The Book of Amos – Chapter 6:1-14 – Woe to Those at Ease in Zion

[Aired January 11, 2025]

In 1983, Cyndi Lauper released her song “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” It is a catchy pop song that, despite its light-hearted nature, highlights the many emotional challenges women face. Most men delight in the unique blend of a young woman’s intelligence and playful spirit, which brings a sense of joy and peace into their lives for the hopeful greater unity of spirit. A woman’s emotions can prettily billow, wane and disappear, and suddenly reappear like the aurora borealis and leave her fleshy male counterpart’s mind pixilated by both the ‘silly dove’ and Solomon’s Shulamite creation.

Hos 7:11  Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

Israel, like Ahola and Aholibah, and children just want to have fun. Men delight in God-designed, breezy, light-hearted, and pretty girls; they are irresistible. But when a foundation of wisdom and intelligence is absent, she is just another self-validating silly dove, ‘innocently’ flashing abuse of her heaven-sent jewels of mind and body.

Son 1:10  Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.

Son 7:1  How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

Eze 16:38  And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
Eze 16:39  And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

Women directly symbolise churches, and particularly the most frivolous churches, the today’s world of 40,000-50,000 splinter harlot Christian churches of Babylon. They all, in seeking their own pleasures and speaking their own words, ‘just want to have fun’, and thus ‘are at ease in Zion’.

“Ease” – H 7600 

1. at ease, quiet, secure 

a. at ease, secure 

b. at ease, careless, wanton, arrogant subset. 

2. security, pride, arrogance

Isa 58:13  If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath [Christ’s commands], from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14  Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

The strange paradox all Christians face is the vast difference between seeing the sensual joys of the world, the pretty things that particularly women and churches are drawn to, compared to their vaguely seen faith and belief that Solomon’s Shulamite and the Bride are brightly given to see in her Husband; it is that earthquake-like spiritual sensuality that arousingly overwhelms us to desire more.

Son 2:5  Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

Looking back on our time in Babylon, the Elect of God saw that we were sensually at ease, eating, drinking, and doing our own business, overflowing our barns in that Great City full of temporary, genuinely fulfilling, yet corruptible delights. All is vanity, saith the Preacher (Ecc 1:2).

Luk 12:16  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luk 12:17  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
Luk 12:18  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Luk 12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luk 12:21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself [AT EASE IN ZION], and is not rich toward God.

With those deliberations above, we could pretty much stop here since they broadly identify the Lord’s indictment against us spiritually. Nonetheless, we will continue to tease out other arousing spiritual nuances to increase our lovesickness for Christ’s spirit on the subjects.

Significations:

Woe to Those at Ease in Zion

Amo 6:1  Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! 
Amo 6:2  Pass ye unto Calneh [City of Babylon], and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath [Syria] the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? [… ‘bigger barns’ containing personal dogma and not Christ’s doctrines] 

Israel is named ‘chief of the nations’ and doted on the Assyrian, Philistinian, and Babylonian paramours’ affections. She just had to submit to the outwardly appealing sensualities of her neighbours. So, too, is our nature to this very day. It takes an Elect of God to be ‘instant in prayer’ continually to combat the lusts of the flesh and the eyes that substantiates our pride, the most damning aspect of those three sins that firmly nails the idol to our heart. Why? To gain pride, we have first “accused” some other person or aspect of our thinking to “excuse” ourselves for eating our own bread and drinking our own water; we are thus prideful. (Isa 4:1).

Alarmingly outwardly, on this very day in 2025, the physical representation of modern Israel in lockstep with Gentile Christianity who, clandestinely rules over the kings of the Earth, is at ‘ease’, hell-bent on enlarging her borders, if possible, all the way to the Euphrates River since she thinks that she is untouchable as the Lord’s elect. It will be very interesting to see just how far our Lord lets her go before utterly burning her with fire.

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman [Babylonian Christianity/Zionism] which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Amo 6:3  Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 
Amo 6:4  That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 
Amo 6:5  That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; 
Amo 6:6  That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. 

