mercy in the unfolding of His plan of salvation.

Isaiah 29:16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Jeremiah 18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

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

Exodus 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

Hosea 2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

Moving forward from the discussion of Romans 9:19-26, where Paul confirms God’s control, we come to the next verses.

Rom 9:27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: 
Rom 9:28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
Rom 9:29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

In these verses, Paul continues explaining God’s plan, showing that it goes beyond “my kinsmen of the flesh.” As we read the above verses quoted from Isaiah, we see Paul illustrating how vast God’s mercy is and how He keeps His promises.

The remnant being saved are not the children of the flesh. The remnant are those who worship God in spirit and in truth.

Joh 4:19-24 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Jesus states “salvation is of the Jews.” Is he speaking of “his kinsmen of the flesh?” Yes, but only in type and shadow. Everything is changing from the flesh to the spirit. The flesh is no more able to please God through works than a withering plant can survive in arid soil without water. It is demanded that God be worshiped in “spirit and in truth.”

Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. 
Rom 9:31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 
Rom 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; 
Rom 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Romans 9:30-33 marks a pivotal moment in Paul’s discourse on salvation and righteousness. The passage begins by highlighting a significant shift in perspective – the Gentiles, who did not actively pursue righteousness, have attained it through faith. Meanwhile, Israel, who diligently sought after the law of righteousness, did not attain it because they sought it by works rather than by faith. This underscores a central theme in Paul’s teachings – salvation is not achieved through works or adherence to the law but is a result of faith in Christ.

Supporting this perspective, Paul draws on the prophetic words of Isaiah. In Romans 9:32-3, he quotes Isaiah 28:16 and Isaiah 8:14 to emphasize the stumbling stone and rock of offense which is Christ. The stumbling block signifies the challenge “the many called” face in accepting Christ as the cornerstone of salvation. The pursuit of righteousness through works became an obstacle, causing them to stumble over the simplicity of faith in Christ.

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation<: he that believeth shall not make haste.

Isaiah 8:14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Romans 9:30-33 emphasizes the critical importance of faith in Christ for both Jews and Gentiles. It underscores the danger of relying on works for righteousness and points to Christ as the cornerstone, highlighting the stumbling block that hindered “the many called” from recognizing Him as the path to salvation.

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

1Co 10:1-11 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The true Israel of God are those worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

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.

]]> Musical Instruments in the bible, Part 11 – String Instruments https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/musical-instruments-in-the-bible-part-11-string-instruments/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=musical-instruments-in-the-bible-part-11-string-instruments Thu, 30 Nov 2023 23:20:06 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=28760 Audio Download

Musical Instruments in the bible, Part 11

String Instruments – [Kathros-Harp, Kinnor-Harp]

[Study Aired November 30, 2023]

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The two stringed instruments we will look at in this study are both harps, and the verses that are used for the Kathros harp are centered around the negative use of hearing something in the world as typified with the events found in these verses: (Dan 3:5, Dan 3:7, Dan 3:10, Dan 3:15). 

The second harp is the Kinnor harp which points to scriptures which primarily discuss the positive effect of hearing the word of the Lord in this life: (Gen 4:21, Gen 31:27, 1Sa 10:5, 1Sa 16:16, 1Sa 16:23, 2Sa 6:5, 1Ki 10:12, 1Ch 13:8, 1Ch 15:16, 1Ch 15:21, 1Ch 15:28, 1Ch 16:5).

Hear the word of the LORD

Our Father in heaven has a lot to say about how we hear the word of the LORD, and every one of these verses which has the statement “hear the word of the LORD” (2Ki 20:16, 2Ch 18:18, Isa 1:10, Isa 28:14, Isa 39:5, Isa 66:5, Jer 22:2, Jer 22:29, Jer 31:10, Jer 44:24, Eze 6:3), was written for our sakes so that a fire can be kindled in the elect that can only begin on ground that has been promised from the foundation of the world to be prepared (Eph 1:4-6, 1Pe 1:20, Eph 2:8-10, 1Jn 4:17, Joh 15:16, Mat 25:34) to receive or read, hear and keep (Rev 1:3) His word which is as fire. “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer 23:29, Mat 24:2).

(The fiery judgments of God in this age upon His children breaks us, not leaving one stone upon another (Mat 24:2), causing us to have a humble and contrite heart (Isa 66:2) in order to be prepared in this age and made ready to be kings and priests who will in time become comfortable in that fire (Isa 33:13-16) and skilled in our ability to apply it outwardly when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ [1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17, 1Jn 4:17, Jer 5:14, Rev 11:15]).

Isa 33:13  Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
Isa 33:16  He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

[These munitions of rocks represent the stronghold that God’s word is for His people who are being judged today, and blessed to receive the true bread and water that was taken away from us in the churches of Babylon [Isa 3:1].]

“I am come to send fire on the earth; (process of hearing his word that is as fire Jer 22:29) and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” (Luk 12:49-53) These verses remind us that the foundation God is building through Christ comes at the expense of our very families who are sacrificed for us in this age (Rom 11:30-33).

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.

1Pe 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you [Rom 5:10, Col 1:27, Rom 8:9],

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast [Rom 11:20-22].
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

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.
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 
1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us [Rom 9:13].

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

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

These verses below remind us that in order to hear the word of the LORD we must die daily through an ongoing process that has been given unto the elect in this age to endure through Christ (Php 2:12-13) making it possible for God’s words to sink down deeply into our hearts and minds (Mat 13:16, Luk 9:44, Joh 17:17, Luk 13:32, Luk 7:22, 1Jn 4:17, Jer 7:2, Jer 9:20, Jer 34:4, Jer 42:15, Eze 16:35, Eze 20:47, Eze 25:3, Eze 34:7, Hos 4:1).

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Luk 9:44  Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men [1Jn 4:17]. [Christ telling us that we must be armed with His mind (1Pe 4:1) and know that our life in him is one of afflictions, persecutions, tribulation, and suffering, of being hated by all men for his name sake (1Co 10:16, Mat 10:22)]

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth [“Let these sayings sink down into your ears“].

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Luk 7:22  Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment [1Pe 4:17]: because as he is, so are we in this world [able to hear and to see spiritually].

If we are being dragged out of Babylon to the LORD in this age (Joh 6:44), we will be acknowledging that we were in there in the first place having been part of the harlot system (Eze 16:35). This is what we must hear when we come out of Babylon and be careful to not look down on that which we have been called out of by the grace of God and through the faith of Christ (Rom 11:18-22).

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.

Isa 30:21  And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left [Rom 8:14, Joh 14:6].

Joh 8:47  He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world [symbolized by these musicians we read of in Daniel ” (Dan 3:5, Dan 3:7, Dan 3:10, Dan 3:15)].
1Jn 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Definitive scripture that describes the negative and positive use of the word hearing

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them [symbolized by these musicians we read of in Daniel and those who hear and respond to their message (Dan 3:5, Dan 3:7, Dan 3:10, Dan 3:15)].
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; [symbolized by these musicians we read of using the harp in these verses [Gen 4:21, Gen 31:27, 1Sa 10:5, 1Sa 16:16, 1Sa 16:23, 2Sa 6:5, 1Ki 10:12, 1Ch 13:8, 1Ch 15:16, 1Ch 15:21, 1Ch 15:28, 1Ch 16:5] he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God [1Jn 5:2-3]; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1Jn 4:9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live throughG1223 him [Php 2:12-13]. 
1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 
1Jn 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us [Joh 3:16, 1Jn 3:16], we ought also to love one another [to be a propitiation along with Christ for each other’s sins and the sins of the world (Lev 16:15, Lev 16:20-21, 1Jn 4:17)]. 
1Jn 4:12  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us [Col 1:27].
1Jn 4:13  Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit [Rom 8:16, Rom 8:9].

With all these things in mind now, let’s look at the verses and the surrounding context in order to see the contrast with these two harp-like instruments and what they tell us about ourselves, both of the instruments that were made and set in the circumstances we see them for our sakes (1Co 10:11).

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

Here are the verses where the Kathros harp is found: (Dan 3:5, Dan 3:7, Dan 3:10, Dan 3:15). 

Dan 3:5  That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harpH7030, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:

Dan 3:7  Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harpH7030, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Dan 3:10  Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harpH7030, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image: 

Dan 3:15  Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harpH7030, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

We have discussed these verses before in a previous study on the instrument known as the Kehren, which was a study done on October 5th. Here is an extract from that study to remind us why the Kathros harp can also be seen as an instrument that has a negative connotation for us in God’s word. 

Here is the Strong’s definition of the word Kathros/harpH7030.

If we look at the root meanings of this word Kathros it is very revealing and shows the negative example of kindling a fire.

This fire that is kindled is one that incites the flesh and is earthly and devilish in its intent (Jas 3:15, Jud 1:19) (as opposed to the Kinnor harpH3658, as we will see later in the study). The one verse that the root word of Kathros/harpH7030 is found in Jeremiah 17:6 and reveals this:

Jer 17:5  Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jer 17:6  For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places [H2788  root H2787] in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

The context surrounding the word parchedH2788 shows us how we become cursed when we trust in men and not in God, that is how we become spiritually lacking because we either lean unto our own understanding or the counsel of carnal men and stop believing in God, as opposed to believing in God in order to work the works of God in this age (2Pe 2:17-18, Jud 1:12, Joh 6:28-29).

Jas 3:15  This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

Jud 1:19  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 

2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

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

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The second harp we are looking at tonight is the KinnorH3658 (harp) which points to scriptures that primarily discuss the positive effect of hearing the word of the Lord in this life (Gen 4:21, Gen 31:27, 1Sa 10:5, 1Sa 16:16, 1Sa 16:23, 2Sa 6:5, 1Ki 10:12, 1Ch 13:8, 1Ch 15:16, 1Ch 15:21, 1Ch 15:28, 1Ch 16:5).

I’ll go through a few of these verses to show the positive use of this word Kinnor harpH3658 starting with these two verses in Genesis (Gen 4:21, Gen 31:27). The context of the first use of the word Kinnor is seemingly a negative one, and it is for the flesh, but this story speaks of the redemption that will come through the line of Seth who is a type of the Christ and His Christ.

