The Spiritual Significance of Numbers – Eight Signifies New Beginnings, The New Man

[Study Aired January 30, 2026]

Lev 12:3  And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

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.

“Another vessel” is ‘a new vessel of clay’, “the new man” in the true “image of Him that created him.”

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man [“another vessel”, (Jer 18:4)], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

It is “the eighth… beast” which “goeth into perdition.” It is only through his perdition, his destruction, his death, the death of the eighth beast, that he becomes “the image of Him that created him.” “The first man Adam” was never “in the image of God” as the King James Version reads:

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

As we will see in this study, that verse reveals that God is in the process of creating mankind “after the image of Him that created him” (Col 3:10). God is in the process of creating “the new man”, and it is only that “new man” who is “in the image of Him that created him.”

The name ‘Seth’ is defined as “in the stead of.”

Gen 4:25  And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Gen 4:26  And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

Abel signifies our slain Savior whose ‘blood cries out from the ground.’

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto [H413: ‘el’, against] thee shall be his desire, and [in the end] thou shalt rule over him.

This Hebrew word ‘H413, el’, translated as ‘unto’ here in Genesis 4:7 is the same word translated ‘unto’ and ‘to’ in this verse of the previous chapter where the Lord is pronouncing judgment against the serpent and Adam and Eve. This verse is His judgment against Eve.

Gen 3:16  Unto [H413: against] the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to [H413: against] thy husband, and [in the end] he shall rule over thee.

Eve’s curse was not that she would want to please her husband. That would be a blessing. Her curse was to oppose and be against her husband. That is indeed a curse. Sin’s desire was not to please God through Cain. That would be a blessing.  Cain’s curse was to be led by “the law of sin in [his] members warring against the law of his mind” (Rom 7:23):

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

The very next verse following Genesis 4:7 gives us the proper translation of this Hebrew word ‘el’ in the context of the three verses we are considering… Gen 3:16; Gen 4:7 and this verse:

Gen 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against [H413: ‘el’, against] Abel his brother, and slew him.

The reason Cain slew Abel was the same reason the Jews slew Christ, and that was the very same reason Joseph’s brother wanted to kill him before Reuben and Judah talked them into putting Joseph in a pit, signifying his death, before selling Him into Egypt. Here is that reason in all three cases, Cain, Joseph and Christ:

Gen 37:2  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
Gen 37:5  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Gen 37:6  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
Gen 37:7  For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. [His doctrines]
Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
Gen 37:11  And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Joseph was “the son of [Jacob’s… Israel’s] old age” just as we, too, are “called the sons of God” here in “the end of the world, the end of the ages.”

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.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

They “hated him and could not speak peaceably to him” (Gen 37:4).  His brothers “hated him for his words” (Gen 37:8) “His brethren envied him” (Gen 37:11).

Why did they hate him? They hated him because his father loved him more that he loved his other ten sons. They hated him because the Lord had shown him that he would rule over his ten brothers. They also hated him because he “brought unto his father their evil report” (Gen 37:2):

Gen 37:2  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah [Dan and Naphtali], and with the sons of Zilpah [Gad and Asher], his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

All of this is mirrored in how Israel received their Savior. They hated Him because His Father loved Him more that He loved the Jews who hated Christ:

Joh 10:17  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Their physical ‘brother’ and fellow Israelite brought to His Father their evil report:

Mat 21:12  And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
Mat 21:13  And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

The chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees “envied” Christ because of the multitudes which were flocking after Him and being healed by Christ and His Father:

Mat 27:17  Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
Mat 27:18  For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

Mar 15:9  But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Mar 15:10  For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.

Joh 11:41  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
Joh 11:42  And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 11:43  And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
Joh 11:44  And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Joh 11:45  Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
Joh 11:46  But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.
Joh 11:47  Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
Joh 11:48  If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

Christ’s own nation, His brothers, were definitely jealous of Him, just as Joseph’s brothers had said ‘will this man rule over us?’

Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

This is the spirit of “[their] father the devil]” (Joh 8:44) which Christ referred to in His parable of the ten servants and the ten pounds:

Luk 19:12  He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
Luk 19:13  And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
Luk 19:14  But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

The Jews hated Christ because Christ considered them to be of another Father and not of His Father:

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.

Eight signifies Christ as both the first and the last Adam:

Gen 5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of [the first man] Adam, which was the son of God.

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.

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Physical circumcision signified the beginning of putting off of the sins of the flesh:

Gen 17:12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

Gen 21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

Eight, in its negative application, signifies the end of our time in service to our flesh:

Jdg 3:8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
Jdg 3:9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD [after eight years of slavery], the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, [even] Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

King David, a type of Christ, was the eighth son of Jesse:

1Sa 17:12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

1Sa 17:14 (a) And David was the youngest: [the eighth]

King David’s “chief …captain” slew eight hundred man “at one time”:

2Sa 23:8 These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

Eight signifies a giving spirit:

Ecc 11:1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
Ecc 11:2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

It is through the Number eight we approach the temple:

Eze 40:31 And the arches thereof [of the south side of the temple] were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had eight steps.

Eze 40:34 And the arches thereof [of the east side of the temple] were toward the outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.

Eze 40:37 And the posts thereof [of the north gate] were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.

Here is the spiritual antitype of these eight steps up to the temple:

Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

There were eight tables for offering the sacrifices, four on each side of the temple. There were four on the north side, and there were four on the south side:

Eze 40:39  And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.
Eze 40:40  And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables.
Eze 40:41  Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew their sacrifices.

The firstborn of our herds and of our flocks were to be given to the Lord on the eighth day:

Exo 22:29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
Exo 22:30 Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.

The burnt offering and the sin offerings for the days of the consecration of the priests and for the sins of the people were to be offered on the eighth day, after seven days of consecration of the priests:

Lev 8:33 And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you.
Lev 8:34 As he hath done this day, so the LORD hath commanded to do, to make an atonement for you.
Lev 8:35 Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that ye die not: for so I am commanded.
Lev 8:36 So Aaron and his sons did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

Lev 9:1 And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel;
Lev 9:2 And he said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer [them] before the LORD.

Lev 9:7 And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make an atonement for thyself, and for the people: and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them; as the LORD commanded.

Circumcision, signifying the putting off of the flesh, took place on the eighth day:

Lev 12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

“Circumcision… of the heart, in the spirit” takes place only in our spiritual eighth day, the day we begin to be transformed into a new man:

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.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man [on the spiritual eighth day], which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image [not of the first Adam, but after the image] of him that created him:
Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

The Eighth Man in Micah is Christ “whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting.”

Mic 5:1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Mic 5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
Mic 5:4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
Mic 5:5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him [the Assyrian] seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
Mic 5:6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria [Babylon] with the sword [of the Word of God], and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian [Babylon – “the land of Nimrod], when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

The ”eight principal men” of this 5^th chapter of Micah are the “Christ [of] our Lord.”

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

Christ comes to us only “when [the Assyrian] shall tread in our palaces (Mic 5:5). Therefore, the new man or “eight principal men” come to deliver us only after we have begun to be judged and are beginning to be purified and consecrated.

The New Testament

John the Baptist and Christ were both circumcised on the eighth day, signifying the fact that He does not come to deliver us until our seven days of being judged and consecrated in these vessels of clay:

Luk 1:59  And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
Luk 1:60  And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.

Luk 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Christ appeared to His disciples after His resurrection – “after eight days.”

Joh 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: [then] came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Deliverance came to Aeneas, and he began a new life after eight years of being bedridden:

Act 9:33 And there he [Peter] found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy.

There were eight people on the ark, and Noah is called “the eighth person.”

1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Paul was circumcised the eighth day “an Hebrew of Hebrews.”

Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

It is expedient that we understand that the eighth man cannot appear until after seven days of the judging and purifying and consecrating of our old man. That is the meaning of this verse:

Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Now that we know that the number eight signifies the new man and new beginnings let’s take note of where the word ‘new’ appears in the New Testament:

1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

1Co 11:25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.

2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man [be] in Christ,  he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. [Circumcised in spirit on the spiritual eighth day]

Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man [the “consecrated man” – Lev 8:33 – and then offer a sin offering], which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: [It was Christ who created them male and female, but they were not yet “after the image of Him that created him” while yet in “vessels of clay”]

Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Heb 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

1Jn 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

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 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Conclusion:

Eight is the number of the new man, the overcomer who is, “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20) offers himself as a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1), and fills up in his body what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24).

Pro 7:1-27

“Keep My Commandments, and Live”

[Study Aired Jan 2, 2024]

“Blessed are they who read, hear, and keep the sayings of this book” (Rev 1:3) includes this seventh chapter of Proverbs, and there is not one section of scripture that does not have some application to what God is doing in His workmanship that we are (2Ti 3:16 , Eph 2:10).

We are only “reading, and hearing and keeping the words of God” if we have been blessed to have been given eyes that see and ears that hear those words (Mat 13:16).

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

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

These opening verses of (Pro 7:1-5) are full of admonition for God’s elect to be wholehearted in our pursuit of truth as we present our lives to God as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2), knowing that with such a heart and desire we will be kept “from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words”, which represents Babylon’s flattering words and ways, described in these verses, (Pro 7:6-12), that consist of her two hundred million lies (Rev 9:16-18).

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

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

Babylon promised our head, Jesus Christ, all the abundant riches that she possesses, through Satan (Pro 7:13-21 , Mat 4:4-11 , 1Jn 4:17). Christ rejected all such abundance, and the church would later confirm that all the riches of this world are not to be compared to the glory of knowing God and his Son Jesus Christ (Php 3:8-9).

