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

[Study Aired Dec 29, 2024]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is what “the earth” means in scripture:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enduring that kind of ‘hardness’ infuriates the adversary:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

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

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

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

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

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

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Study Aired September 17, 2020]

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

Christ is providing a vision for his bride-to-be that will sustain us through the spiritual wilderness of this world through His word that we are being sanctified with (Joh 17:16-18, Psa 119:105).

Joh 17:16  They 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. [Lev 16:10, Col 1:24]

The church that is likened to the scapegoat, of which Christ is shepherding and will not lose sight, is continually the apple of His eye (Zec 2:8, Psa 17:8). We will get to where we have to go at the hand of a fit man spoken of in Leviticus 16:10 and 21. That “fit man” of Levitus 16:21 symbolizes the fact that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1Jn 4:4) and that Christ in you as our hope of glory (Col 1:27) is working in you both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure which is to give us the kingdom of God (Joh 10:14, Joh 18:9, Php 2:13, Eph 2:10, Luk 12:32).

Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Lev 16:21  And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

Vision is a gift the Lord gives the body of Christ today through the church (Col 1:24) via the faith that is mixed with the word of God (Eph 3:10, 2Ti 4:2, Heb 4:2) that enlightens what is a “dark place” (2Pe 1:5-12, 2Pe 1:19) which is now illuminated through the ongoing victory which Christ, who is the author and finisher of that faith, can give us as we die daily (Rom 10:17, 1Jn 5:4, Heb 12:2, Php 1:6). These scriptures in 2Peter 1:5-12 describe the work that needs to be accomplished in order to maintain spiritual vision, which is something in which we grow as Christ gives us the power to add one thing to the other (Php 2:12-13), so we can learn how all those spiritual qualities “work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off [Pro 29:18], and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall [Jud 1:24]:
2Pe 1:11  For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:12  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

We study to show ourselves approved so that we can learn to speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15) in a world where we know the whole stay of bread and water has been taken away by God’s design (1Co 14:8, 2Ti 2:15, Rev 1:3, Isa 1:3, why Israel does not consider – Isa 3:1).

The word of God needs to be rightly divided in our heavens so we can be about our Father’s business of being doers and not just hearers of the word, deceiving our ownselves (2Ti 2:21, Jas 1:22, Jas 2:20).

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

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

How we gain vision in this life is explained in Romans 12:1-2 as we look to the example of our Lord and follow each other as we follow Christ (Heb 12:2, 1Co 11:1) who is the One who creates the vision needed in the church so we don’t perish as we continue to build each other up with our “most holy faith” of which He is the author and finisher (Jud 1:20-24, Mal 3:16, Heb 10:25).

Jud 1:20  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Jud 1:21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. [We look for the mercy of God through the trials (1Co 10:13, Psa 91:3-9)]

Christ is our high priest to whom we turn in our “time of need“, meaning when we are having our senses exercised through trials (Heb 4:15-16, Heb 5:14). He causes us to mature beyond “the first principles of the oracles of God” (Heb 5:12) through the strong meat that manifests in our heavens when we are received of our Father through chastening and scourgings (Heb 12:6). Those trials and much tribulation are necessary to give us dominion over all that is in the world within us and outside of us. “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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (Luk 13:32, 1Jn 2:16-17).

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

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

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

The three times Christ was tempted in the wilderness by the devil are something that was accomplished for our sakes to show a pattern of overcoming the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, which Christ was able to accomplish through the spirit given to him in the midst of great tribulation (Joh 3:34, Mat 4:2). It is through the process of judgment which the church experiences (1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17) that we mortify the deeds of the flesh in our lives so that we can then discern and fulfill the will of God. Christ’s flesh was mortified with forty days of fasting prior to this pivotal event in His life that was only the beginning of sorrows for our Lord, who would be given victory over Satan and later go on to die for the sins of the world (Mat 24:7-9, Isa 53:3-4, Mat 16:21).

Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Mat 16:21  From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

After Christ was “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Mat 4:1, Jas 1:14), He overcame him and then came and preached the gospel (Mar 1:14). The physical event of Christ overcoming the devil with God’s spirit as He wrestled against these powers and principalities that proceeded forth from Satan (Eph 6:12, Rom 1:20) occurred prior to Him then being sent to preach the gospel and parallels what the elect will do as we are granted to overcome the devil in this world (1Jn 4:4) by overcoming the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life represented by the three consecutive temptations Christ overcame by God’s power (1Jn 2:16).

The lust of the flesh would be represented by the temptation with bread; the lust of the eyes represented by Satan trying to tempt him with all the kingdoms of the world which were Satan’s to offer; and the pride of life is simply doing what we want in our proud flesh instead of obeying God, and tempting the Lord thy God would have been just such an act of disobedience from Christ, which we know was not going to happen (Mat 4:4-10, Heb 4:15).

So, those three principal events represent what we must overcome and can overcome through Christ who experienced these things in the most extreme manner (Heb 4:15) for our sakes so we can be comforted (2Co 1:3-4). We are like Christ today, and with His help we can count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations (1Jn 4:17, Jas 1:2). We count it all joy because “the trying of your faith worketh patience” knowing that through Christ we can “let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Wanting nothing means that by the grace and faith of God we can overcome the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life so we can live the rest of our lives doing the will of God as opposed to being entangled with this world which will pass away (1Jn 2:16-17, 1Pe 4:1-2, Tit 2:12).

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 of God abideth for ever.

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

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

Hopefully this introduction sets the stage for us to understand how we can fulfill the will of God by filling up what is behind of His afflictions in this life (Col 1:24). That affliction is what is needed in order to “let patience have her perfect work” (Jas 1:4-8) so that “ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” To be entire in Christ is to go beyond “the first principles of the oracles of God” as we are nourished by our trials that make it possible for us to put off our fleshly carnal thinking so that we can remain focused on doing the will of God as we rejoice now, and again I say rejoice, because of that vision with which He has blessed us (Php 4:4, Pro 29:18).

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

Php 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Pro 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 

This opening statement is very specific in what it is asking us to do and reveals to us that a “foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God” has to initially be laid in the lives of those whom God is going to continue to drag to Christ and bring unto perfection.

“Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ” is the only way that we can go on to perfection, and as Paul showed us in these verses (Php 3:13-15), it is those who are granted a mature or maturing mindset in this life who can continue on in His word in this manner so that we can become disciples indeed through “not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works” which is what it means to  leave “the principles of the doctrine of Christ” (Joh 8:31-32).

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

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.

Take note that Paul says in Philippians 3:13 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended” which accords with verse three of our study which says “And this will we do, if God permit“.

The admonition for God’s elect in this age is to forget “those things which are behind” and to reach “forth unto those things which are before” as we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14).

That pressing forward and forgetting what is behind is what it takes to build on the foundation that was initially laid in our lives by Christ as we recognize the hope of glory within us (Mat 16:18) which makes this transition possible through a purifying process that takes our entire life (Col 1:27, 1Jn 3:2-5, Rom 8:14-16, Rom 8:35-37).

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:

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

We now have those foundational principles of Christ described for us that explain what we build upon, and the first one that is mentioned is “the doctrine of baptisms” that represents a truth we hopefully know and have settled in our hearts that it is through much tribulation (1Pe 4:12, Act 14:22) we enter into the kingdom of God, as we die daily and are baptized into Christ’s death (Rom 6:1-5).

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:

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

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. [Newness of life after the trial, after the baptism (2Co 7:11)]
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

We are “planted together in the likeness of his death” and as such are dead to sin and alive in Christ (Rom 6:11), not continuing in sin so that grace may abound, which would bring us to have to lay “again the foundation of repentance from dead works” demonstrating that we are not going beyond that principle that was all ready laid out for us.

The truth follows that if we don’t remember we are “planted together in the likeness of his death” “baptisms” we are not going to know that we are the temple of God (1Co 3:16) and have been raised in heavenly places (Eph 2:4-6) which should be the mindset of those who have the earnest of the inheritance within them (Col 1:27, Eph 1:14) being filled with hope that the “resurrection of the dead” is an ongoing I-die-daily event God is making possible through Christ who gives us the power to live with this understanding (Gal 2:20-21).

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:21  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Christ’s death is in vain if we keep frustrating the grace of God by bringing up our past sins that have been covered by the blood of Christ, but again thanks be to God, He is greater than our sometimes carnal conscience that tries to do this (1Jn 3:20). You can be sure that is what the accuser of the brethren wants to do within us and without us 24/7 (Rev 12:10), and so we need to beseech God to keep us focused on the joy that has been set before us as Christ did (Heb 12:2).