Gen 4:21  And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harpH3658 and organ.
Gen 4:22  And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.
Gen 4:23  And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. 
Gen 4:24  If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold [how we deal with the sin of Cain and Lamech within us is through Christ and His Christ represented by Seth, forgiving our brothers 70×7 (Mat 18:22)].
Gen 4:25  And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name SethH8352: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 

Again in the next verse where we read of the word Kinnor (Gen 31:27), it may seem negative, but the whole story being brought out is in regard to our deliverance from sin. The first entry of the word Kinnor is symbolic of how we will be delivered from sin through Christ and His Christ, who is typified by Seth and Jacob.

Gen 31:26  And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword? 
Gen 31:27  Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harpH3658? 
Gen 31:28  And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. 
Gen 31:29  It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

In these next three verses, (1Sa 10:5, 1Sa 16:16, 1Sa 16:23), there is a very distinct reference to prophecy, and the word is definitely being used in a positive context reminding us of the need to continue to encourage, enlighten, edify, comfort, and strengthen each other in the LORD (1Co 14:3).

1Sa 10:5  After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harpH3658, before them; and they shall prophesy:

1Sa 16:16  Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harpH3658: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.

1Sa 16:23  And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harpH3658, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

In conclusion when we hear the word of God as Noah[H5146= ‘The same as H5118; resting place]  did “to the saving of his house” we find ourselves being made perfect, stablished and strengthened in Christ (1Pe 5:10). The ark that Noah built represents the church, the body of Christ that finally rested on mount Ararat [AraratH780 = “the curse reversed: precipitation of curse”], telling us that when we are blessed to have the faith of Christ and move with fear as Noah did, we will be resting in the Lord who is our strength (Heb 4:9-11). 

Gen 8:4  And the ark restedH5117  in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of AraratH780.

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

Christ alone enables us (Php 2:13) to go from glory to glory as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (2Co 3:18, Php 2:12). The curse of being in this sinful flesh is then reversed by being slaves to righteousness (Gal 3:13, Gal 2:20) and spending our remaining days on the earth fulfilling the will of God that was symbolized by the building of the Ark (1Pe 4:2). Noah’s name has its root meaning in the word “rest” and reminds us that the body of Christ is laboring to enter into His rest, a labor of love that can only be accomplished by grace through faith (Heb 12:6, Tit 2:12, Eph 2:8).

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

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: 

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

By not refusing him that speaks to us (Christ who speaks the law of Christ, a law fulfilled by bearing each other’s burdens  [Gal 6:2]), the curse of the law which is for the lawless is reversed (1Ti 1:9). God calls us out of Babylon and blesses His children to be able to hear the word of the LORD and rest in Christ in this age. Noah typifies for us how that rest is obtained (Heb 11:6-7, Heb 5:7, Heb 12:25, 1Jn 4:17), and mount Ararat symbolizes the end result of our moving with fear to the saving of our house.

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: [Luk 22:32] for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Heb 11:7  By faith NoahG3575, being warned of God of things not seen as yet [Joh 20:29], moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith [Mat 24:37-39, 1Pe 1:12].

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 

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

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 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Gen 8:4  And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of AraratH780.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the last three stringed instruments in this section of musical instruments in the bible [Nebel – Viol, Psanterin – Psaltery, Sabbka – Sackbut]

The psaltery, a type of harp, may have had as many as ten strings (Psalm 33:2, 144:9). It was used when the Ark of the Covenant was moved (1Chronicles 15:28) as well as in worshiping God (25:6).

This instrument was used in the court of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar. It may have resembled a dulcimer that had its strings struck with small hammers.

]]> Worship – Part 2, The God-Given Act of Listening Internally to His Spirit https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/worship-part-2-the-god-given-act-of-listening-internally-to-his-spirit/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=worship-part-2-the-god-given-act-of-listening-internally-to-his-spirit Sun, 01 Oct 2023 01:25:43 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=28429 Audio Download

Worship – Part 2, The God-Given Act of  Listening Internally to His Spirit

[Study Aired September 30, 2023]

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life – Gen 3:17 

Today’s second part study on “Worship”, meaning devoted reverence, focuses on one of the most formidable acts of worship through which only the holy spirit can inspire. it results from being in the spirit today, the Lord’s day, for any biblical revelatory understanding. It is the act of diligently “listening.”

Here is Job, the Beast, who is you and I, sitting on the throne of God, spiritually stating that we are God! He’s telling God to diligently listen to him ~ our audacity is breathtaking!

Job 13:2  What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. 

Job 13:17  Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears. 

The world’s spiritualism uses the modern term “mindfulness” to denote a genuinely outstanding tool that ingeniously works for spouses to deeply experience the ‘sound’ that each other’s bodies and minds speak for deeply intimate Shulamite-like espousals. Our Lord uses that modern term “mindfulness” by His terms of “harken/hearken; hear/heareth” condensed to “LISTEN.”

Eve didn’t honour and reverence (worship) Adam as she did not hearken to him or their Lord (Eph 5:22-33, 1Pe 3:1-7). Ironically, their subsequent guilt certainly caused them to suddenly “hear” the Lord walking in the Garden! It’s not so different from Saul, who became Paul, to abruptly “hear” the Lord in crystal clarity following his terror of blindness (Act 9:3-6).

By not listening to our Lord in spirit and truth, we automatically have an idol of the heart since our dogma is the only remaining ideological means to attain some semblance of an enjoyable life. It is the damning process of Eden’s curse on us in Babylon, ruling Christ whom we claim as our husband. In Babylon, we love lies, the opposite of worshiping Christ in spirit and truth.

Rev 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 
Rev 22:13  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 
Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 
Rev 22:15  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Rev 22:16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Rev 22:17  And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy [by making a lie], God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 
Rev 22:21  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

I would be the precise personage of a Babylonian wife if I avoided spiritual intimacy with my Husband; if I didn’t up front and unashamedly state that the Elect’s center of worship is around Christ. He is our husband, and from this point in this study, we are working backward from whence we have come to identifying worship.

The God entity in Genesis 1 undertook the first act of biblically “listening”, responding to the yet higher personage of the Godhead we came to know as the Father. That “God” in the creation sequence in Genesis 1 was Elohim, the Word, who was created as the Son of God and became Christ, the Bride’s Husband.

It wasn’t until Genesis 1:26 that we realised two individuals of the Godhead conspired creation. To collaborate on the creation plan, these two luminaries must communicate, and the subordinate to the authority of the supreme Godhead entity had to listen and enthusiastically respond to His authoritative superior, just as an earthly righteous wife without a lying heart like snares and nets and hands like bands brightly interacts with her husband. Such a husband is oh, so glad to die for his wife without a hint of bitterness (Ecc 7:26).

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

Christ, in responding to his disciples about the Pharisees’ narky opportunity to condemn him for working on the Sabbath, says:

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

‘Seeing’ inspires communication that involves attentive ‘listening.’

Joh 5:26  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life within Himself, 
Joh 5:27  and has given Him [Elohim who became Christ] authority to execute judgment also, because [and in sequence…] He is [became] the Son of Man.
Joh 5:28  Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves shall hear His voice,
Joh 5:29  and shall come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

The Son of God communicated with his Father before He, the Son, brought into existence the heavens and Earth. Their interaction before that event involved speaking and attentive listening to detail, particularly by the Son.

Much later in the continuing process of the creation and recreation of man, the Son attentively listened to the exacting details for recreating His Bride, who, in order of creation, goes on to recreate through her husband the rest of mankind.

Our Lord sternly commanded Moses to create the Tabernacle, the Ark and all its utensils in the exact proportions God had told him on Mt Sinai. To do that, Moses had to pay particular attention to the details by listening, as shown in all of Exodus 25–30, which is interspersed with:

Exo 25:40  And see [be diligent] that you make them after their pattern, which was shown you in the mountain. (Heb 8:5)

Col 2:17  For these are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.

The Lord gave Adam and Eve, Moses and the Israelites the ability to meticulously listen to all He said, yet, to their immense frustration, they were incapable of walking with equal diligence in what was commanded because of their flesh. Their spirit of the flesh, infused by Satan in the Garden, always caused them to question the Lord, as do all earthly wives (and husbands comprising worldly churches) sceptically question rulership over their very questionable husbands.

Adam and Eve’s God-given inability to meticulously listen to the Lord set the path of all humanity to fail miserably in worshiping him by having the missing ingredient, the holy spirit that quickens, enliven their understanding to diligently do the will of God! (Joh 6:63, Mar 3:35, Mat 12:50, 1Jn 2:17).

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not [because without the spirit good is impossible to sustain].

Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying [in harmony with listening], Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 
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. 

The most profound levels to mindfully “listen” are allegorical for ALL of our senses. It is attained by relaxing from the anxiety of the noisome, beastly world’s chaos and deeply “listening” to every nuance of our Lord, through our Husband’s very body, the church. In that case, His word comes alive within our body (hopefully the Bride) and spirit with euphoric trembling elation. Such a beautiful response on His Bride’s face amplifies His ravishing for her and, in unity, her for Him. It is the impetus for the Shulamite’s electrifying epiphany: [“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. (Son 1:2)] and is “Worship.”

It wasn’t possible for Adam, without spiritual foresight or hindsight, to see the incredible depth of meaning to all the Lord said, including the magnitude of the subsequently prophetic curses for mankind.

The Shulamite, who directly symbolises the Bride of Christ, vigorously retained her ‘blackness’ of being understood by her sisters in Babylon through her poetic song, the Song of Solomon. Every word of her song of songs is spiritual foreplay, denoting its hidden spiritual interaction. It all is about profound spiritual “LISTENING” to every detail of her Lord by her interplay ~ in fact, the entire Bible!We ‘listen’ to every arousing sense our Lord has imbued us. We ‘listen’ to Touch, Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste now experienced by His spirit, discerning the spirit of the matter in truth!