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

Then, the next section of Proverbs we will look at, (Pro 7:22-23), reminds us that we are all overtaken by Babylon and go into her, so that we can ‘come out of her my people’, Lord willing in this age. Christ is typified by Moses having gone into Egypt, the world, the flesh realm, and was called out of it (sinful flesh), called to lose his life as we are, in order to find it (Mat 16:25 , Rev 18:4). Moses is typical of Christ who is the author and finisher of our sojourn of faith (Heb 12:2) that takes the Israel of God out of Egypt, out of Babylon (Hos 11:1 , Gal 6:16 , Rev 18:4).

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt (1Jn 3:1).

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

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

The final admonition for God’s elect in this seventh chapter is found in (Pro 7:24-27), where we’re commanded to make our ways ‘straight’ (Mat 7:13-14).

Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction (Mat 7:26-27), and many there be which go in thereat: (Mat 22:14)
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.(Mat 22:14)

Pro 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Pro 7:2  Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple^H380 of thine eye.

This section of scripture gives us instruction on how to wholeheartedly serve the Lord. First and foremost we are to “keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee“(Rev 1:3 , Mat 6:33-34 , Rom 10:17 , Eph 6:16).

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

Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

If we take anxious thought for the morrow, that will become our focus, as opposed to seeking the kingdom of God first, and so it is only when we keep God’s commandments that we can truly enter into life (Mat_19:17), by making His law the apple^H380 of our eye. When we have a singular focus on Christ, looking to the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2), we are putting that relationship of faith above all other relationships. In other words, if we make Christ’s example the apple of our eye, we will find Him, and God will make His strength perfect through those who abide in the truth, which is where our Father and Christ will make their abode (Rom 12:1-3 , Mat 6:33 , 2Co 11:3 , Joh 14:20-23).

2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity [singleness]^G572 that is in Christ.

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

apple H380. ‘ı̂yshôn

BDB Definition:

1) pupil of the eye
2) middle of the night (that is the deepest blackness)

Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: diminutive from

simplicity  G572   haplotēs hap-lot’-ace

From G573; singleness, that is, (subjectively) sincerity (without dissimulation or self seeking), or (objectively) generosity (copious bestowal): – bountifulness, liberal (-ity), simplicity, singleness.
Total KJV occurrences: 8

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is (2Co 4:7), there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single^G573, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Pro 7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
Pro 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
Pro 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

There is a saying in the earth that goes, “blood is thicker than water”. In other words, Adamic relationships with our family should take precedence over all other physical relationships we have in the world. In principle this is true, “if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1Ti 5:8).

For God’s elect however, [spiritual] water must become thicker than [adamic] blood, through a miraculous relationship that Christ and his body have, where we are commanded to, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10), but not to the exclusion or neglecting of our own physical families. We can take care of the world as we have opportunity, but we can only be washed with the water of the word, or the blood of Christ, via the body of Christ who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Joh 13:14 , Eph 5:26, 1Jn 5:8 , Mat 12:48-50).

Joh 13:14  If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. 

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

1Jn 5:8  And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 

The way we interact and treat our physical families is a reflection of our faith or lack of faith with the body of Christ. At the same time having said this, Christ admonishes us that we must be willing to put Christ and His words above every relationship in the flesh, if we are to become disciples indeed of our Lord (Luk 14:26-27 , Joh 8:31-32 , Act 5:29).

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 
Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 

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.

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 

Seeking the kingdom of God first and his righteousness, is symbolized by these words, “Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart“, that reflect a life that has been bound to the altar of God (Psa 118:27). 

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

It is when we have this type of relationship with God and Christ (Joh 17:3) that we can begin to say to Christ, who is our wisdom (1Co 1:30), that “you are our sister”,  through the church, and “our kinswoman”,  through the church, who ‘brings us understanding’ (Act 9:5): “Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman“. Those words of eternal life that we receive through the church, should be the pearl of great price in our hearts that have us looking nowhere else (Joh 6:68), as they alone can keep us “from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words“.

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

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 

Pro 7:6  For at the window of my house I looked through my casement^H822,
Pro 7:7  And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 
Pro 7:8  Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 
Pro 7:9  In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 
Pro 7:10  And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 
Pro 7:11  (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: 
Pro 7:12  Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 

We see in these, verses what happens when we are void of understanding, causing us to be overtaken by the harlotries that are found in the churches of this world. 

It is only when we are in the house of the Lord that we can look back at our spiritual adulteries as we see our former conversations (Eph 2:1-3) being played out in others, as we look “through my casement^H822“.  The only other use of the word ‘casement’ is in (Jdg 5:28), where the mother of Sisera, whose name is not given, is lamenting over the death of her son, the former commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor who was killed by Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, in the infamous tent peg episode, that was driven through his skull (Jdg 4:8-22). 

No commentators recognize the lack of leadership that Israel possessed when Deborah became the fourth and only female judge of Israel. It was through her leadership that God would cause Israel to go on to prosper and prevail against the king of Canaan, “on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan” (Jdg 4:24).

It all sounds like a good story for Israel, to see these two woman taking charge where there was a lack of leadership in the nation, Jael who killed Sisera and Deborah who was now the female judge in Israel. However getting back to our study of proverbs, we need to consider that this only other use of the word casement^H822 in God’s word is with another person who is looking through lattice and beholding a male figure being overcome by the harlot going into her house, which is typified by Sisera going into the house of Jael who was the wife of Heber the Kenite. 

What happens when men don’t rule their house well is that women, who typify the church, negatively in this instance, take charge. God gave Israel leaders because they rejected Him as their sovereign leader (1Sa 8:7), and this leadership of Deborah and emboldened actions of Jael is symbolic of how Babylon make strides in this world, even when the leadership roles are reversed, the female being the head and not the man (1Co 11:3). God answers us according to the idol of our hearts, and when men don’t lead by submitting to Christ, it won’t be long until women assume the role of leadership, which is a manifestation of the flesh being against God (Mal 2:14). 

1Sa 8:7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 

Mal 2:14  Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 

With these thoughts in mind, let’s look at what we see when we look through the ‘lattice’ of our windows regarding the condition of the Babylonian churches today. ‘Looking through the lattice’ in verse 6 here represents those who are going onto maturity, and looking back and seeing now the harlot system we’ve been called out of. What we see of course is a memory of our simple, misguided and veiled view of God’s word (2 Co 3:13-14) that had us “Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house“. It is “In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night” that we meet this woman, as our heavens are not illuminated, but carnal and blind. This is the status of our minds when we meet “a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart“. That woman is stubborn and convinced that she has done no wrong (Pro 30:20), and these activities are happening on every street corner as the glebes of our world demonstrate, lying in wait to make proselytes of those who come near her door (Mat 23:15).

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 

Pro 7:13  So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 
Pro 7:14  I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 
Pro 7:15  Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. 
Pro 7:16  I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 
Pro 7:17  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 

This is a very descriptive way of speaking regarding the Harlot church of Babylon that we come out of in (Rev 18:12-13). 

Rev 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 
Rev 18:13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 

She snares us and kisses us with a Judas-like kiss (Luk 22:48) that is only to further our deception and perception of what we are truly looking at. Her face is impudent or hardened, like the beast that she plans to ride (Rev 17:7), not knowing that one day that beast will turn on her and destroy her (Rev 17:6). She is full of flattery and claims to know the way of peace (Jer 6:14) as she offers up the conditions that she believes will bring peace, again not in subjection to her head at all, Jesus Christ, who is our peace (Eph 2:14).

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 

She is quick to tell us of the many wonderful works she’s done by saying, “I payed my vows“, in other words, ‘I’m a good person and I’m even a fisher of men and not a harlot who “comes forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee“‘. 

‘Come on in and look at all the beautifully deceitful things I have to offer’, is what these alluring coverings of tapestry, with carved, and fine linen of Egypt represent. It is the sensual, devilish things of the earth, the twisted word of God (Jas 3:15 , Mat 4:3), that the devil always tries to use to draw us away from the fidelity of the true bread from heaven, given to those who are likened unto a virgin who is espoused unto one husband (2Co 11:2-3).

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  

The defiled bed that Satan perfumes is likened unto “myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon“, which are symbols of the deceitfulness of corrupt spiritual riches that control the churches of this world, with their sensuality tied to devilish, earthly practices (2Pe 2:19-21).

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.

Pro 7:18  Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 
Pro 7:19  For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: 
Pro 7:20  He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. 
Pro 7:21  With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 

It is when Satan seduces people into thinking that we won’t reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-9), and that there is no accounting for all our actions (Rom 14:12), including every idol word that we speak (Mat 12:36), that we become careless and give the wicked one the foothold into our lives that we must never let happen (Eph 4:27).

Eph 4:27  Neither give place to the devil. 

The pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:25) are described for us with these words, “Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves“, and they manifest when we refuse to believe that Christ “the goodman” has truly never gone anywhere (Heb 13:5), and like the father of the prodigal son, can see a far off all our actions (Luk 15:20 , Mat 10:29). He is ‘gone away’ in the same sense that the parable of the vineyard discusses how God is not intervening in the affairs of this world at this time (Mat 20:1-16), not that he does not have power at any given moment to put an end to any and all evil (Joh 19:11 , Mat 26:53).

The “long journey” does typify Christ’s being with the Father now in the fulness, and the ‘bag of money’ that he has typifies the true riches of his Word that He holds fast to, and calls the elect to do the same, until the appointed time that He returns to give reward to the elect (Rev 11:18).

Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 

Without God’s spirit in our lives, we all initially succumb to the lies of the devil and through the church, “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him“.

Pro 7:22  He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 
Pro 7:23  Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. 

We are all overtaken by Babylon and go into her, so that we can come out of her my people, Lord willing, in this age. We go “as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks“, telling us this is an evil experience, which the Lord has ordained (Pro 16:4) that we go into and come out of by God’s grace. We are meant to have the fiery darts of Satan (Eph 6:16) ‘go through our liver as we haste to the snare’, the traps of the carnal church, not knowing that God created that evil day for our good, and not even seeing it coming as we head straightway into spiritual disaster, defiling the temple of God so that our first man can be destroyed by the brightness of His coming when that glorious day occurs (1Co 3:17 , 2Th 2:7-8).

1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

Pro 7:24  Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. 
Pro 7:25  Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. 
Pro 7:26  For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. 
Pro 7:27  Her house is the way to hell^H7585, going down to the chambers of death. 

These final admonitions in (Pro 7:24-27) are telling us what we read in (Rev 18:4)

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

Our hearts can very subtilty “decline to her ways” when we think above what is written (1Co 4:6). ‘Going astray in her paths’, is following another Jesus, another way that leads to death. Many have “been slain by her“, and she has “cast down many wounded: yea, many strong“(Mat 24:14), telling us that Satan can easily sift us like wheat (1Co 10:12-14). But for the grace of God, demonstrated by the faith of Christ that God’s elect are given, we look through our lattice, and look behind us as John did in the temple, on the day of the Lord, the day of our judgement (Rev 1:10 , 1Pe 4:17), to recognize that we’ve come out of “Her house is [which is] the way to hell^H7585, going down to the chambers of death“, where the dead bury their dead (Luk 9:60).

H7585  she’ôl    she’ôl  sheh-ole’, sheh-ole’

BDB Definition:
1) sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit
1a) the underworld
1b) Sheol – the OT designation for the abode of the dead
1b1) place of no return
               1b2) without praise of God
1b3) wicked sent there for punishment
1b4) righteous not abandoned to it
               1b5) of the place of exile (figuratively)
1b6) of extreme degradation in sin
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H7592 [ask, enquire, borrow, beg]

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Proverbs Chapter 6 – Part 3

Pro 6:20-35″ Take Heed to Thyself“

[Study Aired Dec 26, 2024]

This last section of Proverbs chapter six is primarily about the benefit that is given to those who are blessed to read, hear, and keep the sayings of the prophecy of God’s word in this age (Rev 1:3).

We may not always think of the book of Proverbs as a form of prophecy, but all of God’s words are prophetic words, and when we understand what they are saying to us with the gift of eyes that see, and ears that hear (Luk 8:10 , Eph 2:8), they become profitable in how they can edify, exhort, and comfort those who are drawn to its spiritual message, which is an eternal message that does not change (2Ti 3:16-17 , 2Ti 2:20-22 , 1Co 14:3 , Joh 6:63 , Joh 17:3 , Joh 6:68).

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent [Joh 20:21 , Joh 3:17].

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.[Isa 55:11]

Taking heed to ourselves, is a lifelong endeavor that requires an ongoing miracle that is being accomplished in the body of Christ, who are given to die daily and keep under ourselves, so that God’s word does not return void in this age, but rather brings forth much fruit by the grace of God, that requires that we water and plant, labour in the word, and wait on the Lord to give the increase that comes from him alone (Mat 13:8-9 , Joh 3:30 , 1Co 3:6-7).

Mat 13:8  But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 
Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

1Co 3:6   I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Pro 6:20  My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Pro 6:21  Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
Pro 6:22  When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

These first three opening verses of our study remind us that our labour in the Lord is not in vain (1Co 15:57-58). Our father’s commandment that we are to keep and the law of thy mother, is referring to the commandments of God and the order that He establishes in the church, for our good (Jerusalem above the mother of us all), through the manifest knowledge that is foundational in what it is first doing in our lives (Mat 16:18), and ultimately what it will do for the rest of humanity who will come to know God and Christ through the church (Eph 3:10).

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

The first commandment with promise, spoken of in (Eph 6:1-3), is speaking to God’s elect who come out of Babylon in this age, that is likened unto a mother of harlots (Rev 17:5) and Satan who is the god of this world and our first father (Joh 8:44) whose lies we reject, as sons of God (1Jn 3:1) in this age who have been promised that blessing of being in the first resurrection, being given that extended period of time or life with our Father and Christ and Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26) before the rest of the world (Rev 20:6).

Eph 6:1  Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Eph 6:2  Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
Eph 6:3  That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Knowing these promises are true and that God is going to destroy the physical realm, we really have nothing to hold onto in this life, and nothing should compare to that which God has set before his people who are blessed to be bound to the altar, meaning we are living by the faith of Christ (Psa 118:27 , Gal 2:20), therefore we are given great incentive to “Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck“. The “them” is the merciful and truthful words of God (Pro 3:3) that, if we continue in them, they will set us free in this life (Joh 8:35-36). The heart represents where our desire comes from (Mat 6:21 , 1Th 2:19-20), and the neck is what we are burdened with, and Christ’s ways are a joyful burden that we bear for each other (Gal 6:2). The apostle Paul was beloved and at the end of his ministry he was kissed on his neck, as a symbol of the body’s appreciation for all that God gave him to suffer and bear for the body’s sake (Act 20:37).

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

1Th 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20 For ye are our glory and joy.[“where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“]

Act 20:37 And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him,

“When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee“, is telling us that the comforter will lead us into all truth (Joh 16:13). The spirit of God will bear witness that we are His in this life (Rom 8:14-17) and when we lie down and rise up, and walk through this life we don’t lose heart (Luk 18:1), as we pray without ceasing and learn that our Creator who we serve is faithful and merciful and will never leave or forsake His own in this life (Heb 13:5 , Php 1:6). It is through the fervent continual prayers of the saints that availeth much that the importunate widow learns that “the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear”(Isa 59:1 , Mat 7:11).

Luk 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Mat 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Pro 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Pro 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Pro 6:25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
Pro 6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
Pro 6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Pro 6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
Pro 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Where there is no vision, the people perish (Pro 29:18) and that vision comes from the word of God, from his commandments which are “a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life“. What the light of God’s word does specifically for us is “To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman“. This strange woman is Babylon, which we are called out of by the grace and faith of God (Eph 2:8). The admonition for God’s elect is to remember Lot’s wife (Luk 17:32) and don’t look back, “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids“. Rather we need to keep our eyes fixed on Christ (Rom 12:1-2) and the promises that tell us we will be more than conquerors through Him (Rom 8:37).

If it were possible, Satan would deceive the very elect (Mat 24:24), and how would he, or how does he go about trying to do that, is explained in this verse, “by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: (Heb 12:16-17) and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life“.

Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Contrast this careless spirit of Esau, with that of Moses, one chapter earlier, who typifies the elect of God who are blessed to have a hunger and thirst for righteousness in this life (Heb 11:26 , Mat 5:6).

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.

Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Can we taste of the heavenly things of God (Heb 6:4-8) and then go back into the harlotries of this world and expect to not be burnt by such actions? This is what God’s word reveals on that matter, “Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.” This fire that burns a man who goes into it, is speaking of the strange fire, that is the unholy things that defile a man (Lev 10:1-2), as opposed to the coals from the altar that represent God’s words that sanctify and purify us in this life (Isa 6:7).

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

Lev 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
Lev 10:2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Isa 6:7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Pro 6:30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
Pro 6:31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
Pro 6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Pro 6:33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
Pro 6:34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
Pro 6:35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

The thief being talked about here is the one that goes “in to his neighbour’s wife” in the previous verse (v 29), which represents a church that they go into, after they have been in a relationship of fidelity with the body of Christ (2Ti 4:10).

2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

Loving this present world has the unfaithful going toward “Thessalonica, Galatia, Dalmatia“, places of Asia which represent the world! Another way of telling us that these were men who started in the spirit, but would conclude their life in the letter is (Gal 3:3-4), trying to be perfected in the law, in the world, being part of the whole Babylonian system once again that have forsaken God’s word (Rev 1:11 , 2Ti 1:15).

Gal 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

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

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

We are told to not despise this thieving spirit whose actions parallel with that of Esau whose pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:25) was more important than his birthright, which would require that he suffer in this life (Heb 12:16-17 , Heb 11:25).

Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

We’re not to think that this thief is not in us, because he is being destroyed day by day as we die daily, and but for the grace of God go we, as we’re permitted by God’s mercy to continue to be apprehended by Christ who gives us the power to forget what is behind us, and press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Him (Php 3:13-14). We are apprehending because we have been apprehended of God through Christ the fit man (Lev 16:21), giving us no reason to despise others who have left us for one reason or another, “do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry“.

That man who satisfies his soul, lacks understanding, and his soul is destroyed in this life as a result of his ignorance, and in this life that dishonour that he gets, and that reproach, shall not be wiped away as mentioned earlier; and this is all being accomplished for the elect’s sake, to remind us of the severity of God, and the goodness of God that He has extended to the body of Christ, if we continue in His goodness (Heb 6:3-8 , Num 16:2-3 , Rom 11:22 , Rom 2:4-6).