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

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

That joy set before us is the vision we need in order to endure until the end, and that vision was typified by events at the time of Stephen’s death who was given the vision he needed to put off his flesh at this appointed time in his life as he beheld “the Son of man standing on the right hand of God“. Eternal life is to know the Father and the Son (Joh 17:3), and to behold them as Stephen did was a symbolic event that was for our sakes to reassure us what God will do for His little flock who does not need to fear what men can do to our flesh as we look to the vision we can receive through our Father and Jesus Christ and His body that will lead us to eternal life (Act 7:54-60, Eph 3:10). We provide that vision for each other as a joint that supplies in love, and God uses the body of Christ to strengthen us in that regard with prophecy (Eph 4:16, Heb 3:13, 1Th 5:11, 1Co 14:3).

If we are dying daily (1Co 15:31) and being raised in heavenly places today (Eph 2:6), then we are being judged (1Pe 4:17), and if we are being judged now, the spirit of God is bearing witness with our spirit that we are His sons who are learning of His righteousness (Rom 8:14-16, 1Jn 3:1, Isa 26:9) which witnesses that Christ within us as our hope of glory can lead us into all truth in order to set us free (Joh 16:13) as we continue in the truth believing (Joh 8:31-32) that we are enduring what we are enduring through in this age by the grace and faith of Christ for a reason (Rom 8:18-23).

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

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

These trials of our faith are happening so we can be in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Php 1:29) coming up as those saviors or kings and priests who can discern good and evil and who will have been prepared (Rev 19:7) to rule under Christ and judge the nations who will all be saved (Oba 1:21, 1Co 15:22). The salvation of all mankind will occur in the lake of fire, or great white throne judgment, and is a judgment that will be administered by those few who have been baptized into Christ’s death today and have been raised into heavenly places today. Our role as saviors will be demonstrated via the “eternal judgment” that the rest of the world will experience at the hand of God’s elect, and “this will we do, if God permit” (1Co 6:3). If it is written in our books, we will do this, and God will be glorified in showing the world that what He says He is going to do will get done, and there is no plan B (Psa 139:16, 2Ti 2:19, Psa 118:27).

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

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:

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

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, 

You and I can be “enlightened” and have “tasted of the heavenly gift” and been “made partakers of the Holy Ghost” along with having “tasted the good word of God” and “the powers of the world to come” and still not endure until the end if God has not written this in our book.

Why does God allow those who have been “enlightened” and “have tasted of the heavenly gift” and been “made partakers of the Holy Ghost” and “tasted the good word of God” and “the powers of the world to come” to be in the midst of God’s elect in the first place?

The truth of God’s word is that they are sacrificed for us in their unbelief that God may have mercy upon all (Rom 11:32), and we are beloved for the gospel’s sake and represent the things that were written for our sakes (1Co 10:11) and show us what would manifest within in us unless the Lord did not chasten and scourge us in order to be received of Him today (Heb 12:6).

[Rom 11:28-32 – The 250 men of renown are chastened and scourged within us, and that number represents a multiple of grace that must occur in our lives if we are going to be saved in this age through much tribulation 25X10 (Heb 12:6). The mindset of God’s elect is a gift from God (1Co 2:16) that, Lord willing, we will never take for granted by being highminded (Rom 11:20-21).]

It is because of the unbelievers’ unbelief which manifests in heresies, that we learn [by reason of use having our sense exercised (Heb 5:14)] who it is that is approved in our midst (1Co 11:19) and who it is that has been granted the mind of Christ who can try those lying spirits and recognize through the grace and faith God gives, those who are approved and those who are an enemy of the cross (Deu 13:3, Php 3:18).

Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

The struggles God has given to the body of Christ through the years which have caused us to grow in grace and in knowledge have primarily been from those of our own household who were against us, and that statement of Christ found in Matthew 10:36 is both true at the onset of our being dragged out of the world with our physical families who are against us, as well as those in our midst who claim to be spiritual Jews and are not (Rev 3:9, Rom 1:20).

Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

It is God who caused the two hundred and fifty men of renown to rebel, along with the whole congregation of Israel (Num 16:2-3, Num 16:19), to demonstrate to us that their unbelief and rebellious spirit would have been ours except for the grace of God that chastens us and scourges us as we are received of our Father and learn that God is no respector of persons (Act 10:34-35). He will have mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and who He wants to harden, He will harden (Rom 9:18). This is the severity and goodness of God which is being revealed to very few in this age showing us what God thinks of all flesh that is all being worked according to the counsel of the Master Potter’s will, who will have every man saved, each man in his order (Eph 1:11, Jer 18:4, Rom 9:20-21, 2Co 4:15-16).

It is indeed impossible to renew those whom God deems “the rest of the dead” of Revelation 20:5:

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.

With all that we have studied and come to see regarding God’s sovereignty over the years, God willing, it is clear today in our hearts and minds who it is that is causing the falling away of those who were in our midst and were “enlightened” and “have tasted of the heavenly gift” and been “made partakers of the Holy Ghost” and “tasted the good word of God” and “the powers of the world to come“, and how they were never meant to go on to perfection in this life or to be renewed “unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” which is what it means to be an enemy of the cross as found in Philippians 3:18.

Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

God wants us to know and be assured that those who could not go beyond the “foundation of repentance from dead works” were broken off for our sakes and that they will be grafted back again in the lake of fire, but not in this age. These events that God caused were all done according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11) to show His goodness and severity and His power over the clay or the light and darkness over which He is in perfect control (Isa 45:7).

These events spoken of in Hebrews 6:4-6 are written for the elect’s sake in this age but also for those in the ages to come who will learn that all things were for the elect’s sake initially so “that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God” so, “that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

We are a many-membered body of Christ which needs to continue to pray and ask God for that gift of phophecy (1Co 14:1-3) so we can be used to provide the vision (Pro 29:18) that we will need in this ever increasingly evil world that we can overcome through Jesus Christ who is the one who can provide the vision to do so (Heb 12:2).

Pro 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We sigh and cry for the sins of this world, showing a mind of compassion and care for this dying world, and at the same time we know that Ishmael cannot come along, and so we must separate ourselves from this world and do so by loving the Lord with all our hearts, minds and strength, and “this will we do, if God permit“.  It will be demonstrated through the fruit of our lives, the obedience to God’s commandments which witnesses that His love is being shed abroad in our hearts (Eze 9:4, Gen 17:18, 2Co 6:17, Joh 14:15, 1Jn 5:3, Rom 5:5).

These final verses of our study show us clearly that when we keep God’s commandments, the law of Christ (Gal 6:2), we will in fact have vision and will be happy!

Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Joh 13:15  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Joh 13:16  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
Joh 13:17  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

Pro 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Good Morning Mike,

I would like to just say I truly appreciate the love and wisdom the Father and His Son Jesus Christ is doing in your life and the lives of the members of iswasandwillbe. I was currently listening to Do You Want the Reality or the Shadow I think in Pe 2. You mentioned Luk 4:49, and I can’t find it in my bible. The scripture was relating to how the blood of all the prophets will be required upon this generation.
I told you about these Jewish friends of mine who want me to convert. Would you kindly just explain these scriptures they want me to read: Isaiah24:1-22. They also gave me Rev 18:1-9, Dan 7:23-27, Luk 21:19-24, Rev 12:1-17 and then they put their Hebrew spelling for LORD and JESUS. They say I do not understand what I am reading, and truly I came to see that they do not understand the scriptures. For your teachings the only things that seem to make sense to me even as I listen every morning from 4am till 6am I have realized that they burden themselves with rituals and customs of which I once admired and was ready to convert before I came across your website.
They gave me scriptures to emphasize how many shabbats Yahshua and Shaul attended in total 78 and 0 Sundays. Then they gave me the last chap of 1Ti 4:1-2. And I have not received the wisdom you have been given, though listening to you daily is opening a lot of loops and I do feel the Spirit of the Father moving in my members. I have enjoyed every word about the tabernacle and the shadows of which I will keep my mouth closed for now till I have better understanding on the subjects. Living among a Jewish populated environment I am thankful to have come across your site.
It’s been a blessing to have also realized how wonderful it is to know that all that is happening is because the Father wills it to happen after the counsel of His own will. Thank you for showing that it’s not easy, but I believe He will provide sufficient grace to embrace the workings on His creation. May He bless you and your team and may you never stop discovering the beauty of His nature and His Son daily. I don’t feel guilty any more for not including the Holy Spirit like the trinity because I thank God it does not exist. God bless and hope to hear from you soon.
Kind Regards,
J____

Hi J____,

Thank you for your questions, and thank you for standing firm on the Word of God in the face of all this pressure you are facing from the modern day Judaizers there.
O. K., that verse I said was Luk 4:49 concerning the blood of all the prophets from Abel to Zacharias being required of this generation is actually Luk 11:49-51. Forgive me for making that mistake.