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard [nor any of our physical senses], neither have entered into the heart of man [another act of hearing], the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit: for the spirit searcheth [1. to search, examine into. H2046 – 1. to utter, speak, say – Origin: probably a fuller form of G4483, an alternate for G2036 meaning, 1. to pour forth, to utter. 1. to speak, say]   all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

The act of the spirit speaking to us is in lockstep with us listening and profoundly understanding by hearing what the spirit says on all occasions, as stated to the “Seven Churches of Asia” (Rev 1:4-18). That understanding is why Adam, Eve and everyone up until the death of Christ couldn’t, with immense frustration, “do the will of God.” They were utterly incapable of worshiping in spirit and in truth.

Following is how we worshiped another Jesus while lounging around in Babylon. These verses epitomise physically the only way we knew how to ‘listen’ and thus understand His word.

To Your Name Give Glory:

Psa 115:1  Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory [worship!], for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. 
Psa 115:2  Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?
Psa 115:3  But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased [For this study’s purpose, hidden his word from all but His Bride who alone can ‘hear’]. 
Psa 115:4  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
Psa 115:5  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 
Psa 115:6  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 
Psa 115:7  They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 
Psa 115:8  They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

By our Lord’s hand, I hope with less stammering lips to show how the Bride worships the Father in Spirit and truth through our Lord’s detailed interaction with His Wife’s body and thus make the Bible, the Lord’s handbook of foreplay, come alive.

In last week’s Introduction to this study on Worship, we saw that “worship” must be accomplished in spirit and truth and is outwardly represented by giving reverence by outwardly bowing down. The spiritual act reflects the ‘natural’ and is potently (inclusive of the entire Bible!) seen in the following verse regarding the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

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

One of the most animated acts of spiritual worship is seen by the publican, who unconsciously began spiritually to stand afar from Babylon while in Babylon. Upon looking back on his life, his horror from instant understanding shook him to the depths of his growing spiritual awareness. His stark realisation of his sins caused him to not give a thought to ‘bowing’; he was “standing”, transfixed in dread and, no doubt later, dichotic joy for his realisation of his condition. Appalled and humiliated, he unwittingly fiercely worshiped upward in spirit and truth! The horror of his endemically sinful flesh made him worship where he stood. Regardless of physically bowing, he profoundly and spiritually bowed before his Lord and Saviour. His prayers were heard and moved the Lord!

Those thrown alive into the Lake of Fire will involuntarily collapse in dread as dead men, a figurative forced bowing of fearfully induced worship before the terrible vision of their imminent future. Those very same people resurrected to spiritual life will dynamically bow and worship the Christ in and through His Christs (plural) with quivering fear. The Lord’s very own in this age right now, both physically and spiritually, fall on their faces in the worship of God as a precursory event to all mankind (Ecc 9:3).

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; [effectively a forced bowing in worshipful fear] 
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?

Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. 

The Bible is nominally 98% “unsearchable”, governed by our former Babylonian riches in believing that we were already saved while figuratively remaining stuck at Sinai ingloriously dancing nude with our brethren around a ‘different Jesus’ (2Co 11:4, Exo 32:19-25, Isa 20:2-4, Isa 47:3). 

How often in this age have we heard our former fellow dancers in Babylon say that nobody can understand the Bible! Of course, nobody can except the Elect, dragged from the ‘chosen’ and given to clothe their nakedness with the spirit of truth, an act of worship. 

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [Greek: G1670, Phonetic: hel-koo’-o; helkuō, ‘drag’. You, me or anyone else cannot come to the Father, except the Father which hath sent Christ draw (helkuō: ‘drag’ him against his will] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Of course, the Lord’s Elect are ‘dragged’ out of Babylon and thus raised up on this day, in this age representing the literal last day of their age before the holy First Resurrection. They are right now, being clothed in His righteousness.

Luk 8:10  And he said, Unto you [the ‘dragged’ ones] it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others [Our naked brothers and sisters delightedly enriched in Babylon] in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable[G419] are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 

Notice that the KJV placed an exclamation mark at the end of that verse to amplify the impossibility for anyone other than His Elect to find out the unsearchable sum total of our Lord’s word.

We know that the Lord’s Elect, alone as his Bride, is given to know the ‘unfathomableness of his riches’ that defies their brothers in Babylon.

Searching anxiously with diligence is the mindful act of listening to the inner heart and soul by our Lord’s spirit. Its startling revelation is grasping the “unsearchable” word of God.

What is Listening Mindfully?

Listening mindfully is intrinsically worshiping in spirit and in truth. It all is one and the same. Worshiping in the spirit is the God-given deciphering and understanding of our Lord’s word through His impregnating spirit that causes us to drop spiritually and often physically to our knees in awestruck ‘worship.’ That truthful spirit of understanding is for the Elect alone, having been given His mind to search out the ‘unsearchable’ with arousing excitement dramatically increasing on the individual’s “Lord’s day.”

Rev 1:10  I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 

We are fully conversant with John’s account of his particular “Lord’s day” and his suddenly electrified growing spiritual understanding of our Lord’s word. (Please see all of Revelation 1:9-20 to review that narration.)

The God-given spiritual ability to finally begin to understand scripture results in the pursuit of enthusiastically deep and diligent attention to detail condensed to the contemporary term “mindfulness” and, to his Wife, the act of mindful “listening”. Mindfully listening is the spiritual alpha and omega understanding of a thing, only achievable through the Lord’s Spirit. His spirit gives us a growing intensity of enlightenment for God’s hidden, unsearchable things. That state of being is the beginning of ‘receiving ‘the end of our faith in the salvation of our souls’ (1Pe 1:9).

“Unsearchable”, as seen in G419 above, has the same meaning as “searched diligently” G1830 below in 1 Peter 1:10.

1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 
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: 
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
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[G1930], who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you [The Elect, today]: 
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 [the Elect and chosen rejected] desire[G1937] to look into.

As seen in the Song of Solomon study and “A Mystery Hidden from the Ages and Generations: How Not to Be Bitter against One’s Wife; How Not to Make a Husband Bitter”, a wife, meaning a church, can “desire” espousal intimacies all she likes, but her desire for inflaming reality will largely remain dull (weak – Gen 29:17) or at best, lukewarm until she is aroused in spirit and truth by her Lord’s kisses.

The hour has come since Christ, where God’s “unsearchable” things are revealed as highly searchable alone for the Bride.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 
Joh 4:24  God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

Upon an Elect babe in Christ given the Lord’s spirit of understanding by listening to the heart of his mother (the Church), and her reverence of her husband, he eagerly drinks in the milk of the word as the Shulamite’s baby brother did (Son 8:1). Let’s continue studying how to listen mindfully in detail to Christ’s words and in unity worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, and be electrifyingly aroused as was the Shulamite. Spiritually listening, hearing and understanding her poetic speech is the consummative understanding of our re-creation; its grand finalé. 

Listening mindfully is a God-given spiritual devotion to the “still small voice” of detail of our Lord’s word, understood and worshipfully expressed from our heart in response to His words, which are  His “kisses.” 

Upon fleeing from Jezebel to Mt. Horeb, Elijah understood the Lord’s word, not through the frightening physical expressions that tend to overshadow the nuances of what is said, but rather by very attentive listening, an organised spiritual inspection of one’s thoughts by the Lord’s spirit connecting his spirit within. 

1Ki 19:11  And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 
1Ki 19:12  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
1Ki 19:13  And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 
1Ki 19:14  And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 

The fullness of those understandings is the major part of what makes the Bride’s burden seductively light.

Mat 11:28  Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Mat 11:29  Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. 
Mat 11:30  For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

That kind of mindful detail inflamed the Shulamite to insatiably know more and famously expressed in her opening line in the Song of Solomon: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love [His word] is better than wine” (Son 1:2). Spiritual listening, as with sexually listening to the nuances of one’s spouse’s mind and body, shouldn’t be obsessed with rushing to a consummative goal. Most potently to experience every exquisite detail of each other’s body, it spiritually reflects luxuriating in every jot and title of the Lord’s word, learning and experiencing new nuggets of intimate delight. It is Shulamite-expressed spiritual foreplay. It’s a leisurely journey, stopping to see, breathe, feel the texture and mindfully sense each other’s every delight in harmony with His word. It all is reverential worship.

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 
Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord blesses his Bride to righteously decipher in detail every jot and tittle of His word by His spirit. She diligently searches her body for every imperfection that doesn’t mirror her study of her Lord’s body.

Son 6:11  I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.

Son 7:12  Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
Son 7:13  The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, [the word…] new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

Why should the Shulamite fiercely protect every detail of her Lord’s body, His word? Because she is espoused to her Lord, whose word is for her alone. She uses that intricate, detailed understanding felt as a deep spiritual presence in the centre of her body with her breasts and heart beneath, every woman’s first port of call of heartfelt emotion directly connected to her mind. Her spiritually devoted listening, in perfect harmony with her Lord’s arousing word, is what ravishes Him to guard her most jealously. It is the mutual worship in unity of spirit and truth.

Pro 5:19  Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

The wording, The song of songs, which is Solomon’s (Son 1:1), with far-away eyes, can be read as a sentence: a matter of not seeing the forest for the trees. However, the Shulamite and the Bride’s eyes chew the cud while mindful of its individual flavours, textures, and pH neutrality, coming alive with alkalinity contrasting with the mini bursts of acidity of the ‘food.’ “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s” IS the Bride’s thunderstruck epiphany for the “unsearchable” detailed understanding of the Bible. Without meticulously looking into (1Pe 1:12) scriptures in spirit and truth, they remain “unsearchable” or, at best, lukewarmly searchable. Both forms of searching, regardless of understanding, are “worship.” The Shulamite richly sings the unsearchable wisdom of the Song of Solomon that Solomon and his 1,000 wives cannot understand. His wives, representing our former state while with our Christian Babylonian brothers and sisters, sing a discordant song of fools since they can’t equate chastisement with love.

Ecc 7:5  It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. 

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in  psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace [Tit 2:12. i.e. chastening – paideuō] in your hearts to the Lord. 
Col 3:17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks [worshipping for his chastising grace] to God and the Father by him. 