Num 16:2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity [the 250 men of renown]; but toward thee, goodness [God’s judgements that destroys those 250 men of renown within us (25×10) or (5x5x10)], if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

God is a jealous God (Exo 20:5) and he is the man being spoken of in verse 34, “For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance“. He will have his vengeance on all such who are found in the lake of fire. And when those who are resurrected in the second resurrection say, ‘haven’t we done many wonderful works?’ (Mat 7:22), in other words, ‘why are you judging me, I’m an outstanding citizen’, God will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts“, to the point that even what they thought they had, will be taken away (Mat 25:29 , Rom 11:22 , Heb 12:25).

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.

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

Our prayer for each other is that our Father will give us the strength to endure His chastening grace today, so that we are received in this age through His judgements upon us, which will burn out the spirit that thinks we’ve somehow contributed to our salvation, or the salvation of others, when it fact it was all a work of God within us that made it possible for each joint to supply in love, to the building up and edifying of the church (Heb 12:6-7 , Php 2:12-13 , Eph 4:16 , Psa 127:1).

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.

[Study Aired May 7, 2024]

Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 
Rom 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 
Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 
Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. 
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

In our last study we saw that true love fulfills the law of Moses and the law of the spirit. True love is walking in truth and after the commandments. In order to do this we must pay the ultimate sacrifice and lay down our lives and die daily as Christ laid down His life for us.

2Jn 1:4-11 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Joh 10:14-18 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. 

Joh 15:8-14 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

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

This study will cover judgment of the body of Christ. What is judgment, and what is being judged in these verses?

Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 
Rom 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

Paul qualifies judgment in the above verses. He tells us that the strong in faith are to receive the weak, meaning do not despise where they are in their walk toward the kingdom of God. The weak in faith are not mature enough to begin to judge those strong in faith. The weak need time do grow under the tutelage of their elders. The strong in faith must have patience and the willingness to teach those that are weak in the faith.

1Ti 5:1-2 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. 

1Pe 5:1-7 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 

This verse emphasizes the idea that each of us ultimately will give an account to God, our master, rather than being judged of others. The phrase “another man’s servant” implies that each of us belong to God. Therefore, we are to be patient with others, especially the younger, as it will take time for them to mature because their standing before God is ultimately His prerogative. God, being all-powerful, is capable of upholding His servants and enabling them to stand firm in their faith.

Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

“The Way” of Christ is a fine line. We are not to have dominion of another’s faith. Yet we must speak the truth in all matters. Everyone is in a different part of their walk, and we all must take that into consideration. The elders are in the body to serve the younger. Our goal as a body is to serve God. This is a lifelong process, and we all are tasked with laying our lives down for each other.

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.

Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 

1Jn 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 
Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

This means that our lives are connected to others. What we do or don’t do affects everyone around us. We’re not just living for ourselves; we’re part of a bigger picture. Whether we’re alive or dead, we belong to God. Our purpose is to live in a way that honors Him, no matter what happens to us. Jesus died and came back to life to be in charge of everything, including those who have died and those who are still alive. His resurrection shows His power over life and death, making Him the ultimate authority and example for us.

In simpler terms, these verses teach us that our lives are connected to others, and our main purpose is to live for God’s honor. They also remind us that Jesus is in control of everything, even life and death.

Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

These verses emphasize the importance of refraining from judgment and condemnation of others, as we are all ultimately going to give an account to God for our actions and attitudes. They highlight the universal truth that every individual will stand before God’s judgment, where all will acknowledge His sovereignty. Therefore, instead of focusing on criticizing others, we should be mindful of our own conduct and readiness to give an account to God.

Here are the questions I asked earlier: What is judgement, and what is being judged in these verses?

1Co 11:28-32 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Heb 12:5-10 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

There is a proper order for those who can pass judgment. The strong in faith are able to judge all things. The weak in faith are not able to correctly judge until they have their senses exercised. We are all being judged by God here and now if we are Christ’s. Judgment begins at the house of God.

1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 

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? 

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The Book of Romans – Part 30, Fulfilling the Law Through Love

[Study Aired April 23, 2024]

Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth  another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt  not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be  any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou  shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Rom 13:11 And that, knowing the me, that now it is high me to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in riong and drunkenness, not  in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the  flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

In Romans 13: 8-14, Paul ventures into the essence of Christian living, emphasizing the centrality of love in fulfilling God’s law. He begins by urging us to love one another, asserting that love encompasses all of God’s commandments. Listing  specific directives, like avoiding adultery, killing, falsehoods and covetousness, Paul emphasizes that these are all encompassed in the overarching principle of loving our neighbors as ourselves. Love, he contends, inherently refrains from causing harm to others. Urging vigilance, Paul underscores the urgency of awakening from spiritual slumber, likening the time to the fading darkness of night and the imminent arrival of dawn. He encourages believers to cast off the works of darkness and embrace the virtues symbolized by the armor of light.

Furthermore, Paul warns against indulging in behaviors like excessive revelry, drunkenness, promiscuity and discord, advocating instead for a lifestyle characterized by integrity and a rejection of selfish desires. He exhorts believers to emulate Jesus Christ and resist the allure of gratifying sinful inclinations. These verses serve as a compelling reminder of the transformative power of love and the necessity for us to live authentically in anticipation of Christ’s return.

What is love?

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (love) envieth not; charity (love) vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; (love)  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but (love) rejoiceth in the truth; (love) Beareth all things, (love) believeth all things, (love) hopeth all things, (love) endureth all things.

1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

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

These verses emphasize the qualities and actions of love. Love is patient and kind, not envious or boastful. It doesn’t behave rudely or selfishly and isn’t easily angered or resentful. Love rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes, hopes and endures.  It’s not merely expressed in words but in actions and truthfulness. Those who don’t love don’t understand God, for God is love. Perfect love removes fear, as fear involves torment. We love because God loved us first, exemplifying the essence of  love.

God’s love toward us meets all the above standards.

Unconditional Love: God’s love is unconditional and not based on our merit or actions. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This verse highlights that God’s love extends to us even in our brokenness and sinfulness.

Everlasting Love: God’s love is everlasting and unchanging. Jeremiah 31:3 declares, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” This verse assures us that God’s love for us endures forever.

Self-Sacrificial Love: God’s love is demonstrated through sacrificial actions. John 3:16 famously states, “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.” God’s ultimate act of love was sending Jesus to die for our sins, showing the depth of His sacrificial love for humanity.

Personal Love: God’s love is personal and individualized. Psalm 139:17-18 says, “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.” God’s love is intimately concerned with each person, knowing them intimately and caring for them deeply.

Transformative Love: God’s love has the power to transform lives. 1 John 4:16 states, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” When we experience and embrace God’s love, it changes us from the inside out, enabling us to love others as He loves us.

Our goal is to continually “walk in love.” This is a daily challenge and will take a lifetime to complete. Day by day, Lord willing, we will overcome everything that is against love within us. There is only one way this can be achieved.

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

Eph 5:1-21 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 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. But fornication, and all uncleanness,  or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 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. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk  with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart  to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

[Study Aired January 23, 2023]

Exo 34:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 
Exo 34:2  And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 
Exo 34:3  And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 
Exo 34:4  And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. 
Exo 34:5  And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exo 34:7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Exo 34:8  And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 
Exo 34:9  And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. 
Exo 34:10  And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
Exo 34:11  Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Exo 34:12  Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 
Exo 34:13  But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 
Exo 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 
Exo 34:15  Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; 
Exo 34:16  And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 
Exo 34:17  Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 
Exo 34:18  The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 
Exo 34:19  All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.
Exo 34:20  But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
Exo 34:21  Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
Exo 34:22  And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
Exo 34:23  Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
Exo 34:24  For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year. 
Exo 34:25  Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. 
Exo 34:26  The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. 
Exo 34:27  And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. 
Exo 34:28  And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. 
Exo 34:29  And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 
Exo 34:30  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 
Exo 34:31  And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 
Exo 34:32  And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. 
Exo 34:33  And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 
Exo 34:34  But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 
Exo 34:35  And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

In Chapter 34, we shall look at the spiritual significance of the two tablets of stones, the renewal of the covenant with the Lord and the shining face of Moses. 

Exo 34:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 
Exo 34:2  And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 
Exo 34:3  And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 
Exo 34:4  And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

As we learned earlier, the law of Moses was written on tables of stones but was broken by Moses when he saw the Israelites playing the harlot by worshiping the golden calf. In these verses, the Lord requested Moses to hew two tablets of stones so that He will write the laws on them. From the scriptures, we see that the two tablets of stones represent the nature of our hearts as we receive the law of Moses. That is, we were stiff-necked people when we first received the word of the Lord in the form of the law of Moses. If we are called and chosen, then the Lord will gradually change our hearts of stone to fleshy tables of the heart. 

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

2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 

Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

In verses 2 and 3, Moses was required to meet the Lord in the morning and he was not supposed to bring anyone along. Meeting the Lord in the morning means that it is when the sun (Christ) starts rising in our hearts that we are able to see the Lord. That is to say it is when the old man is dying and the new man, after the image of Christ, is rising in our hearts that we are able to understand His words or know Him or see Him face to face. 

2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

The fact that Moses was instructed not to bring anyone along to meet the Lord means that we are to work out our own salvation (meet the Lord) as the Lord enables us. As the Lord’s elect, we are helpers of each other’s faith, but each has to work out his own salvation as our Lord enables. 

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.

In the parable of the ten virgins, the five who were wise told the other five virgins, when they requested the five wise virgins to give them some of their oil, that they should go and buy oil for themselves. In other words, the five wise virgins were telling the others that they should work out their own salvation.

Mat 25:8  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 
Mat 25:9  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

We are also told in verse 3 that no man should be seen throughout the mountain. What we are being told here is that no relationship should distract us from knowing the Lord.