Luk 11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
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;
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.

You have asked me to comment on whole chapters which your Jewish friends have given you, and I cannot do that verse by verse simply because I do not have the time to do that. But I did read the various scriptures you listed, and I think I see what their point is. If I have missed the point, please let me know. Here in Isa 24 we have the scriptural basis for the judgment of the great harlot of Rev 17-18.
“Spiritual Sodom” is “that great city where our Lord was crucified. Isa 1 is “concerning Judah and Jerusalem” (verse 1), and this is what the spirit calls Judah and Jerusalem there in Isa 1:

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

So it is the spirit of “Judah and Jerusalem” which to this very day constitutes the “great harlot” and “that great city wherein our Lord was crucified.
Now what I saw in both Isa 24 and in Dan 7 which I understand to be the point your Jewish friends are making is:

Isa 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

and…

Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

Here is that section of Dan 7:

Dan 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Dan 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Dan 7:26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
Dan 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Your Jewish friends are confusing orthodox Christianity, in which we have all had our part, with the doctrine of Christ. Christ did not come to change the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday as the Catholics have done and as the Protestants have continued doing. He came instead to fulfill every jot and tittle of the law.

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,

But Christ is the fulfilling of every type and shadow of the law:

Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

Christ is our passover, and He has fulfilled the passover so that we need never again offer a calf or a lamb for our sins.

Heb 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Heb 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [ you and me] with better sacrifices than these.

Christ is our ‘blood and water’:

Joh 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

So He is also fulfilling the days of unleavened bread in our lives by living His life within us and granting that we can now purge out the sin that was dominating our lives and granting us that we die daily to that sin by destroying the man of sin within us. In Christ we now keep that feast of unleavened bread “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and Truth”.

1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

That is the bread, and Christ is that passover, and the days of unleavened bread are now kept with “the unleavened bread of sincerity and Truth 24/7, 365 days a year.
In the same way Christ has fulfilled the day of Pentecost by founding His church and coming to us via His Father’s spirit as that day portended in the law of Moses.

Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

He has fulfilled the feast of trumpets by blowing the seven trumpets within our lives and beginning judgment at His own house with the fire from the altar of God in heaven. All who are the temple of God will keep the things written in the revelation of Jesus Christ, including the seven trumpets of that revelation:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 8:1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Rev 8:2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
Rev 8:5 A nd the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
Rev 8:6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

Trumpets warn of the fiery judgment of God’s word, which is now on the house of God:

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?

Christ has fulfilled the day of atonement by reconciling us to God and atoning for our sins once and for all time:

Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Finally, Christ is also our feast of tabernacles and our last great day, because it is through Him and His anointed that rivers of living waters of mercy will flow to all men of all time:

Joh 7:37 I n the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
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.

So it is true, Christ did not come to change times or seasons, but He did come to fulfill them all. And He also come to change the priesthood and the law and to hold both to a far higher bar than either had ever been before. Both are now spiritual, and that had never been so before. We are plainly told of this reformation, and it was this reformation that the Judaizers of Paul’s day and of today refuse to acknowledge:

Heb 9:10 Which [ Old Testament offerings, according to the law] stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Christ is that great reformer, and He has fulfilled every Old Testament type and shadow by dying for our sins and by fulfilling every jot and tittle of the law of Moses in doing so:

Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

“The law of Christ” (Gal 6:2), also called “the law of the spirit” (Rom 8:2), is now far superior to the law of Moses, which was a “carnal commandment” for a very carnal nation. The good that comes of “the law of Christ” and “the law of the spirit” is much better than anything that could come of the “carnal commandment” law which Christ had given to Moses:

Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

“Good things” must not be confused with ‘easy things’. Every “but I say unto you” word or reformation which Christ uttered in Matthew chapters 5 and 6 is not easy to do. It is not easy to love one’s enemies. It is not easy to turn the other cheek, and it is not easy to refrain from fornication in one’s heart.
Neither is it easy to acknowledge and live a life which acknowledges that Christ came and fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law of Moses, including the weekly sabbath. It is one of the very hardest things we are confronted with in following in His footsteps:

1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Your Jewish friends point out all the verses which mention the sabbath as if Christ were observing the sabbath when nothing could be further from the Truth.

Luk 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

There is no denying that Christ was “made of a woman, made under the law” until the day of His baptism and the beginning of His reforming ministry. So of course it was ‘His custom” to go “into the synagogue on the sabbath day”. But being “under the law” was before His ministry began. Until that time He submitted Himself to His very Jewish parents:

Luk 2:51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
Luk 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

Just like each of us, Christ was first “under the law” when He was a child.

Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

But Christ had not come to this earth to remain “under the law… under the elements of the world… keeping days, months, times, and years”:

Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

When Christ was baptized by John, He was no longer a child. In Mat 12 Christ, who was of the tribe of Judah and was neither a priest nor a Levite, openly confessed to “doing that which was unlawful for him to do” and “profaning the sabbath” simply because “In this place is one greater than the temple, [ and] the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath day”. Christ made no appeal to the law of Moses to justify the actions of His disciples. There is not one word about properly obeying the commandments concerning the sabbath here at all:

Mat 12:1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Then just for all of us who, at our own appointed time are where your Jewish friends still are, we are plainly told by the holy spirit that Christ “had broken the sabbath [ and] said that God was His Father”:

Joh 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work [ on the sabbath].
Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

The holy spirit did not inspire the apostle to tell us ‘they thought He had broken the sabbath’. We are rather told that His Father works on the sabbath, and Christ did too, and therefore the Jews sought to kill Him.
Those who are given ‘eyes that see’ will notice that the apostle John never refers to the Jewish festivals as the festivals of God. He actually goes to great lengths to distance himself from that entire economy by calling them “a feast of the Jews” or “the Jews feast…”

Joh 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Joh 6:4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
Joh 7:2 Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.

Christ’s law is impossible for the flesh, but if Christ is living within us, He will strengthen us to do all things:

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

But one thing Christ will not strengthen you to do is to “observe days, months, times, and years”.
“The ends of the world” have been upon God’s people ever since the days of Christ:

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.

That being the case, we can expect the whole orthodox Christian world to “depart from the faith” in which our Lord walked.

1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

It is not easy to follow in the steps of our Lord, but if He is in you, that is what you will do.
It is my prayer that these verses will give you the clarity you are seeking. The paper The Law of Moses Versus The Law of The Spirit deals with all of this in great depth. I hope you will be edified by all these verses. If you still need anything clarified please feel free to write back.
I will take this opportunity to encourage you to watch our weekly Sunday 11 A. M. ET Bible studies on ustream, and to join us in the review of those studies at 12:30, right after the studies are completed.
Your brother who seeks only to be a “helper of your joy”

2Co 1:24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

Mike

Hi Mike,
 
When Revelation talks about them being poor, blind and naked does that mean they are poor in spirit and blind to his word, and they have no righteousness for spiritual clothing?
 
P____

Hi P____,
You ask about Rev 3, and you are exactly right. Babylon actually believes that she is spiritually rich and increased with spiritual goods:

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:

These “poor, blind and naked” brothers and sisters in Christ actually believe that what they teach about the character of God and our relationship with Him is the truth. They know that they have repented of their sins just as Israel had repented when they cried out to God to deliver them from the Egyptians:

Exo 2:23  And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
Exo 2:24  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Exo 2:25  And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

“God looked on Israel and had respect unto them.” He actually delivered them out of Egypt and baptized them in the Red Sea. What Christianity today does not realize is that it is not called the doctrine of baptism, but the doctrine of baptisms. It is God who brings us all to cry out to Him in the first place, but the fact that that generation did not enter the holy land should tell us all that that original baptism is not the only baptism required for salvation.

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 [ Greek ‘aion’ – age] are come.  

That original baptism is just the beginning of a life- long process of dying to the flesh. Baptism is death:

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

How long does baptism last?