God’s unsearchable riches and wisdom come alive through His spirit alone through deep and lingering Mary-like listening (Luke 10:38-42 – the account of Martha and Mary at Jesus’ feet). The depth of our understanding of scripture is dramatically amplified by lingering on the minute details of every word to obtain its flavour, texture, alkalinity, acidity, light and darkness, and positive and negative reflections! This is the act of being deeply spiritually aware of details; it is the act of glorifying, that is, “worshiping” by spiritually detailed inspection, the act of listening to our Lord’s body and He, the harmony of his Wife’s most delightedly arousing response! It is a profoundly spiritual foreplay of the Lord’s Spirit in us, unifying with His spirit, resulting in body-trembling worshipful understanding.

In keeping with the studies “The Song of Solomon” and “A Mystery Hidden from the Ages and Generations: How Not to Be Bitter against One’s Wife & How Not to Make a Husband Bitter”, in fact, all of the IWWB studies, that act of worship between a husband and wife is for Babylon, spiritually “unsearchable.” Gentile Christianity ‘touches’ Christ’s very Body and, in doing so, blasphemes His name by claiming His name while adulterously worshiping another Jesus. They and those associated with them outside the Camp of Israel are forbidden to look upon (Num 4:20), yet have “touched” the Jesus and must die at the end of the One-Thousand Year reign. Only the Bride of Christ, His Wife, can intimately “touch” her husband’s Body, mutually inducing righteous “drops of the night” in spiritually deeply connected understanding (Son 5:2). With the physical pointing to their spiritual counterparts, and with Shulamite poetic preparatory arousal, those “drops” result from His Bride’s listening to her Lord’s every arousing nuance of His body. From the misty night of trembling excitation, they form as dew upon our locks and dawn with daylight clarity and climactic spiritual understanding. Every millimeter of the Bride’s body is a sensory organ tuned by Christ to “listening” and understanding. Just as drops of water instantly merge upon them touching, so do the Shulamites and her Lord’s “drops of the night” instantly merge in ‘knowing’ each other in His unity of truth (Gen 4:1). 

By not worshiping in spirit and truth, our former Babylonian nature has no whit to understand the still many unexpressed sophistications of the Song of Solomon, indeed the complete Bible, without blunt expression.

Mar 4:11  And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: 
Mar 4:12  That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. 

2Sa 6:6  And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God [Christ], and took hold [touched] of it; for the oxen shook it.
2Sa 6:7  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

Num 4:20  But they [the Levites] shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

Many Eastern cultures assuredly know how to maximise the worship of physical marital intimacy, yet tragically it is mixed with their heathen esoteric mysticism. With wonderful potency, their marriages connect with physical erotic mindfulness, often to our Christian Babylonian brothers’ and sisters’ shame. Yet, at least they, our close kin, preach Jesus, even if they worship “another Jesus” (Php 1:12-17, Luk 9:49-50). Either way, they are forms of worship.

While reflecting upon the connections of songs, psalms and hymns, another beautiful example of finding the nuances of the spirit in our hearts is being in the zone of listening to a heavenly orchestra. It is not a place to chat, eat popcorn, or fidget with your phone. The audience must be deathly quiet to get the most out of the experience ~ to hear our Lord’s still, small voice (1Ki 19:11-13) behind us while worshiping in spirit and truth. One needs to be mindful of every sensory organ of his body with relaxed breathing, listening intently for every minute detail of instrumentation ~ it is Shulamite spiritual foreplay. Depending upon how mindful you are, it is, on many levels, deeply spiritually arousing ~ it is worship. 

The Bible is mostly about the Lord creating a breathtakingly beautiful spiritual wife for Himself from beginning to end. Just as the creation of the heavens ‘suddenly’ came into existence, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, the Song of Solomon graphically portrays the Bride’s sudden enlightenment (1Th 5:3) and unrestrained (mindful – detailed) pursuit of her reason for existence. Her bright and elaborate enthusiasm for her Lord is overwhelmingly arousing for them both. Her Rachel-like devotion would make any husband howl with tears of joy, as did Jacob ~ and now, Christ. (Son 4:9  Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.)

Worship isn’t only a devotion to Christ and our Father; we even worship others ignominiously or reputably. The inevitable contention with our Lord is honouring others or an item “more than” our Husband without giving Him “all” our heart, soul and mind.

Mat 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 
Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 
Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love [worship] the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind [mindfully!].
Mat 22:38  This is the [spiritually mindful] first and great commandment. 
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love [worship] thy neighbour as thyself. 
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

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.

True worship in spirit and truth is profoundly loving, that is, worshiping our Lord more than a wife, husband, children, or anything more than God.

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 

Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Of course, Jacob represents our heavenly Father, who loves Christ “more than” carnal humanity. The Son implicitly agreed with the Father’s plan to create a carnal form of themselves in mankind for them to torturously learn to become as they are in spirit. That process begins with the Son’s creation of Himself in His Bride, the Elect of God being the first fruits (plural) of Him, the first fruit.

Est 2:17  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 
Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man [The Beast upon the throne of God], and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the [corruptible, as opposed to righteous] lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 

I pray we have no residing rebellion of listless harlotry by fooling around delaying buying oil for our lamps at this apparent late hour before hearing the pounding hooves of our Saviour’s horse coming for His Bride. With an irritated sigh, one such ‘madam’ thought could be, “Here we go; Grant is off infusing sex again with his studies…” To that possible notion, and in keeping with salvation, my response is, “Isn’t marriage an underpinning cornerstone of the Bible?” Marriage without enthusiastic [mindful] boudoir intimacies is a lukewarm and bitter marriage; didn’t Christ already experience that lamentable condition with His first wife? Look what happened to her! God forbid it happens to us! Yet, we fill up behind the very same, mostly inward afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24).

As the Lord wills, I look forward to more detailed inspection of our Lord’s body next weekend as He, in the meantime, inspects ours.

]]> “Musical Instruments in the bible” Part 2 – Wind [Halil=pipe] https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/musical-instruments-in-the-bible-part-2-wind-halilpipe/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=musical-instruments-in-the-bible-part-2-wind-halilpipe Thu, 21 Sep 2023 17:23:32 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=28367 Audio Download

“Musical Instruments in the bible” Part 2 – Wind [Halil=pipe]

[Study Aired September 21, 2023]

In our last study we looked at our singing voice as an instrument that can praise God and worship Him with holy words and sounds that typify the elevated way in which the body of Christ can exalt God in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:23). 

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Each voice has its own unique sound and quality that can interact with other voices to create harmonies that are endless in their application. All of this is a shadow of the truth that the word of God, and the relationship that we have with our Father and Christ through each other, is unsearchable (Joh 14:20) There is no end to the peace it will produce (Job 5:9, Psa 145:3, Pro 25:3, Rom 11:33, Eph 3:8, Isa 9:7). Harmony comes to the body of Christ by way of having the same mind, and it fills us with joy to know we are walking in accord with Christ and His body (Php 2:1-12, 3Jn 1:2-6).

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

Job 5:9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; [within and without Joh 14:20] marvellous things without number.

Psa 145:3  Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable [within and without (Joh 14:20)]. 

Pro 25:3  The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable [within and without (Joh 14:20)]

Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! [within and without (Joh 14:20)]

Eph 3:8  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ [within and without];

Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this [Zec 4:6]. 

Php 2:1  If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 
Php 2:2  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind [spiritual harmony].
Php 2:3  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves [the humility of Christ within the bride produces harmony (Luk 14:8, Rev 19:7-8)]. 

Luk 14:8  When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready [she’s taking a lower seat].
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.

Php 2:4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 
Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [He took the lower seat (1Jn 4:17)]
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 
Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth [Rev 3:9, 1Jn 4:17];
Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
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 [the One who creates the harmony in the body of Christ and whose good pleasure it is to give us the kingdom (Luk 12:32)].

3Jn 1:2  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
3Jn 1:3  For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 
3Jn 1:4  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth [how spiritual harmony is formed in the body of Christ as we continue in the truth that sets us free (Joh 8:31-32)].
3Jn 1:5  Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers [Jas 2:26, Gal 6:10, 1Ti 6:18-19];
3Jn 1:6  Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:

Another ‘classification’ of instruments, known as wind instruments, is what we will look at today, followed by string, percussion, and finally that ‘one-off’ category of the dulcimer that is kind of a hybrid of string and percussion, and very closely related to a piano, I would say [sumponia=dulcimer].

We’ll go through the list of the wind instruments in the bible, including the [Halil = pipe], [Hatsotserah = trumpet], [Kehren = cornet], [Mashroqiy = flute], [Shofar (another form of trumpet)], and the [Ugab=organ]. As we go through each of these instruments, we want to always keep in mind that they represent the body of Christ, the many members [instruments (Rom 6:12-13)] which make up that body (1Co 12:8-13), and are unique in their own way, but of the same spirit. You could say they utilize the same wind [spirit] that produces the sounds of these multifaceted instruments found in God’s word. 

Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

1Co 12:8  For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:9  To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 
1Co 12:10  To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 
1Co 12:11  But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members [instruments], and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: [Joh 14:20] so also is 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 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many [the spiritual orchestra of God conducted by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ].

We will start with our first entry, ‘Halil’, which is Pipe by definition in the Strong’s dictionary, and we will look at its various uses in scripture to help us see not only the type of sound it produces, but also on what occasions it is used as this also has spiritual meaning for us. There is a negative and positive use of the pipe and the example in (1Sa 10:5) demonstrates the positive harmony of the prophets, each with their own instruments that typify their spiritual gifts, being used to prophesy the anointing of Saul as king. 

1Sa 10:5  After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy:

There are a lot of double entendre being expressed here because, although Saul saw himself as being small and unworthy to be anointed (1Sa 9:21) at this point in his walk, God was anointing and elevating him to the position of king, seeing Israel had rejected God as king and wanted to be as the nations around them with a physical leader (1Sa 8:7). For the sake of our study, we are focused on the point that a pipe was part of the musical entourage who were rejoicing at the prospect of Saul now being the king over Israel. In time we learn that Saul is a type of the rejected anointed. Pipes can be used in celebration of something, but they also can express a mournful dying sound like our more modern day bag pipes do. Saul in effect is more typical at this stage in his life of this more unassuming and spirited instrument called a pipe.