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

In verse 3, it is also stated that the flocks and herds should not graze opposite the mountain as Moses comes before the Lord. From the scriptures, flocks and herds stand for our possessions. In other words, what we work for as we live here on earth.

Job 1:3  His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

These possessions stand for the cares of this world which the Lord admonished us to make sure do not distract us from the goal of knowing Christ or seeing Him face to face as Moses did on the Mount.

Mat 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Exo 34:5  And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

In verse 5, the Lord descending in the cloud means that the Lord comes to us through His elect which are symbolized by the cloud.

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,

When Christ comes to us, we are given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Knowing the mysteries of the kingdom means Christ is being unveiled to us. This unveiling of Christ involves knowing His ways and His key attributes. In verse 6, we are shown some of His attributes which include the fact that He is merciful, gracious, longsuffering and overflows in goodness and truth.  The Lord loves to show mercy, and He has shown us His mercy by choosing us at the expense of others. We are therefore to learn to be merciful as we are to show mercy to the whole of the human race at the fullness of time.

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.

Longsuffering here means being slow to anger. His longsuffering is what leads us to repentance.

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

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

Exo 34:7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Here in verse 7, we are told that the Lord shall visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and the fourth generation. However, we know from the sum of the Lord’s words that the Lord does not punish people for other people’s sins. Let’s take a look at the following scripture:

Eze 18:1  The word of the LORD came to me: 
Eze 18:2  “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 
Eze 18:3  As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 
Eze 18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Eze 18:14  “Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise:

Eze 18:18  As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity. 
Eze 18:19  “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 
Eze 18:20  The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

It appears that the use of the word “visiting” is not the correct word that should have been used. According to Strong, the word “visiting” (H6485) in verse 7 is used frequently (103 times) to mean numbered. The word “visiting” therefore, used in verse 7 should have been numbered. In other words, the Lord has numbered the iniquity of the fathers upon their children and their children’s children.

It is insightful to note that the Lord will number the iniquity of people until the third and fourth generations. As we are aware, the number three means the process of spiritual maturity through judgment. The number four means the whole of the matter under discussion. Thus, the spiritual significance of the statement that the Lord will number iniquity until the third and fourth generation is that it is through the process of the Lord’s judgment (the number three) that the whole of the human race (the number four), will have their sins dealt with or not counted or numbered anymore.  

Exo 34:8  And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
Exo 34:9  And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

To bow down to worship is a symbol of submitting to the Lord in every way as we come to see His mercy towards us. We, His elect, were once a stiff-necked people whom the Lord has pardoned and has taken us for His inheritance. As we can see from these verses, it is when we find grace in the Lord’s sight that He comes to lead us in this wilderness of life. The grace we find in Christ is for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. From the Biblical perspective, grace is defined as Christ coming to us.

Joh 1:16  And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Joh 1:17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 

What we need to know is that Christ coming to us means coming with His judgment to purify us in order to fulfill His purpose. 

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:

As His elect, we have found grace in the Lord’s sight just as Moses who is a symbol of the elect, had found grace in His sight!!

Exo 34:10  And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
Exo 34:11  Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

The Lord has made a covenant with His elect that He will do marvelous work on our behalf for all the world to see. In verse 11, this marvelous work involves driving out the inhabitants of Canaan to give the people of Israel the promised land. As we all know, the land is our bodies and the Canaanites refer to the beast or the old man within us that the Lord is destroying with the breath of His mouth when He comes to us. The destruction of the old man is through the Lord’s judgment, and this is the marvelous work the Lord is doing in His elect.

Psa 105:5  Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

In making this promise of bringing us to possess our bodies to offer as a living sacrifice to the Lord, He swore by Himself so that we who have fled to Him for refuge will have hope.

Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 
Heb 6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 
Heb 6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Heb 6:16  For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 
Heb 6:17  Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Heb 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 
Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Exo 34:12  Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 
Exo 34:13  But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 
Exo 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 
Exo 34:15  Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; 
Exo 34:16  And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 
Exo 34:17  Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 

In these verses, we are warned by the Lord regarding the present danger which will disqualify us from being able to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to the Lord. The present danger involves playing the harlot after other gods which is what happens to us when we enter the churches of this world (Babylon) in our initial walk with the Lord, thinking we are serving the Lord. At this stage of our lives, we serve another Jesus – a Jesus who will not show mercy to the human race and a Jesus who has no control over us because he has given us a free will to make our own decisions.

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

As a result of serving another Jesus, this is what happens to us before the Lord comes with His brightness to deliver us:

2Pe 2:18  For when they (leaders in the churches of this world) 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 34:18  The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was the first of the festivals to be commanded by God for Israel to observe in celebrating the exodus from Egypt and the Israelites’ freedom from slavery to the Egyptians. Spiritually, keeping the feast of unleavened bread means being given to know and to walk in sincerity in the truth of the word of the Lord. 

1Co 5:8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Exo 34:19  All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. 
Exo 34:20  But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

All the firstborn of male livestock belong to the Lord including that of donkeys. We are required to redeem the firstborns with a lamb. We, the Lord’s elect, are represented by the firstborn sons who have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

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

In case we do not want to redeem the firstborn donkeys, then we have to break their neck.  In the scriptures, breaking the neck is related to breaking the yoke of bondage as shown in the following:

Jer 28:11  And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

Jer 30:8  For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

So, what verse 20 is implying is that if we are not redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ from the burden (yoke) of sin, then we shall face spiritual death through the breaking of our necks.

Exo 34:21  Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 

Jesus has raised the bar spiritually to the law of Christ, by focusing on rest in God as He ceased from His own works. This is Jesus’ experience of observing the spiritual sabbath or resting in God:

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.

We also come to rest in Christ when we cease from our own works. This means that we come to see that it is the Lord who does the work in us and therefore, we come to believe in Him that what He has started in us, He will bring to completion.

Exo 34:22  And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. 
Exo 34:23  Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
Exo 34:24  For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

The Feast of Weeks is the second of the three “solemn feasts” that all Jewish males were required to observe. This important feast gets its name from the fact that it starts seven full weeks, or exactly 50 days, after the Feast of Firstfruits. Since it takes place exactly 50 days after the previous feast, this feast is also known as “Pentecost” which means “fifty.”  Since the Feast of Weeks was one of the “harvest feasts,” the Jews were commanded to “present an offering of new grain to the Lord” 

Lev 23:16  You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD.

The festival of ingathering is the same as the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths and Sukkot, is the seventh and last feast that the Lord commanded Israel to observe and one of the three feasts the Jews were to observe each year by going to “appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose.” The Feast of Tabernacles, like all the feasts, was instituted by God as a way of reminding Israelites in every generation of their deliverance by God from Egypt. In verse 22, we are required to observe the Feast of Weeks and that of ingathering. This means that we must offer ourselves as firstfruits of the Lord as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord.

Rom 12:1  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 
Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Every male appearing three times before the Lord in verses 23 and 24 means that it is through our fiery trials that we become spiritually mature to stand before the Lord. Our spiritual maturity involves the driving out by the Lord of all the nations in verse 24, represented by the old man. 

Exo 34:25  Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.

Leaven means false doctrines. It is impossible to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to please the Lord if our hearts and minds are filled with false doctrines. We are also reminded in verse 25 not to let any of the sacrifices of Passover be left until morning. Letting nothing remain of the sacrifice means that we must not neglect any part of the word of the Lord. We must endeavor to understand the whole counsel of God through His words. 

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

Exo 34:26  The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. 

We, His elect, are the first fruits of the Lord. This means that we are to be presented to the Lord first before all humanity will appear before God. The fact that we are not to seethe a kid in his mother’s milk means that it is only those who are spiritually mature, as a result of their fiery trials, who can be offered as living sacrifice to the Lord. Babies in Christ or carnally-minded Christians cannot offer themselves as living sacrifices.

Exo 34:27  And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
Exo 34:28  And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

The forty days and nights signify the period of time we go through the Lord’s judgment of our old man to learn righteousness when the Lord comes to us with His brightness. 

Gen  7:4  For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

Gen 7:12  And the rain (the Lord’s judgment) was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 

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:

During these forty days and nights that Moses was in the presence of the Lord, He did not eat or drink anything. The Lord knows how to sustain us in this life when we are in Him. That is why He admonished us not to worry about what to eat or drink since He does not only care about our spiritual needs but will surely also provide our physical needs.

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Exo 34:29  And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 
Exo 34:30  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 
Exo 34:31  And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 
Exo 34:32  And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. 

The shining of Moses’ face as he spent forty days and forty nights in the presence of the Lord symbolizes the fact that as we are judged by the Lord through the words we have received, we are gradually transformed into His image. Being in the presence of the Lord is the same as knowing Him through His words. Being transformed into Christ’s image is a gradual process such which we do not see, but those outside see that we are transformed just as Aaron and the children of Israel in verse 30 saw the skin of Moses’ face shine. 

Rev 1:16  In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Mat 17:1  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Mat 17:2  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

Exo 34:33  And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 
Exo 34:34  But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
Exo 34:35  And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Moses putting on the veil to hide the shining of his face is a symbol of the blinding of the minds of many from seeing that the law of Moses only serves as a schoolmaster leading us to Christ and that when Christ comes, the law is abolished. The veil being taken away means the doing away of the law of Moses and coming to know Christ through the spirit.

2Co 3:12  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
2Co 3:13  And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
2Co 3:16  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 
2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Joh 4:23  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

May the Lord help us to continue in Him as we worship Him in spirit and truth!! Amen!!

