Spiritual Significance of Colors – White, Part 2

Introduction

[Study Aired December 26, 2025]

The main truth we need to glean from this entire series on colors in scripture is the truth of this verse:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

God is the creator of both light and darkness. Both are instruments in His hand.

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

The Father uses light to describe Himself, and He uses darkness to describe how the flesh and the Adversary perceive Him and His Works. These two verses reveal who is the Creator of light and darkness, and they reveal that the Creator of both is sovereign over both light and darkness. Both are instruments in His hand to accomplish His will:

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

God is using light and darkness, black and white, “after the counsel of His own will… that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.”

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:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Our last  study was mainly concerned with the negative application of the color white. The word for ‘white’ in Hebrew is ‘laban’, and we learned that in its negative application, a white hair in a scall indicated the presence of leprosy (Lev 13:24-25):

Lev 13:24  Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white;
Lev 13:25  Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.

The bricks used to build Babel were white bricks. The word for ‘bricks’ in Hebrew is from the root of the word for white:

H3843
לְבֵנָה
lebênâh
leb-ay-naw’
From H3835; a brick (from the whiteness of the clay): – (altar of) brick, tile.

When we look up H3835, the root word from which H3843 is derived, this is what we find:

H3835
לָבַן
lâban
law-ban’
A primitive root; to be (or become)  white; also (as denominative from H3843) to make bricks: – make brick, be (made, make) white (-r).

Those are a couple of verses from our last study where our focus was on the negative application of the word ‘white’ in scripture. In today’s study we will focus on the positive application of the word ‘white,’

The first positive application of the word “white” in the Old Testament is in Genesis 30:35, where Jacob uses white-streaked rods to distinguish his portion of the flock from Laban’s. White in this story is tied to the concept of divine provision and God’s favor.

Gen 30:37  And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
Gen 30:38  And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.
Gen 30:39  And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

Isaiah gives us the single most profound meaning of the word white in its positive application in scripture:

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as [white] wool.

The imagery of this verse demonstrates the efficacy of the blood of Christ upon the manifest sins of the weakest and most despised people of this age:

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen  the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The Lord has called us because we are indeed foolish, weak, and despised in this present time… “that no flesh should glory in His presence. In other words, if the Lord can cleanse us, He can cleanse any and all men, because all men’s sins are “as scarlet” before our spotless Lord:

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

This is how our Father sees His Son:

Dan 7:9  I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

That is how God describes Christ who is “the express image” of His Father and who is our door to His Father.

Joh 10:7  Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
Joh 10:8  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
Joh 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

Christ separates His people from the world and keeps them from coming near each other. He does this by appearing as “a cloud and darkness to them.” This was our focus last week. In this study, we will focus on how the color white is used by God to show us that He “gives light by night to these.”

God’s elect fall, but rise to be “made white”

Dan 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Dan 11:33  And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Dan 11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

White is intimately connected with God’s chastening grace

Once the Lord opens our eyes when we see the word ‘white’ then “they of understanding” will now know and “instruct many” that God’s Words all have both a positive and a negative application, because God is the creator of both the light and the darkness and the good and the evil in us all. They will also “instruct many” that when all is said and done, we will all be “made white” through purging trials. So when we read:

Dan 12:6  And one said to the man clothed in [white, (Rev 19:8)] linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
Dan 12:7  And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [things] shall be finished.
Dan 12:8  And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
Dan 12:9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Dan 12:10  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

There it is! It comes out and tells us, “Many shall be made white and tried…” It is only through our fiery trials that we are “made white.”

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

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

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

Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

It is our fiery trials that make us worthy to wear “white linen.”

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.

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

White is intimately connected with light and clothing or raiment.

“The righteousness of the saints” is Christ’s righteousness. It is in Him that the saints are “clean and white.”

Mat 17:2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Luk 9:29  And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

Mat 28:3  His [the angel at the tomb] countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

Mar 9:3  And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

White is associated with righteousness

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints

Joh 4:35  Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

White is associated with God’s elect

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

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.

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Who are these “four and twenty elders”? The four beasts and the four and twenty elders also symbolize God’s elect:

Rev 5:8  And when he [Christ] had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

The next chapter tells us that all of God’s elect are “given… white robes.”

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

When Christ appears to this world, it will be on a white cloud:

Rev 14:14  And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

That “white cloud” on which He is seated signifies the “great… cloud of witnesses” which we all are:

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

The seven angels who pour out the seven last plagues upon us are “clothed in pure and white linen.”

Rev 15:6  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

Who are these ‘seven angels?’

Rev 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him [one of the angels that poured out the seven last plagues]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Christ’s bride is just one more type of the Lord’s elect, and she is “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white”, signifying the righteousness of Christ in her.

Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Here are a few more verses connecting the righteousness of Christ with the color white:

Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

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 [This ‘white throne’ is the same as the ‘white cloud’ in an earlier scripture].

Rev 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

Conclusion – White signifies Christ and all who are in Him

Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 1:13  And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Rev 1:14  His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

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.

Rev 6:2  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer [This first white horse is Christ when He first comes to us and deals our beast his deadly wound, and He is Christ who comes to us as mature sons. White signifies the beginning and the end of the revelation of Jesus Christ].

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Never let us forget what we started with:

Exo 14:19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/rev-115-6-part-2-the-power-of-the-two-witnesses/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rev-115-6-part-2-the-power-of-the-two-witnesses Fri, 25 Oct 2024 16:21:46 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31110 Audio Download

Rev 11:5-6, Part 2 The Power Of The Two Witnesses

[Study Aired Oct 25, 2024]

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.

It is good to remind ourselves that we are the earth before we are caught up to the throne of God in heaven.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

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.

We need to remember that “all things” means the good and the evil, all the seals, all the trumpets, and all the vials, are ours to read, hear, and keep:

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

If we are to read, hear and keep the things written in this book then we need to remember that we are all the natural man before we are given the mind of Christ:

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

As “the Lord from heaven” you and I are “the savor of death” to all who are in Babylon, for the entire time of our “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” testimony.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2Co 2:15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
2Co 2:16  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

“The savor of His knowledge”, how Jesus Christ tastes and smells, is made manifest by His elect. We must remember Christ’s own definition of who ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ is.

Mat 25:40  And the King [Christ] shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Like John here in the book of Revelation, Saul of Tarsus is also a type of us before we become “the savor of His knowledge”. We are all first “the children of disobedience”, and we all first “persecute Jesus of Nazareth”. Only after we acknowledge this truth can we become “Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ”, who is persecuted by later spiritual ‘Sauls’.

So, from a Biblical perspective and indeed from Christ’s own perspective, if He has taken up His abode in us, we are “Jesus of Nazareth”, and as such we are His “two witnesses” with all the power we read of here. We are also the target of all the persecution “in the streets of that great city wherein our Lord was crucified”. How do we “bare record of the word of God”? How do we “bear record of the testimony of Jesus Christ”? We do so by “reading, hearing, and keeping the things written therein, because the time is at hand” to do so. (Rev 1:3)

Here is this same event of “killing them with fire from their mouths” in other “lines, and precepts, here a little and there a little:”

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [“the rain from heaven… the sign of Christ’s coming and the end of this age”] that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, withholdeth {the rain}, same Greek word translated as “withholdeth” in preceding verse] will let [ withhold], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked [who withholds] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God [Through the words in the mouths of the two witnesses] shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [be killed]
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Christ killed those who would harm Him in Mat 13:10-15 by simply informing the disciples that the multitudes were not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Mat 13:1015). These were the same multitudes who cried, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” It was “those Jews that believed on Him”:

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.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

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.

It is our old man who must first be deceived and die, before he can possess the words of fire which are the words of life, and have those words of fire in His mouth.

3) The two witnesses have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy

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.

We have seen in our study of Revelation chapter four that the phrase “a door was opened in heaven” is the symbol of exponential growth in the knowledge and understanding of the things of the spirit. Conversely “the power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy”, means that those who witness for Christ will not at first understand the witness they are given. Christ’s own disciples signify this time of our lives. They were with Him 3 ½ years and the heavens were shut and it rained not during the time of Christ’s prophecy. The same was true of “those Jews which believed on Him” and yet “sought to kill [Him]”.

Christ had the power to speak life-giving words and yet kept it from raining in the days of His prophecy by blinding the eyes of those to whom He was speaking, and taking away their ability to hear His Words. It wasn’t so much that they would not hear as much as they were not given to hear His life-giving Words which are called ‘rain’ here in Revelation 11:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in 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. [No rain in the 1260 days of Christ’s prophecy]
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.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. [No rain in the days of His prophecy]
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

No one who comes to the scriptures reads them and immediately understands what they are reading. It varies from person to person, but we all spend a spiritually symbolic three and one half years, trying the spirits and sometimes actually trying to disprove what we are coming to see.

The clearest example of this verse is the fact that Christ witnessed to his own disciples for three and one half years, including telling them that He Himself would be “hurt”, and they did not understand. They were with Him “a thousand two hundred and three score days”, and “they understood not… in the days of His prophecy”.

Mar 9:31  For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
Mar 9:32  But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Christ’s disciples could not believe that their fellow Jews would kill their Lord, much less understand that it would be they themselves who would deny Him, just as it is hard for us to see that it is you and I who see Christ as our King and yet, at first, we still want Him and His doctrine dead.

Joh 12:16  These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

Once again, these words are for us, and it is we who live both sides of this spiritual coin and experience both edges of this spiritual “two edged sword”.

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
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;

We are first “those Jews which believed on Him”, and this is also us in our own appointed time, when we deny our Lord, cursing and swearing and blaspheming His name before the heathen. This is who we all once were while believing the lies of that great city wherein our Lord was crucified:

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.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

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.

It is we who are first the children of disobedience and “of our father the devil”. It is we who at first “cannot understand Christ’s words” (Joh 12:16), and who want to kill him and His words. It is the knowing and revealing of this truth which is meant by:

4) … The two witnesses turning waters to blood

What are ‘waters’ in scriptural and spiritual terms? As we have seen over and over again, a two-edged sword cuts both coming and going, and the words of scripture have both a positive and a negative application within us, depending on whether they are speaking of the destruction of our old man or the increase of the new man. In spiritual reality, both are positive, because both are essential to the fulfilling of the Lord’s plan in our lives, but it is still a “sharp twoedged sword” which will “divide asunder the soul and the spirit”. It is still “bitter in the belly” and this Truth “kills” our old man.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

In scriptural and spiritual terms, ‘waters’ means (on the negative side of this two-edged sword) the waters of peoples and the doctrines of those peoples, on which the great harlot, Babylon, sits and rules over those people. Those words and doctrines of the peoples of Babylon lead only to death.

Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter [in our belly, Rev 10:10].

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

The positive application of the word ‘waters’ in scripture is the words and doctrines of Christ and those words in the mouths of those who are His Christ, which words are words and doctrines of life.

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

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

The turning of ‘wells of waters into blood’ is the revelation that we all first turn the truths of Christ’s words into lies as we reject His Truths and twist those words into lies which we use to cover the idols of our hearts (Eze 1:1-7). It is the very same thing as hurting and killing Christ and His elect, by abusing and twisting His words of life into the false doctrines of Babylon, which produce death. “The dream is one”, and those who twist Christ’s command to love thine enemies into ‘Love only your personal enemies, but not your national or your criminal enemies’, are condemned by Christ’s doctrines. Turning waters into blood by our misunderstanding and our disobedience to God’s words is what we all do before we are transformed into those who know Christ’s words, and who then turn waters into blood in a positive way, by “mortifying the deeds of the flesh” and remaining faithful to the Lord’s words in the face of the pressures of the harlot who tries to force us to conform to this world, by the threat of spiritual death and by the rejection of the “many called” of the multitudes and majorities of Babylon.

The very first people who do this, and who drink of Christ’s blood and deny Him, are Christ’s own apostles who deny Him. It is His own elect, to whom belong “all things, things present and things to come” and who “live by every word… of God” and who “keep these things written in this prophecy”. (1Co 3:21-22, Rev 1:3, Mat 4:4)

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. [within you, Luk 17:20-21]

Drinking Christ’s blood is acknowledging that it is we who have shed His blood, and that He has died, and shed that blood for our sins. It is we who first deny Him:

Mar 14:27  And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
Mar 14:28  But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.
Mar 14:29  But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
Mar 14:30  And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mar 14:31  But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

Refusing to acknowledge this is to “turn the waters [of God’s] word into blood”, and to “hurt” and to “kill” God’s two witnesses. It is we who all do “all things” because “all things, things present and things to come, are ours”, both the words of life, and the words of death.

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

5) The two witnesses are given power to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

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.

When Christ’s apostles later asked the same question concerning the time of the coming of the kingdom of God which the Pharisees had demanded of Christ in Luk 17, His answer to His disciples was the prophecy of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Here again in Mat 24, we will see the fire proceeding out of the mouths of God’s witnesses to destroy our old man before we are resurrected with Christ, to have that fire in our mouths. The fire that proceeds out of the mouths of the two witnesses, and the smiting of the earth with all plagues as often as they will, are again one and the same because “the dream is one”.

It is also here in the 24th chapter of Matthew that we learn that all of this, including “smiting the earth with all plagues”, is within and is read, heard and kept in “this generation” which “reads, hears and keeps the words of this prophecy”. Let’s see how this is done.

Mat 24:3  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

The word ‘world’ here is translated from the Greek word ‘aion’. Christ’s disciples are simply repeating the same question the Jews had earlier asked about “when the kingdom of God should come” and now they add, “and what should be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” It is here in one of the most famous prophecies of scripture that Christ reveals that “all these things shall be fulfilled… in this generation,” whenever “this generation” is “reading, hearing and keeping the things written therein”. (Mat 24:15 and 34 and Rev 1:3)

The first thing Christ gives us as a sign of His coming is that many would come in His name, and in doing so they will be in the process of deceiving many. It is these very words of fire, pointing out that the multitudes are deceived, which proceeds out of the mouth of Christ and His witnesses, which destroy all who fail to acknowledge that we are all, in our turn, “smitten with the plagues” which are our part in living out this deception.

Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

“Take heed that no man deceive you” is like saying, “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is in the middle of the garden, you shall not eat of it.”

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Both Mat 24:4 and Gen 2:17 are “words of fire” coming out of the mouth of God’s two witnesses. Just as all who deny they are blind will remain 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.

 … so also will all who deny that they have been as deceived as walking dead men and must be killed by these fiery words out of the mouths of God’s two witnesses. “Take heed that no man deceive you” is nothing less than a prophecy that you and I will be deceived, just as ‘do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ is a prophecy that God knew Adam would fulfill and He had already prepared the sacrifice of that sin.

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;

So much for the false doctrine of ‘free will’. It is not possible to have a sin offering in place “before the world began” without knowing in advance that Adam would disobey the Lord’s commandment to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God has always been on plan A. He really is in the process of “working all things after the counsel of HIS OWN will”, which includes giving His kingdom to His Son who in turn shares that kingdom with His elect body:

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:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

The “we” of verse 12 is those who were “called in Christ before the world began”. It is the two olive trees and the two candlesticks who faithfully witness to The Truths of the Word of God, all the while “despising the shame [of] being hated of all men”:

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

We will pause our study at this point and pick it up in our next study of the power given to us as the two witness discussed in these two verses:

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 8:8-9 Part 2 – The Second Trumpet; a Burning Mountain Cast into the Sea

[Study Aired July 14, 2024]

We ended our last study with a review of the first of the two types of ‘the sea’ and the woman who sits on many waters. The first type with which we ended our last study was Babylon of whom we are told:

Jer 51:12  Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.
Jer 51:13  O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

The second type of the woman who sits on many waters and rules the whole world is Tyre:

Eze 27:3  And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.