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

Baptism lasts a life time! But our brothers and sisters in Babylon have no understanding whatsoever of this verse of scripture:

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

They feel that all the physical healings and the gift of unknown tongues and the doctrines of eternal hell, immortal souls, and free moral agency, etc., etc. are what make them “rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing.” After all, didn’t Israel come out of Egypt rich and increased with the riches of Egypt? Of course they did, and it is truths like that which keep those who have no interest in fighting the giants in the land from being able to acknowledge that the ten rebellions in the wilderness witness to the fact that our initial baptism, rich as it is at the moment, will lead us to spiritual poverty if we refuse to enter into battle with the “giants in the land” and “go on unto perfection.”

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Num 14:23  Surely t hey shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2   Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

People like you and I torment Babylon with fiery words coming out of our mouths, and as far as they are concerned, we are “dead in the streets of their great city… Babylon the Great.”

Rev 11:3  And I will give [ power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [ and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies [ shall lie] in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

As far as they are concerned, it is you and I who are “wretched and miserable and poor, and blind and naked.”
But the truth is the exact opposite. Because we have previously acknowledged that we of ourselves know nothing and can do nothing, we have been given both knowledge and power over sin in our lives. “These have power to shut up heaven” means that the witness to the Truth will never be accepted by those who first hear their witness. You no doubt considered me to be a nut when you first came to this site. “Rain” is the Truth of God’s Word, and there is no one who can receive it when it is first introduced. Even the apostle Paul had to spend time in the wilderness getting the Word of God sorted out in his mind. Of course most never do get it sorted out. It rains not during the days of the testimony of God’s witnesses, means their witness is not received by Babylon. The number two is the number of witness and Christ told all of His disciples:

Luk 24:48  And ye are witnesses of these things.

Mat 18:16  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

The only thing I would point out to you is that this whole book called the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is just that. It is the revealing of Christ in each of us. John sees this entire vision as he “looks behind him.”

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.
Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

What John is telling us when he tells us that he “heard behind me a voice…” is that God does not reveal His precious Truth to us until after He has first prepared our hearts to receive those truths:

1Ch 29:18  O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:
Psa 10:17  LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

And this is the Truth whether our hearts are turned toward of away from God:

Jer 12:3  But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

“Prepare them for the day of slaughter” is a statement that applies to all flesh, both the flesh of God’s “few… elect” and His “many called.” What John is saying in telling us that this vision was given to him as he looked “behind” and saw all these things, is that none of us will understand until after we, too, have experienced “the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

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

The time to “keep the saying of the prophecy of this book” has been been “at hand” for over two thousand years.

Rev 22:6  And he said unto me, These sayings [ are] faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

This book is completely sealed to this very day for all but those whose Savior has opened its seven seals to see how Christ is being unveiled in their lives:

Rev 5:1  And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals .
Rev 5:2  And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
Rev 5:3  And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:4  And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:5  And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

So yes, these are spiritual words which are all, to this day, hidden right out in the open from the whole world, who do not even believe or understand the meaning of “comparing spiritual with spiritual,” which is the only way to hope to understand God’s Word:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21] they are spirit , and they are life.
1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual .
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [ them], because they are spiritually discerned.

Pray for “eyes to see and ears to hear… the mysteries of the kingdom of God” and the ability to “compare spiritual things with spiritual.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them i n parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven , but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Christ’s message from Genesis to Revelation is that everything, whether it is life, or sight, or Laodicea, must first be seen as within, before it can be overcome and replaced with the “things of the spirit.”
We find life only after we lose this life.

Luk 9:24  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

We are given vision only after we acknowledge our blindness,…

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

… and we become Philadelphia and Smyrna, only if we are given ears to hear what the spirit says to all of the churches within us, including Laodicea.
Mike

Hi Mike!

Thanks for everything. I have a question. In your article “The seven steps toward salvation” (posted March 2, 2004) you pointed out the various steps:

One: Putting blood on the doorpost.
Two: Taking us through the sea of Baptism.
Three: Being tried in the wilderness.
Four: “The second baptism in the Jordan, which typifies waiting 50 days after the blood has been applied to the door post before we receive God’s Spirit to help us through the trials and battles that we begin to face at this point of our spiritual development. Only then are we spiritually circumcised, step five, after we have crossed Jordan and have entered into the ‘heavenly places in Christ'” (Eph 2:6).

Keeping in mind Hebrews 6:4, Do we receive God’s Spirit in us or with us before we go into Babylon? When it becomes impossible to be renewed unto repentance, is it at that point the Spirit (in us) is taken away, or removed from working with us?

I don’t know if I was able to explain what I have in mind properly, but I’m sure you will be able to discern it.

Thanks again for every thing.
B____

Hi B____,

Thank you for taking the time to write. In this letter you ask:

“Keeping in mind Hebrews 6:4, Do we receive God’s Spirit in us or with us before we go into Babylon? When it becomes impossible to be renewed unto repentance, is it at that point the Spirit (in us) is taken away, or removed from working with us?”

Here is Heb 6:4:

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.

The answer is that we have Christ with us but not in us until after we come out of Babylon. As long as we are filled with false doctrines and we are believing so many of the lies of the adversary, Christ, (“I am the… Truth,”) has nowhere to dwell within us, and it is “the dwelling place of every unclean and hateful bird,” the Biblical symbol of false spirits and false doctrines.

Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Each type which God gives us is all inclusive, but each time God reveals to us His plan through a new type or shadow, we see a little more clearly.

Look at the difference between these two prophecies:

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Within this very primitive prophecy is the whole story of the coming of Christ; His death, resurrection and the destruction of the enemy, the Devil and death.

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

However, we cannot see all the details of the Hebrews verse in the Genesis verse.

It is the very same thing with crossing the Jordan, being circumcised and fighting the giants in the land. The true ‘giants in the land” include the battle we yet face against all the false doctrines of Babylon, which Israel had no idea about at the time they were crossing the Jordan and preparing to be circumcised. Each new step of our walk reveals so much more of the glory that lies ahead:

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.

“Glory to glory” is coming to “know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent” just a little better today than we knew Him yesterday. What we know today is true and does not contradict what we learn tomorrow. If there is a contradiction, then something is not true because truth is always true.

Israel being carried away into Babylon in no way contradicted the fact that they typified our being seated with Christ in the heavens after crossing the Jordan. Both Isaac and Jacob typify the same “children of promise, the seed of Abraham,” and both Ishmael and Esau typify the “giants in the land” and the “captivity in Babylon.” It is all the same story with each new repeat adding additional and more mature details.

I perceive that you have taken hold of Christ’s words:

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

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

Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

We read the words to which you refer, and we cannot see how we can not be pardoned and yet be pardoned. The answer to that question is in the following verse and others like it which show that Christ and His body are never to be separated if we are to understand how we “live by every word.”

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;

In Christ, nothing is left out. “Things present or things to come, all are yours.” That is not just the positive; it is all, including death. In Christ we experience the second death as its agent and not as its victims.

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;

“He that walks righteously” has God’s fiery words in his mouth, and those words are what destroy their enemies:

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.

The ‘fire’ of prophecy is God’s Word in the mouths of His prophets. It is God’s words which will destroy all of their enemies, even as God’s prophets are “lying dead in the street of that great city where also our Lord was crucified”:

Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

Now look at what awaits those who “it is impossible to renew to repentance:”

Heb 6:8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

Just like those who cannot be restored to repentance, we have all borne thorns and briars which have been rejected and burned. If the Lord wills, the only difference is that ours is burned now and not later.

“Their end is to be burned” is nothing more than we all must “endure to the end.”

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.

To whom is this given?

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;

“All are yours [even] things to come.” It is only though Christ that the second death, which is part of the “things to come,” is ours. Just as Christ was delivered up through our sins and was raised through our justification, even so Christ, who could not trespass, becomes our trespass offering ‘through our offenses,’ and through Him we become the fire of the lake of fire.

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.

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

The Greek word ‘for’ is not the Greek word normally translated as ‘for’ or ‘because’. That Greek word is ‘gar,’ and it means ‘for this reason’ or ‘because.’ However, the Greek word here is not ‘gar’ but ‘dia’ meaning ‘through.’

Christ was delivered up to the Jews (‘dia’) through our offenses, not for our offenses, and He was raised again ‘through’ our justification. Had there been no offenses, He would not have been delivered up, and had there been no need for justification, He would not have been raised from the dead. Nevertheless, both Christ and His christ were predestined to be what they are, even before the world began.

1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

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

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

Christ was created to bring us into a spiritual existence, and it will now be through us that all the rest of His plan will be filled up and finished. Christ is not yet filled and neither are we or His Father. It will remain that way until “God is all in all,” and God’s becoming all in all is accomplished through “the church which is His body”:

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

“The church which is His body”, is ‘the fullness of Christ who fills His Father.’ It is the Father who “fills all in all,” and it is we who fill up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ.