[Study Aired February 3, 2022]

1Ki 9:1  And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, 
1Ki 9:2  That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 
1Ki 9:3  And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 
1Ki 9:4  And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: 
1Ki 9:5  Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. 
1Ki 9:6  But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: 
1Ki 9:7  Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: 
1Ki 9:8  And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? 
1Ki 9:9  And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil. 

God’s word helps us gain the right spiritual perspective as to what these type and shadow events we are reading of in 1 Kings 9:1-9 reveal about ourselves as the body of Christ today (1Pe 1:12), and in order to receive these truths for what they mean for us personally, we are told in the next two verses what we must do:

1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1Pe 1:14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

We are fashioning ourselves through Christ’s grace (Php 2:12-13), which favour manifests through the chastening and scourging we endure in this life (Heb 12:6), teaching us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts in this age (Tit 2:11-12). He gives us the power and wisdom to be able to see all these physical events of which we read in the word of God, comparing spiritual with spiritual, using the physical as we overcome, fighting a good fight of faith (1Co 2:13, 1Ti 6:12). That exercise takes the girding up of our minds, along with hope within that the grace of God will continue to be brought to God’s elect, which favor is to receive the wedding garments, the righteousness of Christ, the increase that comes from God (1Co 3:6), with which we must be found and are being found with “at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:3, Rev 19:8).

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. 

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 

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

Rev 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. 

The title of this study is taken from 1 Kings 9:8 where the question is asked “Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?” speaking of what God will do to us:

1Ki 9:6  But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: 

These words: “Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?” have their counterpart explanation in Romans 9:1-24, and when we consider Romans 11:1-11 and layer that message over Romans 9:1-24, it becomes clear that everyone was meant to turn from following God, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23) and there is none righteous, no, not one: (Rom 3:10). What we have to conclude is that everyone must go into Babylon, but only a few in this age have been called to go into Babylon and then be dragged “out of her my people” (Rev 18:4, 2Co 6:17, Mat 22:14).

The types and shadows we learn from the temple Solomon built come from the blue prints that were inspired from the mind of God, and so our Lord says this: “And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: [Mat 6:8, Pro 16:1] I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually” meaning Solomon may have physically built this house [typical of working out your own salvation with fear and trembling just as Noah with the ark (Php 2:12-13, Heb 11:7)], but it was the Lord who inspired the plans and all the architecture that have great spiritual significance for us today.

Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

By looking at God’s word and continuing in it as doers of the word we will be saved (Joh 8:31-32), and that was the type and shadow message being given to Solomon whose life reveals a pattern of our journey of wanting to worship God in spirit and in truth in a church or temple we have built at great cost and God has hallowed for His purpose. God’s purpose is revealed for humanity through the body of Christ that is represented by the temple Solomon built, but whether any one of us continues in the truth (Joh 8:31-32), worshiping God in spirit and in truth within the temple that represents our bodies (1Co 3:16), is entirely up to God (2Ti 3:15, Joh 4:22-23, Rom 2:28).

2Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures [old covenant scriptures], which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 

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. 

In this section of Kings we will look at “Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?” and see that losing our first love was not something that was optional for Solomon or for any one of us, but was a prophecy of what is going to happen to our first man Adam resulting in God’s correction. The joy of salvation comes when we come to realize that God is faithful and He will continue to finish what He has started in the body of Christ who are the firstfruits who are blessed to trust in God as we are redeemed from the earth through Christ, a redemption that is occurring for the salvation of all the world (Rom 8:38-39, Heb 12:2, Php 1:6, Eph 1:11-12, Oba 1:21).

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[This list in Romans 8:38-39 represents the powers and principalities we wrestle against (Eph 6:12), and the reason why we are assured victory over those principalities is found in Ephesians 1:21.]

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 1:21  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: [“things present, nor things to come“]

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. 

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

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. 

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.

1Ki 9:1  And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, 

God’s word reveals to us who was doing all the doing here in Solomon’s life and fulfilling the “desire which he was pleased to do” (Php 2:12-13), just as it was God’s power that manifested all the things that were created in the garden of Eden, all things consisting through Christ (Col 1:17) and having been created for a very good purpose (Gen 1:31).

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 

When the garden of Eden was completed by the Lord, the stage was now set to show mankind [Adam and Eve] what was in their and our hearts. In like manner when the temple was completed, “And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house“, an environment was created where God was going to put his “name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually” (1Ki 9:3). God’s eyes and heart being there continually is like the sword in the garden of Eden that turns every way and is ever present judging the earthly creation of Adam and Eve just as Israel of old was being judged by their interaction in and around the temple of God (Gen 3:24). Solomon hadn’t been driven out of the presence of God yet as Adam and Eve were driven out in due time, but the stage was set to demonstrate what is in the heart of man once again, only this time on a much larger scale than just two people, and at the end of the age an even larger scaled up demonstration will unfold via Gog and Magog (Rev 20:10). This is the needful and necessary pattern God uses to humble all mankind in our flesh, each man in his order, so that a new heaven and a new earth can be created as the old one flees away (Rev 20:11).

Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. 

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them [Rev 12:9, 1Jn 5:19] was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 
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. 

Of all of humanity there is only a little remnant represented by “the king’s house” who will be used to redeem the rest of God’s creation having become permanent fixtures in “the house of the LORD“.

1Ki 9:2   That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

The “second time” that the Lord appeared to Solomon is a witness to him that God is faithful to fulfill what He had promised him earlier in Solomon’s dream (1Ki 3:5-15). In 1 Kings 3:14 we see the parallel words being spoken of by God to Solomon at that time as they were stated later in 1 Kings 9:4. Whenever we see the word if regarding keeping God’s commands, we know it’s not telling us something we are going to be able to accomplish in our flesh, but rather is said to remind us that we can’t help but be that person in our flesh who is not going to walk after God’s commands. God already knows the answer to these two ifs that were spoken to Solomon in two instances, and they were written for our admonition (1Pe 1:12).

1Ki 3:14  And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. 

1Ki 9:4  And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: 

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 

The dream is one for God, and the prophecies are fulfilled showing us that singleness (2Co 11:3) which is in our Lord revealing God’s purpose for mankind to deliver these weak vessels of clay through initially pouring out ten plagues in Egypt. Then He shows our natural state of rebellion unfold against God ten times in the wilderness (Num 14:22), eventually overcoming through Christ who is represented by Caleb (Exo 23:29 , Num 14:24). The two series of tens are a witness that is given against our flesh, and the two times Solomon is visited is a witness as well of the work God is working with our flesh which has a natural enmity against God that will rebel until it doesn’t (Gal 5:17, 1Ki 11:9).

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity^G572 that is in Christ.

G572 haplotēs hap-lot’-ace

From G573; singleness, that is, (subjectively) sincerity (without dissimulation or self seeking), or (objectively) generosity (copious bestowal): – bountifulness, liberal (-ity), simplicity, singleness.

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.

1Ki 11:9  And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,

The beast has to be driven out of our lives little and by little otherwise we would become pride-filled thinking that our overcoming had something to do with us and not God Who is the one who must drive the beasts out of our temple through Christ (Joh 2:15). God has appeared a second time to Solomon as He did at “Gibeon“, and yet in both instances of His appearing to Solomon by the hills that the word “Gibeon” means, we are being reminded what was in Solomon’s heart is also in ours (1Jn 1:8). In time these hills will grow into rebellious pride-filled mountains as they do in all flesh (Gen 16:15) until God begins to judge us and humble us through that judgment (Rev 13:14-15, 1Ki 11:9).

Joh 2:15  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 

1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

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

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. 
Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 

1Ki 11:9  And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,

1Ki 9:3  And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

When Christ was created, he had no choice in the matter (Rev 3:14) and neither do we as we are recreated and die daily enduring through Christ that process of being sanctified (Joh 17:17) or hallowed of God through Christ who builds the spiritual house (Psa 127:1). It is all typified by this statement: “I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually“. If Christ did not have the words of eternal life, we could not be sanctified with the word of God, and in like manner if Solomon did not have God’s blessing to build the temple of God and be given the wisdom and resources to do so, it would not have happened (1Ki 3:5-15)

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 

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. 

God says the same thing to us as He said to Solomon: “I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me“, and He wants us to know that He is speaking of things that are not as though they were regarding “this house” (Rom 4:17) especially in regards to Him putting His “name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually“. That is especially true of God’s elect today who have God’s spirit within them (Rom 8:9), but this does not exclude the rest of humanity who will be saved at an appointed time (1Ti 4:10).

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 

1Ki 9:4  And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: 
1Ki 9:5  Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. 

Is Solomon going to walk as “David thy father walked“? In the positive view of that statement where Solomon represents our new man the answer is, “Yes, because he is a son of David who represents Christ.” In the negative sense, if Solomon does not walk as “David thy father walked” then he is understood to be the rejected anointed in type and shadow who was not of us and could not inherit the promises (1Jn 2:19). In both instances it is written to admonish us to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14). Lord willing, we are His in this age, and we are persuaded better things of you, as Paul said in Hebrews 6:9, the ‘better thing’ being that we are sons of God who miraculously hear His word today and read and keep it (Mat 13:11, Act 28:27, Mat 13:16, Rev 1:3).

1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 

Heb 6:9  But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 

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. 

Act 28:27  For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 

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

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words [1Jn 4:6] of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. 

The end result of being bound to the altar as a living sacrifice (Psa 118:27, Gal 2:20) unto God is that God “will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel“. That promise to Solomon is the type and shadow promise to the one seed God determined from the foundation of the world to rule and reign under Christ for a thousand years (Gal 3:16, Rev 20:6).