These are the same two cities who are used to typify our rebellious, proud, carnal-minded old man who exalts himself above the heavens in Isaiah 14 concerning the king of Babylon and Ezekiel 28 concerning the prince of Tyre.

Tyre is the second great type of that beastly organization of men, dominated by a great harlot, which “deceives the whole world, [while] thinking they do God a service.” Where is Tyre situated?

Eze 27:3  And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
Eze 27:4  Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
Eze 27:5  They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.

How does God deal with the king of Tyre?

Eze 28:18  Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

This is the same “fire” we read of in Revelation 8:8:

Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

It is this very prophecy which declares the destruction of Tyre and her influence over the whole world.

In its negative application ‘fire’ refers to civil unrest and disobedience and rebellion as in this prophecy by Jotham, the only surviving son of Gideon, also called Jerubbaal:

Jdg 9:16  Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands;
Jdg 9:17  (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian:
Jdg 9:18  And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;)
Jdg 9:19  If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you:
Jdg 9:20  But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech.
Jdg 9:21  And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

The Lord’s ‘fire’ in this case was every man’s hand against his brother concerning Abimelech and his followers in Shechem.

Jdg 9:22  When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel,
Jdg 9:23  Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:
Jdg 9:24  That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.
Jdg 9:25  And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech.

We will skip ahead to the conclusion of Abimelech’s treachery:

Jdg 9:52  And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
Jdg 9:53  And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull.
Jdg 9:54  Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.
Jdg 9:55  And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place.
Jdg 9:56  Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren:
Jdg 9:57  And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

All this civil unrest and destruction is called ‘fire’ in the prophecy of Jotham the son of Gideon. Both Tyre and Babylon were destroyed by this same way:

Isaiah 14 concerns the king of Babylon signifying the great harlot who rules the whole earth with her false doctrines. This is where ‘Babylon The Great’ of Revelation 17 and 18 derives the force of that prophecy:

Isa 14:5  The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
Isa 14:6  He [the king of Babylon] who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

Isa 14:13  For thou [the king of Bablon] hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

The exact same message is conveyed to  us in the form of “the prince of Tyre” in:

Eze 28:6  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
Eze 28:7  Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
Eze 28:8  They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

Where was Tyre located? It was situated on the same ‘sea’ that enriched Babylon. That “sea” symbolizes all mankind upon whom the lying religions of mankind prey and from whom the churches of this world become rich by means of all the “ships” of Babylon and Tyre which ply the waters of the “sea” and trade their smooth deceitful wares there in the isles of the sea.

Eze 27:8  The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
Eze 27:9  The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.

It is all the lies of Babylon that keep the riches “of the people of many isles” pouring into Tyre and Babylon. Tyre was an island city at the east end of the Mediterranean Sea, and Babylon literally and historically sat astride the great Euphrates River, and it was upon those waters that the wealth of all the nations kept pouring into Babylon. The same was true of Tyre, which was an Island nation just off the coast of Palestine. The holy spirit has seen fit to reveal to us all that these waters signify “peoples and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” who have been deceived and seduced by the merchants of Babylon and Tyre and with the merchandise of those merchants which they sell to those among whom they sail their ships with all their seductive wares.

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

That is the “sea” within each of us. It symbolizes the corruptible flesh which we all are by birth. That is the sea into which this great burning mountain is cast. None of us ever asked to be that sea or to have that burning mountain cast into our flesh to cause us so much excruciating pain. That is why we are told it was “cast into the sea.” The false doctrine of mankind’s “free will” is only one of the items of merchandise that is sold by the “mariners which are in Tyre to occupy [Hebrew: sweeten] thy merchandise.”

Eze 27:9  The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.

No one yet has ever freely chosen to “believe a lie and be damned.” Yet when God sends us His “strong delusion” we are incapable of resisting:

2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

We have all lived lives of condemnation, believing all the lies of Babylon, “until the time appointed of the Father.”

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, 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, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

Our next question is:

What does “the sea became as blood” mean?

If we have seen that the ‘sea’ is our flesh and our flesh cannot please God in and of itself, and if we have already seen that the drinking of the wine is the acknowledging of our crucifying of our Lord and His sacrifice and His death for our sins, then we will easily understand that the ‘sea’ within us is the very same flesh with which we are all born and with which we all have crucified our Lord even as we proclaim that we are above doing such a thing. Yet Christ said “Divide it among yourselves… it is shed for your sins.”

Luk 22:17  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
Luk 22:18  For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
Luk 22:19  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake [it], and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Luk 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

We are not above doing such a thing, rather it is within our flesh to do just that. It is only as we acknowledge that we all have drunk of the wine of Christ’s blood in the New Testament that we are granted to look behind ourselves to see that it was our own “sea [which] becomes as blood.”

Understanding that it is our own ‘sea becoming as blood’ does not convert us overnight. After Peter had spent three and a half years with our Lord, after Peter had healed the sick and cast our demons, our Lord still said this to Peter in the very night of His apprehension by the Jews.

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Luk 22:33  And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.

So the sea does not become blood until we are given to acknowledge that blood is the blood of our Lord that we caused to be shed by our sins. That is what “the sea became as blood” means, and until that Truth has been lived as Peter lived it, that sea is not yet become blood and we have not yet “Kept the things which are written therein” (Rev 1:3).

Our next question is:

What does “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died,” mean?

If we are given to remember that the sea is “the waters of the great deep” before the spirit begins to move upon us, and that “great deep” is simply our flesh with all of its “giants in the land” full of cities which are occupied by giants of which we are told “kill every thing that breatheth,” then we should have no problem understanding that is not accomplished except through the process of judgment upon those “enemies in the land” which are the very same things as “creatures which are in the sea and have life.”

Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

Israel certainly did not do this overnight. In fact this is what we are told they did, and this is what happens within us as we “keep the things which are written therein;”

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

This is repeated in Deuteronomy.

Deu 7:21  Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
Deu 7:22  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
Deu 7:23  But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.
Deu 7:24  And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.

In the end, all sin will be destroyed, but it will not be done all at once. It will only be done but by little and little, by third and by third.

Eze 5:1  And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause [it] to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the [hair].
Eze 5:2  Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
Eze 5:3  Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.

Eze 5:4  Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
Eze 5:5  Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
Eze 5:6  And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that [are] round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
Eze 5:7  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
Eze 5:8  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
Eze 5:9  And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.

“Thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel” is said of those who are “few in number” and who are first “cast into the midst of the fire.” It is from verses such as this that the apostle Peter knew this:

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?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Judgment must first begin at us. Judgment is not all at once, but it is little by little. It is by thirds because the spiritual significance of the number three throughout scripture, as these verses demonstrate is, not the number itself or the fraction itself, but it is the process of judgment that we are to keep of the things written therein:

Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
Rev 8:9  And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

“The third part of the creatures that were in the sea and had life died,” is telling us that judgment is a process which must first begin at us, the house of God.

What is the spiritual significance of …

The third part of the ships were destroyed?

We have already seen that Babylon and Tyre are both situated on the sea. We have been told that “every shipmaster and all the company in ships… were made rich… by reason of her costliness.” It is obvious that her wealth depends upon her location and her proximity to and her mastery of the sea. Let’s look again at what we are told of the ships of the sea in Revelation 18. These are the same ships that we are reading about here in Revelation 8:9.

Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
Rev 18:19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Eze 27:8  The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
Eze 27:9  The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.

The Hebrew word translated ‘occupy’ here in Eze 27:9 is ‘areb’, and it means ‘to sweeten.’ The wise men of this world’s religions “were in thee to sweeten your merchandise.”

The destruction of the third part of the ships of our sea is merely Biblical language expressing the little by little, one third by one third, process of destroying all the idols of our heart, which has begun as these symbolic seven trumpets sound as we keep the things that are written therein.

Summary

We have covered in this study the six different symbols within this second trumpet. We are reminded that these six symbols are one and all things we are to read, hear and keep within our own earth and our own heaven (Rev 1:3). They are in order:

1) A great mountain. We have seen that this “great mountain” begins to destroy the kingdom of the great image of the beast within us, which is struck on the feet of that image by a stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands and destroys the great image and replaces it and becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth.
2) This ‘mountain’ is burning with ‘fire.’ We have seen that this mountain is burning with fire because it is in the process of destroying the mountain of the kingdom of our old man who is dying daily and being “transformed” by the devouring flame which is the mighty Word of God. We saw that as the mountain or kingdom of the image of the beast decreases, and is being burned with fire,  the mountain of God within us increases till it destroys the kingdom of the beast and becomes a mountain that fills the whole earth.
3) This ‘mountain’ burning with ‘fire’ is cast into the ‘sea.’ We saw that the sea, from Genesis to Revelation, is the symbol of our flesh, and that it is into our flesh that the word of God is cast and begins, “by little by and by little”, by “third” and by “third” to kill and destroy all that is in our sea. We saw that our sea is dominated by the two great types of Babylon and Tyre, which make merchandise of us until we come to see them for the liars and cruel, heartless harlots they are.
4) This casting of the burning mountain into our sea causes the ‘sea’ to “become as blood.” The beginning of this little by little process causes our sea to become as blood. We saw that our sea becomes blood as we become aware of our own hand in the shedding of the blood of Christ in the New Testament, and the fact that we all drink of the cup that was His blood in the New Testament. We have seen that it was shed by us and it was given for our own sins. It is not some strange blood of some strange beast, and it certainly is not the blood of fish, but it is Christ’s blood which turns our sea to blood.
5) When the ‘sea’ “becomes as blood” this causes “a third part of the creatures which were living in the sea to die.” We have seen that the creatures in our sea which must die, are the weaknesses of our flesh along with the false doctrines of Babylon which prey upon the unstable waves of our weak flesh, and the natural desire of our flesh to want to hear only smooth and comforting words. We despise the words of judgment which are these fiery words of our Lord. “By little and by little”, and one third by one third these lying creatures that are in our sea and have life begin to die.
6) Finally the third part of the ships that were in the sea were destroyed when this mountain burning with fire is cast into the sea. We saw all the verses of Ezekiel and Revelation that demonstrate that these ships symbolize those who have made merchandise of us with their smooth sounding false doctrines and their lies. This again, we have seen, is but another way of telling us that the lies we have bought into, while we were in Babylon, and all who sold us on those lies must be destroyed by little and by little, by third and by third.

In our next study, Lord willing, we will see what is the spiritual significance of the third trumpet which we are commanded to read, hear and keep within our lives.

Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

Numbers 19:1-22 The Water of Purification and its Preparation

[Study Aired September 11, 2023]

Num 19:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 19:2  This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: 
Num 19:3  And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: 
Num 19:4  And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: 
Num 19:5  And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: 
Num 19:6  And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 
Num 19:7  Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
Num 19:8  And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. 
Num 19:9  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin. 
Num 19:10  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever. 
Num 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:12  He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. 
Num 19:13  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. 
Num 19:14  This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
Num 19:15  And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
Num 19:16  And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:17  And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
Num 19:18  And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
Num 19:19  And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 
Num 19:20  But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 
Num 19:21  And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 
Num 19:22  And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. 

Introduction

In chapter 18, we are shown the service to be rendered and the compensation or the reward given to the Aaronic priesthood, which represents the elect, and how the work of the Levites (our brothers and sisters in Babylon) is to aid the work of the elect. Chapter 19, which is the focus of our study today, follows up with the potential threats to the performance of the priesthood service and the Lord’s provision to sanctify us as we journey in this wilderness of life. As we are aware, there are so many things that can easily defile us to be disqualified in performing our role as priests in this life. During the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness, Aaron and his sons (the priests) were prone to being easily defiled, thus preventing them from performing their role as Priests. For example, just touching a grave makes one defiled. Our situation as we see this age gradually coming to an end is very challenging. We can easily be defiled in our heavens through false doctrines of which our Lord Jesus warned us:

Mat 24:3  As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 
Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
Mat 24:5  For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 

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

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 
2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

The propensity for the people of Israel to be defiled as they journeyed through the wilderness was extremely high, and so this chapter focuses on the preparation of the water of purification, which is able to cleanse the people to make them clean. Today’s study is to enlighten our understanding on this water of purification, which is cleansing us as His priests so that we can perform our duties as priests of the Lord in this life. 

Num 19:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 19:2  This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:

The red heifer here is Christ who redeems us from our sins.  The color red qualifying the heifer, therefore signifies Christ in His humanity. The heifer being without blemish indicates that Christ was without sin. The fact that the heifer was ‘without spot’ means that Jesus Christ was perfect. The heifer was also not under any yoke which implies that Christ was not under any bondage to sin or anyone. Our Lord Jesus Christ was therefore the perfect sacrifice to take away our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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. 

1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 
Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 
Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 
Rom 3:25  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 
Rom 3:26  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Num 19:3  And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: 

The fact that Eleazer, the Priest, was the one who led the red heifer, representing Christ, outside the camp to be slaughtered in verse 3 implies that we, His elect, all contributed to the death of Christ. In Acts 4:27-28, the list of all those who murdered Christ was mentioned as follows:

Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Does this list exclude anybody? No. We are all guilty of Christ’s murder. However, this outrageous act did turn out to be for our salvation. This is what our Lord said about us being guilty of the blood of the prophets:

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.

Num 19:4  And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: 

Verse 4 shows us that the blood of Christ (red heifer) cleanses our temple (our hearts and mind) from all unrighteousness. Eleazer cleaning the tabernacle seven times with the blood of the red heifer signifies Christ completely cleansing our hearts and mind with His blood.

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 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 
Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 
Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 
Heb 9:18  Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
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 with better sacrifices than these. 
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 
Heb 9:25  Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 
Heb 9:26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 

Num 19:5  And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: 
Num 19:6  And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 

Where there is burning, there is the judgment of God as shown in the following verses:

Deu 32:24  They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. 

Job 41:19  Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

Isa 4:4  When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

Verse 5 and 6 therefore signify the judgment of the Lord in His humanity which resulted in His total obedience to His father, and therefore He became the author of eternal salvation for His elect, the priests, and for the rest of the world.

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

We need to understand the significance of the cedar wood, hyssop and the scarlet which were cast into the midst of the burning of the red heifer. Cedar wood, hyssop and the scarlet are essential ingredients in the purification process according to the law of Moses as shown in the following verse:

Lev 14:51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:

Cedar trees are considered to be the first of trees. The Bible describes the cedar tree as strong, durable, graceful and beautiful. It is known for its longevity and resistance to decay. It is a symbol of Christ’s considerable spiritual stature, excellence and perfection in God. In the case of cedar wood, it represents Christ in His humanity.

Isa 9:10  The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars [Strong and Durable].

Psa 80:10  The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars [Graceful and beautiful].

Eze 17:23  In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

Throwing cedar wood into the burning of the red heifer means that Christ was judged in His humanity as He suffered for our sake.  It also means that Christ’s coming to us is with judgment.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Hyssop is an evergreen plant of the mint family. It was first used in the Bible as a sort of paintbrush to apply a lamb’s blood for cleansing. This usage had been consistent in the law of Moses. 

Exo 12:22  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

As we can see, hyssop is therefore an instrument used for cleansing. In this life, it is we, His elect, whom the Lord uses to cleanse His people and therefore we are represented by the hyssop. Being thrown into the burning of the red heifer means the elect must fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for the body’s sake in this age.