It is the Lord’s very Elect who have learnt to see that they came out of that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth and caused violence against her Lord in murdering practically his every word. What a pompous old harlot we were, lying back richly at ease upon our more comfortably designed doctrines with our self-anointed thighs exposed, pretending not to notice the leers of eager payees—only to strip them naked of mineral and land-mass wealth while impudently thinking spiritually that we, as the Lord’s genuine Elect, cannot be touched; which is partly true, if we only acknowledge our sins, and with a broken and contrite spirit put our hearts to vigilant disease to speed our journey out of Babylon.

Isa 47:1  Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
Isa 47:2  Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
Isa 47:3  Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
Isa 47:4  As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 47:5  Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

What a poetic indictment verse 5 above is outwardly upon Zion, for which we tremble to the soles of our feet for its spiritual connections! The West, driven by the “Lady of Kingdoms”, is in steep decline and, thankfully, likewise spiritually in us!

In glorious Ad nauseum, our uneasy alertness to being at ease in Zion is typified in Babylon by the ‘saved now’ lie. To me, it was very recently epitomised by a very good Babylonian friend who picked my spiritual brain on what was going to happen to him in the Lake of Fire. All he wanted to know was if he, too, would be saved. I left that meeting disheartened since he had a genuine interest in knowing the truth, but once he understood that everyone would be saved, he was greatly ‘at ease’, willing to suffer whatever the intensity of the Lord’s judgment. I couldn’t help but think, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”—I cast my pearls before a swine.

Mat 3:7  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Mat 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mat 3:9  And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Mat 3:10  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 3:11  I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptise you with the holy ghost, and with fire:
Mat 3:12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Unquenchable fire denotes the timeframe of appropriate anguish for the strength of that ‘froward’ person’s obstinance.

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

Froward H6141 – 1. twisted, distorted, crooked, perverse, perverted, twist.

Mike quote: “If we are of the mindset that God created His weak, carnal-minded creatures knowing He would send most of them away into an ever-burning lake of fire to be tormented with excruciating pain for all eternity, as most Christian denominations, as well as the Jewish and the Muslim religions, believe, then that is exactly how the Lord will present Himself to you when you are being judged. Yes, the Lord has “cut Rahab and wounded the dragon”, but when our eyes are opened to see the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘olam’ and the Greek word ‘aion’ we are then given to understand that nowhere in all of scripture is anyone ever once threatened with eternal torment. Such a thought has never once entered the Lord’s mind. His judgments are always corrective and redemptive in their purpose and in their implementation. God’s judgments correct us and teach us His righteousness.” [end].

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

Heb 10:26  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

Amo 6:7  Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. 
Amo 6:8  The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. 

The Elect of God, today, are the ones who ‘first go captive’ before the Gentile Christians in lockstep with the “they go captive”, the entire world of humanity in the Lake of Fire. In there, they will receive their ‘banquet’ of God’s fiery word that will utterly reverse their every lie held secret. The excellency of Jacob represents our works substantiated by a dying Old Covenant, and the death of Old Jerusalem within.

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.
Eph 4:8  Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Eph 4:9  (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

The “might fill all things” for the spiritual mind is seen as he will fill all things—in their time and God-ordained order; the “might” is our hope of the First Resurrection, even as we who are hopefully Elect, ‘might’ in this age influence our sanctified unconverted physical families, that they, too, might be filled with a banquet of earthshattering truth, and be more elegantly named Seraphim instead of “vipers” (Isa 6:2 & 6).

Amo 6:9  And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. 

We know that “ten” means the complete number of mankind since Adam, who all will assuredly die physically in this life, and equally, a judgment of spiritual death of their innate lies in the Lake of Fire. Of course, some will not see a physical death since those few Elect will be alive at His coming.

Mat 16:28  Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Amo 6:10  And a man’s uncle [beloved brother] shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD. 
Amo 6:11  For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. 

The mention of an ‘uncle’ denotes the permeation of either righteous or unrighteousness in a family, indeed, every family, meaning the world, for their time and order of understanding of our Lord’s word and typified by both the righteous and unrighteous leading personalities of King David’s household. Such is everyone’s “ease in Zion”, whether that ease is in strong delusion or our peace in knowing “the” Christ.