1Sa 9:21  And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me? 

1Sa 10:5  After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy:

Concerning the negative use of pipes with a combination of instruments, (Isa 5:1-16) centered around Israel going into captivity, “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands” (Isa 5:11-12). Notice the grouping of these instruments used in this negative environment of reveling is almost identical to the positive use in the event connected to Saul’s coronation. There is hope in these verses [Isa 5:1-15] which explain how we initially defile the vineyard of the Lord in Babylon and misuse the wine of His word getting drunk on it and worshiping God with our own traditions of men, to then, Lord willing, be dragged out of Babylon to see the Lord exalted in judgment within our lives [Isa 5:16-17, 1Pe 4:17]

Isa 5:11  Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! 
Isa 5:12   And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

Isa 5:16  But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
Isa 5:17  Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

The next entry where the word pipe is used is Isaiah 30:20. We read in Isaiah 30:27-31 of events that are connected to God’s wrath and judgment upon Assyria and the protection of Israel against their enemies.

Isa 30:27  Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: 
Isa 30:28  And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
Isa 30:29  Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. 
Isa 30:30  And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
Isa 30:31  For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. [It is the Lord’s voice within us, the truth of His word that quickens us and beats down the Assyrian within us.]

Then we have another example of the use of pipes which God likens to the mourning He has in His heart for the riches that Moab has lost having turned to idolatry, which is very akin to the story of Saul who ended up forgetting the time when he saw himself as small, and began to turn to lying spirits and divination to find guidance in his life, rather than humbling himself under the mighty hand of God (Jer 48:35-37, 1Pe 5:6).

Jer 48:35  Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods. 
Jer 48:36  Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished.
Jer 48:37  For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

When you get a lot of pipes together, something powerful can happen as expressed in this verse (1Ki 1:40) that was centered around the anointing of Solomon as king of Israel (1Ki 1:39-40). In the positive view of Solomon’s life, he is a type of Christ and the body of Christ ruling throughout the symbolic thousand-year reign of the saints. It is with a great voice of a trumpet that the kingdoms of this world are announced as becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15). God’s kings and lords will be teaching the world to pipe with pipes, and to rejoice with great rejoicing, so that the earth, which represents the church, can be rent and the seed of God’s word received. The word that goes forth will not return void in the great white throne judgment (Isa 55:11).

1Ki 1:39  And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. 
1Ki 1:40  And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

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

Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

There is just too much to cover for the next entry, which will be the word [Hatsotserah=pipe], so I’ll end this shorter-than-normal study at this point, including some history and verses connected to our next study.

The hatsotserah, a different musical instrument than the shofar, is mentioned 29 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. Hatsotserahs were trumpets that were straight, narrow and quite long (possibly .9 meters or 2.9 feet). They were constructed out of silver (Numbers 10:1-2) or gold, had a flared end and produced a high shrill tone.

This type of trumpet was used to signal the Israelites, when they wandered the wilderness for forty years, to assemble and break camp (Num 10:5). It was an important part of temple worship (1Ch 15:28, 2Ch 15:14) and considered one of the sacred utensils (2Ki 12:13, Num 31:6). The hatsotserah was blown on New Moons and other festive occasions as well as at the temple’s daily offerings (2Ki 11:14, Hos 5:8, Psa 98:6).

]]> Worship – Part 1, What is Worship? https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/worship-part-1-what-is-worship/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=worship-part-1-what-is-worship Sat, 16 Sep 2023 05:26:42 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=28337 Audio Download

Worship – Part 1, What Is Worship?

Introduction

God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

[Study Aired September 16,  2023]

In the late 1950s, as a youngster of about four to five, I increasingly became aware of God. I never liked ‘going to church’ on Sunday mornings in our neighbor’s Holden station wagon (Australian version of a Chevrolet) driven by a chain-smoking woman; her high heels kicked off and stockinged foot on the ‘go pedal’ flat to the boards as she cackled and talked non-stop. The car jiggled and danced sideways on the dusty corrugated gravel road like a middle-aged Shakira performing “Hips Don’t Lie” (conjectural). Well, the twitchy backside of that old car didn’t lie with the stench of cigarette smoke, lean-fuel exhaust and dust. It always made me feel ill ~ a wonderful prelude for a dreary Presbyterian church service. 

My dad had been getting the Plain Truth and broadcasts from the Radio Church of God at about the same time. I clearly heard the seductive broadcasts at 11 p.m. from my bed. Unaware to me, this predatory ‘woman’ (church) on the airwaves was the Lord’s way of arousing my spirit at such a tender age. Her etched ‘abuse’ was captivating and dreadfully alarming for several years until, at age 13, I was fully taken by her. I was unwittingly seduced.

Ecc 7:26  And I find more bitter than death the woman [Babylonian church], whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

For the interim at the Presbyterian church, with the congregation, heads cocked this way and that, looking suitably ‘holy’ and pretending to look entranced, the minister would raise his chin, look at the back wall, and theatrically say, “Let us worship.” I feared not knowing God, yet I hated this form of ‘worship’ (the only one I knew) with a passion! I couldn’t wait for the same rally car-driving woman to frantically pump the bellows of the old manual wind-driven organ with the other stockinged foot, signalling I could go home. What a wasted last day of a precious weekend before being tortured at school!

Thankfully, the Lord gave me a way of escape from worshiping her and me (1Co 10:13).

What is Worship?

The term “worship” existed in God, who became the Father before the fowls of the air as a shadow of angelic beings, including Elohim, were created. God’s creation of our Lord Christ made Him a Son, and what the Son sees His Father do, He amplifies to glorify (worship) the Father. The Son subsequently created the heavens and the Earth to worship the Father in what They had agreed. Lord willing, we will see that worship is all-encompassing, as God is intrinsically in every detail of whatever existed in spirit before and after the physical creation. He is the epitome of perfection and purity Himself without any outside influence. He is omnipresent in His seeming unfathomable worship of purity that he is.

God the Father is the ultimate ‘word.’ The creation of His Son, Christ epitomised the Word – God’s purity – expressed as “worship.”

When the Lord swore His guarantee to save the world through Abraham, He effectively worshiped the purity intrinsic to God by His actions.

Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Heb 6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
Heb 6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he [Christ, Abraham and mankind] obtained the promise.

The Lord swearing by himself is the same manner of God being “I am” in which all things are Is, Was and Will Be. He is the personification of worshiping himself by the purity of being him – “I AM” – the omnipresence of him without a beginning.

Exo 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

In the purity of “I AM”, our Lord did all that the Father had told him by the vow He, as God, alone could carry out. He thus worshiped the Godhead and, most notably, the Father.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word [Elohim/Christ/Word], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“In the beginning” of what? Creation, of course, since God, who became the Father, incomprehensibly pre-existed in ‘God-purity’ without a beginning.

Joh 1:2  The same [The Word/Christ] was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him [Christ]; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was [slowly became] the light of men.
Joh 1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The rest of the world not chosen by God to be the Elect comprehended not since they were and still remain in darkness.

Col 1:12  Giving thanks [worship] unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 
Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness [of the abussos, the deep], and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 
Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities [spirit angelic beings], or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he [existed as the first of creation] is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us [the Father and Elohim, the “Word”; two, not three] make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth. 
Gen 1:27  So God created [began the slow and detailed process of spiritually creating mankind; man wasn’t created in God’s perfect image of the heavenly] man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Man, in being created in God’s image, begins with man’s highly malleable mind for deception in preparation for truth, the age-lasting act of creating him in God’s perfect image.

Gen 1:20  And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [the birds who shadow Christ and His heavenly angels] that may fly above the Earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Upon God creating the Son, the Son became the creator extension of His creator Father, for which all things past and present are created by Him, for which the heavenly host shouted for joy.

Job was chided by the Lord for his self-righteousness and appropriated ‘holiness’ above God’s! Our Lord said to Job,

Job 38:4  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Job 38:5  Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 
Job 38:6  Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 
Job 38:7  When the morning stars [all present angelic host and now man] sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 

Although Job didn’t have a sustained level of the holy spirit to endure a changed heart, he was partly re-created as a representation, a shadow of us being spiritually recreated in our Lord God’s image. Upon Job seeing how loathsome his righteousness was, he worshiped God when he says,

Job 42:1  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 42:2  I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 
Job 42:3  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
Job 42:4  Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 
Job 42:5  I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 
Job 42:6  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

There are many expressions for the term “worship” that all with varying strengths of intensity mean worship. The Lord’s many verbalisations of His love for us evoke worship of Him without directly stating the action. Every aspect of Mark 12:30, including all the verses above, expresses worship of God without using the term “worship.” Some of those terms seen in the preceding verses are “giving thanks”, being delivered from the powers of darkness, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart”, to name a very few evocations of “worship.”

As previously expressed, worship has many nuances that all express the act of worshiping. The first verbalisation of “worship” in scripture is in Abraham’s disquieted trust in the Lord through his profound commitment through obedience to sacrificing Isaac.

Gen 22:5  And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship [H7812], and come again to you. 

Gen 22:10  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 
Gen 22:11  And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 
Gen 22:12  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

By not withholding his only son even from a brutal sacrifice, Abraham expressed the epitome of having no other gods before God, thus implicitly affirming his worship of God!

Let’s now study the word “worship”, and its tense expressions worshiped and worshiping. 

All of the above expressions directly relate to bowing down before the Lord. The below expressions of worship, worshipeth, and worshiping likewise involve bowing before God. 

“Worship” profoundly means expressing our deepest honour and respect for God with every nuance of our mind and body in spirit and in truth by obedience to his commandments, intimately declared by bowing before him, particularly in spirit.