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: 

The next item thrown in the burning of the red heifer is the scarlet. The word “scarlet” properly refers to the insect “coccus ilicit”, the dried body of the female yielding coloring matter from which is made the dye used for cloth to color it scarlet or crimson. The first time this word was used in the Bible was as follows:

Gen 38:28  And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.

We, His elect, are the firstfruit of Christ who are the first to know Him in this life (first to come out). We therefore represent the scarlet that is thrown into the burning of the red heifer. Again, this implies that we are to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for the body’s sake in this age. The two items (the scarlet and the hyssop) serve as witnesses to the fact that, as His elect, we must suffer with Him in this life. 

It is also very insightful to note that the throwing of the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet into the burning of the red heifer also symbolizes that the elect together with our Lord Jesus will administer judgment in the lake of fire to all humanity to bring them to Christ, just as the son of God (Jesus) was with the three Hebrew boys (the elect) in the oven during Nebuchadnezzar’s time. In this case, the red heifer represents the beast within all humanity.

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;

Dan 3:24  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 
Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 
Dan 3:26  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 

Num 19:7  Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
Num 19:8  And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. 

The priest, or the one responsible for the burning of the red heifer, must wash his clothes or bathe his flesh in water in order to be clean. The washing of clothes and the bathing of the flesh in water all signify how the word of the Lord (water) cleanses us as we are given to know the truth of the word. 

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

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

The fact that the priest and the one unclean would continue to be unclean until the evening means that it takes a while to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. That is to say that being cleansed or sanctified is a process. It is not a one-time event. 

2Co 3:18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another [a process]. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Num 19:9  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin. 
Num 19:10  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute forever. 

As we are aware, ashes indicate that burning had taken place. The burning of the heifer shows us the suffering of Christ. Remember that during the burning of the heifer, cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were added to the burning. We indicated that the hyssop and the scarlet represent the elect. The ashes of the heifer collected and preserved therefore include the ashes of the hyssop and that of the scarlet. The ashes of the heifer to be collected and preserved for the water of purification therefore is a symbol of the suffering we must endure in order to be cleansed. In other words, it is the fire of the word of the Lord. This implies that there is no cleansing when there are no fiery trials in our lives (fire of the word) since the ashes together with running water constitute the water of purification. 

Mat 13:20  As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 
Mat 13:21  yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word [the fire of the word], immediately he falls away.

The ashes of the heifer, which are a mark of suffering, are the same as the scars on the hands of our Lord Jesus when He appeared before Thomas and asked Thomas to put his finger into His scars as proof that He has resurrected. 

Joh 20:25  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 
Joh 20:26  Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 
Joh 20:27  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 
Joh 20:28  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 
Joh 20:29  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

In verse 10, we are told that gathering ashes of a heifer makes one unclean. In another perspective, gathering ashes is the same as requiring evidence before believing, which makes us unclean. That was what happened to Thomas, and as a result, the Lord told him it is those who have not seen but yet believe who are blessed.  

The rest of the verses of this chapter focus on the sources of contamination which would require the use of water of purification.

Num 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:12  He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
Num 19:13  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. 
Num 19:14  This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

Spiritually, a dead body of any man refers to a person who is spiritually dead. Touching a dead body therefore means accepting the false teachings or doctrines from a spiritually dead person. As stated in verse 11, such a person becomes unclean for a complete period of his or her life until the person has access to the water of purification. In verse 12, purifying himself on the third day means that it is through the process of judgment that such a person will become spiritually mature or clean and shall be regarded as being clean over his complete (7 days) walk with Christ. This also implies that if such a person does not experience the process of judgment, such a person will not be clean or spiritually mature. 

In verse 13, we are told the consequence of touching a dead body of a man, that is, accepting false teachings or doctrines from a spiritually dead person. It defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and in the final analysis, such a person is cut off from the elect if he or she does not accept the judgment, or the fiery trials produced by the fire of the Lord’s words (water of purification). Defiling the tabernacle of the Lord means that our hearts and minds become defiled with false doctrines. Verse 14 says that if a man dies in a tent and we continue to come into the tent of the dead man, we shall be defiled for the rest of our walk with the Lord (complete 7-day period). What this implies is that if a person in our midst (in a tent) becomes spiritually dead and we continue to fellowship with such a person, we end up defiling our hearts and minds for the complete period of our walk when we continue to fellowship with the spiritually dead person. This scenario is what the apostles warned us about as follows:

Jud 1:3  Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 
Jud 1:4  For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 

Jud 1:8  Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 

Jud 1:10  But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Jud 1:11  Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Jud 1:12  These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 
Jud 1:13  wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Jud 1:14  It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 
Jud 1:15  to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 
Jud 1:16  These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. (ESV)

Num 19:15  And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean. 
Num 19:16  And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 

Verse 15 talks about the fact that an open vessel, without a cover fastened to it, is prone to being contaminated or unclean. We are the open vessel that must have a cover. Having a cover means we must be able to test the spirit to see if it is of the Lord. If we are not able to test the spirit, then we are just like an open vessel without cover which makes us unclean. 

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Verse 16 deals with being unclean by touching anything associated with a dead person – the dead body, a bone of a man or a grave. This means that we should not share fellowship with anyone who we know is spiritually dead, otherwise we end up becoming spiritually dead for a certain complete period of our walk with Christ (unclean for seven days). During Paul’s time, the church in Corinth was still having fellowship with a man who even slept with his father’s wife, although this deed was known within the church. This was Paul’s advice to the church:

1Co 5:1  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 
1Co 5:2  And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 
1Co 5:3  For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 
1Co 5:4  When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 
1Co 5:5  you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 
1Co 5:6  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 

1Co 5:9  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people 
1Co 5:10  not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 
1Co 5:11  But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. (ESV)

Num 19:17  And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
Num 19:18  And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
Num 19:19  And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 

It takes running water and the ashes of the burnt heifer for purification for sin. The running water here refers to the living and active word of the Lord.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

As indicated earlier, the ashes of the burnt heifer refer to the fiery trials we endure or the fire of the word, which together with the living word of the Lord, causes us to learn righteousness or become clean. A clean person dipping the hyssop in the water and sprinkling it upon the tent means that it is the elect who, through what every joint supplies, helps those who have been overtaken by a fault to cleanse their hearts and mind with the truth of the word of the Lord. The clean person or the elect sprinkling upon the person who is taken in a fault on the third day means that it is through the process of judgment of our old man that we become clean or spiritually mature. The fact that he shall purify himself on the seventh day after washing his clothes and bathing himself in water signifies that the complete period of his walk with Christ shall be characterized by knowing the truth of the word of the Lord which is able to make one clean.  

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 

Num 19:20  But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 
Num 19:21  And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 
Num 19:22  And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. 

These verses show us that if we do not walk by the truth of the word of the Lord (water of purification), we shall be alienated from the people of God or the elect. This means that we must pay heed to what we hear. It is not by our own power that we can walk in the truth of His words, but if we depend on Him, He will drag us to walk in His truth. 

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 
Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 
Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 
Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

May the Lord help us to be doers of His word as we see the day approaching! Amen!!

[Study Aired January 19, 2023]

This first section of chapter 17 of the book of Kings begins to focus on the reign of Hoshea the king of Israel. This king very brightly represents for us the bondage that sin in our life brings and demonstrates what a powerful taskmaster sin is, which God uses to humble His people and bring us to our wits’ end so that we cry out for deliverance which then comes to us through Christ (Psa 107:24-30). 

Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

The stormy winds spoken of in Psalm 107 can represent the trials of life which buffet us, that are connected to the spiritual struggles we have in our heavens, the powers and principalities over which God is sovereign and raises in our heavens to bring us to see how powerless we are over the wretchedness of flesh from which only He can deliver us (Eph 6:12, Rom 7:24 – “Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven” – Rom 3:27).

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

The end result of Hoshea’s rule over Israel is disastrous, as verse 18 and 19 expresses that the LORD was very angry with Israel:

2Ki 17:18  Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
2Ki 17:19  Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

This exile that is going to happen to Israel, and in time Judah, represents the bondage sin brings and that we all must endure as we come to learn of our Lord’s mighty hand working in our corruptible flesh from which He is able to deliver us (Rom 7:24-25). It is only through the suffering of this life that we will finally cease from sinning as we are received of God through a chastening and scourging process very few are meant to endure in this lifetime (2Ti 2:12, Heb 12:6-8, Mat 22:14).

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

Here is a brief history of what was happening at this time in the life of King Hoshea which should serve to help us organize the physical events so that in turn we can then understand what those events mean as we compare spiritual with spiritual using those physical events (1Co 2:13) God has inspired to happen in the life of this very wayward king and those external parties that greatly influenced his day-to-day decisions as the king of Israel.

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.

Before I read this excerpt from [Who was King Hoshea in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org], it’s important to remember Babylon’s perspective is that Judah and Israel just ignored the very best of the best prophets and thereby brought about this condemnation upon themselves for what they did in their flesh, with no outside influence causing all this neglect to unfold as it did. That perspective puts the man of perdition firmly on the seat of our heavens, and must be destroyed by an all-powerful external force [Christ] who is far greater than our own carnal reasoning that serves the law of sin (Rom 7:25) harboring powers and principalities that Christ will little and by little rule over (Exo 23:30,  1Jn 4:4). The destruction of the man of sin is the destruction of that part of us that says, “I’m responsible for my sins” or “I’m responsible for my good deeds” (2Th 2:5-8), which word “responsible” is not found in the bible.

God’s elect are blessed to know that when scripture says boasting is excluded by the law of faith, it is also true that we can’t give ourselves credit for being drawn away to be tempted and sin seeing this lack of faith (Rom 14:23) we have is something that God has disposed to each man to experience according to the counsel of His own will (Luk 23:34, Act 4:27-28). The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD (Pro 16:33). We acknowledge our sins and the righteousness of Christ working in us, and see them as all part of His workmanship unfolding within us (Rom 4:25) to His glory who has power over the marred vessel to make one unto honour and another to dishonour (Rom 2:4, Eph 2:10, Rom 9:21). 

Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 

Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

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

Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

We operate in the measure of faith God gives us (Rom 12:3), and Lord willing, we will heed the admonitions from these stories which tell us that we can be more than conquerors through Christ alone who can bring us to our wits’ end and cause us to cry out and be delivered from Satan “in his time” or “until he be taken away” (Mar 9:24). What hope the scriptures hold out for us, as we learn we can cry out, confess our faults, and be delivered day by day as we die daily in Christ (Rom_6:3)!

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

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

From:  [Who was King Hoshea in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org]

Hoshea son of Elah became king of the northern kingdom of Israel in 732 BC after assassinating King Pekah, son of Remaliah. Hoshea reigned 9 years. He was a wicked king, but not as wicked as previous kings of Israel (2Ki 17:2). Hoshea was the last king of Israel before the nation’s destruction by Assyria.

King Pekah had fought with the Assyrians but lost territory to Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria. So when Hoshea took the throne from Pekah, he was a vassal to Shalmaneser king of Assyria and was required to pay heavy tribute (2Ki 17:3).

In a bid for freedom and independence, Hoshea rebelled against Assyria and stopped paying the tribute, appealing to Egypt for help. This move was a failure. When Shalmaneser discovered King Hoshea’s treachery, he threw Hoshea into prison (verse 4). The Assyrian army then invaded all of Hoshea’s land. The capital, Samaria, was besieged for three years and eventually captured. The Israelites were then deported to Assyria and settled in Halah, Gozen on the Harbor River, and in the towns of the Medes. As most of the northern kingdom of Israel had already been conquered, this deportation effectively destroyed the entire kingdom. Israel’s destruction partly fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 7:16.

On the surface this may sound like the usual intrigues of kings, but the Bible makes it clear that the Assyrians’ takeover of Israel and the Israelites’ subsequent exile was God’s judgment on His people for their great sin. In spite of all the Lord had done for them, the Israelites had turned from God and worshiped false gods, setting up high places and burning incense to idols (2Ki 17:7-11). God had sent prophets, including Elijah and Elisha, to warn the Israelites, but the people persisted in their idolatry. God had meant for Israel to be set apart as a holy people (Lev 20:26; 2Ki 17:15), but instead they had assimilated the idolatrous practices of the societies they had conquered. God had given them many chances to turn back to Him, but they ignored all the prophets who warned them to turn from their evil ways. Because of their rebelliousness, “the LORD removed them from His presence” (2Ki 17:23) in fulfillment of Moses’ warning in Deuteronomy 30:17–18.

Several years after the capture of King Hoshea and the destruction of the northern kingdom, the southern kingdom of Judah fell to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (2Ki 25:1-4). The capital city of Jerusalem was destroyed, including its walls and the temple of the Lord (verses 8–10). Judah was taken into captivity and exiled for 70 years, just as the Lord had promised, as judgment for sin. However, in His mercy, God promised to preserve His people and eventually bring them back to the land He had promised them (Eze 11:14-17, Rom 14:17,  Joh 3:5-8, Php 3:3, Rev 3:12, Rev 21:2). [End Quote]

2Ki 17:1  In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. 
2Ki 17:2  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. 

Hoshea reigned nine years in Samaria over Israel, and that all began in the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah’s reign. Something foundational is going to come out of the rule of king Ahaz, which is what we are being shown with these numbers. Twelve signifies foundations negative or positive, and nine represents judgment. So Ahaz was the king who would be ruling during that time when God would destroy the corrupt foundations of Israel through judgment [9] that would ultimately have the nation be brought into captivity. In the positive sense, we see an example in this story of how God takes the marred vessel, in this case the nation of Israel, and tears it down so that in time it can be made anew (Jer 18:6). A holy and undefiled nation of Israel is not going to come on the scene in the flesh, but these stories are written for the elect’s sake (1Co 10:11) to remind us of how thoroughly God must purge his threshingfloor, which is how the first man Adam is destroyed (Eze 43:26, Eze 20:38, Rev 15:6-8,  Mal 3:3) in order to bring about the new creation formed in Christ, the “Israel of God,” who must lose their life in order to find it (Gal 6:16, Mat 10:39).

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

Eze 43:26  Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves. 

Eze 20:38  And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 

Rev 15:6  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. 
Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. 
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

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

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

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

2Ki 17:3  Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. 
2Ki 17:4  And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. 
2Ki 17:5  Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 

This section of scripture describing Hoshea’s actions, he, “sent messengers to So king of Egypt” and “brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison” revealing how Satan, typified by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, is a jealous god, like our Father in heaven (Exo 20:5), but in his case he is jealous for his evil purpose of wanting to keep Hoshea in the bondage of sin for not continuing in the servitude that he extended to Shalmaneser for so long, even giving him presents^H4503 as we did in Babylon with our tithes and offerings and misguided vain worship of God (Mar 7:7, Rev 11:10).  This attempt at breaking away from Shalmaneser’s influence over Hoshea is similar to how Israel was pursued by the Pharaoh and armies of Egypt who wanted to keep them in the bondage of slavery.

‘Presents’ H4503 minchâh min-khaw’  

From an unused root meaning to apportion, that is, bestow; a donation; euphemistically tribute; specifically a sacrificial offering (usually bloodless and voluntary): – gift, oblation, (meat) offering, present, sacrifice.

Total KJV occurrences: 211

This story reminds us that Satan’s wrath is a real thing and that he does not want any of his servants to be divided in their minds regarding where their gifts and loyalties should remain as they continue in their quest of being accusers of the brethren (Rev 12:10). When Shalmaneser sees Hoshea betraying his loyalties to him, he “shut him up, and bound him in prison.” Hoshea is already a servant to Shalmaneser, and the minute he tries to free himself and sweep his house of his influence, seven spirits worse enter into Hoshea’s life as the king of Assyria went ahead and “shut him up, and bound him in prison” (Mat 12:45).