1Ch 27:32  Also Jonathan David’s uncle was a counsellor, a wise man, and a scribe: and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni was with the king’s sons:
1Ch 27:33  And Ahithophel was the king’s counsellor: and Hushai the Archite was the king’s companion:
1Ch 27:34  And after Ahithophel was Jehoiada the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar: and the general of the king’s army was Joab.

The burning of our bones to ashes signifies the whole destruction of our old selves, which helps us hold our tongues from uttering perverse things against the word of God. It is the utter destruction of the great wicked house attempting to be justified by our horn of works with no clefts or hiding places left for the contradiction of Christ’s commands.

Amo 6:12  Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock: 

No, it is not wise for a rider to run his horse upon slabs of rock, particularly when shod with iron shoes, since they lose grip, and both horse and rider fall. Not only that, but on pebbly rock, it is easy for stones to lodge in the horse’s frog, a triangular shape on the underside of a horse’s hoof, and extends midway from the heels toward the toe, covering around 25% of the bottom of the hoof. A stone lodged there, instantly causes lameness. Neither will a ploughman consider ploughing on slabs of rock or a boulder-filled field, all symbolising Judah and the Priests of God’s treachery while at ease in Zion as long as life is good, utterly deluded that theirs and our formally similar living were full of rottenness and death in our speech while sermonising lies for the laity—banqueting of falsehoods while judgment isn’t swift to be served causing us to rejoice in our unwitting delusion.

Ecc 8:11  Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Amo 6:13  Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? 

Rejoicing in the flesh, whose short-term glory as is the beauty of a young woman, is guaranteed to deteriorate. With such self-indulgence to sustain beauty, men are eternally glad, but it is like ploughing on a slab of rock, as all older women will testify. Such determination to sustain youthful beauty is relying on the horn, the power of the beast, fruitlessly maintaining our position on the throne of God, unwittingly stating that we are god (Rev13. 17:1-18).

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Psa 18:2  The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psa 18:3  I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Amo 6:14  But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath [kham-awth] unto the river of the wilderness. 

Although Israel was afflicted by the Assyrians and carried into Babylon, there is no greater nation that the Lord will raise up against Gentile Christianity and the world than the Lord’s Elect, who will afflict all those alive not included in the First Resurrection, preventing them from entering in.

Hemath is the principal city of upper Syria and means ‘fortress’ or ‘wall’, typifying the seemingly impregnable walls of those nations that Israel didn’t have the courage to conquer. There are several rivers of the wilderness that powerfully connect Israel’s boundaries—the Nile, the river Jordan dividing the wilderness to Israel’s east, the Phishon on the southern extremity of the Euphrates River, now and since Israel’s forty years of wilderness wanderings have disappeared. However, recent evidence strongly indicates its existence in keeping with Biblical references; and, of course, the mighty Euphrates itself, the location of Israel’s most insidious state of being ‘at ease’—in dreadful irony, now in Babylon! Even though the four rivers of the Euphrates generated incredible physical richness at this crossroads of commerce, they represent a covert mockery of Israel’s famine of her Lord’s word, soundly affirming her wilderness of sin mirroring us today, formally saying that we are rich and increased in goods, but are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.

Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, [at ease in Zion] I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

The Lord’s Elect are most grateful that he is giving them his white robes of righteousness this very day, from the riches of the mighty river running out of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Zec 14:4  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Zec 14:5  And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Zec 14:6  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
Zec 14:7  But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
Zec 14:8  And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
Zec 14:9  And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

From “that day”, which is this day, today, if we hear his voice, Christ’s people are, in the positive sense, blessedly ‘at ease in Zion’.

Video Links

Job 13:1 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.
Job 13:2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.
Job 13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
Job 13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
Job 13:6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
Job 13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
Job 13:8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
Job 13:9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?
Job 13:10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
Job 13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
Job 13:12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
Job 13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
Job 13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

Introduction

To this point we have witnessed the pride of our flesh in Job and in his accusing, so- called comforters. But as the type of God’s firstfruit elect, it is Job who is being judged and who is being used to demonstrate to us what are our own faults first.

Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
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.
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?