Col 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and do fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly, (YLT)

“The Christ” is “in my flesh,” and “the Christ” is in your flesh if you are His elect, His christ.

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

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.

And this is the truth of how He is:

Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The lake of fire is created by Christ and for Christ, that through that lake He will bring all men to His father. That lake is us, and it is only after coming out of that lake of fire, in “the age to come,” that all men and all things, visible and invisible, will be brought to the Father.

Until that time “it is impossible to renew them again to repentance,” and that means that they will not be granted forgiveness in this age or the coming age. Only at the end of the lake of fire will those who “have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,” then be delivered. Only then will those who have blasphemed the holy spirit of God be delivered.

When we come to see “forgiveness of sins” for what it is, only then will we understand why there are those who “blaspheme against the holy spirit,” and those who “cannot be renewed to repentance” in this world or the world to come. Forgiveness of sins is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card. Forgiveness of sins is deliverance from sin. Far too many Christians think that “Mercy rejoices against judgment” means that mercy doesn’t require judgment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Judgment is mercy. Mercy rejoices against judgment just as life rejoices against death. Life comes through death, and mercy comes through judgment. Both of these verses are equally true:

Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Jas 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

Titus 2 tells us that “grace chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts:”

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;

That word ‘teach’ is the Greek word for “chasten.” Here is how this Greek word ‘paideuo‘ is used in Hebrews 12:

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

Whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son He receives. There are no exceptions. There are only different times to be judged and chastened and scourged:

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.

If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged later, but whenever we are judged and chastened through grace, it is through God’s mercy.

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

Now consider these verses:

Mat 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy [against] the [Holy] Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
Mat 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Some people have the mistaken concept that the wages of sin can be forgiveness, but that is not so. When we sin we must reap what we have sown, and according to scripture, “the wages of sin is death.” Even those who are forgiven in this age are transported beyond this age and must die to this age and be judged, before they can be “forgiven.” That is why Paul tells us the the ends of the age are come upon us:

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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 [Greek: aion, age] are come.

What Christ is saying is that forgiveness can only be granted after the sin and the sinner are destroyed in the coming age. Forgiveness produces life, and life comes only through death.

Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

The Adversary is not forgiven. He is destroyed, and through that destruction he is delivered. While we are forgiven in this age on earth, it is by the same means: “through death” and the destruction of the old man, that we, too, are delivered from sin, and we can now “sow to the spirit.” Now let’s read these two verses together:

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

Not all blaspheming is blaspheming against the holy spirit. It was “because they said he had cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub” that the Jews had blasphemed the holy spirit.

Luk 11:18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.

Hebrews 6 shows us that being once enlightened, and having tasted of the heavenly gift, and being made a partaker of the Holy spirit, and having tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and then falling away, and leaving your first love, all have the exact same affect as blaspheming the holy spirit. It is impossible to renew them again to repentance, and they will not be forgiven in this age or in the next age. However, they will be forgiven through the death of the old man and the death of falling away and the death of blaspheming the holy spirit. They will be forgiven in “the end” when all in Adam will be saved and “the end comes.”

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 [falling away and blaspheming the holy spirit] shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

When will he be saved? When will he be forgiven? Will it be in this age or the next age? No, it will not be so until “the end.” It will not be so until the lake of fire has worked its work on the worst of all blasphemers:

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

Death and sin have a long and prosperous relationship:

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The forgiveness of sins does not contradict Romans 6:23. In reality death must always precede forgiveness and salvation.

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Judgment follows death, it does not precede death. Those who “fall away” and those who “blaspheme the holy spirit” will not spiritually die to their carnal, rebellious mind in this age or in the coming age, but they will do so in “the end,” and “through Christ” we, too, will be there with them to bring them through this time in their lives.

Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? [It is] God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who [is] he that condemneth? [It is] Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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;

I hope this helps you to see that each retelling of the revelation of Jesus Christ adds more understanding to that same revelation, so that the crossing of the Jordan is but an early version of “coming out of Babylon,” and Israel’s return out of Babylon is but an early version and type of our coming out of the darkness and deception of spiritual Babylon.

I also hope you now better understand how it is that we fill up what is behind of the sufferings of Christ, and that it is through Him that “life and death, things present and things to come, all are ours.”

Your brother in the christ,

Mike

Spiritual Significance of Mental Illness

[Published February 17, 2008]

Hello the team,

I enjoy” is, was and will be” very much; in fact I am reading and listening to “is, was and will be” the unknown character of Christ and his word almost daily. The question I have concerns MENTAL ILLNESS.  Could you give some information on mental illness, the spiritual significance of mental illness.

E____

Hi E____,

Thank you for your question. You ask: What is the spiritual significance of mental illness?

When we look at the example of Christ’s healings in scripture, the example of the epileptic stands out as a very clear case of mental illness.  Look at what is said about that healing:

Mat 17:14  And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a [certain] man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
Mat 17:15  Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mat 17:16  And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Mat 17:17  Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat 17:18  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
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.

Here is this same story in Mark:

Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mar 9:26  And [the spirit] cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27  But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

According to this and many other scriptures, all diseases are really nothing more or less than evil spirits which are sent by God to do what they are doing. Just witness this story:

Joh 9:1  And as [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man which was blind from [his] birth.
Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Joh 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Joh 9:6  When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
Joh 9:7  And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

“Which by interpretations is sent” tells us that this entire story, as with every story in the Bible, happens because God sends spirits to cause His will to be done in all things:

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

Anyone in whom dwells the spirit of promise takes great comfort in those words. He does not complain about the things he cannot immediately understand, simply because he has been given the faith to believe that verse and all the other verses of God’s Word which witness to its Truth.

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

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
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 harp: 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.

Since Christ is the Truth through whom His Father does all things, it is actually Christ who is doing all things for His Father just as Joseph did all things for Pharaoh.

Christ actually gives us this warning about casting out demons:

Mat 12:43  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last [state] of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

“Empty [but] swept and garnished” is the condition of all who first come to Christ. That is the condition of us all when the beast receives a deadly wound within us. If we refuse to “leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on unto perfection,” then the “sincere milk” itself becomes a poison which will retard our growth in Christ.

The scriptures do not allow us to remain on a plateau indefinitely. Yes, there is night and day, there is summer and winter, but there must be growth through it all. If there is no growth “then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

1Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

We have all lived these words by virtue of being so long in Babylon. It is only by God’s sovereign grace that any of us are ‘chosen’ out of the ‘many [deceived] called’ to have our “swept and garnished” house, again cleansed and filled with the fire of God’s spirit, His Word. Peter is not encouraging us to remain babes in Christ. To the contrary, he is warning us against remaining a babe in Christ: “That you may grow thereby…”

Your question is:

“Could you give some information on mental illness, the spiritual significance of mental illness.”

Christ tells us plainly that mental illness, as with all illnesses, is the work of an “unclean spirit.” Christ also tells us that His Words “are spirit.”

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.

However, just as Christ’s Words and His doctrines are His spirit, He has also created and sent out an Adversary to those words and doctrines:

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets [unclean spirits] are gone out into the world.

So the answer to your question is that mental illness in scripture, just like any other disease in scripture, is spiritual illness, or false prophets. Mental illness, spiritually, signifies spiritual lunacy, the hardest disease from which we must all be purged:

Mar 9:28  And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
Mar 9:29  And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Read our paper on “The Fast That I Have Chosen…” It is not “the fast” which “this wicked generation” of orthodox Christianity is practicing with all of their efforts to “lay on heavy burdens” by raising money to further all their lunatic doctrines which “cast us all into the fire [of God’s purging Word] and water [of His baptism].

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?
Isa 58:7  [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Isa 58:8  Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
Isa 58:9  Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

Mat 3:11  I indeed baptize 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 baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Luk 12:50  But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

The holy spirit, the fire and the baptism are all one and the same thing. They all are God’s Words:

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken , the same shall judge him in the last day.

“The last day” is already upon the house of God:

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?

Those judging, purging, cleansing, fiery words are already judging God’s elect:

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.

All of God’s Words are designed to be lived by all men through the judgment of all men:

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

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.

Each of us is “the earth.” When Christ’s judging words are in us, then we will learn righteousness and the lunacy of all of the false doctrines of Babylon will be burned out of us.

I hope that answers your question, and I hope you can see that mental illness, or lunacy, spiritually stands for the hardest false doctrines from which we must be delivered. They cannot be cast out by unconverted, “yet carnal… babes in Christ.” They cannot be cast out by disciples who think they are converted just because many of the spirits are subject to them and they have seen people healed of other diseases.