Every aspect of the physical creation points to the spiritual reality of God the Father and Christ, the Godhead. Sara wonderfully demonstrated spiritually bowing to her husband, Abraham, by calling him Lord. She characterised the Bride’s reverence (worship) for Christ, her husband.

1Pe 3:4  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
1Pe 3:5  For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
1Pe 3:6  Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. 

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The very first commandment is,

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him [one of the scribes], The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30  And [being intrinsic with hearing] thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

There you go! Intrinsically, those verses embody worship and have the same meaning as the first listed commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Exo 20:3). By those definitions, loving a thing equates to worshiping that entity. Since we are to love our spouse, we effectively worship him or her. However, we do not put them or any other created thing in heaven or Earth above God; if we do, we break the commandments of God.

Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 
Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 
Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love [H157] me, and [How? By keeping] keep my commandments.

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Loving God is keeping his commandments, which embodies every aspect of worshipping Him.

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

When we lawfully or unlawfully love a thing or person more than God, we have created another god more significant than the God who created us.

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 
2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
2Ti 3:4  Traitors [to God], heady, highminded [above the word of God], lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;<

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will [Love of God above all things by keeping the commandments] of God abideth for ever.

The following verses graphically express Jesus’ love for our Father through keeping all of the Father’s word. That act is worship in action.

Luk 4:3  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Luk 4:5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 
Luk 4:6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
Luk 4:7  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
Luk 4:8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

While growing up in those previously mentioned Babylonian Christian churches, I only knew the worship of God meant a hollowness I could never properly identify. The Worldwide Church of God appealed to me because it seemed to answer all the prophesied fearful events of the Bible with a credible correlation of the holy days. No church other than the Seventh Day Adventists and one or two others ever taught the meaning of the Lord’s festivals and holy days; not that the WCG understood it spiritually one little bit!

Lord willing, we will begin the fascinating study of how the nuances of the above verses, and substantially the rest of the Bible, relate to worship.

By the Lord’s dragging of the Body of Christ and me, we have moved from the figurative Whore of Babylon driving a smelly Chevrolet further into the abussos (the deep) to our Lord’s chariot of fire into His heavens. Elijah’s transfiguration and departure is its representation.

2Ki 2:11  And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah [The Elect of God] went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

We have laid the foundation for what it means to worship. Next week, Lord willing, and by the conveyance of His chariot, His word of fire, we will study detailed worship and how not to worship Him.

]]> Acts 15:22-41  It Seemed Good to the Holy Ghost and to Us https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/acts-1522-41-it-seemed-good-to-the-holy-ghost-and-to-us/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=acts-1522-41-it-seemed-good-to-the-holy-ghost-and-to-us Sun, 21 May 2023 05:38:55 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=27642

Acts 15:22-41 It Seemed Good to the Holy Ghost and to Us

[Study Aired May 21, 2023]

Act 15:22  Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
Act 15:23  And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Act 15:24  Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
Act 15:25  It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Act 15:26  Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 15:27  We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
Act 15:29  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Act 15:30  So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
Act 15:31  Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
Act 15:32  And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
Act 15:33  And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.
Act 15:34  Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.
Act 15:35  Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
Act 15:36  And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.
Act 15:37  And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
Act 15:38  But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.
Act 15:39  And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;
Act 15:40  And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
Act 15:41  And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.

We ended our last study with the judgment of the apostles being to send a letter to the Gentiles which was intended to irradicate the heresy being taught by many believing Jews that the Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. There had been “much disputing” about this question and everyone was given the opportunity to give their own convictions for consideration.

Act 15:7  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

Why was there “much disputing” about this question? The answer is that the heretics, as is always the case, appeared to have the scriptures on their side:

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

How do all heretics transform themselves into the apostles of Christ? They do so by taking the many blessings poured out upon themselves, His faith and His chastening grace, and using those gifts to cover the idols of their own hearts:

Eze 16:9  Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
Eze 16:10  I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
Eze 16:11  I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
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.
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.

The Lord’s most successful heretics are those He blesses the most outwardly. They give God the credit for their outward blessings, while at the same time refusing to do the things He says we are to do to avoid schisms and heresies among ourselves. By “doing many good works” which really do appear to be selfless, and which do indeed appear to be “the righteousness of saints”, they are given to “deceive many”:

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 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Luke puts it in these words:

Luk 21:8  And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

The most effective heretics have also been chastened by the Lord and have been through a baptism of fire:

Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Then heretics take the Word of God and twist it by wrapping the Lord’s ‘gold’ and His ‘silver’ (His Words and His Doctrines) around the idols of their own hearts:

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 [doctrines] of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Eze 16:18  And tookest thy broidered garments [many good works which appeared to be “the righteousness of saints” (Rev 19:8)], and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil [the Lord’s words, which are spirit (Joh 6:63)] and mine incense before them [the idols of your heart].
Eze 16:19  My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, [the Lord’s precious words] wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them [before the idols of your heart] for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

Here is how all of this played out in this first recorded heresy which attempted to divide the apostles themselves. The Lord’s own words were used to cover the idol of their heart, which was physical circumcision is essential to salvation. Here are the Lord’s own words concerning the need for circumcision for anyone to read:

Gen 17:9  And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
Gen 17:10  This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Gen 17:11  And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
Gen 17:12  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
Gen 17:13  He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
Gen 17:14  And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

Those are clear instructions, and those who were insisting that the Gentiles must be circumcised in order to be saved no doubt also pointed to these words of the Lord:

Deu 13:6  If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
Deu 13:7  Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
Deu 13:8  Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
Deu 13:9  But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

Those are the words for which Saul of Tarsus had been so very zealous. So Saul, whose name is now Paul, was very familiar with their doctrine, as were Peter and Barnabas. Deuteronomy 13 however, is not “the sum” of the Lord’s Words. There are also these words:

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

The most striking way in which Christ is “like unto [Moses]” is that both are great reformers. Moses made many profound changes to the way things had been. Before Moses, there was no Aaronic priesthood, no tabernacle, no ark of the covenant, no tithing, and one could offer an offering to God at any time and in any place. Christ, like Moses, was a great reformer, and Moses Himself has prophesied:

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

“Unto Him ye shall hearken” is telling us that He will not be saying the same things Moses said. Both Peter and Paul had been made painfully aware of just how much difference there was between what Moses said and what ‘the prophet like unto Moses’ had said to them.

Peter was three times told to slay and eat unclean creatures which he was made to understand meant that he was no longer to call Gentiles common or unclean, contrary to the doctrine Moses taught which was:

Deu 7:2  And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Paul had been struck down on the road to Damascus and made blind for three days. At the end of those three days, he willingly accepted that the Christ he was persecuting was that “prophet like unto [Moses]”, and that contrary to Moses’ doctrine, Christ was now sending Saul, soon to be ‘Paul’, to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

At this conference, which was called to consider whether Gentile converts were required to be physically circumcised, Peter, speaking for himself, and Paul and Barnabas, made it clear that the three of them believed that God “put no difference between us [Jews] and them [Gentiles] purifying their hearts by faith” and not by being physically circumcised nor by keeping the law of Moses.

The rest of the apostles and elders agreed with Peter, Paul, and Barnabas that the Gentiles did not need to be physically circumcised, but they did not agree with them that the Jews did not need to continue to be circumcised and keep the law. They all felt that the Jews must continue to be circumcised and keep the law.  At this conference we must notice and follow the example of all the apostles who all submitted themselves and their convictions to the consensus of their leaders as we are all commanded to do:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

Being persuaded of and deferring to your leaders is not checking your brain at the door. Rather, it is a simple matter of being obedient to the Lord’s commandment which is anything but checking your brain at the door. Faith in “the things that [He] says” (Luk 6:46) is very well founded and is essential to knowing Christ and His Father, and it will lead to life eternal.

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

Knowing Christ and His Father is a matter of knowing how They think and then acting accordingly. This letter to the Gentiles tells them that they need not be physically circumcised or keep the “carnal commandments” of the law of Moses… and at the same time it affirms that the Jews must do so. This decision was really nothing more than the holy spirit acknowledging that the Jewish Christians were still ‘weak in the faith’:

Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

At this point Peter, Paul, and Barnabas were spiritually more mature than the 11 other apostles. Nevertheless, they humbled themselves and submitted themselves to the consensus of the other apostles, and that decision was inspired of the holy spirit just as surely as these words are also inspired of the holy spirit explaining why the fullness of understanding at this Jerusalem conference is not yet known on this matter:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will [eventually] guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come [“Words which it is not (yet) lawful for a man to utter” (2Co 12:4)].

The judgment was made to send a letter to all the Gentile converts and the decision to do so was unanimous:

Act 15:22  Then pleased it [all] the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
Act 15:23  And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Act 15:24  Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
Act 15:25  It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Act 15:26  Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 15:27  We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

This decision was not just the decision of the apostles and elders. It was also sanctioned by “the holy spirit”. They all agreed that the Gentile converts did not need to keep all the law of Moses, including the law of circumcision. Here are the few things that were still expected of the Gentile converts:

Act 15:29  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

These are a mere four requirements which were expected to be observed by the new Gentile converts to the gospel of Christ. They were 1) abstain from meats offered to idols, 2) from fornication, 3) from things strangled, and 4) from blood. “Abstain from meats offer to idols” in verse 29 explains what is meant by “abstain from pollutions of idols” in verse 20.

Act 15:19  Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Act 15:20  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

While I was a faithful member of the Worldwide Church of God from 1963 through 1973 we circumcised our males on the eighth day, we kept the weekly sabbath and all of the holy days except for the new moons… we tithed a tenth of our gross income, and we kept the laws which proscribed which meats were clean and unclean. Yet we somehow told ourselves that we were “not under the curse of the law.” Our reasoning was that the many laws not mentioned in the letter to the Gentiles here in Acts 15 were obviously meant to be kept because many of the Old Testament commandments not mentioned here are mentioned in Romans 13 as things which the Gentile Romans were expected to keep and observe:

Rom 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9  For this, [1] Thou shalt not commit adultery, [2] Thou shalt not kill, [3] Thou shalt not steal, [4] Thou shalt not bear false witness, [5] Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

“Love is the fulfilling of the law” was explained to us as being the same as keeping the commandments of Moses. To make this clear we were shown:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

“His commandments are not grievous” means they are not a yoke “which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear” as Peter characterized the law of Moses:

Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

It is obvious that “His commandments [which] are not grievous” is not referring to the commandments of Moses but is referring the “but I say unto you…” commandments of Christ.