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

1Ki 9:7  Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: 

Everything we’ve looked at in this study has culminated into these last three verses which, as was mentioned at the onset of the study, have questions within them that are all answered in these two sections of scripture:  (Rom 9:1-24, Rom 11:1-11).

We all in our appointed time are “cut off” from “Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name“ and cast out of God’s sight (“will I cast out of my sight“) losing our first love and becoming a “proverb and a byword among all people” like a dog returning to our own vomit where greasy grace lays hold of our yet carnal minds (Pro 26:11).  However, if God is working with us in this life after we are brought to that low estate, we will be brought to our senses and dragged back to our Father through His chastening grace which was described for us in the parable of the prodigal son (Luk 15:17-18).

1Ki 9:8  And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? 
1Ki 9:9  And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil. 

These last verses of our study will only benefit us if we see how they apply to us inwardly today which reads “at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?” This is speaking, in type and shadow, of the astonishment we have over Babylon continually falling in our own lives as we come to see ourselves as the chief of sinners (Rev 14:8). We are the ones who come to see that we have naturally forsaken “the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.“

If God is working with us in this age, then He brings upon us all that evil so that we are crushed (Ecc 1:13) and come to see how we are nothing of ourselves and, like the prodigal son, have wasted our understanding of God’s word [our inheritance in Christ], which actions parallel the life of the rich young ruler who thinks, like we do in our appointed time, that we’ve done so many wonderful things from our youth up [symbolizing our own righteousnesses] not being able to acknowledge that only Christ can be Christ (Luk 18:20-22). All glory and honour is His in every aspect of our lives, including how He causes the light and dark to manifest in our heavens to bring us to trust in Christ (Isa 45:7, Eph 1:12). It takes a lifetime of our being brought very low to be able to rightly divide the words of God and apply all that we read to our own man of sin who daily needs to be judged (1Co 11:31-32). If God will grant that we do that, we will through that exercise of evil be matured in Christ and be able to answer with all assuredness the question posed in the title of our study: “Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?” with the answer revealed in Romans 9:18-24.

Ecc 1:13  And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. 

Luk 18:20  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. 
Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. 
Luk 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. 

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

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves [Jer 3:13, 1Jn 1:9], we should not be judged. 
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord [Heb 12:6], that we should not be condemned with the world. 

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? [nobody has resisted his will (Eph 1:11, Php 2:12-13)]
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? [“Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?“]
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 
Rom 9:24  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Gospels In Harmony – The Final Judgment

Mat 25:31-46

[Study Aired September 21, 2021]

Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40  And the King 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.
Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Today’s study Christ shares the process of mankind’s judgment with his disciples.

Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

Our first verse tells us the timing of when Christ enters our heavens and sits upon His throne of glory. It is the combination of Christ and His angels, the messengers with His word in them, sharing the truth with us. Sitting upon the throne represents our time of judgment. The religions of the world believe this is not directed toward the elect of God but a future group of people, and they are partly right. What they don’t understand is that we are all given life in a particular order, and we are all judged.

Psa 96:13 Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with right eousness, and the people with his truth.

Psa 98:9 Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

Act 17:30-31 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

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

2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

1Pe 4:17-18 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? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Rev 20:11-12 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. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Our next verses tell us there is a process of judgment and what takes place.

Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

“All nations” in these scriptures represent everyone’s doctrines, the understanding of those doctrines, and each person’s way of life.

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.

In the Revelation study on the website, this verse is explained to show us how the nations are our way of life and our doctrines. Here is an excerpt of that study and the link to the full study.

Rev 17:12-18

“Again, “the dream is one”, and the symbols of this vision are one. These waters are the “people, and multitude, and nations, and tongues of the “two hundred thousand, thousand” false doctrines which ascend up out of the bottomless pit within us to darken our Sun and our air, and keep us in the darkness which is our false Babylonian doctrines. These waters are this beast on which the woman sits, and over whom she rules with “the bondage of the elements of this world.” These waters and these peoples are all within us submitting to the teachings and doctrines of this great harlot until the appointed time when the beasts we are will rebel against the strength and influence of this harlot. Whenever this woman within us comes into conflict with this beast within us, the brute beast we are will always win that battle, and will hate the hypocrisy of the harlot we also are.”

The division of the sheep and goats represents the truths of Christ being separated from the lies of Satan in our minds. The sheep are the righteous ways of Christ in us, and the goats are the ways of Satan, our unrighteousnesses, which are the merchandise we receive either by Christ and His holy angels or of our father the devil and his angels.

Rev 18:12-14 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

The right and left hands represent the power these doctrines have in our lives.

Exo 15:6-7 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

Ecc 10:2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.

Mat 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Mar 14:62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Luk 22:67-69 Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go.Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.

Here is what happens with those on His right hand.

Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

In the beginning of everyone’s walk with Christ it is questioned what is happening. Also, this in not a one-time event but a continual happening until God is all in all – the elect first and then to all mankind.

Mat 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

Everyone is first a carnal babe in Christ and cannot understand the doctrines of Christ and must grow into understanding.

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

We ask the questions because we are not able to bear the spiritual understanding of Christ’s doctrines. Here is Christ’s answer.

Mat 25:40 And the King 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.

Now here is what is happening to doctrines of the world within each of us.

Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Christ once again is telling us the same thing He has told us in earlier parables: “One shall be taken, and the other left.”

Luk 17:34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

These parables are all about the kingdom of heaven, and as you all know and understand, this kingdom is within us and must be cleansed of all filth. This is done through “everlasting (age-abiding) punishment”. Our mind must be renewed from having the mind of Satan and changed to having the mind of Christ.

Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The doctrines within everyone are judged by fire and every doctrine is judged in the order ordained by God. We first are given the way of the world, and by the renewing of our minds, we are given the way of Christ. This continues until our mind is completely changed. I will end our study with Proverbs 2.

The Value of Wisdom

Pro 2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

[Study Aired October 2, 2020]

Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 
Heb 6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

In this section of Hebrews chapter 6 our focus will be on looking at the “two immutable things” spoken of in Hebrews 6:13, which God further declares in verse 18 and how these promises made of God cannot be broken because “in which it was impossible for God to lie”.  This truth of God’s character is reflected in all His words which are eternal words that change not (Joh 6:68).

All the “exceeding great and precious promises” given unto us (2Pe 1:4) can only give us “strong consolation” when we know the One who has spoken these promises cannot lie. As we consider “the hope set before us” and the vision those promises can bring to the body of Christ, there are two specific promises, or “two immutable things”, explained for the elect’s sake in Hebrews 6:14 to give us full assurance in this life that what God has started He will finish in us through Christ, and those two promises are: “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.” These promises of God for the elect are spoken in type and shadow when speaking of Abraham (Heb 6:13), who is a type of Christ and his body. For those who are His workmanship (Eph 2:10) in this age, these promises declare what has been predestined from the foundation of the world for the elect remnant who are the first to trust God (Eph 1:12-15, Rev 12:6, Lev 16:21, Isa 66:7-10, Rev 19:7).

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:15  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

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

Isa 66:7  Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Isa 66:8  Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Isa 66:9  Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
Isa 66:10  Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:

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.

It is by these promises of God that “ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2Pe 1:4) and all that is in the world within us is defined as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, [and] is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1Jn 2:16).

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

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

That lust and pride is what we are dying daily from, and God’s word tells us “you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” that is “in the flesh” (Heb 12:4, Rom 8:3). Notice, sin is “in the flesh” and flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom (1Co 15:50) and we are also told we are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities that our hope of glory Jesus Christ within is greater than. Christ is greater than the sin that is in our flesh and can give us dominion over it (Col 1:27, 1Jn 4:4, Rom 6:14-16, Joh 8:36).

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace [being under grace is having Christ sent to us as our hope of glory (Col 1:27)].
Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness [obedience unto righteousness through the faith of Christ (Php 3:8-9)]?

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,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

It is the promises of God which tell us we can be “partakers of the divine nature” that, Lord willing, by them we’ll grow into mature sons (Eph 4:13). This section of John (1Jn 3:1-12) explains what that “divine nature” mentioned in 2Peter 1:4 really is and how it can only be achieved through Christ (1Jn 3:11-12, 1Jn 3:8). As we read through the verses, notice how many promises are being made to the sons of God mentioned in 1John 3:2 and how this chapter concludes with talking about “his commandment” that God gives us “that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ” (1Jn 3:23, Php 1:29, Joh 6:28-29) and “love one another, as he gave us commandment”. Verses 23 and 24 of 1John 3:23-24 go on then to make it clear how, with this belief we’re given, we are to love one another and bear each other’s burdens “as he gave us commandment” (Gal 6:2). These verses (1Jn 3:23-24) explain to us what John 14:20-21 is talking about which reads, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

Some of the promises

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

[that love of God being confirmed through the promises given to us in this life]

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. [promise]
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. [promise]
1Jn 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1Jn 3:5  And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; [promise] and in him is no sin.

1Jn 3:6  Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him [1Jn 1:8].

[This verse (1Jn 3:6) means sin has no more dominion over you, as explained for the elect in these verses. (Rom 6:14, Tit 2:12) promise]:

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

Tit 2:12  Teaching^G3811 us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

G3811 paideuō pahee-dyoo’-o
From G3816; to train up a child, that is, educate, or (by implication) discipline (by punishment): – chasten (-ise), instruct, learn, teach.