Mental illness is a spiritual type of strong delusion. Be sure to read Will God’s Strong Delusion Deceive You? I hope you see that false doctrines must be replaced by the Truth before seven other false doctrines, worse than the first, come and take up residence upon the throne of Christ within us all.

Mike

M____ wrote:
Hi Mike, I pray this letter finds you blessed and at rest In Him.  I was thinking last night about the Parable of the Lost son (Prodigal) and the process of salvation as it relates to me (& all others).  For years I related to the elder son more so than the Prodigal.   I always felt like it was an appropriate and effective parable to encourage people who have lived the type of life described by the younger son that they can & should repent and be accepted by their Heavenly Father despite their outwardly overt sinful ways, but I was always surprised I did not hear more sermons/ teachings on the self righteous, jealous attidute of the elder brother (in his mind “had no need of repentence” and was really like the 99) who looked good on the outside and appeared to be doing and living right but on the inside was full of sin and the same lusts and prideful attitude of his younger brother – he just did not yet act on it in the same way his younger brother did (Also, his attitude was just like the attitude of Jonah who also was self- righteous and did not want Ninevah (the rest of humanity) saved – and did not like the ways of his Father – same with Job in terms of his self- righteous attitude).    So when I had an opportunity a few years ago I taught to my local church about what I was “seeing” in the elder brother and his attitude (I taught from what little light I had on the subject as I was still tangled and in full belief of the many Unscriptural Doctrines of the church).  At the time, I could not say to my church that the Prodigal represented my lifestyle.  BUT I was actually worse than the prodigal as I confessed that at times past I exemplied the attitude of the elder brother and we should be careful to watch our own attitude (not just our outward sins) and that to me it was easy to pick on the prodigal (overt outward sin) than it is to see the hidden inward sin of the elder (me) and see who we really are even though we are good at covering it up to others and even to ourselves.  It was received well.  NOW, I see that I am the prodigal in that I had asked my “Father to give me the portion of goods that falls to me” (Esau attitude) with my ‘bless me now – give me my physical riches now (so I could be a good witness I rationalized) and all my physical blessings now’ attitude while I “sop up” all the false doctrines and un pure milk of the word with the other “swine” that could not receive His Pearls (Meat) nor did we want to until I by His Spirit “came to myself” and “saw” (the eyes of my understanding beginning to be enlightened) that I was NOT spiritually well off and I was NOT worthy as I (although unintentionally) had squandered the Word (His True Riches) that was given to me.  Even though I was ignorant to my own blindness, ignorant to my own deception and thought I had the right intentions, I still felt the shame of it and was very humbled by it all. Why do I share this summary?  I think it is a relevent revelation to the process of salvation (your paper on the 7 steps on the site).  Even though step 6 in the history of Israel they (we) are carried off to Babylon captivity where we are to come out of her my people (step 7 of the maturing/ salvation process) Israel (we) may have been held captive in babylon during step 6 but Israel (we) were in babylon the whole time in the wilderness (tares and wheat grow toggether until the harvest) after their initial cleansing (step 2 – passing through the red sea) (and even during the time spent in Egypt (pre “coming to the Lord”) is just an earlier part of Babylon) – they just did not realize that the whole time (our whole lives) they (we) were held captive in babylon (in bondage but did not know it) – even after our conversion (passing through Jordan and entering the promise land – step 4 & 5) and overcome the passions and pulls of the flesh (giants in the land) being seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus in spiritual Canaan.  Many of the people in the called church because sin (overt outward sin like the prodigal) may no longer have dominion over us (actual change in lifestyle and behavior) we still don’t see the depth of the inward sin (beast) and all the lies and un pure word of Babylon partly Because we think we have entered into the promise land and it is that doctrine that got us here  YET, the real repentance has not even begun as we have not come out of spiritual babylon (we don’t even know we are in it – we think it is somebody else) let alone are held captive and in bondage to it.  So, while there is an order step 1-7, we go may go through this process many times (7 times we must fail) before we realize that while the giants in the land may no longer have dominion over of us, we have not overcome the REAL Spiritual GIANTS in the land (principalities and powers in high places) – which are spiritual fornication and being unequally yoked to false doctrines – and until we do, it may appear we are converted but by no means are we mature and fully converted (not sure if fully converted is a scriptural term, but the only way I can explain it – perhaps mature is a strong enough word as it differs from a minor). Hope what I am saying is making sense and is accurate and edifying. The Parable of the Lost Son   
11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.
12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.
13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”‘
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring[ b] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.
29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.
30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.
32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'” Blessings, M____

Hi M____,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You are exactly right. It is very hard to relay to most, but when we say that Christ is, was, and will be, what we are saying is that the ‘is’ is, was and will be, the ‘was’ is, was and will be, and the ‘will be’ is, was and will be.
Yes, every step in the progression to salvation is taken over and over. That is why it is called “the doctrine of baptism s. As we decrease, He increases. But the “dying daily” is something that must continue till there are no more days in which to die.
As we mature in Christ we see that we are both the prodigal and the elder son, both the 99 and the one lost sheep, both the publican and the Pharisee, the woman caught in adultery and the self- righteous men who drag her before Christ. We come to see that we must live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God. We come to see that “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” are all in us all. We finally see that all that Adam is, is within us all.
I am greatly encouraged to see your growth in the things of the spirit. I pray that God will grant that you will just remain faithful through the tribulations that lie ahead.
I have every confidence that He who has begun a good work in you will finish it.
Mike

M____ wrote:
We are to desire the sincere milk of the word, and part of that milk is the doctrine of baptisms. You said in one of your papers that water baptism is something that is not neccesary. Please clarify.
M____

Hi M____,
I said water baptism was not necessary, simply because “nothing without a man” either cleanses or defiles a man. It is what is within a man that baptizes and cleanses Him.

Mar 7:15  There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter [ with water baptisms], but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

I am not denying the need for baptism. I am merely affirming that neither Christ nor Paul baptized with water.

Joh 4:1  When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
Joh 4:2  (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)

Why are we told that Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples, if it is not to tell us that His disciples were “yet carnal” and in need of carnal rituals which in reality have no effect upon “the inside of the cup?” Paul was of the “same mind:”

1Co 1:17  For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

That does not mean that they did not teach baptism. But the baptism they both taught was the kind that cleaned a man inwardly:

Mat 3:11  I [ John the water baptizer] indeed baptize 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 baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

That is how Christ baptizes to this day.
Christ tells us that His words are spirit:

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 with us all, Jesus’s own apostles included, we do not see this Truth at first. But eventually we come to see the futility of outward rituals, and as Paul, we come to see the Truth of Christ’s words that it is His words that clean us and burn out the “wood, hay and stubble” within. Then we finally see what Paul came to see really washes us of our sins. Here is the water that really baptizes us, and it is not physical water:

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it [ the church] with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Paul is not saying that he does not believe in the doctrine of baptisms. Note that it is in the plural. Paul taught the doctrine of baptisms in Eph 5:26. But he is here telling us that He was not sent to water baptize. If the apostle Paul is “not sent to baptize” with water, then neither am I.
There is not big sin in being water baptized. Like the apostle Paul, I too used to believe in water baptism. I can speak with authority on this subject because I was water baptized twice, and I was as carnal after both baptisms as I was beforehand. Rituals are indeed milk of the word. And it is this milk that is used by God as strong delusion. The masses of Christianity are deluded into believing that milk is really meat. The masses of Christianity are therefore stunted as “carnal… babes in Christ” and “heirs who are still babies and no better than a bond slave” (1 Cor. 3:1-4 and Gal. 4:1-2).
I hope this answers this question for you.
Mike>

Dear Mike:

Brother, thank you for the tremendous work you do in guiding those of us who are hungry for the truth. It was only recently that I became aware of the milk doctrines of Christ. Upon investigation I have been shown a basket of info on these precious first principles of faith, but I have never discovered a comprehensive dissertation on their tenets from your blessed perspective. I would like to see a paper by you listing and then explaining each one as a matter of record. Although I believe I am familiar with the general principles of most of them, I am at a loss to explain to my own satisfaction the doctrine of the “laying on of hands”. Is this doctrine the foundation upon which the Catholic Church establishes their belief in Apostolic Succession? Or does it have to do with specific gifts of power conferred for a short time only upon the first disciples of Christ for the specific purpose of kick starting Christ’s ministry? If you have the time or can direct one of your close collaborators to reply I would be greatly appreciative.
May God Bless You For The Ages To Come,
M____

Hi M____,

Thank you for your question.
I actually believe that it is very significant that there are only six doctrines mentioned as the first principles of the oracles of God and considered to be milk as opposed to strong meat.
These six doctrines are mentioned in Hebrews chapter six as doctrines which those who are able to receive “strong meat” ought to go beyond. Here are the verses immediately preceding the verses which mention the six milk doctrines:

Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [ be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [ even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Now we have those six “first principles of the oracles of God” listed for us as milk which if one knows only milk, we are told he is “unskilful in the word of righteousness. Here is that list:

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

For all who are able to receive it, these are the doctrines in which we tend to stagnate. These are the doctrines which are preached in every church in the nation, day in and day out, week in and week out, month, year, and decades in and out, as if there were no doctrines that matter beyond these six first principles of the oracles of God. Are they important doctrines? Yes, indeed they are important. Here is just how important they are:

1Pe 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
1Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

“As a newborn babe” these six doctrines seem like a t- bone steak. Let’s list these doctrines numerically in the order they are given, and we can see just how important they are to a newborn baby:

1) repentance from dead works
2) faith toward God
3) baptisms
4) laying on of hands
5) resurrection of the dead
6) eternal judgment

All of these doctrines are “sincere milk” to those who are just coming to them. But if we have known God for several years and we have not gotten beyond these six “principles of the doctrine of Christ”, we are “yet 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?

I will comment on each of these six doctrines, referred to as “sincere milk.”

1) Repentance from dead works:

While I am grateful that God has given me repentance for my sins, I pray that He also give me of His chastening grace to overcome those sins in my life. But overcoming cannot begin without first being repentant of sin. I thank God for the fact that He has given to me “repentance from dead works.”

2) Faith toward God

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [ that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

It is impossible to please God without faith, and yet grace and faith are both a gift from God:

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

We cannot even believe in God and His Word without Him giving us the faith to do so. We are all like the father of the demon possessed son who cried out “Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief:

Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

With so many buying into the theory of evolution with all of its lies of “science falsely so called,” with the love of so many waxing cold and accusing God of being an unloving God, with all the lies of Babylon blotting out the light of God’s Word, I am especially thankful for the faith toward God He has bestowed upon me. “It is the gift of God” which very few have been given.

3) baptisms

Yes, it is plural baptisms. It is through baptism into Christ’s death that we are saved from our sins:

Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

It is in coming to see that we must die to sin that we are truly baptized. It is baptism which changes our lives in a way that others can actually see that change:

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

It is through baptism that we become a new man. But all of this is done, not through a physical ritual as is practised by the churches of Babylon. The baptism which truly washes us clean of our sins is the “washing of water by the word:”

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

God’s own Word is the ‘water’ which purges us of our sins. Nothing without a man either defiles or cleanses a man. All that God does is done within. It is what is accomplished within that causes outward manifestations:

Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 [ Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [ which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

And yet Babylon insists on outward rituals as proof first. Consequently the inside of the cup cannot be cleansed by ignoring what is to be cleansed first. Physical water is “without a man:”

Mar 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

The things without a man can neither cleanse nor defile a man. If the inside is not first cleansed by “the washing of water by the word,” no amount of physical water will cleanse a man within.
That baptisms are plural and progressive as revealed by all of the types of baptisms given in the Old Testament. The flood of Noah typifies our earliest baptism as we first come to see our need for a Savior. The crossing of the Red Sea typifies our deliverance from the powers of Egypt over our lives. The crossing of the Jordan is a later baptism which follows the rebellions we all have toward God as we experience the fire of His Word burning out those kings and mountains within us which rebel against His dominion over our flesh.
After this baptism we still face the baptism of the Jordan and the circumcision which follows that baptism. This prepares us to fight the giants within our ‘land’ which symbolizes our carnal lusts and passions within our bodies.
But after fighting the giants within and casting many of them out, according to God’s Word “written for our admonition” we still have yet another baptism. Even after overcoming many of the giants who would have us dead, we still must be carried off into Babylon where we will be thoroughly indoctrinated in all of her false teachings for a symbolic seventy years.
But at God’s appointed time we will as part of “living by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God,” recross the Jordan and return to our Father and begin to rebuild His temple within us.
Every crossing of any body of water typifies the doctrine of “baptisms.” I am thankful that I will indeed be baptized with the baptism with which my Lord is baptized:

Mat 20:23 (a) And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with:

Having said all of this I must point out that the apostle Paul began his ministry baptizing new converts. But after it was revealed to him that the only cleansing accomplished was the cleansing done by “the word,” he then makes this statement:

1Co 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
1Co 1:13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
1Co 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
1Co 1:15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
1Co 1:16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
1Co 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

“Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel” is just another way of saying that the washing of the water is by the word of the gospel. Christ came “under the law” and was baptized “under the law.” But when He came up out of the water of John’s baptism, “the heavens were opened” and Christ himself “baptized not, but His disciples:”

Joh 4:1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
Joh 4:2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
Joh 4:3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.

Why are we informed that Jesus Himself did not baptize? It is to tell us that Christ was never concerned with outward rituals. But His carnal disciples and the carnal multitudes were still ‘under the law,” and very much impressed with and in need of outward signs of righteousness. The Truth has always been that any real washing that would be accomplished would be “the washing of water by the word.”

4) Laying on of hands

As a child hands were laid upon me as I was baptized in water. Hands were again laid upon me as it was prophesied that I would be used of God. We all laid hands upon each other as we prayed for each other’s physical health and well being. And hands were also laid upon the heads of those whom we ordained as deacons and teachers and evangelists.

Mar 6:5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
Act 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

I am grateful for all the hands that have been laid upon me over the years. It has been part of bringing me to where I am in the Lord. Without every step we have taken we could not be where we are.
But once again, “there is nothing without a man which can defile him.” So the outward laying on of hands or refraining from this outward ritual is not what ordains one to the ministry, heals one or baptizes one. What does ordain one to the ministry, heal the sick and baptizes one, is demonstrated by the stories of the Gentiles at the home of Cornelius, and the healing of the centurion’s servant. What accomplishes all of these things is, in reality, faith in the words of Christ. Here is a story very much agreeing with the message of the holy spirit being given before the laying on of hands and before physical baptism.

Mat 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
Mat 8:6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
Mat 8:7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
Mat 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Mat 8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this [ man], Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth [ it].
Mat 8:10 When Jesus heard [ it], he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
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.

A physical presence with the physical laying on of hands is what is needed by those whose faith is equal to that in Israel. It is “the children of the kingdom” who “seek after a sign,” who are “weak in the faith” and who “who shall be cast out into outer darkness.”
Yes, the doctrine of the laying on of hands is also one of the six milk doctrines which are used of God to hold back the multitudes who must have a sign:

Mat 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

When Christ says “wicked and adulterous” He is not talking physically. He is not talking about physical wickedness or physical adultery. What he is speaking of is “ninety and nine righteous men who need no repentance.”

Luk 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

The reason the “ninety and nine” think that they “need no repentance” is because they have all had hands laid on them as they were baptized, healed and ordained.

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

As with baptisms, Paul’s ministry began with laying on of hands and many healings. It ended with the Epaphroditus “being sick nigh unto death…”

Php 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
Php 2:26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
Php 2:27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

Trophimus was left sick at Miletum:

2Ti 4:20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.

Timothy suffered from a ‘stomach affliction and often infirmities.

1Ti 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

And Paul himself suffered from being sick:

Gal 4:13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
Gal 4:14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

The apostle Paul, like all of us, laid hands on many and had many prayers answered at the beginning of his ministry. But it is not answered prayer, but unanswered prayer which will try our faith as it no doubt tried the faith of the apostle Paul.
I have no doubt in my mind that Paul prayed earnestly and fervently for Epaphroditus, Trophimus, Timothy and for His own healing. But those prayers were not answered. If we cannot understand that God will, when we can bear it, try our faith to show us where we are weak, then we are not worthy to be used of Him to deal with our own brothers who have sold us into Egypt. God is calling us to “crush strong nations afar off.” He is not using mere babes to “rule this world.”

Mic 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
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.
1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Laying on of hands is a milk doctrine which should not be the foundation of anyone’s faith. It certainly has nothing to do with the false doctrine of Papal succession, except as it serves to demonstrate how childish are such outward rituals.