Are Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar full of “the pride of life”? Yes, of course they are. But it is not Eliphaz, Bildad, or Zophar who are being judged and afflicted by the hand of God at this time. “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of” Job first (1Pe 4:17). It is Job who is first being ‘afflicted by God’ and humiliated before his own “inward friends”. It is Job, the type of God’s “firstfruit… elect” whose judgment must begin first. It is Job, as a type of God’s elect who must have the this ‘vessel of clay’ destroyed first.

Job 6:14 To him that is afflicted [ by “the hand of God”] pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
Job 19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

‘All in Adam’ first build with “wood, hay, and stubble” before they build with “gold, silver, [ and] precious stones”, and “every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare… every man’s work”. The only thing that distinguishes God’s elect is the fact that they are the “firstfruits of the spirit” (Jas 1:18), and are therefore those upon whom ‘judgment must first begin’.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

God’s judgment which must “first begin at us” is that fire which causes us all to suffer the loss of this present evil life.

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

But we do not ‘find our life’ until we have suffered “the loss of all things”, and Job’s story demonstrates that this “loss of all things” is a lengthy process that is “for a long time” which seems like an eternity to Job while that process is taking place. As the type and shadow of us, Job’s trials are the seven last plagues as they are being poured out within our lives.
It was God who gave Job life and all that he had. Outwardly Job appeared to be a very good, God- fearing man. But Job had a ‘deep, dark, deadly’ sin within his flesh which is common to all men. That sin had to be ‘brought out to life’, and Job, as the type of us, had to come to see that even the prosperity of this life, when covered with this sin still within us, is nothing more than “the valley of the shadow of death”, which must be burned out of each of us.

Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Luk 20:9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

As hard as it is for our natural man to grasp, God’s rod and His staff are his fiery words that are intended to comfort us, and are given as a lamp to our path.

Psa 119:105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime [ Job’s trials included] were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

The spirit demonstrated by both Job and His ‘miserable comforters’; his comforters falsely accusing him, and Job accusing both his “comforters” as well as his Creator, is the spirit given to the “husbandmen” who receive the Lord’s “vineyard, and who then refuse to give Him the fruit of his own vineyard.

Luk 20:10 And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:11 And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:12 And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.
Luk 20:13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
Luk 20:14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.
Luk 20:15 So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?
Luk 20:16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

This book of Job is the story of the destruction of these evil husbandmen. The beast within Job, also called “the first man Adam” is being burned up and destroyed as the means by which “the new man… the last man Adam” is being birthed within us. The “others” to whom God will give His vineyard is that “new man” who is being birthed within us.
However Job does not yet understand any of this, because at this stage of our story, he is a shadow of each of us before we come to see that we must lose our life in order to find it. So Job in this stage of his development continues to foolishly compare himself with his “miserable comforters”.

Job 13:1 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.
Job 13:2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

The last thing any of us needs to be doing is comparing ourselves to those whom God has sent to prove us. Nevertheless those whom God uses to bring us our trials should be appreciated for the sacrifice that is being made of them for our own spiritual benefit.

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

God will, in His appointed time, have mercy upon Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, the types of those through whose “unbelief” our mercy is obtained. But these men are the type and shadow of those who are not at this time being judged.

Job 13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
Job 13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

These three verses are preceded with:

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

The beast is still on the throne within us, while we are comparing ourselves among ourselves or with the leaders of Babylon. That is who Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, foreshadow. At this point Job is no different. His symbolic election is not yet made known to him or his accusing ‘friends’.

2Co 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

The one thing that distinguishes God’s elect, as we see them throughout God’s word, is their desire to please God, even as they fail to see the sin that is in their members. From Abel, to Joseph, to Jacob, to King David, and to all the prophets and great men of scripture, they all in their own individual way “feared God and eschew evil”.

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Job wants to speak to God and ask Him what He is doing and why He is doing it. “I desire to reason with God. But you are forgers of lies, you are all physicians of no value. Oh that you would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom”.
Few of us are as outwardly pure as Job is presented to us. “That man perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil”. So Job knows that the things that are being said of him are not true. Still it is obvious, even to him, that the Lord is doing something in his life that he doesn’t understand. What Job doesn’t understand is that he is inherently self- righteous. Another thing Job does not yet understand is that his entire life and experience as well as that of his friends, is not ministering to himself, but to us.