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. [Rom 8:18]

There is no loyalty among thieves, and Satan comes to steal and destroy (Joh 10:10). Hoshea’s actions of sending “messengers to So king of Egypt” are seen as an act of treason to Shalmaneser. The agreement was that the king of Assyria, as long as he was paid the money or gifts for his service of extracting money from the people, would spare Israel and not sift them like wheat, which is what he ultimately did. However, knowing the sovereignty of God, we know that this peace was never meant to last and Shalmaneser’s actions just show that Israel’s king Hoshea was a house divided all along that was going to fall (Luk 8:17, 1Co 3:13, 2Co 5:10-11). Hoshea was cursed for putting his trust in the king of Assyria and because of Hoshea’s lack of faith in what God could do for him, he brought a great curse on the nation of Israel (Jer 17:5). The spirit of these two kings and their interactions with each other are very well described in these verses (2Ti 3:1-4), as their treaty began to fall apart to reveal no loyalty on either side. 

Jer 17:5  Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

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

After Hoshea is shut up and bound in prison, Shalmaneser “the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years” which reminds us that the devil is not slack regarding being the evil sword in God’s hand (Psa 17:13) which will be used to besiege the capital of Israel, Samaria, for three years. This is all demonstrating for us how God does use evil men in the process of humbling His people as He continues to refine us (Mal 3:3) through these severe trials  [“besieged it three years“] (Act 20:31). Paul is expressing here in the book of Acts what Christ said in these verses (Mat 26:41, Mar 13:33, Mar 14:38, Luk 21:36), and that is to look well inwardly (2Co 13:5) and outwardly (1Pe 5:2) because of the weak flesh we’re in, so that no enemy of the cross arise, no root of bitterness take over “and thereby many be defiled” (Heb 12:15).

Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Mar 13:33  Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

Mar 14:38  Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

Luk 21:36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 
Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

2Ki 17:6  In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

It’s in the “ninth year of Hoshea [that] the king of Assyria [Shalmaneser] took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria”. Being the ninth year of Hoshea’s kingship is the symbolic number of judgment, a judgment for Israel, that typifies the more severe and heavy trials God must prepare the bride of Christ to endure through in this life (1Pe 4:17).

The significance of placing them “in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” is found in the meaning of these three words, Halah^H2477, Habor^H2249 , and Gozan^H1470, that tell us Israel was going to experience a “painful” “joining” to another nation, even as there is “a cutting off” from their homeland.

HalahH2477
– Original: חלח
– Transliteration: Chalach
– Phonetic: khal-akh’
– Definition: Halah = painful 
a city or district in mesopotamia under Assyrian control where the Israelite captives were taken
– Origin: probably of foreign origin
– TWOT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Location 
– Strong’s: Probably of foreign origin;
Chalach a region of Assyria: – Halah.

HaborH2249
– Original: חבור
– Transliteration: Chabowr
– Phonetic: khaw-bore’
– Definition: Habor = joining 
a tributary of the Euphrates River in Assyria 
– Origin: from H2266
– TWOT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Location
– Strong’s: From H2266; united;

Chabor a river of Assyria: – Habor. 
Total KJV Occurrences: 3 

GozanH1470
– Original: גּוזן
– Transliteration: Gowzan
– Phonetic: go-zawn’
– Definition: Gozan = a cutting off 
the mesopotamian city on or near the middle of the Euphrates where exiled Israelites were settled
– Origin: probably from H1468
– TWOT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Location 
– Strong’s: Probably from H1468; a quarry (as a place of cutting stones);
Gozan a province of Assyria: – Gozan.

2Ki 17:7  For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 
2Ki 17:8  And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 
2Ki 17:9  And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 
2Ki 17:10  And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
2Ki 17:11  And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: 
2Ki 17:12  For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

This punishment that was brought upon the nation of Israel was because of the things we read of here (2Ki 17:7-12). The great lesson to pass on is that God is not mocked, and whatever we sow we are going to reap (Gal 6:7-8). This section of scripture clearly shows us the progression of coming out of Egypt and how we then wax and wane as Christians losing our first love. Only by the grace and faith of God do we continue to progress and work our way through being tempted ten times in the wilderness (Num 14:22) as we come to see that our flesh has to fall seven times, meaning completely (Pro 24:16), to show us that our overcoming is not of ourselves but a gift from God that takes our entire life to accomplish through Christ as we go onto perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32).

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.

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;

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

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

It’s in our ignorance that we sow (1Ti 1:13) and suffer the consequences of those actions, so we are deceived until we are not, and we even are that dog that returns to his vomit, until we are not (Pro 26:11). Thanks be to God, in the end He will bring all of the world to be sickened of every sin, and the judgment that first begins at the house of God (1Pe 4:17) will make Christ’s bride ready and prepared to wipe away all the tears of humanity; tears which will never be a part of the finished creation that will only be continually rejoicing and giving thanks to God almighty who will be all in all with Christ as our head forever (1Co 15:28).

1Ti 1:13  Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

2Ki 17:13  Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 

These last verses we will look at explain the effect of being under the taskmaster of sin which the rulership of the god of this world produces (2Co 4:4). The verses testify or witness against us what God was doing in Israel of old and Judah (1Co 10:11), “Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah.“

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

God’s purpose is revealed for the church today through much tribulation which we must endure in order to inherit the kingdom of God (Act 14:22, Rom 8:17). Christ identifies with our struggle and tells us that we are more than conquerors through Him who is our head and redeemer (Heb 4:15-16, Rom 8:37)

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

These taskmasters are set over us and bring us to do exactly what God had predestined and written in our books that we would do and suffer (Exo 1:11). The Lord knows the affliction we are under, and it is by reason of our crying out with strong tears as Christ did that we are delivered from Satan and the bondage of sin (Exo 3:7, Heb 5:7-8, Joh 8:36).

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

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

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

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

God was faithful to bring along “the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments” knowing that this witness was not going to change the hearts of the people but was part of the testimony or witness to the nations of what wretchedness is in all flesh until it is no longer there (Deu 19:15). God is faithful, and His word is not broken, and He cannot lie, and so a witness is given to the people, and the people, as expected, reject that witness. The body of Christ is one spirit and one bread not divided, and the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 are actually multiple witnesses that witness today and will witness throughout the thousand-year reign of the saints to establish the matter and leave no opportunity for flesh to say, ‘”We didn’t know, Lord, if only you had witnessed to us, we would not have taken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or slain Abel…or, or, or.”

Deu 19:15  One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

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.

2Ki 17:14  Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
2Ki 17:15  And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. 
2Ki 17:16  And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 
2Ki 17:17  And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

The natural status of flesh is to do what is written in these verses (2Ki 17:14-17), and as God tells us to do one thing, we do the opposite and don’t listen, as our necks get stiffer, and our hearts are darkened due to that sin which brings about disbelief and spiritual bondage (Rom 7:19-20, Luk 11:35). The opposite is to believe and do the work of God with the faith of Christ working in us, which is a gift from God (Joh 6:28-29, Php 2:12-13).

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Luk 11:35  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

This unbelief and sin in our life leads to our rejecting His covenant and brings us to fill that void in our life with vain practices of the heathen. We leave the commandments of the LORD and make molten images, the “two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal“, which represent for us today the ways of the heathen we are not to learn (Jer 10:2). 

Jer 10:2  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 

We especially provoke God to anger when we do this: “And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger,” which typifies for us today our keeping and teaching the lies of Baal or Babylon to our children.

2Ki 17:18  Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. 
2Ki 17:19  Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 
2Ki 17:20  And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
2Ki 17:21  For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. 
2Ki 17:22  For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
2Ki 17:23  Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

After all of that rebellion we are told about, we are told that “the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.” Our natural retort to God for that anger against us would be to say: “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?”

There is more witness against us in the next verse: “Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made“, meaning the whole body is sick from head to foot, and there is none righteous. So God declares to us, if we are able to receive it, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?”

Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

Throughout the scriptures we are reminded of the rejection of the first man Adam and how flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and that only a very few, a remnant will be dragged through the fiery trials in this age to one day free all of humanity from the bondage of sin (Oba 1:21). It looks hopeless from the fleshly point of view, and indeed it is without the faith of Christ within us which helps us believe that our present suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed (Rom 8:18). Many times, we are told “unto this day.” “So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day“, reminding us that the witness against flesh being enmity against God is an is, was and will be event, and will be until all enemies are put under His feet. God’s elect will fear and want to avoid that sorer punishment in the lake of fire spoken of in Hebrews 10:29, knowing that we are going to have to die daily and be armed with the mind of Christ and endure through much suffering in this life in order to inherit the kingdom of God and avoid that punishment.

Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 

In closing we are told in these verses (Eph 5:1-8) what we can now do through Christ for the rest of our lives, and Lord willing, we will be these dear children spoken of in these last verses who present themselves as “an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” as Christ did himself.

Eph 5:1  Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 
Eph 5:2  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Eph 5:3  But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 
Eph 5:4  Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 
Eph 5:5  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Eph 5:6  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 
Eph 5:7  Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 

[Study Aired December 29, 2022]

We know the two primary nations whom God highlights throughout the books of Kings are Judah and Israel. What is a less obvious and hidden truth is that those two nations are part of the written word of God which serve as a parable for us to understand that “the first man Adam was made a living soul; [and] the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” The spiritual counterparts which these two nations of Judah and Israel represent, and how the natural nations precede the spiritual kingdom within God’s elect, is hidden from the world just as Christ is hidden within His people who are inwardly spiritual Jews, and the Israel of God (1Co 15:45-46, 1Co 2:7, Col 3:3). God’s word won’t quicken us or be profitable to us unless the Lord shows us how to rightly divide it, but if He does, it becomes evident that “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God” are unsearchable as we compare spiritual with spiritual using the natural (2Ti 3:16, Rom 11:33, 1Co 2:13).

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, [all scripture which is profitable] The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; [Judah and Israel] and afterward that which is spiritual [Judah and Israel].

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: 

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

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

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.

Adam, who is the father of all of humanity, had a carnal head which is represented by Judah or Jerusalem below, the capital of Judah, and Adam’s carnal body is represented by Israel as is Samaria the capital of Israel. The first marred man that must be completely destroyed, root and branch (Mal 4:1-2), and made anew in the Potter’s hand is represented by the physical nations of Judah and Israel (Jer 18:4). Both nations must go into captivity, which represents the bondage of sin we naturally go into and can only come out of by the power of God’s holy spirit.

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 
Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

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

The parable continues as we’re shown that our bondage to sin in the first man Adam brings us into captivity, represented by Israel’s exile, a type of our body being a slave to sin (733 BC). 

The spiritual captivity in our heavens against powers and principalities which take us captive, especially spiritually, is represented by the nation of Judah who represents the religious beast inside us (Rev 13:11) that is taken into captivity after Israel in 597 BC. 

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

Many scholars, although very good at getting the historical journeys of these two nations sorted out, are hopeful that the physical lost tribes of Israel will be restored and the Abrahamic promises will be fulfilled physically for the nation of Israel, not being given to understand that the only kingdom which ultimately matters is God’s kingdom that is being established, first within the body of Christ (Luk 12:49), and is only represented or typified by these two kingdoms (Judah and Israel) that have been instrumental in creating a physical construct that God ordained to reveal to the body of Christ what He is doing with the Israel of God, or the inward Jew who the elect are (Gal 6:16, Rom 2:29).

Babylon wants to preserve the flesh, and still thinks that the kingdom of God must be established on this earth by physical means, via nations, not being given to see Christ’s words that the kingdom of God was already in their midst (Luk 17:21) when He was in their presence, and that the kindled fire of Luke 12:49 represents the kingdom of God which is now within His people in earnest, soon to be the outward kingdom of God that will rule over all the nations of this world (Rev 11:15).

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

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

The last Adam’s spiritual head is represented by Christ, our head, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rom 2:29), and the last Adam’s spiritual body is represented by the Israel of God, the body of Christ. The first Adam cannot save anyone. The last Adam, Christ and his Christ, will be used to save all of humanity with Christ’s faith within us which will be tried and prepared in this life for the world’s sake that God loves and gives us for as he did Christ (Gal 6:16, 1Co 15:22, Oba 1:21, Joh 3:16, 1Jn 4:17).

Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 

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

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.

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.

The context is important in Galatians 6:16 as it speaks about putting off the flesh or not putting off the flesh, circumcision or uncircumcision (Gal 6:15). That’s not where the battlefield is. That is only the physical construct which reveals where the real spiritual battle is taking place as we compare spiritual with spiritual using the physical (1Co 2:13-14). This gives us peace because we know the battle is the Lord’s, and therefore anything we do physically does not contribute to our salvation, and only that which Christ does through us brings about true spiritual circumcision as the new man in Christ is formed (Php 2:12-13). So in these books and chronicles we are studying, with all the wars and all the good and bad leadership, which we could compare to flesh being put off or preserved, it is all unfolding as a type of what God is doing within the body of Christ, and it is for our sakes. The underlying spiritual lesson is “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”; a new creature formed by the circumcision of the heart (Rom 2:28-29).

Gal 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 
Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 

[When we walk with the knowledge that God uses all things to his glory, and is working all things including how we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, we are then experiencing (Php 2:12-13) “peace on them, and mercy“]

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. 

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Judah’s and Israel’s history and the many warring nations and multiple kings they encountered, peaceful ones and evil ones, were all written to demonstrate to us the life-long struggle that we all must have in Christ, not against outward enemies, but against powers and principalities that we wrestle against and that Christ our head is far higher than. God uses all those nations within us to cause our hearts to change, to have them circumcised inwardly (Eph 6:12, Eph 1:20-21, Eph 4:10). Our flesh, all flesh and blood that cannot inherit the kingdom of God, is seen as gentile flesh that is in need of being put off, destroyed and replaced with the body and blood of Christ so that we can have real life, otherwise we have no life, but just a temporary shadow that is going to pass and not inherit the kingdom of God (Joh 6:53-56).

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

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 4:10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 

Joh 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

This chapter of 2 Kings focuses on several kings of Judah and Israel, and provides more evidence for us of how God was working all the events of these kings’ lives and the nations they ruled to teach us lessons about our own spiritual warfare within us against nations and kings, which represent the powers and principalities that Christ in us can and will rule over as the author and finisher of our faith. We fix our eyes on Christ now because we know and are confident that our labours are not in vain, because he who has “begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (1Pe 1:12 , 1Co 10:11, Heb 12:2, Php 1:6).

2Ki 15:1   In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign. 
2Ki 15:2  Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. 
2Ki 15:3  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; 
2Ki 15:4  Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places. 

2Ch 26:5  And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.
2Ch 26:6  And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. 
2Ch 26:7  And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims. 
2Ch 26:8  And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah [Azariah]: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly. 
2Ch 26:9  Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. 
2Ch 26:10  Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry. 
2Ch 26:11  Moreover Uzziah had an host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. 
2Ch 26:12  The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thousand and six hundred. 
2Ch 26:13  And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 
2Ch 26:14  And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons [breastplate], and bows, and slings to cast stones.
2Ch 26:15  And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.
2Ch 26:16  But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 
2Ch 26:17  And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: 
2Ch 26:18  And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. 
2Ch 26:19  Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. 
2Ch 26:20  And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.

2Ki 15:5  And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land. 
2Ki 15:6  And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 15:7  So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. 

Azariah reigned for [52] years “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places“. As we see in the verses above, it is when our flesh is strong (the pride of life of 1 John 2:16) that we turn away from obedience to God and transgress so that God’s wrath comes upon us, “And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several [separate] house”, the “several house” representing how sin separates us from the body of Christ.

The life of Azariah ultimately ended up producing bad fruit, represented by his building of Elath^H359 that he restored to Judah, “He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers” (2Ki 14:22). Based on all that we read about the life of Azariah and what he ended up doing, it’s clear that his high-mindedness was manifested by disobedience as he went to burn incense in the temple when only the priest of Aaron were allowed to do so (Exo 30:30, Exo 30:37-38, Num 16:35), and then being smitten with physical leprosy, symbolic of his spiritually corrupt heart.  As always, we are reminded that this is written for our admonition. Unless we are washed by the blood of Christ that takes away our sinful condition represented by leprosy, we would remain in the bondage that the whole world is in (Joh 8:36, 1Jn 5:19).

H359‘êylôth / ‘êylath   BDB Definition:
Elath or Eloth = “grove of lofty trees”
1) a port on the north-east arm of the Red Sea
Part of Speech: noun proper locative
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H352 [properly strength; hence anything strong]

1Jn 5:19  And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. [sinful leprous flesh]

Azariah’s mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem, representing Jerusalem below as the fruit of her loins was haughty (Pro 18:11-12), who in the end used the liberty God had given him as ‘an occasion to the flesh’ and not to serve the nation in obedience to God.

“the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places” (2Ki 15:4)

“when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense” (2Ch 26:16)

Pro 18:11  The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit. 
Pro 18:12  Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. 

Her name, Jecholiah^H3203, also reminds us that despite ourselves, God has, does and will prevail (Pro 19:21).

JecholiahH3203
BDB: “Jehovah is able”
PNB: “Jehovah prevails”

Pro 19:21  There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. 

God must continue to give us trials in this life if Christ is going to increase and we decrease, and yet it must be appointed of Him that those trials soften our hearts and change us as they did not in the life of Azariah. He remained separate from the people because “when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction” (2Ch 26:16), “so Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper [he remained separated even in death]: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.” [2Ch 26:23]

The thorn in our flesh God gives each of us in the body of Christ is given with great purpose, keeping us humble in His service and knitted together to overcome the giants of our land through Christ, little and by little to the glory of God (1Co 10:12-13, 2Co 12:7, Exo 23:30). It is not written anywhere that Azariah’s trial of health, as severe as it was, produced any humility or repentance, so with no change of heart he was separated from the people, typifying not suffering with the body and being separated from the body because of sin (Heb 11:24-26, 1Co 12:26).

2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. [God made a way for Paul to overcome the pride of life as he does with us through the thorn in our flesh, and so with the temptation to be proud He made a way to escape through the thorn in his flesh – thank God for the thorn that creates weakness so His power can rest upon us causing us to overcome, otherwise we would go back to our high and lofty places in our heavens.]

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ [the thorn in our flesh] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

1Co 12:26  And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 
1Co 12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

The circumstances of Azariah’s life remind us that God’s elect are blessed to see the need to be part of this fellowship or communion, which is the body and blood of Christ (1Co 10:16) as we’re given to esteem “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward” as a many-membered body (1Co 10:17). That is what God’s judgment (1Co 10:16) will produce in the lives of those who are being judged of Him today for His purpose and to His glory (1Pe 4:17, Heb 9:27)

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

2Ki 15:8  In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months. 
2Ki 15:9  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 
2Ki 15:10  And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 
2Ki 15:11  And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 

It is significant when God mentions the timing of when one king, in this case Azariah of Judah in his thirty-eighth year of reign, is juxtaposed against the length of time of the other king, in this case king Zachariah of Israel who reigned for six months. Those numbers regarding king Azariah [38] apply to the condition of king Zachariah who would reign for [6] months. We read that his reign was another example of an evil-reigning king who did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and so the six months represent the number of man, and the 3 and 8 add up to 11, telling us that there was not going to be any lasting foundation for king Zachariah whose kingdom was soon going to be sabotaged by Shallum the son of Jabesh.

Shallum^{H7967 = retribution} conspired against Zachariah, “and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead“, teaching us that God’s process of judgment upon us [3] which brings forth the new man [8] will not change the inner man unless God has purposed that for us in this life (Eph 3:16, Heb 9:27). So we see it was not just Judah’s king Azariah who was highminded and not repenting in his heart, but also king Zachariah of Israel who “did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done“. When the head is sick, represented by Azariah of Judah, the body follows what the head does represented by Zachariah king of Israel, and this symbolic message is for us who are blessed to see, hear and understand (Isa 1:5-6, Luk 24:45).

Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man [Heb 6:3];

Isa 1:5  Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 
Isa 1:6  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Luk 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

2Ki 15:12  This was the word of the LORD which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. 

We are reminded here of the Lord’s promise in 2 Kings 10:30 being fulfilled, demonstrating God’s faithfulness to judge the nation of Israel which typifies our body now reaping what we have sown (Gal 6:7, 2Ki 10:28-31, Hos 1:1-5). The outline of this judgment of God was spoken to Jehu who was told “Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass“. The ‘fourth’ represents the whole judgment culminating in having the nation of Israel go into captivity as we read in verse 2 Kings 15:29, which Gill explains as “the first captivity of Israel in which half their tribes were carried away.” God anointed Jehu king over Israel and avenged the blood of his prophets and servants at Jezebel’s hand, slaying the whole house of Ahab which was discussed in earlier chapters (2Ki 9:6-10).

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

2Ki 10:28  Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
2Ki 10:29  Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.
2Ki 10:30  And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. 
2Ki 10:31  But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. 

Hos 1:1  The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
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.
Hos 1:5  And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. [Jehu was cut off at this point being the fourth generation]

This prophecy of four generations ruling represents the whole process of the wood hay and stubble judgment that we must go through before we “suffer loss” (1Co 3:12-15). There continues to be nothing but instability for Israel as we will read, reminding us that until our lives are judged of God we cannot be made “perfect, stablish[ed], strengthen[ed], settle[d]”, which is a painful process requiring much tribulation that takes time (1Pe 5:10 , Act 14:22 , Luk 21:19).

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.[the lake of fire] 

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle 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 enter into the kingdom of God. 

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

2Ki 15:13  Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.
2Ki 15:14  For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.
2Ki 15:15  And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Shallum, son of Jabesh, began to reign and did so for “a full month in Samaria”. Uzziah king of Judah was in his thirty-ninth year of reigning [39] when Shallum began his reign. This very transitional king represents our inability to overcome and fight a good fight of faith at this stage in our walk and he Shallum, is judged [39] as being unfit to be a king (demonstrated by his having killed his king [Psa 105:15]), and was killed by Menahem the son of Gadi who reigned in his stead.

Here’s how Wikipedia breaks down this generational curse which was pronounced upon Israel, and notice there is no thought given to how this applies to the “Israel of God“(Gal 6:16), very typical of the blindness we are all first given in that it all remains a history lesson for the world who cannot at this time see that this prophecy represents the stages of judgment God’s people, the small remnant, the few chosen, the Israel of God, would go through. Just for contrast we read this now from Wikipedia:

“The destruction of the house of Ahab is commended by the author of 2 Kings as a form of divine punishment. Yahweh rewards Jehu for being a willing executor of divine judgement by allowing four generations of kings to sit on the throne of Israel. Jehu and his descendants Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jereboam II and Zachariah ruled Israel for 102 years. Nonetheless, according to the Book of Hosea, the House of Jehu was still punished by God through the hands of the Assyrians for Jehu’s massacre at Jezreel, some Biblical commentators reasoning that this was because Jehu’s motives may not have been entirely pure in his massacre.”

Upon further investigation of some of the different interpretations of what this chapter is about, via the content found in various commentaries, what is always missed is that these events are not just a foregone conclusion or prophecy that was written in the word of God, but were written for the elect’s sake upon whom the end of the world has come, all “predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (1Co 10:11, Eph 1:11). God willing, we will not murmur in our wilderness and will be given to accept that God is working all our trials and tribulations in this life to a greater end that will be revealed in the blessed and holy first resurrection (Rev 20:6). We want our old man to be destroyed and not have our spiritual life to be sifted like wheat by the destroyer as these verses make clear: (1Co 10:11-12, Amo 9:8-9, Luk 22:31).

1Co 10:10  Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
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.

Amo 9:8  Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; [first Adam] saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD [last Adam]. 
Amo 9:9  For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth  [Joh 17:12].

Joh 17:12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Next week Lord willing, we’ll look further into this tumultuous time of Israel, during Azariah’s 52 year reign and his son Jotham’s 16 year reign in Judah, events that were written for our sakes, the “Israel of God”‘s sake. (Rom 15:4, 2Co 4:15).

Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 

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. 

[Study Aired November 3, 2022]

2Ki 9:1  And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this vial of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. 
2Ki 9:2  And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber.
2Ki 9:3  Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not. 
2Ki 9:4  So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 
2Ki 9:5  And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of us all? And he said, To thee, O captain. 
2Ki 9:6  And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of Jehovah, even over Israel. 
2Ki 9:7  And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah, at the hand of Jezebel. 
2Ki 9:8  For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel. 
2Ki 9:9  And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 
2Ki 9:10  And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled. 
2Ki 9:11  Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man and what his talk was. 
2Ki 9:12  And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel. 
2Ki 9:13  Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, Jehu is king. 
2Ki 9:14  So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was keeping Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; 
2Ki 9:15  but king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If this be your mind, then let none escape and go forth out of the city, to go to tell it in Jezreel. 
2Ki 9:16  So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. 
2Ki 9:17  Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? 
2Ki 9:18  So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not back. 
2Ki 9:19  Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. 
2Ki 9:20  And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not back: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. 
2Ki 9:21  And Joram said, Make ready. And they made ready his chariot. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 
2Ki 9:22  And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?
2Ki 9:23  And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. 
2Ki 9:24  And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and smote Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 
2Ki 9:25  Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, Jehovah laid this burden upon him: 
2Ki 9:26  surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith Jehovah; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith Jehovah. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of Jehovah. 
2Ki 9:27  But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden-house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot: and they smote him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. 
2Ki 9:28  And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.
2Ki 9:29  And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. 
2Ki 9:30  And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window. 
2Ki 9:31  And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, thou Zimri, thy master’s murderer? 
2Ki 9:32  And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. 
2Ki 9:33  And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trod her under foot. 
2Ki 9:34  And when he was come in, he did eat and drink; and he said, See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter. 
2Ki 9:35  And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. 
2Ki 9:36  Wherefore they came back, and told him. And he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; 
2Ki 9:37  and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.

This entire ninth chapter’s primary focus is on the destruction of spiritual Babylon, the churches and religions of this world represented by “the whole house of Ahab” (2Ki 9:8), which fittingly included Jezebel, King Jehoram, King Ahaziah, and many other characters. 

2Ki 9:8  For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel. 

The certainty of that destruction at the hand of Jehu, who was anointed of God to be used in that capacity, will be shown in the death of these characters at his hand. All these actions are analogous to what God must do to our old man of sin in order for us to ‘come out of her my people’ and be saved through Christ (2Co 5:17, Isa 37:32, Isa 9:7).

Isa 37:32  For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they that shall escape. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.

Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.

How this order of events is going to be made possible to unfold, (“the whole house of Ahab shall perish“) is made clear for us, in the first three verses (2Ki 9:1-3) where there is an anointing that is needed in the life of Jehu in order to accomplish this ‘cleansing of the house of Ahab’ (2Ki 9:8) as it is referred to, and that is type and shadow language telling God’s elect that unless God’s spirit is within us there will be no inward cleansing of the temple of God which we are (1Co 3:16), but rather our lives will be representative of this verse in Jeremiah 6:14): “They have healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace“, as opposed to: “Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David” (Rom 8:9, Rom 9:8). If we are being judged today, we can experience that lasting and very precious spirit of God’s peace that passes all understanding because of Christ being on the throne of our hearts, typified by “the throne of David” (Php 4:7).

Rom 9:8  That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed.

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The clear message for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, which is a gift from God (Eph 2:8, Mat 13:16), is that in order for us to have His peace that passes all understanding (Php 4:6-7), we must die daily and cry out to our Lord to help us do battle against all the powers and principalities, “the whole house of Ahab” that Christ in us is able to overcome and “shall perish” by the power of His brightness that destroys these strongholds within us (Heb 5:7, 2Th 2:8): “the whole house of Ahab shall perish“.

Php 4:6  In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 
Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

The anointing

2Ki 9:1  And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead: 
2Ki 9:2  And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber;
2Ki 9:3  Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.

Ramothgilead^H7433 which means “heights of Gilad” (Strong’s) or “high mounds of testimony” (PNB), and symbolizes the idolatry of the nation of Israel and the place that Elisha will send “one of the children of the prophets” to humble the nation through judgment. In like manner, Christ is sending His elect to come up or ascend on mount Zion. Zion represents that which has overcome through Christ and through His judgment, and the mount of Esau represents that which is yet to be judged by the saints who come up on mount Zion (Oba 1:21). Inwardly we overcome the mount of Esau by girding up our loins and taking a box of oil in our hand as we go to face the giants of our land in Ramothgilead where we will overcome through Christ (Num 14:9).

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

Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

It is “Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi” who God sends his power to, through one of the “children of the prophets” who represents the angels or messengers, that God sends to us in this age with the word of God that anoints us and makes it possible for us to be extricated or pulled out from Babylon [Nimshi ^H5250].

“Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi^H5250“

H5250 nimshı̂y BDB Definition: “rescued”

A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: probably from H4871 [“to pull out”]

Strong’s: extricated  Total KJV occurrences: 5

Saying, “and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber”, is symbolic language that tells us what happens to us when we are anointed by God giving us this increase through Christ (1Co 3:6). The “inner chamber” represents the Christ-centric life we can now have after we have been anointed of the Lord and are hidden in Him in the “inner chamber” (Eph 2:6, Col 3:3). 

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

After he pours the oil out on the head of Jehu, by his actions this servant of Elisha sets an example to Jehu of what to do with this gift that he is not to neglect (Heb 2:3). The zealousness of Christ is expressed in us by ‘opening the door’, which represents our communion with Christ in our heavens where we labour diligently and stedfastly in the Lord, knowing He is a rewarder of those who do this (Heb 11:6): “Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not“. Fleeing and not tarrying reminds us that we overcome sin by distancing ourselves from it and “make not provision for the flesh” (Rom 13:14, 2Ti 2:22)

Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Faith without works is dead

2Ki 9:4  So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.
2Ki 9:5  And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain. 
2Ki 9:6  And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. 
2Ki 9:7  And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.

The captain, who is Jehu at this point, represents us when we are by the way doing our own thing and Christ comes along by way of his servants and says, “I have an errand to thee, O captain“, which is what these words to Christ’s disciples mean: “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mat 4:19). That is the errand to which God has called us; the work of feeding the lambs and sheep in this life. At first, we can’t understand that this anointing is specific to the peculiar people and royal priesthood we have become (1Pe 2:9), which is why Jehu asks “Unto which of all us“? And to which the young prophet answers, “To thee, O captain.“

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 

Our labour in Christ is done with a two-edged sword at the ready as we are dead to sin and alive in Christ (Rom 6:11). The ‘dead to sin’ part requires our dying daily with that sword [his spirit, his word] which is what this verse symbolizes: “And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.” Without God’s anointing on us, we would not have the desire or zeal, both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure in this life, which desire is to be consumed for the zeal of His house by driving every unclean thing out of His temple, which we are (Php 2:12-13). It is stated this way: “the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel”, to remind us that this is speaking primarily to God’s elect today who will later judge the rest of the world, if we are blessed to be judged in this life first (Luk 11:50-51, 1Co 6:3).

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.

To further clarify the specificity of our calling, we read: “And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel“, which symbolizes the power God has given to His saints to pour out the seven last vials of God’s wrath upon this world (Rev 15:1-2, Rev 21:8-9) that were first poured out on us (1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:12, Rev 15:8). This is how God’s servants, who have already been judged of God, are avenged (Rev 6:9-11). All of this wrath of God will work good in the end as it will do away with Babylon, and great shall be the fall of her, typified by Jezebel’s horrific demise from the height from which she fell (Rev 14:8, Rev 18:2).

He will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor

2Ki 9:8  For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel:
2Ki 9:9  And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah:
2Ki 9:10  And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.

These verses (2Ki 9:8-9) graphically demonstrate what God will do with all fleshly carnal thinking and how thoroughly He will cleanse His threshing-floor in the heart of every man in time (Mal 4:1). 

2Ki 9:8 Every man and boy in Ahab’s family must die, whether slave or free.
2Ki 9:9  His whole family must be destroyed, just like the families of Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of Ahijah. (CEV)

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

Leaving “neither root nor branch” happens as a result of “the whole house of Ahab” perishing. For God’s elect this message is happening now as we die daily and judge ourselves daily and keep under our body daily to be sure that there is no root of bitterness overtaking us, not missing seeing or understanding any opportunity of the Lord to prune away the branches that need to be taken out of our lives and burned (1Co 11:31, Heb 12:15, Joh 15:2, Heb 12:6, 1Co 9:25-27).

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 

Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

“And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her” represents our eating of false doctrines in the churches of Babylon, symbolized by the woman Jezebel. We don’t think this is us at first, but because we do not yet have “another spirit” as did Caleb and Joshua(Num 14:24), we go right along with the harlotries of this world from our own elevated position in our flesh just as Jezebel did. ‘And there was none to bury Jezebel’ tells us that there is no honour in her and no burial ceremony as such for this extremely wicked woman who represents Babylon which will be destroyed (Jer 51:8-9, 2Pe 2:12).

Jer 51:8  Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
Jer 51:9  We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ:

2Ki 9:11  Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication. 
2Ki 9:12  And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. 
2Ki 9:13  Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king. 

It took this conversation with Jehu, who was now anointed by the Lord, for the people to realize that this was really happening and that Jehu was the anointed king. The lesson for us is that the Lord will persuade the world one day through God’s anointed church that we are who we say we are, the body of Christ and the wife of our Lord who has made herself ready (Rev 19:7). 

It is God who does the dragging and the converting, and Jehu typifies those who are being dragged to Christ by the Father (Joh 6:44). When that day of acknowledgement comes in the earth of what God’s workmanship has manifested in the saints, the world will be zealous toward God’s purpose just as this group was toward the anointing of Jehu. Their compliance and agreement to these actions of the servant of Elisha are symbolized by taking off their garments and putting them under the top of the stairs where the king is exalted, “Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.” Blowing the trumpets is another symbol that tells us this story typifies the time when the last trump will sound and we shall be changed (1Co 15:52).

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal:

2Ki 9:14  So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.

Jehu is conspiring against Joram, which actions of Jehu demonstrate that the spirit is against the flesh (Gal 5:17), and now that Jehu is anointed, he is ready to do battle against his enemies, typifying God’s elect, the bride of Christ, who will be made ready to do battle against all flesh that is in bondage. Our enemy is Satan, and we wrestle against “principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” and not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12), so the words “Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria“, represent the bondage that the devil has us all in, in our appointed time, from which we can only be delivered through Christ (Joh 8:36) who is represented by Jehu who is a type of the elect in this particular parable (Oba 1:21).

Keep fighting:

2Ki 9:15 But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.

Jehu’s anointing is already producing the fruit of wisdom that instructs the people to not let anyone go into the city Jezreel to give advance warning to Joram of Jehu’s intentions. If we are of the same mind, we will battle together as one body, one army like Gideon’s army who, although they were few in number, were promised victory because the battle is the Lord’s, and it is given to those who are obedient to the commands of the King (Act 5:32).

Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

2Ki 9:16  So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. 
2Ki 9:17  And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? 
2Ki 9:18  So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. 
2Ki 9:19  Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. 

The watchman does not interact with Jehu and goes to the king straightway to tell him what he sees, which in turn has Joram send a horseman to ask him his intentions, trying the spirits, as it were, to find out if Jehu is come to make peace or come to do battle. This tells us a whole lot about the world who is looking for an alliance in the flesh, but there will be none found with God’s elect whose mantra is “I would rather be divided by the truth than united by a lie”.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

The question brought to Jehu from king Joram is, “Is it peace?“, and the shocking response was, “What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.” Yes, get behind me Satan for you savour not the things that be of God but that which is of your father the devil (Mat 16:23).

Again, a “second on horseback” comes out asking the same question, “Thus saith the king, Is it peace?” and getting the same response from Jehu. There’s the witness for us of the world saying peace, peace when there is no peace (Jer 6:14), and that theme will continue right until the end of the thousand years when the truth about mankind’s heart will be made crystal clear in their attempt to destroy the camp of the saints after “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison” (Rev 20:8).

Jer 6:14  They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 

Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 

And keep fighting:

2Ki 9:20  And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. 
2Ki 9:21  And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth^H5022 the Jezreelite.^H3158

The watchman is giving the play by play here to Joram which prompts Joram to say ‘make ready’ as Jehu was on the attack, typifying for us that we do not bear the sword of God in vain and that the Lord will increase our zealousness and deliver us from our enemies if we are granted to seek Him with all our hearts (Jer 29:13-14).

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 
Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. 

Now Joram and Ahaziah, the kings of Israel and Judah are aligned, each in his chariot coming out against Jehu whom they meet “in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelit“. The word Naboth means “fruits” and the word ‘Jezreelit’ is similar to the word ‘Jezreel’, meaning “God sows”. 

H5022  nâbôth naw-both’  Feminine plural from the same as H5011; fruits; Naboth, an Israelite: – Naboth.  Total KJV occurrences: 22

H3158  yizre‛ê’lı̂y yiz-reh-ay-lee’  Patronymic from H3157; a Jizreelite or native of Jizreel: – Jezreelite.  Total KJV occurrences: 8

H3157  yizre‛ê’l yiz-reh-ale’  From H2232 and H410; God will sow; Jizreel, the name of two places in Palestine and of two Israelites: – Jezreel.  Total KJV occurrences: 36

So this is a moment of revealing what God has sown and created, the good and the evil, the light and darkness of these two groups, and it was not their fabled free will that put them in this situation (Isa 45:7).

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

Still keep fighting:

2Ki 9:22  And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? 
2Ki 9:23  And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. 
2Ki 9:24  And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 

Now Joram hears it from Jehu’s own lips after he hypocritically asks him, “Are you coming in peace?” “How can there be peace in this world” is what Jehu responds to Joram “so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?“ Joram has rightly identified the spirit of Jehu and “turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah“. Then “Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms” representing the word of God that will go forth in the strength of Christ to accomplish this destruction against mystery Babylon and all the corrupt fruit of that huge vine of Babylon that Christ will give us the power to destroy with the threshing tool, a sickle, that represents God’s power working in the body of Christ through the true vine, Jesus Christ (Joh 15:5). We will judge the world in time, and angels (Rev 14:15, 1Co 6:3): The vital organ of the heart being hit so precisely (Heb 4:12, Psa 129:4) tells us that God will deal with sinful rebellion immediately during the thousand-year reign, and that we consider ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ now because of that ongoing righteous judgment of Christ upon our own lives: “the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot” (1Ki 22:34).

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

Rev 14:15  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

2Ki 9:25  Jehu said to his chariot driver Bidkar, “Take Joram’s body up and throw it into the field of Naboth from Jezreel. Remember when you and I rode together with Joram’s father Ahab, the Lord said this would happen to him.
2Ki 9:26  The Lord said, ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and his sons. So I will punish Ahab in this field.’ The Lord said that. So take Joram’s body and throw it into the field, just like the Lord said!” (ERV)

Jehu is a man on a mission now, telling his captain Bidkar [H920 =by stabbing, that is, assassin (Mat 10:34)] to put Joram’s dead body in this plat, “Cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite“, which words were a fulfilled prophecy found in 1 Kings 21:19-22 that “the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD.” We are reassured that what the Lord starts, He finishes (Php 1:6), including the revelations He gives us (Amo 3:7) that continue to assure us that we will be more than conquerors through Christ over our old man of sin within and without. We are buried into Christ’s death (Rom 6:3) even while our old man is cast “into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.“

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Amo 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

2Ki 9:27  But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur^H1483, which is by Ibleam^H2991. And he fled to Megiddo^H4023, and died there. 
2Ki 9:28  And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.

When Ahaziah [H274 = Jah has seized/taken by Jehovah] recognized what was happening and that death was potentially imminent, “he fled by the way of the garden house” like Adam and Eve, who when they realized they were naked, [a symbol of sinful flesh that God tells us is spiritually dead (Joh 6:63)], covered themselves with fig leaves, symbolizing their own works, and hid from our Lord among the trees in the garden. Jehu followed after Ahaziah and said, “Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur^H1483, which is by Ibleam^H2991“, the chariot being a symbol of ‘his own power’ that was going to be taken away from him. They followed him up to “Gur^H1483, which is by Ibleam^H2991“, two names which tell us that Ahaziah was an immature leader who was going to be destroyed (Mat 24:19).

Isa 43:15  I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. 
Isa 43:16  Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; 
Isa 43:17  Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.

All these names mentioned prior to the death of Ahaziah are significant as they tell us something about the stages that we go through until our old man is cut down in “Megiddo^H4023” which is in northern Israel, in the north where judgment symbolically comes from (Jer 50:41). 

H1483 gûr goor  The same as H1482; Gur, a place in Palestine: – Gur.  Total KJV occurrences: 1

H1482 gûr    gûr goor, goor  Perhaps from H1481; a cub (as still abiding in the lair), especially of the lion: – whelp, young one.  Total KJV occurrences: 7

H1481 gûr goor A primitive root; properly to turn aside from the road (for a lodging or any other purpose), that is, sojourn (as a guest); also to shrink, fear [Heb_10:39 , 2Th_2:8](as in a strange place); also to gather for hostility (as afraid): – abide, assemble, be afraid, dwell, fear, gather (together), inhabitant, remain, sojourn, stand in awe, (be) stranger, X surely.  Total KJV occurrences: 98

H2991 yible‛âm yib-leh-awm’  From H1104 and H5971; devouring people; Jibleam, a place in Palestine: – Ibleam.  Total KJV occurrences: 3

H4023  megiddôn  megiddô meg-id-done’, meg-id-do’  From H1413; rendezvous; Megiddon or Megiddo, a place in Palestine: – Megiddo, Megiddon.  Total KJV occurrences: 12

H1413 gâdad gaw-dad’  A primitive root (compare H1461); to crowd; also to gash (as if by pressing into): – assemble (selves by troops), gather (selves together, self in troops), cut selves. Total KJV occurrences: 9

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Ahaziah is the king of Judah but does not have the honour of dying in Jerusalem as a man of God would. God’s elect understand that to die in Jerusalem is a parable that Christ gave us (Mar 4:34) that tells us those who die daily (1Co 15:31) are doing so in the place where they have been raised (Eph 2:6), Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Luk 13:33, Gal 4:26). Ahaziah, in type and shadow, has not been raised and in fact when he is brought back to Jerusalem below in a chariot carried by his servants, he was not buried with the kings but they “buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.“

Luk 13:33  Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free [Eph 2:6-8], which is the mother of us all.

Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works:

2Ki 9:29  And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
2Ki 9:30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tiredH3190 her head, and looked out at a window.
2Ki 9:31  And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?

When Jezebel gets word that Jehu is coming, she paints her face, or puts makeup on, and tired^H3190 her head as she looked out a window at Jehu coming toward her.

Tired H3190 yâṭab  yaw-tab’   A primitive root; to be (causatively) make well, literally (sound, beautiful) or figuratively (happy, successful, right): – be accepted, amend, use aright, benefit, be (make) better, seem best, make cheerful, be comely, + be content, diligent (-ly), dress, earnestly, find favour, give, be glad, do (be, make) good ([-ness]), be (make) merry, please (+ well), shew more [kindness], skilfully, X very small, surely, make sweet, thoroughly, tire, trim, very, be (can, deal, entreat, go, have) well [said, seen ].  Total KJV occurrences: 115

1Ki 21:7  And Jezebel his [Ahab’s] wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry^H3190: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

That window and its position signifies her vantage point, which is one that is proud and haughty, very much like a harlot, which she typifies (Pro 5:1-6). The first part of these last few verses inform us of the spirit the we are looking at: “in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah“. Jezebel is the number 11 in spades, “the ruin and disintegration of the perfection of the flesh”, and she demonstrates this dissolution of flesh that must happen within us if the new man is to be created.

It is as Jehu enters the gate that Jezebel asks him “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?“, referring to Zimri who reigned only seven days before he died and “the treason that he wrought” (1Ki 16:15-20). 

2Ki 9:31  Jehu entered the city. Jezebel said, “Hello, you Zimri! Just like him, you killed your master!” (ERV)

1Ki 16:20  Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought [killing king Elah], are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Jehu is not hearing any of this nonsense. He knows who she is, and what she has done, and more importantly for God’s elect, this story tells us how we ought to deal with the harlotry of this world (Rev 18:6) that is found in mystery Babylon represented by Jezebel who was trying to lay a guilt trip on Jehu for doing the Lord’s work. This story reminds us of what a rod of iron rulership will be like in the thousand year reign where all rebellion will be put down by God’s elect.

Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 

2Ki 9:32  And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.

This article of Aaron Lohman brings out the answer of whom is on Jehu’s side, and the only “one” that could be on his side are those going through a process of judgment, as witnessed and typified by the statement, “And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs“. We have the witness of two and, the process of judgment with three, and two and three totalling five, meaning salvation by grace through faith.

As this article explains,

“Eunuchs are officers of kings, and they carry out their king’s orders“

(Excerpt from https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/gospels-in-harmony-mat-191-12-and-mar-1012-part-3/)

How blessed are we to be spiritual eunuchs today for the kingdom of God!

2Ki 9:33  And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. 
2Ki 9:34  And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king’s daughter.

Wow! Could you go and eat and drink right after seeing the grisly death of a woman who was thrown from a window and then trodden under foot by horses? Naturally we couldn’t, but this story is demonstrating for us how little regard God has for flesh and the false doctrines we harbor in it. It was so violent a death that blood was “sprinkled on the wall” and “on the horses“.

As gruesome as this story is, these events have a hope-filled message in them, and they were written for our sakes upon whom the end of the ages is come (1Co 10:11). It is our old man that must be trodden under foot by the powers of this world for 1260 days (Rev 11:2), and it is our old man whose blood must be spilled on our high walls of pride (Pro 18:11) and the horses represent our own strength in the earth within us (Psa 147:10). Jehu did go and eat and drink afterwards because it is after the death of our old man, which is an ongoing process, that we partake of the life of Christ (Joh 6:51). Our past must be buried no matter how ugly it is, and we must never forget that “she is a king’s daughter” meaning she is us in our appointed time, and God has devised a means to save her through Christ and His Christ (2Sa 14:14).

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. 

2Ki 9:35  And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. 
2Ki 9:36  Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: 
2Ki 9:37  And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.

Jezebel represents Babylon that will fall, and not any part of her will remain, as a reminder that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The good news is that her death will bring about new life, and the scriptures go as far as to describe our experience along with Jezebels as nothing more than dung that is passing and being used as a means to an end in this life in this “field”, in this world (Php 3:8, 1Co 15:50, Mat 13:38).

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

What use is your skull, your feet and the palms of your hands in life or death if they are not connected to your body, and these last remnants of Jezebel are a final testimony of what mystery Babylon leaves the world, a very disconnected and vile representation of a body that cannot even be properly buried.

The dogs that feed on Jezebel represent our carnal relationship with Mystery Babylon the Great as we, in our appointed time, partake of her false doctrines and eat her flesh and drink in her false ways. God calls His elect out of this unholy communion with Babylon showing us mercy by converting our hearts so that now we deeply appreciate our communion in Christ which is represented His body and blood which we eat (Joh 6:54-55).

Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

We will never have peace if we are partaking of the table of devils (1Co 10:21), but if we are blessed to ‘come out of her my people’ and share in the true communion of Christ, we will grow and overcome in this life through that proper spiritual communion or altar (Heb 13:10) that is found in Christ’s body (1Co 10:16).

1Co 10:21  Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

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

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

1Ki 21:17-29  “For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground” – Part 2

[Study Aired June 30, 2022]

For we must die, and are as water spilled on the ground, and with no way to be redeemed except through Christ’s blood that was spilled on the earth, which can sanctify the body of Christ as it represents His Words which are Life, or a seed, that brings death to our old man (Eph 1:7, Joh 17:17, Joh 12:24).

Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is 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. [-to believe is to do the work- Joh 8:31]

The water of the word that washes us (Eph 5:26-27) proceeds from the vine Jesus Christ, who is the Word (Joh 1:1), and He is the reason we can be sanctified and cleansed of our old Adamic nature “with the washing of water by the word (wine – blood [Mat 26:28])”

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

Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

If we hear that word and are convicted by that word and act upon that word, proving all things and holding fast to that which is good (1Th 5:21), then we will be saved through that process of judgment in which we continue until our last breath (Joh 8:31-32) symbolized by the words “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD” of Jeremiah 22:29. With God’s words being sanctified within us, we can then in turn sanctify each other with those words and play a part in saving one another in this life as we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ “for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24, Eph 5:30).

1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 

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

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: 

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

“We must needs die”, just as “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Act 14:22), and the life of Elijah the Tishbite typifies for us what is expected of God’s elect who are dying daily and learning to patiently possess our souls (Jas 5:10, Luk 21:19) as we are led by God’s spirit (Rom 8:14-16).

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

Jas 5:10  Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 

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

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:

We can only say ‘our yes is yes’ and ‘our no is no’ of Matthew 5:37 if we are being obedient to the commandments of God.  So, when God tells Elijah “go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria“, he does so and does not make any excuse as to why he cannot; excuses , “What if the king doesn’t like what I have to say?” God tells us in situations of duress “take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak” (Mat 8:21-22 ,  Mat 10:19).

Mat 5:37  But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. 

Mat 8:21  And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 
Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Mat 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

Each of the wise and foolish virgins are “bidden to the wedding” (Mat 22:3) but it is only those who are given to receive the counsel “buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed” (Rev 3:18) who have those garments washed or sanctified by the blood of the lamb who is the author and finisher of that “more precious than of gold” process of having our faith tried in fire in this life through God’s judgments that are upon His house (Rev 19:7, Heb 12:2, 1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17, Jas 1:2-4). Satan did exactly what God required of him.  The point is that a prophet going where he is supposed to go, as Elijah did, is not a conclusive event that shows that the vessel is one of honor or dishonor, any more than Judas who kept following Christ when others had already denied him (Joh 6:67).

Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 

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. 

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

1Pe 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 4:17  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? 

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

The reason I’m bringing up this subject of ‘tried faith’ in this story is because we can easily read about the faithful prophets of old and not realize the life and death situations God put them in was for our sakes, showing us that we are “more than conquerors through him that loved us” (1Co 10:11, Rom 8:37). These stories of the faithful prophets are typical examples of the faith of Jesus Christ that we have today, which tell us nothing can separate us “from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).

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. 

We need to look at these situations of the prophets and all the examples of faith in Hebrews 11:1-40, and remember these things were written for our sakes to encourage us and to remind us that nothing can separate us from the love of God as we are given the ability to endure the trials of this life with the very faith of Jesus Christ and the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5). That God-given faith gives us the power we need to be obedient even as we deny ourselves every day and follow Christ by carrying our cross, which is how we deny ourselves and ultimately overcome by enduring to the end (Luk 22:32, Gal 2:20, 2Ti 1:7, Heb 5:8, Mat 16:24, Mat 24:13).

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

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: [Col 1:27] 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. 

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

1Ki 21:17  And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 
1Ki 21:18  Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.
1Ki 21:19  And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

Elijah gets his marching orders from “the LORD“, and as mentioned, he goes straightway to go do the work of the Lord (Mat 4:20, Heb 11:8, Rom 8:14).

Mat 4:20  And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 

Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 

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

We are God’s workmanship, and Elijah’s meeting “Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria, in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it” is symbolic of where God meets our old man of sin who must be confronted straightway by the prophet for the death of Christ, for which we are guilty, symbolized in this story by the life of Naboth that was taken. The dogs licking the blood of a dead man is symbolic of our returning to our own vomit, our own blood, or words, which are not words of life that can sanctify the earth like the words or Christ but are rather consumed by the beast that we are, to give nourishment to the beast. To clearly witness to that point, both Naboth’s and Ahab’s blood are mentioned as being spilled on the ground and licked up by dogs to remind us that flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50) and only Christ can redeem us with His blood (Pro 26:11, Mat 7:6).

Pro 26:11  As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

Mat 7:6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

The prophet Elijah does not shun to declare the whole gospel (Act 20:27) in type and shadow to Ahab with these words that paint a gruesome story of what is going to befall Ahab: “And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.“

Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. 

1Ki 21:20  And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.

We all “sell ourselves” or “deny Christ” when we “work evil in the sight of the LORD“, and the good that we would we don’t do, but the evil that we don’t want to do that’s what we do (Rom 7:14-17), and if Christ’s spirit is within us, we will overcome this struggle in our heavens, because the Son of man sets us free from sin so we can be free indeed (Joh 8:36). This freedom does not happen all at once, and is a dying daily process that brings us to learn of God’s faithfulness to finish what He has started in His workmanship through Jesus Christ (Heb 12:2, Eph 2:10). Elijah is the enemy of Ahab just as the spirit of God is against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit (Gal 5:17), and what we sow in that flesh we will reap and be found out: “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” (Gal 6:7)

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. [ultimately freed from this double-minded man of Romans 7:13-17 on the third day (Luk 13:32)]

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. 

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. 

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would [Rom 7:14-17].

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap [Rom 9:19-21].

1Ki 21:21  Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, 
1Ki 21:22  And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. 
1Ki 21:23  And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. 
1Ki 21:24  Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. 
1Ki 21:25  But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. 
1Ki 21:26  And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 

The evil that God is going to bring upon Ahab is to take away from him his “posterity”^H310, a symbol for us of God taking away our talent and giving it to someone else (Mat 25:28-29). In the physical sense, it represents everything that is ‘behind’ Ahab, everything that has been established in his life including “him that is shut up and left in Israel“, meaning in type and shadow the things he has bound on earth and in heaven are all being destroyed, the whole root and branch, because that ‘posterity’ represents what our old man builds and develops in this life, our many wonderful works with no acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty over it all (Mal 4:1).

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

H310
‘achar 
posterity  
akh-ar’

From H309; properly the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjugation, after (in various senses): – after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence [-forth], when, with.

Total KJV occurrences: 714

Mat 25:28  Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 
Mat 25:29  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

Notice that the curse which comes upon Ahab and Jezebel is spoken of as being against the wall, and by the wall of Jezreel^H3157. This wall of Jezreel, in the negative sense, is a symbol of the idols of our heart, and the word means “God will sow“, telling us that God is the one who is sovereign over this whole process of light and dark and good and evil (Isa 45:7) about which we are learning in this story of Ahab and Jezebel. He created us to be a marred vessel in the Potter’s hand that is either redeemed in this life or the next, which reminds us of 2 Samuel 14:14 and Romans 9:22-23.

Jezreel – H3157 
yizr
e‛ê’l 
yiz-reh-ale’

From H2232 and H410; God will sow; Jizreel, the name of two places in Palestine and of two Israelites: – Jezreel.

Total KJV occurrences: 36

H410  
‘êl  
ale

Shortened from H352; strength; as adjective mighty; especially the Almighty (but used also of any deity): – God (god), X goodly, X great, idol, might (-y one), power, strong. Compare names in “-el.”

Total KJV occurrences: 242

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

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: [“yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him“]
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

For further contrast, Ahab is compared to his proteges telling him that he is no better, and in fact is worse, than them: “like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat (1Ki 14:1-12), and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah (1Ki 15:33-34, 1Ki 16:1-4), for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin“. Even as Ahab is digesting these strong rebukes from the prophet, he is further told “And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.“

1Ki 14:10  Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. 
1Ki 14:11  Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it. 

1Ki 16:2  Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; 
1Ki 16:3  Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Jezebel is the wife of Ahab, and therefore they are one, and she represents his spiritual state of mind which is corrupt like hers, and therefore he is pronounced with the same fate: “Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.” Again, it is not just Ahab who is going to die but all those who are connected to him, and the death, although physical, is represented to us in the terms used to show us that those to whom we are joined in our folly and our disobedience are devoured by dogs, which is a symbol of spiritual depravity (Tit 1:12). The fowls of the air show the dream-is-one principle in that it is speaking of the same point. “The field” is the world, and the fowls represent the evil spirits which are going to destroy those connected to Ahab in the world (Deu 28:15, Deu 28:26).

Deu 28:15  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: 

Deu 28:26  And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

The casting “out before the children of Israel” of “the Amorites” is typical language that says these same words of Christ: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” as He delivers us from every abominable idol of our hearts, the most persistent one being that we don’t see that these words of God are speaking of the chief of sinners, who we are (1Ti 1:15), along with Jezebel who represents our inability without Christ to be seduced by Babylon out of which God alone can drag us. “But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.” It is when God brings us to see our hopeless and helpless situation as a result of the fullness of the sins of the “Amorites” being fulfilled in our life that we are then delivered from ourselves (Gen 15:16).

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

1Ki 21:27  And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
1Ki 21:28  And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 
1Ki 21:29  Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.

Although God did postpone the evil that would come upon Ahab’s house due to his repentant heart, the “posterity” of Ahab that God said he would take away from him was inevitable, and so God’s judgments were temporarily withheld and then unleashed as prophesied “in his son’s days” did God “bring the evil upon his house”, similar to king Solomon whose curse was visited in the generation after him with his son king Rehoboam (Deu 5:9, 1Ki 11:11-12). In both kings’ lives, Ahab and Solomon, there was an abuse of power and an entitled spirit that had little and no regard for the commandments of God as they sowed to their flesh. The end result of that disobedience is always the same and is written for our sakes (1Co 10:11) to help us learn that God is a just God who tells us what we sow we will reap. He is the one who orchestrates all of it at the appointed time (Gal 6:7).

The reason God delays these punishments at certain times is to remind us that when one member of the body of Christ sins, we are all affected by that behavior, and “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” is an old covenant expression of telling us that sin can have long-term consequences for all those who commit sin, and for those who are in the midst of the leaven that can leaven the whole lump (Gal 5:9, 1Co 5:13, Heb 12:15).

Deu 5:9  Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, 

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. 

Gal 5:9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 

1Co 5:13  But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. 

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

In the end, the prophetic words of Elijah come to pass as we will read in the last chapter of first Kings, where we learn of how Ahab died in battle, this telling us again that God is a just God who judges us for our sins (1Ki 22:38). It would seem very pointless to be reading these stories if we were not given to understand that we are looking at events that reflect the one event that is common unto all man, each man in his order, and that being the judgment of God (Ecc 3:9). That judgment and the blessing it will ultimately bring upon all the world, is the salvation of all which leads us back to our title “For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground” in order to become that means-to-an-end body of Christ that God will use to save the rest of the world “that his banished be not expelled from him” (Oba 1:21).

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: [Rom 9:19-21] yet doth he devise means [Oba 1:21], that his banished be not expelled from him. 

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

[Study Aired May 22, 2022]

Jer 39:1  In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.
Jer 39:2  And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.
Jer 39:3  And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
Jer 39:4  And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
Jer 39:5  But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
Jer 39:6  Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Jer 39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
Jer 39:8  And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
Jer 39:9  Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained.
Jer 39:10  But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
Jer 39:11  Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,
Jer 39:12  Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.
Jer 39:13  So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushasban, Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s princes;
Jer 39:14  Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.
Jer 39:15  Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
Jer 39:16  Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.
Jer 39:17  But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid.
Jer 39:18  For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.

The first two verses of this chapter tell us how long the siege of Jerusalem lasted:

Jer 39:1  In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.
Jer 39:2  And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.

Jerusalem is the great whore in type in this story, and Isaiah makes that very clear in the very first chapter of his prophecy:

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

Isaiah even calls Jerusalem ‘Sodom’.

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 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
Isa 3:9  The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

The reason Jerusalem is signified by a harlot is to let us know that the great whore of Revelation 17-18 is a “Mystery” to this world:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

The Greek word translated as ‘mystery’ is:

G3466
μυστήριον
mustērion
moos-tay’-ree-on

From a derivative of μύω muō (to shut the mouth); a secret or “mystery” (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites): – mystery.

“Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots” is a ‘musterion’ because she is the Lord’s own apostate covenant people. What we all at first fail to realize is that God had a covenant with Noah and his seed long before He was in covenant with Abraham and his seed:

Gen 9:8  And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
Gen 9:9  And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

While the only stipulations of this covenant are:

1) Gen 9:3  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

2) Gen 9:4(a)  But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

3) Gen 9:4(b) “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed”.

4) Gen 9:5  And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.

This is still a covenant with Noah and his seed (Gen 9:9), therefore all men are in covenant with God, and all religions of mankind are part of the whore and her daughters.

Jer 39:2  And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.

From the tenth month of the ninth year to the fourth month of the eleventh year means that the siege lasted 18 months, or a year and a half, and the famine in the city was severe:

Jer 52:5  So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
Jer 52:6  And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

The number ‘nine’ as we all know, signifies judgment:

Jer 39:3  And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.

In our King James version of the bible, there appears to be six princes here, two of whom have the same name. We will not go into the meaning of all these names. If we had the time to do so, it would be easy to make the case that there are just three princes with the first name being their name and the second name being their title. Here is a cut and paste from the Jamison-Fausset-Brown Commentary on the titles attached to each first name:

“Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo — proper names formed from those of the idols, Nergal and Nebo (2Ki 17:30, Isa 46:1).
Rab-saris — meaning “chief of the eunuchs.”
Rab-mag — chief of the magi; brought with the expedition in order that its issue might be foreknown through his astrological skill. Mag is a Persian word, meaning “great…powerful.” The magi were a sacerdotal [priest] caste among the Medes, and supported the Zoroastrian religion.”