5) Resurrection of the dead

Jesus Christ taught the resurrection of the dead. He taught it as both within, and without. He taught the resurrection of the dead both as a present spiritual experience and He taught it as a dispensational, future event:

Mat 22:28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
Mat 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Mat 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Mat 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
Mat 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Paul was, of course on the same page as his Lord, teaching that it is through a present death and resurrection that we are brought to that future resurrection of the dead:

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Rom 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ [ be] in you, the body [ is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [ is] life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

With the apostle Paul, I consider myself dead to sin and through Christ in me, alive unto righteousness.
None of which denies a future death and resurrection from among the dead:

1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [ and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive [ and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead comforts me very much.

6) Eternal (aionian) judgment

The doctrine of aionian judgment is closely tied to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Here is the basic truth of the purpose for aionian judgment:

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.

When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord…” For what purpose are we now being judged? “That we should not be condemned with the world.” But to what is the world condemned? Here is what those who do not now judge themselves are facing:

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [ the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

There it is staring us in the face. The great white throne is simply a later, less desirable judgment. And what is judgment? “When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord.” Why does the Lord judge and chasten “the dead small and great?”

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Now ask yourself, ‘Who does God love?’ Does He love only those who believe on Him? Is that to be found in Joh 3:16? Does his propitiatory sacrifice apply only to those of us who have accepted Him as our savior? What does God have to say about this question:

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Who will “Believe on Him?”

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;
Php 2:11 And [ that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [ is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The demonic doctrine of eternal torture in eternal fire does anything but glorify God as a loving Father who chastens His wayward sons. Thisis what He says will occur in His time:

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [ Greek – drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

No man “can” come to God except the spirit of God drags him to God. So who does God tell us will be drug to Him?

Joh 12:31 Now is the judgment [ chastening – 1Co 11:31-32] of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [ Greek – drag] men unto me.

But doesn’t this means just all who accept Christ in this age? What does God say He means by all? Does He mean as all who believe only? Or is it “As in Adam all die” How are we to understand that Christ will drag all to Himself?

1Co 15:21 For since by man came] death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

It is to be understood “as in Adam.” That is how God will drag all men to himself. Will it all be accomplished in this life? Is the first resurrection the only hope for salvation? Not according to God’s Word. According to God’s Word, the first resurrection is but the firstfuits of God’s harvest of bringing mankind into His barn:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order : Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then [ cometh] the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

God’s harvest, like his Old Testament shadows reveal, is a three- step harvest. Christ is the earliest harvest, the barley harvest, 50 days before the wheat harvest know as “the feast of firstfruits.” Is this not what God’s New Testament also teaches? Of course, it is:

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.

Are we the only fruits who are “Christ’s at His coming? No, we are not the only fruits. Christ is before us, we are “His at His coming,” but “then comes the end harvest “in the end of the year:”

Exo 23:14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Exo 23:15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exo 23:16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, [ which is] in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

God has three harvest’s as He drags all men to Himself; 1) “the feast of unleavened bread” followed fifty days later by 2) “the feast of the firstfruits of your harvest,” also known as the the feast of Pentecost, which simply means ‘count fifty.’ And last, but greatest in number Isa 3) the fall harvest, ” the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year.”
“As in Adam all die so in Christ will all be made alive. But each in his own order 1) Christ the first of the firstfruits, then 2) “They that are Christ’s at His coming… a kind of firstfruits” and “then comes the end” [“the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year”].
And this is what the Word of God says throughout:

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1Ti 4:9 This [ is] a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1Ti 4:11 These things command and teach.

“Specially,” not ‘exclusively.’ Who do you know who “commands and teaches” this “faithful saying… worthy of all acceptation? Not one church in orthodox Christianity.

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.

And the final scripture of many dozens which I could reference is:

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

The apostle Paul discusses all of these doctrine in his epistles. After a discussion about the events leading up to the fist resurrection he make this statement:

1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

So I am very thankful for the doctrine of eternal judgment. The doctrine of eternaI (aionian) judgment is nothing more than the doctrine of universal salvation. I no longer believe in an eternal death or an eternal life of torment in literal flames of fire. Neither of those doctrines are of any comfort.
But having an appreciation of all of these milk doctrines, I must now advise you to read the paper entitled ‘Will God’s Strong Delusion Deceive You?’ It is the doctrine that all you need to be saved are these six doctrines. Nothing could be further from the Truth, and yet nothing has been more successful in keeping God’s people from going on to maturity:

Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [ be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk [ is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [ even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving [ Greek- going beyond] the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3 And this will we do, if God permit.

Why do we need to go beyond these six ‘first oracles?’

Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child [ Greek – nepios – baby], differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children [ Greek- nepios- babies], were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons [ An entirely different Greek word- huios – mature son].
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons [ Greek – huios – mature son], God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son [ huios] into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son [ huios]; and if a son [ huios], then an heir of God through Christ.

” If a huios then an heir of God through Christ.” God is calling many to remain as immature nepios babes in Christ. Out of those many babies He is calling a very few to “leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. The few who are chosen out of the many called are to be the future rulers of this world. God is not using babies to rule this world. He will only use those who have “had their senses execised to know good and evil and who want to go on to the “strong meat” of “filling up in my body what is behind of the afflictions of Christ…”

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

I hope this puts these six basic, “first principles of the doctrine of Christ in the Biblical perspective that the apostles Peter and Paul put them in:

1Pe 2:2 As newborn babes [ Greek – nepios – babies], desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

Let us all appreciate “milk of the word” for what it is. Milk is for spiritual babies. But let none of us be guilty of refusing to “grow thereby” and ‘leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ so we can go on unto perfection and maturity.’

Mike

[ For indepth studies on each of these milk doctrines go here.]

Mike,

I noticed on your article Law of moses vs. the law of the spirit that you have a major error. On the summary section there is a quote from Heb 5:6. I think you’re referring to Heb 5:7. You quote it as saying “save him through (NOT FROM) death….” However, every translation I have looked at has it as saying “from” or “save him OUT OF death.” What translation are you using? I’d really like to know, and be sure to get back to me. Thanks, A____.

Hi A____,

Thank you for your question.

I appreciate you pointing out that typo. It is verse 7.

I point out that ‘from death’ is a terrible translation inasmuch as Christ and everyone since Christ has died excepting those alive now. The weight of scripture makes it clear that life comes only through death, or as you say ‘out of death.’ Christ certainly did not come and die for our sins so that we would never have to experience death. Nothing could be further from the truth. My point was that the death of the “vessel of clay that was marred in the Potters hand” (Jer 18:4) was purposely marred for the purpose of destroying that vessel and “making it a new vessel as seemed good to the Potter.” That “new vessel” will only appear “out of death.” It will never appear until the vessel of clay is dead. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, [ because] neither doth corruption [ flesh and blood] inherit incorruption” (1Co 15:50).

Here are a few scriptures which bear out this Truth:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Christ did not come and die to the flesh so that we could live in it. He came and died to the flesh while He was yet in the flesh so that we too, could “fill up in our bodies that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.” That is so that we too, could die to the flesh while we too, are still in the flesh.

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

Since it is now “Christ living in me,” though I am still in a body of sin, “sin no longer has dominion over me.” In Christ I am “free from sin.” It is not a claim of being above ever sinning or being what all flesh is, that is corruptible sin. This is a simple acknowledgment of the fact that “sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.”

Here is a simple question that deserves an answer:

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

And here is the answer to that question:

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Knowing Christ changes one’s life. He is not the same old sinner. He is still sinful flesh, but that flesh is now subdued to the spirit of Christ within. That flesh is “dying daily” as the “new man” is growing daily. And what has become of sin in the life of God’s elect?

Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death [“crucified with Christ”], we shall be also [ living] in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

If Christ is in us we “no longer serve sin.” Why should we not serve sin?

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

Read about the ‘verb’ part of grace in that law article. According to the entirety of the New Testament, “grace chastens us to forsake ungodliness…” (Tit 2:11-12).

Now that verse about “where sin abound grace does much more abound” makes a lot more sense. In other words, ‘when we continue to sin, God’s chastening grace will “much more abound.” God being God, He will always win that battle. We will never out sin God’s fiery, chastening grace. As I say in that paper, ‘The lake of fire is the greatest single act of grace in the history of the world. “By grace are ye [ all men of all ages] saved…”

Paul drives this point home in this sixth chapter of Romans. For the third and fourth times in this one chapter he reiterates that sin no longer dominates the life of a believer:

Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

And again:

Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

How few people believe these scriptures. Most ministers deny their veracity. Nevertheless…

Rom 3:4 Let God be true, but every man a liar…

Again, thanks for pointing out that typo. I hope this helps you to see the function of grace in the lives of God’s elect.

Life really does come only ‘out of ‘ and “through death.”

Mike