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

There is a lot to be said about that section of 1Pe 1. That is a very bold statement “… not to themselves, but unto us they did minister”. Peter is here merely reiterating what Christ told us when He said this:

Mat 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

… and again:

Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Christ tells us that “he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John” who is as great as any man born of a woman before Christ. If that is so and if what Peter tells us of the ministry of the Old Testament prophets not being to themselves but to us, then it is also true that no Old Testament saint will be in that kingdom. If John or any other Old Testament saint is in the kingdom of heaven ahead of those who are in Christ, then Christ’s words are meaningless and contradictory. On the other hand, if none of the Old Testament saints and prophets were even ministering to themselves but to us, then what Christ said is true. He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John, who is as great as anyone born of a woman.
But didn’t Christ also say that ‘Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be in the kingdom of God’? Yes, He did. Here is what Christ said just three chapters earlier:

Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What is going on here? Weren’t Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob “born of women”? We know that Isaac’s mother’s name is Sarah, and we know that Jacob’s mother’s name was Rebecca. We also know that Abraham was born of a woman even if we are not given her name. So how then can Christ tell us in Mat 8 that those patriarchs will be in the kingdom of God, and then tell us that “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”?

The answer to this apparent dilemma is made very clear when we understand that the “kingdom of heaven” extends beyond the thousand year period, which is also a part of “the kingdom of heaven”, and it extends through the period known as ‘the great white throne judgment and the lake of fire’. Here are the verses that make this clear:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

“Every man” who has ever lived is to be raised up to life, “in his own order”. So when Christ said that “he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John” He never meant that to be understood as the Old Testament patriarchs, prophets, and saints would never be in that kingdom. What He is telling us is that those who will rule in that kingdom first, will be “greater than John” who is as great as any man ever born of women.
Now notice that the kingdom of heaven extends beyond the thousand years and into and through the great white throne judgment and the lake of fire all the way to the destruction of death itself, until God is “all in all”. It is revealed in the very next verses of 1Co 15:

1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end [ the harvest at “the end of the year, Exo 23:16], when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

“He [ Christ] must reign, till he has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Just in case there is any doubt about the time line involved for the salvation of physical Israel and all of the”many prophets and righteous men” of the Old Testament, we have these verses to clear that question up:

Eze 16:55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

So all Israel, including all the “many prophets and righteous men”, all the patriarchs and all the Old Testament saints, will be brought to God “when… Sodom… and Samaria are brought back to God, after the thousand year reign of those who are in the kingdom of God during that thousand year period. Let’s look at these verses again:

Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is called ‘the faith chapter’ because it lists the names and acts of faith performed by the “many prophets and righteous men” to whom Christ, Peter, and Paul refer. At the very end of that chapter this is what we are told:

Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

The “something better” is not for “themselves but unto us” (1Pe 1:12). “That they without us should not be made perfect”, is just another way of saying this:

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

“They without us should not be made perfect” simply because it is “through your mercy [“he that is least in the kingdom” as well as he that is greatest] they also [ Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who “all died not having received the promises”] may obtain mercy”.
“Many prophets and righteous men [ who] have not seen them” certainly includes Job. But again, Job knows nothing of any of this, while suffering the loss of all things, and being covered with boils, and being falsely accused by his “inward friends”. So he continues his fruitless efforts to get them to consider the pain which they are adding to his affliction:

Job 13:6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
Job 13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
Job 13:8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?

Who among us were not Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar on steroids when we once taught that not only was that sinner deserving of more than his sin deserved (Job 11:6), but he was going to burn in literal flames of fire for all eternity. We have all ‘spoken wickedly for God, and talked deceitfully for Him’.
“Will you accept His person?” It is wrong to be a ‘respecter of persons’ when judging between men, but we think ourselves to be doing God a service when we present Him to this world as the monster we make Him out to be. “Will you contend for God?” tells us that we, with our onerous concepts of a loving heavenly Father who will either annihilate or torment His creatures for all eternity, that we are “contending for God” while we are really blaspheming His name.

Job 13:9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?
Job 13:10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
Job 13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?

God certainly does search us. He is not looking for something of which He is not aware, rather He reveals to us “the secrets of [ our own] heart”.