Jer 39:4  And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
Jer 39:5  But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
Jer 39:6  Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.

As Jeremiah had prophesied, Zedekiah did indeed see the face of Nebuchadnezzar:

Jer 32:4  And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;

These are the words the Lord gave to Jeremiah, and Jeremiah remained faithful to these very unpopular and unpatriotic words. With His life at stake, Jeremiah repeated the words of the Lord to wicked King Zedekiah, just before the breach of the city by the armies of Babylon. This is from last week’s study:

Jer 38:13  So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

As severe as the circumstances were, Jeremiah remained faithful to what the Lord had told him would be the fate of the king of the kingdom of apostate Judah, the Old Testament type of the great whore (Isa 1:21):

Jer 38:14  Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.
Jer 38:15  Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?

This all happened, and it is all written down to let us know that the kingdom of our own old wicked ‘king… the man of sin’ within us, is doomed to destruction and was “made to be taken and destroyed”:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: ‘tupos’, types of us]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked [our old king] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Evil men like wicked King Nebuchadnezzar are the Lord’s sword which He uses to punish His own wayward elect:

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

The Lord even uses our own wicked old king as His sword to correct us.

Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

The ten horns on the beast of Revelation 17 symbolize our flesh when it becomes aware of how the whore has deceived and abused the beast. It is our own carnal mind which will hate the great whore and will be used by the Lord to destroy that harlot system by “eating her flesh and burn[ing] her with fire” just as Nebuchadnezzar did in a literal sense, to Jerusalem:

Jer 39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
Jer 39:8  And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.

While all of this has a primary inward application, Jeremiah would have been disobedient to the Lord to have only applied these words to Himself and failed to warn the great whore in whose kingdom He lived his physical life. Jeremiah had already been through the inward fire of the Lord’s Word and was now required by the Lord to proclaim an outward judgment upon the great whore of Isaiah 1:21 quoted above. The Lord first deceives us and burns out our own old man before He uses us to warn others. Jeremiah is a type of 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.
Jer 20:11  But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
Jer 20:12  But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.

This story of how the Lord delivered Jeremiah is written to encourage each of us to be faithful to the Words of the Lord even as ‘all our familiars watch for our halting’, hoping to see us cave into the pressures of the persecutions and tribulations which we must endure to the end:

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Our physical brothers and our physical “familiars”, our friends and the society in which we live, will hate us and persecute us if we follow in the footsteps of Christ and do the things He commands us to do and abide in His words:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him [types of today’s Christians], If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth [Christ], and the truth [Christ] shall make you free.

Jeremiah typifies those who know Christ and who depend on Him for their salvation even if they are threatened with physical death. It is only if we are willing to forfeit this life that the Lord will give us life:

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 10:40  He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Jeremiah had sunk down in the mire of the pit and was taken from the pit to witness the Lord’s judgment upon his enemies and all those who had persecuted him. So, it is with all of us who are given to remain faithful to the end:

Jer 39:9  Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained.
Jer 39:10  But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

Leaving the poor of the land and giving them vineyards and fields is an entirely physical event in the history of this unfaithful nation with whom the Lord was in a covenant. Nevertheless, this event typifies these spiritual words from the mouth of our Lord:

Mat 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The “poor in spirit” know they have what they have only as a gift from God and not of themselves. Those who take credit for their works are the opposite of being “poor in spirit”. Jeremiah knew that his life was spared by the Lord Himself and not because of anything he had done of himself. Jeremiah knew that Nebuchadnezzar’s heart was in the hands of the Lord:

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart [Your heart and my heart] is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

The Lord had made Nebuchadnezzar aware of the prophecies of Jeremiah, and the Lord gave Jeremiah favor in the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar:

Jer 39:11  Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,
Jer 39:12  Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.
Jer 39:13  So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushasban, Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s princes;
Jer 39:14  Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.

This is an incredible honor being bestowed upon the Lord’s faithful elect. This event typifies the fulfillment of these inspired words:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Pro 16:8  Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.

There had been many days through the years of Jeremiah’s prophecies in which he had very “little with righteousness”. He has ‘very little’ while in the pit and in the prison, but he remained faithful to the Words of the Lord, and now the Lord was making “even his enemies to be at peace with him”.

The holy spirit concludes this chapter of Jeremiah by taking us back to Jeremiah’s time in the pit and in prison to remind us that when we receive the Lord’s elect, we are receiving the Lord Himself:

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

The Lord does not forget us when we remain faithful to Him and to His body of elect believers. He is “a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”:

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.

This is what the Lord had Jeremiah to prophesy concerning Ebedmelech the Ethiopian who had been used by the Lord to save Jeremiah’s life from death in the pit:

Jer 39:15  Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
Jer 39:16  Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.
Jer 39:17  But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid.
Jer 39:18  For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.

As we just read in Hebrews 11:6, He that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

There are many examples throughout the Bible of how the Lord preserves His faithful through the trials He places upon them. Beginning with Abel, who was slain by his older brother, Enoch, who was taken away so he would not die, and then continuing on generation after generation, the Lord reveals how He delivered His faithful from those who would hurt them. But He first must give us the gift of “faith that He is” and that He will reward us for our fidelity to Him and to His promise of life. This promise of life is not necessarily in this present time, but life eonian in the ages to come.

I will conclude this study with a few verses on just how important it is that we have faith in the promises of God:

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.

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

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:2  For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Heb 11:4  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Heb 11:5  By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased 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.
Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Heb 11:9  By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Heb 11:11  Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Heb 11:12  Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Heb 11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
Heb 11:16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Heb 11:17  By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
Heb 11:18  Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
Heb 11:19  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Heb 11:20. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Heb 11:21  By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
Heb 11:22  By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
Heb 11:23  By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
Heb 11:28  Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Heb 11:29  By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
Heb 11:30  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
Heb 11:31  By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
Heb 11:32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Heb 11:35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Heb 11:36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

It is only if we are given the ability to believe the Lord’s Words that we will be the overcomers and the recipients of all the promises made exclusively to the overcomers of Revelation 2 and 3:

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Let us all pray that the Lord, through His gift of faith, will give each of us “respect unto the recompense of the reward” and not treat our birthright with the lack of respect that Esau treated his birthright.

Exo 7:1-25 For the Magicians of Egypt Cast Down Their Every Man his Rod, and They Became Serpents

[Study Aired April 25, 2022]

Exo 7:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 
Exo 7:2  Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. 
Exo 7:3  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 
Exo 7:4  But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 
Exo 7:5  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. 
Exo 7:6  And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they. 
Exo 7:7  And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh. 
Exo 7:8  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Exo 7:9  When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. 
Exo 7:10  And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 
Exo 7:11  Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 
Exo 7:12  For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 
Exo 7:13  And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. 
Exo 7:14  And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. 
Exo 7:15  Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. 
Exo 7:16  And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. 
Exo 7:17  Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 
Exo 7:18  And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river. 
Exo 7:19  And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. 
Exo 7:20  And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 
Exo 7:21  And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 
Exo 7:22  And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said. 
Exo 7:23  And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. 
Exo 7:24  And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. 
Exo 7:25  And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

A key lesson that the Lord takes us through as we walk with Him is for us to learn to depend wholly on Him and not on ourselves. The Lord, therefore, brings us to this point of realizing that all our abilities count nothing in His presence and what counts is to have the faith of Jesus to depend on Him. When we come to this point, then we have found rest in Him.

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

The Lord’s encounter with Moses in the preceding chapters is to make Moses realize that he can do nothing concerning the Lord’s plan of salvation. Moses learned through his failures that indeed he did not have what it takes to bring the Lord’s people out of bondage. It was all the work of the Lord. Once Moses had learned this lesson, he was ready to confront Pharaoh for the release of the people of God. That is when we see the strong or mighty hand of the Lord in dealing with the beast or the old man signified by Pharoah.

Exo 3:19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
Exo 3:20  And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

This chapter deals with the strong hand of the Lord in dealing with Pharaoh who signifies the old man or the beast within.

Exo 7:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 

We are told here that Moses shall be a God to Aaron. What this means is that through us (Moses), salvation shall come to all our brothers and sisters in Babylon and all of humanity, including the Old Testament prophets signified by Aaron.

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

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

In another perspective, Moses represents our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God to us, and Aaron stands for the elect. We are the mouthpiece or prophet of our Lord.

2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Exo 7:2  Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
Exo 7:3  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

We are reminded here to observe all that the Lord is telling us through His words. We may not see any significant progress regarding the death of the beast within, but we are assured that the Lord’s strong hand, signifying his signs and wonders, is putting the beast within or the old man to death while we walk in this world (land of Egypt). We sometimes get discouraged or frustrated when the old man rears its head in our lives, but here the Lord is telling us that He is the author of all that happens to the beast and its ultimate demise. The Lord is also telling us that the reason the old man’s death is not a one-time event is that it affords the Lord the occasion to confirm to us this great salvation of the Lord through the multiplication of His signs and wonders in our situation. This has the effect of strengthening our faith in Him.

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Heb 2:4  God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Exo 7:4  But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
Exo 7:5  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

In verse 4, the Lord was talking to Moses about His strong hand of great judgments to bring forth His armies. This is to let us know that enlisting in the great armies of the Lord entails going through His strong hand of great judgment.

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

As we shall see later, Pharoah or the beast within could resist the Lord’s word, but he could not resist the Lord’s hand of judgment.

Exo 7:6  And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.
Exo 7:7  And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

Our call is a call of obedience. If we profess that we love the Lord, then, we must express this love through obedience of His word for our own benefit.

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

In verse 7, we are told that Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was three years older, when they spoke to Pharaoh. According to the scriptures, being eighty years and over is regarded as an old age where one’s natural strength had failed. So, the mention of Moses and Aaron’s age is to let us know that they had realized that they cannot execute the Lord’s agenda in their “failed natural strength” and cannot discern between what is good and evil or taste what we eat or drink. This means that Moses and Aaron were basically blind and needed help. That is when they found rest in depending on the Lord to do what He had purposed. We all need to be “eighty or over” spiritually to find rest in the Lord.

2Sa 19:32  Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old [eighty]: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.

2Sa 19:35  I am this day fourscore years old [eighty]: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?

Jdg 3:30  So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

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

Exo 7:9  When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
Exo 7:10  And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

As we have indicated, Pharaoh represents the old man or the flesh. One key characteristic of the flesh is that it puts more premium on signs and wonders or miracles than spiritual reality. It is therefore no wonder that Pharaoh would require a miracle from Moses and Aaron. Jesus, knowing the flesh, made the following statement about how we cherish signs and wonders when we are dominated by the flesh:

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.

1Co 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

Knowing this, the evil one always comes to deceive us with signs and wonders.

2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

As we indicated in prior studies, the rod that Aaron held is Christ. To cast to the ground means to destroy as used in the following:

2Sa 8:2  And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts.

Thus, Aaron casting down the rod is the same as showing how the flesh of Christ was destroyed, resulting in a resurrected Christ who is able to save us. This is the fiery serpent who is able to save us.

Num 21:8  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Num 21:9  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

This means that the serpent resulting from the rod being cast by Aaron is the resurrected Christ who is able to save us as we look up to Him. However, to those who are not given to know Christ in this life, this serpent, who is the resurrected Christ, rather darkens their understanding. As we shall see in verse 13, Pharaoh, representing the flesh, became hardened by the rod of Moses turning into a serpent.

Exo 7:11  Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
Exo 7:12  For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
Exo 7:13  And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

The wise men and the sorcerers, collectively called the magicians of Egypt, represent the leaders in Babylon. They also represent what Paul calls the disputers of this world.

1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

The casting down of the rod of these magicians of Egypt and the turning of their rods into serpents before Moses and Aaron is to let us know that all that is in the world and in Babylon is under the spell of the devil who is represented here as a serpent.

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Just as Christ stands for the word of God or truth, the devil or Satan or the serpent is synonymous with deception or lies (man’s wisdom). The rods of the magicians therefore represent lies. As indicated, the serpent from the rod of Aaron stands for Christ who is the truth. Aaron’s rod swallowing up the rods of the magicians of the Egyptians means that where the truth of the word of the Lord is, lies are expelled. Another way of saying this is that where there is light, darkness is expelled.

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

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5 And the light [Truth] shineth in darkness [Lies]; and the darkness [Lies] comprehended it not.

The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in verse 13 is the same as saying that in the camp of the Egyptians or Babylon, the light of Christ is a cloud and darkness to them.

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Exo 7:14  And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

The Lord telling Moses that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, resulting in his refusal to let the people of Israel go, is to let us know that the old man or the beast within (Pharaoh) is a formidable opposition who would not die without a fight. This old man or the beast within is the great mountain spoken off by the Lord to Zerubbabel that its removal is not by might nor power but by the spirit of the Lord (the word of Christ).

Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Zec 4:7  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Zec 4:8  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Zec 4:9  The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you [The Lord who starts knows how to finish].

Zechariah chapter 4:7 shows us that it is through the chastening grace that this mountain (old man) becomes a plain (dies).

Exo 7:15  Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
Exo 7:16  And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.

Pharaoh going out to the water in the morning is to let us know the water with which our old man or the beast within is familiar. This water is the water of Egypt or Babylon which is the lies or the deception of the devil, which seems like the truth but does not satisfy. As Jesus said, when we are hooked to this water, we continually will go for more lies to cover up initial lies. This is the water that our old man is acquainted with. The old man cannot accept the truth which destroys it. This is the water that we have imbibed in our lives until Christ came to us with His word of Truth.

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

In verse 15, the Lord commands us to stand at the brink of the river with the rod in hand. As indicated, this rod is Christ. To stand at the brink is to overcome this river of lies with the truth. Thus, it is when Christ comes to us (having the rod in hand) we can overcome this river of lies. That is the time that we are able to withstand the resistance of the beast or the old man within (verse 16).

Exo 7:17  Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 
Exo 7:18  And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river. 
Exo 7:19  And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

As indicated, this river of the world and Babylon represents the false doctrines in our heavens. The river turning into blood is to show us the true nature of the doctrines we receive in Babylon. It is when the rod is used to smite the waters that it turns into blood. This is another way of saying that it is when Christ comes to us with His words (brightness) that we see that we are all murderers of the Lord and His elect, thinking we are doing God a service.  This does not mean that we physically killed anybody. However, resisting the words of the Lord and that of His elect or hating the Lord and His elect all amount to killing them.

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

Joh 16:2  They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
Joh 16:3  And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

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.

We are first vessels of wood and hay before we become vessels of precious stones. This means that verse 19 saying that blood must be found in both vessels of wood and stone is to confirm the fact that we are guilty of the death of Christ and His elect.

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.

Exo 7:20  And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
Exo 7:21  And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

The effect of drinking from this water of blood is that we die, just like fish die in polluted water. Dying, spiritually, means that we are alienated from the life of Christ. Fish symbolize humanity.

Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Another way of saying that we die from this water of Egypt is that we become worse off than when we even started our walk with Christ.

2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it; to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Exo 7:22  And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.
Exo 7:23  And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.

The magicians of Egypt turning their water into blood by their own enchantment is what hardened Pharaoh’s heart such that he refused to let the people of Israel go. Another way of saying that the magicians of Egypt did the same thing is by saying that the beast does great wonders and deceives them that dwell on the earth by means of miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Exo 7:24  And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
Exo 7:25  And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

The digging around for water is what has created several religious bodies with each digging their own water.

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

The fact that it took seven days after the Lord had smitten the river is to let us know that it takes a complete period of time in our walk with Christ to realize our guilt for the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and His prophets.