Studies in Psalms – Psa 131:1-3 “Whom Shall He Teach Knowledge? and Whom Shall He Make to Understand Doctrine?”

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Psa 131:1-3 “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?”

Psa 131:1   A Song of degrees of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.  
Psa 131:2   Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.  
Psa 131:3   Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.

Hoping in the LORD and waiting on the Lord is what we do when we hope in his word (Psa 130:5, 1Jn 3:3) and it is with our hope of glory within us, Jesus Christ, that we can possess our souls patiently as we go from glory to glory, or from obedience to obedience, as we abide in that word (Col 1:27, Luk 21:19, 2Co 3:17-18, Joh 8:31).

Psa 130:5   I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.  

1Jn 3:3   And every man that hath this hope in him [Rom 8:9] purifieth himself [Joh 17:17], even as he is pure.

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

Luk 21:19   In your patience possess ye your souls. 

2Co 3:17   Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [Joh 6:63]
2Co 3:18   But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.  

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;  [Php 1:29 , Luk 20:18].
Joh 8:32   And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Everyone who has this hope (Rom 8:9) of being able to overcome and drink the cup (Mat 20:22) in this life purifies themselves even as he is pure, and will find liberty through that process (“song of degrees”) of having the veil ripped (Mat 27:51, Heb 10:20, Eph 5:30). 

Mat 27:51  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  

Heb 10:20   By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil [Gal 2:20], that is to say, his flesh; the church his body [that isrent in twain from the top to the bottom” (1Co 10:16)]

Eph 5:30   For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

God’s elect will go from obedience to obedience experiencing the grace and faith of God that teaches us “TeachingG3811 us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world”, and in doing that we will be “as a weaned child” (1Jn 3:3, Heb 5:8-9, Tit 2:11-14). 

1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Heb 5:8   Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;  
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;  

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 
Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 

This is what makes the weaning process possible so that we can become as children before our Father (Mat 18:3). 

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

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.

God is working with His people and has given them an altar at which no one else can eat at this present time (Heb 13:10), and that is not because the word is not available but rather because the heart of mankind has not changed, by God’s design, and remains “haughty” with eyes “lofty” (of verse 1 of our study tonight), exercising ourselves “in great matters, or in things to high for me” (Rom 12:3) until the Lord humbles us under his mighty hand (1Pe 5:6). 

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

Rom 12:3   For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.  

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

This is the pattern of ever learning and never being able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2Ti 3:7) in which the yet carnal part of us (1Co 3:3) must continue until the Lord deems we have wandered long enough in the wilderness (Jos 5:6) and have been made ready through that experience of evil to be “weaned of his mother” or given increase from our Father (Isa 28:9, 1Co 3:6). The manchild who represents the elect has been weaned, and is being weaned, of “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” who we are commanded to “come out of her my people” (Rev 18:4, 2Co 6:17).

2Ti 3:7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 
2Ti 3:8  Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 

Jos 5:6  For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.  

Isa 28:9   Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. [Heb 6:1-3

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.[Deu 28:1]

2Co 6:17   Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,  
2Co 6:18   And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.  

This short Psalm 131 has a very powerful message for God’s people in regard to how we can overcome that haughty heart and the lofty eyes that do not reflect the only heart that Christ tells us can inherit the kingdom of God (Mat 18:1-6).

Mat 18:1   At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  
Mat 18:2   And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,  
Mat 18:3   And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.  
Mat 18:4   Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  
Mat 18:5   And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.  
Mat 18:6   But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.  

In this study we will look at “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?” and see that it is “them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts” (Isa 28:9), those who are being judged in this life (1Pe 4:17), not having the sword depart from their house (2Sa 12:10), so that “many hearts may be revealed” (Luk 2:35).

Isa 28:9   Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

1Pe 4:17   For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?  

2Sa 12:10   Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.  

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

Psa 131:1  A Song of degrees of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. 

These following verses explain what is naturally within every man until that haughty spirit is destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming: (Isa 14:12-16, 2Th 2:2-8).

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O LuciferH1966, son of the morningH7837! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 
Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms

2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; [Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms]
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God [operates outside the measure of faith – does not by those actions demonstrate faith and understanding that God is Sovereign over all

Jud 1:13-23], or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. [I will , I will, I will, I will, I will]

2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed (Luk 2:35)]

Christ comes on the scene in the flesh and on several occasions reveals that before we know him we are of our father the devil, and this news does not go over well with anyone who hears it for the first time (Joh 8:44-47, Joh 8:411Jn 4:6, Joh 8:59, Joh 10:31). 

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

Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication [We are all initially of our father the devil, and being born of fornication is symbolic language that tells us our words, our doctrine, our children, our birth out of spiritual fornication when we are of our Father the devil]; we have one Father, even God. 

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

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

Joh 10:31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. [Mat 5:11]

When we are not of God we do not hear the words of God or gladly receive them, and even when we do initially hear them, it is on “stony places” and “anon with joy receiveth it“.  We find out that we have “not root in (our)self (Rom 11:18, Jud 1:12), but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

The process of being weaned from the milk and going on to be matured by the meat is explained as being able hear the word in a good and honest heart that hears and understands that word and then works with it bringing forth “some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Mat 13:20-23).

A son of perdition who has not changed is referred to as “O LuciferH1966, son of the morningH7837!”because it is that false light (2Co 11:13-15, Php 3:18) which twists scripture that is being spoken about when we read of “O LuciferH1966, son of the morningH7837!”, and Satan has been twisting God’s word from the foundation of the world (Gen 3:1-5). Eve was deceived by that word [seed that was sown by the enemy Mat 13:28] and was in that sense impregnated with a corrupt seed from her father the devil that would multiply and grow and fill the whole earth as it did (1Jn 5:19). She had no choice in the matter and could not make war with the beast in her that naturally was drawn to Satan’s twisting doctrine (Gen 3:6, Rev 13:4). God has called the elect to learn that He is working all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11), the light and the darkness which he controls of Isaiah 45:7 and that are the same to God because they are perfectly controlled by Him to fulfill His purpose for all of humanity (Psa 139:12). His purpose is to have one holy seed change the course of history (Gal 3:16), and being the only begotten of the Father (Joh 1:18) and never having been of his father the devil, Christ is our hope of glory within who witnesses to us through God’s spirit (Rom 8:16) that we are His begotten sons and daughters who are loved of our Father having that seed within us (1Jn 3:1 , Col 1:27). The weaning process we are called to now is described in many ways and understood with this verse (Col 1:24).

Psa 131:2   Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. 

To quiet ourselves “as a child that is weaned of his mother” is speaking of what happens to “my soul”  when this ongoing event is happening in our lives spoken of in Luke 12:5.

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

Right after Christ shows us whom we should fear, “which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him“, He explains through a parable both the means by which God is able to cause those to fear Him as he works with us in this age, and shows us as well through the parable how attentive or wakeful over this sovereign process He is  through grace and faith that is saving us and is represented by “five sparrows” and “two farthings” (Luk 12:6-7). 

Luk 12:6  Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? 
Luk 12:7  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. 

Christ shows the elect in this parable that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luk 12:32) and that we are not “forgotten before God” and He goes on to remind us that “even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” reminding us that He is in the details of our sonship and maturing in Him, therefore “ye are of more value than many sparrows“. Many are called, and few are chosen, and God is not a respector of persons with this statement, but rather is expressing to His elect that those who we his working with in this life, to form the government of God, are “of more value than many sparrows” not because we are better, but simply because we are this critical foundational part of His plan, that is the super spiritual structure that He has been planning to form from the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4, 1Pe 1:20) for the “many sparrows“, all of humanity who will be saved in time through the church (Eph 3:10).

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

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: 

1Pe 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

To be weaned from the breast in spiritual terms is to be matured through our trials, and to come to know continually in our hearts and minds that we must keep under ourselves (1Co 9:27) and forget what is behind us, as we press toward the mark of the prize of our high calling in him (Php 3:14), while we understand that we are unprofitable servants who did that which was expected of us (Luk 17:10 , Php 2:13). 

It is at that day, the day that we are truly convinced we can overcome Satan (Joh 14:20, Rom 8:38-39) and all the powers of darkness, because He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1Jn 4:4), that we can “having done all, to stand” (Eph 6:13). We can stand when we “take unto you the whole armour of God”, acknowledging that it is the Lord who is giving us the ability to stand, knowing that boasting is excluded by the law of faith (Rom 3:27).

He has equipped the unprofitable servant, the weak of the world, to be able to mature in the Lord in this age, by giving us the desire and ability to purchase the gold we need to become that “weaned child” who is settled and established through our trials that wean us off the milk (1Pe 5:10, Rev 3:18). 

My soul is even as a weaned child” because He has given me the power to do that; to put away the childish things that could only be overcome through Christ and witness His power and mind working in my heavens (1Co 13:11, 1Co 2:16). Christ forgave his enemies with that mind and came up against those powers of darkness in the world and overcame the evil with the goodness of God working within him (Joh 5:30). He reminds us that there is none good  (Mar 10:18), again setting the stage for the elect to understand what is the profitable doctrine that we should always hold fast to and know (Joh 15:5), so that we don’t become conceited,  boasting against the root (Rom 11:18-20), but rather keeping always looking to that glorious day when we will ultimately be delivered from these bodies of death that constantly need deliverance, and will be delivered, so we can be those saviors who come up on mount Zion (1Co 15:52, Luk 22:32, Oba 1:21).

Overcoming and being weaned from the breast (milk of the word) are saying the same thing and the peacable fruit of rigtheousness is born out of an obedient spirit that has “quieted myself” by the grace of God (Isa 28:9-12, Jas 1:17-21).

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts
Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 
Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 
Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 
Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 
Jas 1:19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: [with that word of truth that we have been begotten of by his will]
Jas 1:20  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 
Jas 1:21  Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word [Rom 11:19-21, Rom 11:23], which is able to save your souls

Psa 131:3   Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.

“Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever” who is able “to save your souls“. (Gal 6:14-16)

Gal 6:14  But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ [Gal 6:2], by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world [Gal 2:20].
Gal 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature
Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

There is a singleness or simplicity to this process of salvation that God has brought the elect to hope in (2Co 11:2-4), and He reminds us of the vulnerability of flesh that can be so easily sifted or puffed up except the Lord build the house through the many joints that supply both the fervent heartfelt prayers that avail so much for each other (Jas 5:16), along with an abiding, long-suffering spirit that drags us to the altar, where we bear each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:2). If we understand that we are nothing without the many members that make up our body and that we need each other more and more, because our burden is a shared burden (Heb 10:25, Mal 3:16), then those will be sure signs that one day we will be raised in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye in the first resurrection: “Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever” (Rev 20:6, 1Co 15:52).

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ [singleness-one wife-one husband].
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicityG572 [singleness] that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. [The context of that singleness being destroyed is false doctrine, going back to that earlier concept of a corrupt seed]

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ
Gal 6:3  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself [Being puffed up and losing sight of the many members and one body of Christ with his words, not being weaned from the milk resulting in this spirit 1Co 3:4-7, Mat 24:19-20]. 
Gal 6:4  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 
Gal 6:5  For every man shall bear his own burden. 

Our hope is that He will teach us knowledge through this process of judgment (1Pe 4:17) and make us to understand doctrine, so that we can be weaned from being children and become mature sons (Eph 4:14) who will bring forth spiritual fruit all the days of our life (Isa 46:4, Psa 92:12-15).

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more childrenG3516, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Isa 46:4  And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. 

Psa 92:12  The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Psa 92:13  Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 
Psa 92:14  They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 
Psa 92:15  To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him

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