Psa 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Eternal life is knowing God and His Son, and having their mind. When we don’t even know how God and His Son think and yet we claim to be speaking for God, we cannot help but “mock Him”, and at the same time we will be thinking that we are “doing God a service” while doing so.

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

“Shall not His excellency make you afraid? and His dread fall upon you?” Yes, of course it should, but Job himself, the type and shadow of us ourselves, at this point, does not really grasp what is “His excellency”.

2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

One of the most glaring distinctions between “that which was glorious” and “the glory that excelleth” are these two conflicting laws:

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

In spite of these plain words, the orthodox Christian world exhorts those in their charge to get involved in the affairs of this age and go out and fight and kill for God and country.
We have all been murderers by virtue of hating our brother at some time in our lives.

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

“As one man mocks another do you not mock Him?” When we claim to speak for God and deny His Words, we certainly are mocking Him and blaspheming His name. We, as the anti- type of Job’s comforters, have mocked God, and we have blasphemed His name.

Rom 2:24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Job 13:12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
Job 13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
Job 13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

“Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay” are Biblical words which tell us that the flesh of all men is “marred in the hand of the Potter”. Ashes and clay are the Biblical type of our “old man… the first man Adam… flesh and blood [ which] cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. Ashes and clay are both “out of the ground” will indeed return there again, and will, in that state be under the feet of our “new man… the last Adam”.

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.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Mal 4:3 And ye [ our new man] shall tread down the wicked[ the old man]; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

“Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will,” Job knows that the things he is being accused of are false, and his self- righteousness is so deep that he simply cannot conceive of why God is doing this to him. He is so confident of his own righteousness, that he is willing to receive whatever curse may come upon him for standing on his conviction that he is above reproach. As we continue our studies, Job’s confidence in his own righteousness increases. He is just getting started, and he is the type and shadow of how we respond to anything thing that might have the appearance of humbling us. “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men”. Indeed we all will do just that in time, but that spirit is contrasted against the self righteous spirit that first must be burned out of all men.

Psa 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

It is God’s “goodness and wonderful works” which leads us all to repentance:

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

It simply is not possible for our old man to accept the things Job is enduring as God’s “goodness and forbearamce and longsuffering”. What is needed at this stage of our suffering is just pity.

Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

When Job says, “Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?” he is telling us that he is now willing to die for his conviction that God is on his side and will justify him in the end. The word translated “wherefore” is actually two Hebrew words ‘al’ and ‘maw’, which are far more commonly translated as ‘al’, meaning ‘against, and ‘maw’, meaning ‘which’. So Job is saying that he is so confident that his friends are ‘speaking wickedly for and deceitfully for God’, and that he himself is above reproach, and will be exonerated by God, that he is more than willing to “take his flesh in his teeth and put [ his] life in [ his own] hand” and continue with his self- righteous, self- justifying speech.

Job 13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will see that Job is willing to die to prove himself just and to maintain his integrity.

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Job 13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
Job 13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
Job 13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Job 13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
Job 13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
Job 13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Job 13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
Job 13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Job 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Job 13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
Job 13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
Job 13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

December 8, 2008

Mike,

A couple years ago the bible and the Word of the Lord was cryptic and largely unknown to me. I began a year ago, after a severe chastisement from God, to study to show myself approved. I was frankly intimidated by the bible. I concentrated on the New Testament. One thing that I have always felt that needed to be true in regards to the Word of the Lord is that it must be fitly framed together and metaphors that were used had to be true down to the finest detail and fully realized. I reckoned God would have it no other way. I have learned a lot and you, Mike, have helped very much.
The sin sacrifice is more than a cardboard cut out metaphor. Jesus became sin for us; we are to reckon ourselves dead with him but alive through the spirit. Those are not empty words but the doctrine of men can make them so. The sin sacrifice of Jesus does not hold up to close scrutiny by today’s established theology of man and even early Rome and Greek Church theology. Either it was a empty metaphor or something was being missed. The Word of the Lord is true and every man a liar.
Christ was sacrificed for our sins. He did carry his blood to the mercy seat of God in heaven, and as a faithful high priest he is a mediator for us with God. All that is true, but then what about the body of that sin sacrifice? What happened to that? Well, it was resurrected and became a spiritual body that was no longer corruptible. But theology forgot that when Jesus came into the world he had a body prepared for him since the foundation of the world. We are intertwined with him. No betwixt or between. His body on earth. And the bodies of those beasts that were sacrificed for sin were taken outside the camp to be burned so we are to bear his reproach. We are the body of that sin sacrifice that is being burned up. Many are called but few are chosen to go through the fire. Jesus died and our body (old man) is crucified with him and the only body that is left over to be burned is the one on earth. And I believe the sin sacrifice was burned right on the ground, which happens to be his body on earth. It fits, the whole metaphor carries through to the end, rich and full of meaning. John the Baptist talked about the one following him with the baptism in the Holy Spirit and with fire in Mat 3:11. The metaphor of grain being winnowed by using fire goes hand and hand with the sin sacrifice in this version of what John the Baptist said in:
 