We who were in the Worldwide Church of God at the time I was a member of that church were in the same spiritual position as the eleven apostles who thought it was a very good thing that:

Act 15:21  For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

At this early stage of the reforms which Christ came to make, the apostles could not yet conceive of this being the time for “worshiping God in spirit [and not] at Jerusalem”, which is exactly what Christ Himself had told the woman at the well would someday come:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the [spiritual] Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

A reformation of the scope Christ brought to His people took time. No flesh, other than Adam and Eve, is given to be born in a mature physical body. It certainly is not given to be born spiritually mature, and that applies to Adam and Eve who were both made “marred in the Potter’s hand” (Jer 18:4). We all, including the original apostles, begin our spiritual lives as “carnal babes in Christ”:

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

It is natural for children to think of themselves as mature adults, long before they become mature adults. No one just naturally conceives of himself as a “carnal babe in Christ”. Yet that is exactly how Christ in us brings us to see ourselves before we can become spiritually mature:

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

A humble child is a teachable child. Any child who is brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord reveres and respects his parents and believes what his parents teach him. Christ is not commanding us to become naïve or foolish. What He is commanding us to do is “humble [our]selves [and become teachable] as this little child” or we will “not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Children are not given charge of the Lord’s flock. That duty is placed only upon mature men who have their own spiritual house in order:

1Ti 3:1  This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
1Ti 3:2  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife […if he is married. Neither Christ nor Paul were married], vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3  Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4  One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5  (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1Ti 3:6  Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
1Ti 3:7  Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

All the events leading up to this 15th chapter of Acts, and all the events recorded in this chapter, are written for our admonition to teach us the need for heresies in our midst, and to teach us how to deal with those heresies when they rise up against the knowledge of God.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing [false doctrine] that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

There were many in the church in Antioch, and in all the churches, who were familiar with the laws of God concerning the covenant of circumcision and all the other 612 laws of Moses. Those laws were concerned with everything from not plowing with different animals being yoked together, to tithing, to not weaving with different fabrics, to which meats could be eaten and of course the commandment for all males to be circumcised, all necessary for them to be considered the seed of Abraham. If the Lord had not given the Gentiles in Cornelius’s home the holy spirit without the benefit of circumcision (Act 10:44-45), and if Saul of Tarsus had not been zealous of destroying Christ before being struck down and converted to being zealous of preaching the gospel of Christ (Act 22:8) and sharing with us “words which were not [yet] lawful for men to utter” (2Co 12:4), then we Gentiles and Jewish Christians would still be under the law of Moses which Peter confessed ‘neither we nor our fathers could bear’:

Act 15:7  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we [Jews] shall be saved, even as they [the Gentiles].

Peter was speaking about what the Lord had revealed to him and Paul and Barnabas. These three apostles also knew that the Lord Himself also inspired the other apostles to teach that, for the present, the Jews were still obligated to keep the law of Moses. So, Peter, Paul, and Barnabas were persuaded of their leaders, and they deferred to them (Heb 13:17 CLV) and went back to Antioch and gave the church in Antioch the good news that all the apostles and elders agreed that the Gentiles were not required to keep the law of Moses, but the Jewish Christians were expected to do so.

Act 15:30  So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
Act 15:31  Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
Act 15:32  And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them [confirmed the words of the epistle from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem].
Act 15:33  And after they had tarried there space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.
Act 15:34  Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.
Act 15:35  Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

In this very same chapter, we are given a story which confirms that agreeing on spiritual doctrines does not mean that we must also agree on which flavor of ice cream tastes the best. This story confirms that none of us has dominion over another’s faith. That is the significance of the story of how Paul and Barnabas went separate ways but preached the same gospel.

Act 15:36  And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.
Act 15:37  And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
Act 15:38  But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.
Act 15:39  And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;
Act 15:40  And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.

Let us not think that because we are told Paul and Silas were “recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God” that Barnabas and Mark were not also recommended by the brethren to the grace of God. Unless the scriptures qualify any point, it is never good to insert our own opinions into scripture. For example, when were are told that God is “the eonian God” (Rom 16:26 CLV), we are not being told that He was not God before the eons began, or that He will not be God after the consummation of the eons. When we are told that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exo 3:6), we are not being told that He is not also the God of the Gentiles (Acts 17:30). Also, when we are told He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psa 50:10), we are not being told that the cattle on hill one thousand and one are not His cattle also. There is no doubt that Barnabas and Mark were also “recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God” as well as Paul and Silas.

Act 15:41  And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.

Paul and Silas did not sail to Cyprus as Paul had done with Barnabas on their first missionary journey. This time he went by land, and he and Silas first went to Derbe and Lystra, the last two cities Paul and Barnabas had visited on their first journey.

In our next study, before we continue with the chronological order of events in Paul’s missionary journeys, we will take time to analyze what brought about the complete apostasy of the church before the death of the apostles who had raised up those very same churches.

The apostle Paul tells us simply that “all the churches in Asia be turned away from me” (2Ti 1:5). Referring to the same churches, the apostle John calls them “the seven churches of Asia” (Rev 1:4, Rev 1:10). While the only two churches in Revelation 2-3 which are not admonished for their failings are Smyrna and Philadelphia, nevertheless Paul tells Timothy, “All they in Asia have forsaken me” (2Ti 1:15), and John tells all seven churches, “He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit says to [all seven of] the churches” (Rev 2:7). That would include Smyrna and Philadelphia. We will see how the Lord worked matters to bring about the apostasy of His church and turn His own physical church into “the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” (Rev 17:4).

Before we continue following the chronology of Paul’s second journey, we will consider what would have happened if Peter, Paul, and Barnabas had rejected the counsel of their elders. The church will completely apostatize toward the end of Paul’s life when he tells Timothy:

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

“All they which are in Asia” refers to “the seven churches of Asia” to whom the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ is addressed:

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

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 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

It is this same ‘John’ who also tells us that the apostasy of the church was so complete before his death that a “false apostle” named “Diotrephes… cast… out of the church” those whom John had sent to them:

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

‘Loving to have preeminence’ is just another way of saying “the pride of life”, the last and most insidious of the three categories which encapsulate “all that is in this [evil and wicked] world”:

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, [1] the lust of the flesh, and [2] the lust of the eyes, and [3] the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Doctrinal differences, as we have learned, should be settled within the body of Christ by seeking the counsel of the elders. That counsel is rejected only because of “the pride of life” which afflicts us all. When “all they which be in Asia” and when “the seven churches of Asia” apostatize, they do so because they were made to make the conscious decision to follow “false apostles” who ‘appear as angels of light’ and take away disciples after themselves. Paul had been made to know this would happen in his own lifetime. This is what he prophesied to the elders of Ephesus:

Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

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

There is nothing new under the sun, and there is no doubt that false apostles have been key to the scattering of the Lord’s flock in every generation. We ourselves have seen it happen. Men who had been appointed in our own fellowship and by our own leaders, were sent an evil spirit from the Lord which insisted that there is no natural element to the Lord’s words. After all, Christ did indeed say, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” As mentioned earlier in this study, just because Christ says His words are spirit does not mean there are no words which have a natural application. We are in fact told the exact opposite:

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 I made clear earlier in this study, there is no qualifying statement anywhere in scripture which states, “The words I speak unto you are only spirit.” In fact, the exact opposite it true:

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Every spiritual doctrine and the mind of God and His Godhead are “understood by the things that are made”, meaning things that are not spiritual.

Rom 1:19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. [How has ‘God shown it unto them?]
Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Next week we will see how not recognizing the truth of Romans 1:20 and 1 Corinthians 15:46 can and has led many to believe there will be no literal thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ over the kingdoms of this physical world:

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

]]> Study of the Book of Kings – 2Ki 17:24-41  “The LORD your God ye shall fear https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/study-of-the-book-of-kings-2ki-1724-41-the-lord-your-god-ye-shall-fear/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-of-the-book-of-kings-2ki-1724-41-the-lord-your-god-ye-shall-fear Fri, 27 Jan 2023 02:31:53 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=27055 https://www.dropbox.com/s/l2zyj03jmliwwk7/20230126-Study_TonyC-FearGod.m4a?raw=1

2Ki 17:24-41 “The LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies”

[Study Aired January 26, 2023]

(We will start tonight with these 2 verses from last week, for context:

2Ki 17:22  For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; 
2Ki 17:23  Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. )

2Ki 17:24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
2Ki 17:25  And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them. 
2Ki 17:26  Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. 
2Ki 17:27  Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. 
2Ki 17:28  Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. 
2Ki 17:29  Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. 
2Ki 17:30  And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 
2Ki 17:31  And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
2Ki 17:32  So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
2Ki 17:33  They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
2Ki 17:34  Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
2Ki 17:35  With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: 
2Ki 17:36  But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. 
2Ki 17:37  And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.
2Ki 17:38  And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
2Ki 17:39  But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
2Ki 17:40  Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
2Ki 17:41  So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

The first question I had while reading this last section of chapter 17 of 2 Kings is in the language of these verses (2Ki 17:32-34, 2Ki 17:41) which say Israel feared the LORD, when clearly they did not.

2Ki 17:32  So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
2Ki 17:33  They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
2Ki 17:34  Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

2Ki 17:41  So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

This fear that Israel had is the negative example of Godly fear, and was fear that was based on their superstitious pagan beliefs which continued to dominate their heavens, even while they claimed to be servants of the LORD who feared His name (Isa 3:1, Isa 4:1, Isa 1:3).

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

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

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.

Having God’s name and holding fast to your own righteousness may produce a perverted sense of fear, but the lesson is that when our fear toward God is taught by the precepts of men, it is a vain relationship with a heart that is far from God, and far from true Godly fear which is a gift from our Father (Isa 29:13, Isa 66:2).

Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

The only time the phrase “I fear God” is mentioned in the KJV bible is in Genesis 42:18 where Joseph was trying his brothers and proving them through this experience of evil which was starting to bring great fear upon them, all typical circumstances that explain to us what it takes for our flesh to learn patience and faith, which are the spiritual by-products of those who “trembleth at my word” (Gen 42:14-21).

Gen 42:14  And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
Gen 42:15  Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. [We can’t be freed from the bondage of sin, the ward, the prison, unless Benjamin, a type of the elect, comes hither (Oba 1:21)]
Gen 42:16  Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. 
Gen 42:17  And he put them all together [1Jn 5:19] into ward three days.
Gen 42:18  And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God: [in other words I “Joseph” fear God, and you don’t, and won’t until you go through this process of judgment represented by three days (Luk 12:5)]
Gen 42:19  If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
Gen 42:20  But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. [Rom 14:23, 1Pe 1:7, Jas 2:24]
Gen 42:21  And they said one to another, We areverily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

What is clearly brought out in these verses is that there is a process of judgment we have to go through (“he put them all together into ward three days“) in order to come to fear the LORD, or “fear God,” and that process was being orchestrated by Joseph who is a type of Christ and the elect who will prove the world in the lake of fire as typified by this story in Genesis (Gen 42:14-21).

Godly fear does not paralyze us but rather motivates us (Heb 11:7) to be true servants who realize how blessed we are to be His workmanship (Eph 2:10) who are being motivated to work righteousness, and are being heard when we pray in that we fear God as Christ did (Heb 5:7). Joseph’s brothers were now motivated to “carry corn for the famine of your houses” and the bargaining chip was “one of your brethren be bound in the house,” which typifies for us how we become bondservants for God and each other (Rom 12:1), bound to the altar and put in a place in this life where Christ strengthens us to endure until the end (Php 4:13, Mat 24:13) so that one day our judgment and suffering we experience in this life will produce all the corn for our families, which symbolizes God’s purified word within us that will be used to feed the nations and judge the world. The world will learn of His righteousness through the elect, and they will become part of the family of God who fulfill God’s will (Pro 9:10, Ecc 12:13, 1Jn 4:17, Isa 26:9, Mar 3:35). 

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

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;

Pro 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

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. 

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.

Mar 3:35  For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Today’s verses are focused on demonstrating the long and arduous journey Israel had to go through as they went into captivity and were shown that they were incapable of following God as He commanded them. This is written to show us that bondage to sin is an unavoidable part of being human and that only God alone can set us free from that sinful condition by giving us a new heart which will be able to follow and keep all His commandments (Joh 8:36, Eze 36:26).

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

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

2Ki 17:24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. 
2Ki 17:25  And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

The king of Assyria is a type of Satan who wants to pervert the land of Israel with heathen people that have been brought in from these foreign cities and places to possess that land. These actions typify for us what happens when God sends an evil spirit into our lives [the Israel of God – Gal 6:16] that perverts our judgment (Isa 63:17, Isa 9:16) and brings His wrath upon us by sending “lions among them, which slew some of them” (1Sa 16:14).

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

Isa 9:16  For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. 

When we look at the names of these places in the PNBkjv bible version, it shows us what kind of spirits Israel, a type of the Israel of God (Gal 6:16), was dealing with in the early stages of this dispossessing/transplanting when we are easily overtaken by the powers and principalities of the spirit realm that we wrestle against (Eph 6:12).

2Ki 17:24 and the king of (plain)Assyria brought men from (confusion)Babylon, and from (burning up)Cuthah, and from (perverted)Ava and from (wall of anger)Hamath, and from (two scribes)Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of (watch tower)Samaria instead of the children of (he will rule with god)Israel and they possessed (watch tower)Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. [PNBkjv]

God is working all of this according to the counsel of his own will for our sakes (Eph 1:11, 1Co 10:11), and He does send lions that typify Satan to buffet us, chastening these wood, hay and stubble perversions out of our lives, all happening at the beginning (1Co 5:5), “it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.“

1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

2Ki 17:26  Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. 
2Ki 17:27  Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
2Ki 17:28  Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

The wrath of God has been poured out upon the people who have been placed “in the cities of Samaria,” and this humbling experience is accompanied by the actions of the king of Assyria who reasons that the solution to this problem with the people being destroyed by lions is to “Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.” However, as stated in the introduction of our study, this is not going to bring the people to “fear the LORD” because these priests who are going to be teaching these other pagan cultures are not true servants of God and therefore cannot instill the fear of God within the people (negative – 2Co 11:13-15, positive – Heb 1:5-7).

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

Heb 1:5  For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 
Heb 1:6  And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 
Heb 1:7  And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

These “priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD” represent Babylon today that cannot eat at the altar we eat (Heb 13:10) and are guilty of feeding God’s other fold (Joh 10:16), as we all did in our appointed time with the precepts of men and not as men who fear God and demonstrate that fear through the fidelity of their thoughts and actions (1Ki 12:31, 1Co 4:6). It is our Father in heaven who gives us the increase as He matures us and receives us (Heb 12:6) by the grace through faith process we’ve been called to, which is a gift of God (Isa 29:13, Eph 2:8-9). These priests who come on the scene and minister to the nation of Israel and the people within it are only going to make them “twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” which is what happens to us when the deadly wound from the lion is healed and we take on the more insidious and harder to detect spirit of self-righteousness, represented by the two horns of a lamb, a witness of another Christ, who speaks as a dragon (Mat 23:15, Rev 13:11).

1Ki 12:31  And he [Jeroboam the son of Nebat] made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

2Ki 17:29  Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. 
2Ki 17:30  And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 
2Ki 17:31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

The fruit of these actions of the king of Assyria having “priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD” is revealed in these following verses (2Ki 17:29-31). They all made “gods of their own” demonstrating the self-willed spirit of the beast that is still on the throne of our hearts at this stage in our walk. Those “gods of their own” represent the different ideologies and false gods which are forged in our yet carnal heavens which have not overcome the god of this world as yet. The power of the beast showcases this earthly wisdom that is typified by the ten horns, and the ten crowns upon those fleshly horns the God of this world controls on a beast that has seven heads and ten horns (Rev 13:1, 2Co 4:4).

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.

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The places that the men of Babylon and Cush, and Hamath make up are connected to harlotry, or defilement of the word of God, typifying the worldly churches of Babylon that have no stay of bread or water (Isa 3:1). Then there are two other nations mentioned “And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.” Altogether there are five nations and seven gods mentioned where all these idolatrous acts are unfolding on the seven-headed beast that comes out of the earth, listed below:

2Ki 17:30  And the men of Babylon(PNB = “confusion”) made SuccothbenothH5524, and the men of Cuth(PNB = “burning”) made NergalH5370, and the men of Hamath(PNB = “wall of anger”) made AshimaH807,

2Ki 17:31  a) The Avites(PNB = “perverter”) made NibhazH5026 and Tartak,H8662

2Ki 17:31  b) The Sepharvites(PNB = “scribes”)  burnt their children in fire to AdrammelechH152 and Anammelech,H6048 the gods of Sepharvaim(PNB = “two scribes”).

2Ki 17:32  So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 
2Ki 17:33  They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. 
2Ki 17:34  Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 
2Ki 17:35  With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

So did they fear the LORD or not? Emphatically YES/NO! They may have thought that they were dedicated in their service to God, but their actions betrayed their thoughts as demonstrated by these words how they “made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places” just as Jeroboam the son of Nebat had done. So, in short, Israel feared God but did not work righteousness (Act 10:35, Ecc 12:13).

Act 10:35  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

1Ki 12:31  And he [Jeroboam the son of Nebat] made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

This is how they demonstrated their fear of God, but it was mingled with a perverse spirit as they “served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” Then we are straightforwardly told that they were following their former manner of behavior, which was an abomination unto God, “they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; [Act 10:35, Ecc 12:13] With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:.”

2Ki 17:36  But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. 
2Ki 17:37  And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. 
2Ki 17:38  And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
2Ki 17:39  But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 

God mercifully reminds the elect where we’ve come from, and if we are His in this age we grow to heed those admonitions which encourage us to remember the days of old when we fought a great fight of affliction against the bondage of sin (Heb 10:32, Neh 4:14) and how God delivered us from that bondage with “great power and a stretched out arm” as He continues to do for us day by day, reminding those now who have God’s spirit that He has made a covenant with us, “And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.” It is a covenant that he will honor for His name’s sake, and it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom of God (Luk 12:32). If God is working with us, we will have His fear within us, is what we are being told here “But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies” (Joh 8:36), not that we can of our own selves generate that fear, which these old covenant stories show us is impossible as it is God who must put that fear in our hearts, giving us a humble and contrite heart which is a precious gift from him (Isa 66:2, Mat 21:44).

Heb 10:32  But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;
Heb 10:33  Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. 

Neh 4:14  And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

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

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. 

Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. [how our Father forms the humble and contrite heart within the body of Christ]

2Ki 17:40  Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. 
2Ki 17:41  So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

Without that gift of a changed heart, we will not hearken unto the LORD and will continue to embrace our “former manner” which is another way of saying our former conversation of (Eph 2:2-3).

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.

So these nations feared the LORD all right, but not with humble and contrite hearts that would have brought them to stop serving “their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.“

I want to end this study with these verses (Psa 2:1-12) that Jim Carnevale recently sent in an email regarding a discussion about the so-called saviors of this world who are no saviors at all, because there is only one savior, Jesus Christ, who as a result of the new heart given from God, will produce saviors who come up on mount Zion to judge the mount Esau. That new heart is forged out of a life-long process of judgment that God has blessed the elect to experience before the rest of the world.

Psa 2:1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Psa 2:3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 
Psa 2:4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Psa 2:5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Psa 2:6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion [Oba 1:21].
Psa 2:7  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee [1Jn 4:17].
Psa 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel [Rev 2:26-27]. 
Psa 2:10  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Psa 2:11  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling [Isa 66:2, Mat 21:44, Mat 18:3]
Psa 2:12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

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