1Jn 3:7  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

[Those works are progressively being destroyed little and by little within those who have God’s spirit abiding in them as opposed to those who are still of their father the devil and don’t have dominion over sin (Rom 8:9)  [promise]

1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed (Gal 3:16) remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

[A seed (Gal 3:16) grows by the light of the sun of righteousness (Mal 4:2) and we go from glory to glory (2Co 3:18) as we abide in that light and are cleansed of our sins (1Jn 1:7) [promise]

1Jn 3:10  In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

[The fruit of Christ’s righteousness that takes time to mature is being born in our lives giving witness that we are the sons of God who are spoken of in 1John 3:2 who are not yet perfected but being purified or sanctified through a life long process (1Jn 3:3) promise]

1Jn 3:11  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1Jn 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous [no good fruit on the tree by God’s design].
1Jn 3:13  Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. [promise (Rom 5:5)] He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
1Jn 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. [promise]
1Jn 3:20  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. [promise]
1Jn 3:21  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. [Heb 10:35]
1Jn 3:22  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight [promise].

[therefore if you lack confidence in what God can do for you or rather is doing in you, ask Him for the faith that your lacking and know that He has brought you to this point of asking (Mar 9:24)]

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment [Joh 14:21 dovetail verse].

Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him [promise].

1Jn 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. [Joh 14:20] {dovetail verse}

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

These promises that we just read in 1John 3:22-23 are what are needed in our lives to supply the vision that we need to endure until the end, and God has promised to do just that because He knows that “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he”, and He has promised that we can keep His commandments through the faith of Christ (1Jn 5:4) [promise].

Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 
Heb 6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

This opening verse “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself” explains why Christ said in Matthew 5:34 “Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne.” Instead of making oaths, as was done “by them of old time”, we ought to be saying “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (Jas 4:15).

Mat 5:34  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:

Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

We are seated with Christ today (Eph 2:6) in “heaven” which is where “God’s throne” is in our hearts and minds if “that day” is upon us (Joh 14:20, Rom 8:9). This statement of Christ in Matthew 5:34 was preceded by the words, “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths” (Mat 5:32-33). The closest equivalent to “thine oaths” which was of “old time” that we have as believers is found in Matthew 5:37.

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

The context of swearing or making an oath in Hebrews 6:13 is really a type and shadow promise that Christ [typified by Abraham] will have a bride, and their blessings will be multiplied. When God is speaking to Israel of old, it is understood that mankind cannot keep their vows and promises to God, not in their hearts, but through Christ, our communication, our way of life in other words, can be honest saying “Yea, yea; Nay, nay” which “Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths” typified (1Co 10:11).

The spiritual lesson we are learning in this parable of Christ (Mat 5:32-33) is that there is to be no spiritual fornication or adultery found in the bride of Christ, and if we are His bride, all spiritual fornication and adultery (Mat 5:28) will be burned out of us in this age, and we will in fact by the grace and faith of Christ “not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths” because of Christ who is working in us both to will and to do this (Php 2:13).

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman [another church or her doctrine] to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

This promise that God was making to Abraham in (Heb 6:13) assures the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, that nothing will prevent or separate (Rom 8:35-39) what God has brought together or is bringing together (Joh 6:44), and that blessing of God “Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee” is accompanied with the promise that “and multiplying I will multiply thee” (Mar 10:9, Joh 10:28-29).

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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

Mar 10:9  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

“Multiplying I will multiply thee” is a prophecy of this verse that applies to God’s elect and is connected to children (Gal 4:27), who will be grafted into the family of God at the hand of Christ and His bride, the church. The saviours who come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau will do so with the sharper than any two edged sword of God, and it will be with God’s word [doctrine that represent children] that we will be used to bring all mankind to give an accounting of their own lives (Oba 1:21, Rev 20:6, Joh 12:48). In short, we have become as children having been blessed to read, hear and keep the doctrine of Christ and made to endure unto the end (Mat 18:3, Rev 1:3) in order that we may judge the mount of Esau so they can be received as obedient children who have learned obedience through the lake of fire which will purify their lives. God’s elect will administer that lake of fire or great white throne judgement (Luk 12:5).

Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Mar 10:9  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

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

Earthly marriages are a type and shadow of what God is doing with the bride of Christ, and every marriage, in that sense, has been for our sake (2Co 4:15) and foreshadows lessons that we learn from both positive and negative (1Co 10:6-11, how our boldness in the Lord is fashioned Heb 13:3-6).

1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8  Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
1Co 10:9  Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
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.

Heb 13:3  Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
Heb 13:4  Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Heb 13:6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

(Israel of old was likened unto a wife whose husband was the LORD^H3068 (Isa 54:5), and this union primarily represents our first failed marriage in Babylon where we come out, Lord willing, as the Israel of God, God’s elect who are blessed to be called and chosen  (Gal 6:16) and prepared by the grace and faith of Christ to be that faithful bride because we have been washed with the word by our husband, Jesus Christ (Eph 5:24-26) and been made ready to be partakers of the wedding supper of the lamb Rev 19:9).

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

While we were one with the harlot churches of Babylon we had no children [children represent doctrine] because there was no stay of bread or water within those churches where we were joined unto a woman [church] and were dragged out of her by the mercy of God (Isa 3:1, 2Co 6:17, Joh 6:44). This parable in Matthew 5:32-33 we read tells us we are to put away our wife who represents Babylon because of spiritual fornication, and conversely we are being told to see that we don’t neglect Christ’s bride, but rather come together often and cleave unto her which we will do if God permit (Heb 10:25, Mal 3:16).

Offences come from carnal worldly reasoning within us that can cause a little one “which believe in me” to be offended. Christ tells us we are blessed if we are not offended and that great peace have they who keep his commandment for nothing shall offend them (Mat 18:6-7, Mat 11:6, Psa 119:165). However there are those who Christ likens unto “little ones” who should be carefully received and cared for in the body, and they can be offended. Christ says of that person who offends, “it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea”. Being drowned in “the depth of the sea” represents deep repentance for this careless behaviour of which we can all be found guilty because Christ tells us offences must needs be “but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!”. It is a woe when they come and, God willing, deep repentance will be granted (Rom 2:4) that will lead to this correct way of dealing with one another spoken of in these verses that carry a very identical message (1Co 8:1-13, Rom 14:12-23).

Spiritually we can “put away his wife” by offending another brother or sister with our words, with our meat: “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.” That is the underlying message in the first part of Matthew 5:32).

The second part of that verse “saving for the cause of fornication”, represents those who were once enlightened and are impossible to graft back in this age, witnessed in these two sections of scripture (Rom 6:4-6, 1Jn 2:17-29). Our goal is not to offend, but we’re going to offend, and God works all things according to the counsel of His will for a good purpose. So yes, we must repent when we offend, and the person who is offended must forgive that brother or sister from their hearts or a root of bitterness will form (Mat 18:35, Eph 4:32, Heb 12:15).

Mat 18:6  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Mat 18:7  Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Mat 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Mat 5:33  Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at few more verses that confirm who the “heirs of promise” are spoken of in Hebrews 6:17 and how those two immutable promises we discussed are connected to God’s elect.

Heb 6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Heb 6:16  For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Heb 6:17  Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Heb 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

[Study Aired April 21, 2020]

Luk 17:5  And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
Luk 17:6  And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Luk 17:7  But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
Luk 17:8  And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
Luk 17:9  Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not (I think not).
Luk 17:10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. 

Looking at verses 7-10 first, we see that this process of casting the trees into the sea is not of ourselves. We are only doing what was commanded by the Lord because our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Pro 16:2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
Pro 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. 

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isa 64:7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 

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,
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 

Our faith must only be small as a mustard seed to accomplish much. But faith alone is not enough to endure until the end. We also need much prayer and fasting, no doubts, belief, forgiveness, and love. 

Mat 17:14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
Mat 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mat 17:16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Mat 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. 

Mat 21:18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
Mat 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Mat 21:20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
Mat 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. 

Mar 11:20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Mar 11:21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Mar 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mar 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. 

1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1Co 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1Co 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. [G26 Agape, love] 

As we mature our faith grows. 

2Th 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2Th 1:4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
2Th 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
2Th 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2Th 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
2Th 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 

What is the faith that gives us the ability to cast mountains and trees into the sea?

Gal 2:15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Gal 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
Gal 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Gal 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. 

Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Php 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
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,
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 

Jesus Christ is our faith and he is the one casting the trees and the mountains into the sea. 

Pro 13:17 A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health. 

Pro 14:5 A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. 

Deu 32:1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Deu 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
Deu 32:3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Deu 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. 

Back to our parable. 

Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. 

What do the trees, the sea and mountains represent? 

Mar 8:23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. Mar 8:24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 

Luk 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit.
Luk 6:44 For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
Luk 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 

Gen 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Gen 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 

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. 

Psa 36:6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. 

Isa 13:4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. 

Trees, the sea and mountains in this parable represent our old man and the doctrines of our father the devil. 

The faith of Christ in us gives us the ability to cast out our old man and the doctrines of the world. Christ is working this out in the elect in this age. He is casting out all these nations within us. Christ does this by judging us. He has given us commandments to follow, and until He begins to work in us, we cannot follow these commandments. When He does begin, however, He will finish His work. Here is the promise of our Lord. 

Deu 6:1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
Deu 6:2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
Deu 6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deu 6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Deu 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deu 6:8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Deu 6:9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Deu 6:10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
Deu 6:11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
Deu 6:12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Deu 6:13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
Deu 6:14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
Deu 6:15 (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Deu 6:16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Deu 6:17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
Deu 6:18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
Deu 6:19 To cast out all thine enemies (the trees and mountains) from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.