Luk 3:16.  John made answer, saying to them all, Truly, I give you baptism with water, but one is coming who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:
:17  In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned in the fire which will never be put out.
God subjected the creation to flesh/ vanity because that was the way he saw fit to teach and instruct his children, by grace, how to discern good and evil. The whole purpose of God centers around the reproach of Jesus and the need for his death in bringing many sons into glory. But how does it work? I am a big one when it comes to the question – how does it work? Everything has to fit and be true to form. Unless a grain of wheat die it can not bring forth any fruit. The Spirit is given to man and the flesh needs to be burned up because God only used flesh as a means to instruct his children. God is all powerful Mike, but he was not able to create sons of God, with the attributes he wanted, right out of the box. The ones he did create out of the box, saw that the daughters of men were fair, and we know how bad that turned out. But needs be God had to start with something. God’s purpose on the earth is concerned with man as a individual and as a whole society. We know that Jesus was a created son, but I think that God set him over the house of Israel to learn. On the job training, so to speak. But then God took it to a much deeper level. He sent him to the earth and prepared for him a body and then made him perfect by the things he suffered and his being obedient. That was how the adoption of Son ship had to take place. God requires his children to possess his attributes and characteristics. That can’t be created, it requires the hand of a master potter, and of course fire. Jesus was the work of his hand, Adam was the imperfect work of his hands and so was Satan. We also are his imperfect work, albeit a work in progress, with a good end in mind. Anyway, that is how I see the sin offering, and as you so well point out, the Christ is going to be used by God to accomplish his purpose on the earth. I will leave you with one other thought and let it go at this point, Mike. The sin sacrifice was burned up and the ashes were used for purification. That metaphor is rich and full of meaning also. What we are experiencing and learning from the hand of the Master is quite valuable and will be of further use in the ages to come.
L___

Good morning L____,

The fire of God’s word has to have been burning in your life to see the depths you have been given to seen here in this offering. Thank you for taking the time to share with me what God has given you to see.

You say:

“God is all powerful Mike, but he was not able to create sons of God, with the attributes he wanted, right out of the box.”

I would reword that to say ‘God is all powerful and therefore will not do anything contrary to His own Word, which requires that the natural be “marred” and always precede the completed spiritual.’ As you yourself put it: “God subjected the creation to flesh/ vanity because that was the way he saw fit to teach and instruct his children, by grace, how to discern good and evil.”

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [ was made] a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

I was especially edified when you point out that the sin offering is burned on the very ground, which ‘ground’ we are, and the ashes are then used for purification, which is how God uses us once He has burned out of us all that must be burned out:

Num 19:9  And a man [ that is] clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay [ them] up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
Num 19:10  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
Num 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
Num 19:12  He shall purify himself with it [ the water of separation] on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
Num 19:13  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness [ is] yet upon him.

Those ashes typify the fire of God’s Word in Christ, and through Him in us, which produces those. It is through these ashes of Christ’s body that we are purified, and it is through our burned up ashes that the rest of mankind will be brought to Christ:

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

The choosing of God’s elect is at the expense of the many who are called but not chosen, and the salvation of the many called, is by the channel, or agency, of the mercy of the “few chosen,” the ashes of the red heifer, Christ, and Christ in us.
Thanks again for sharing with me the insights God has given you.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike