Audio Download – Part 2

The Book of Amos – Chapter 1:2-15, 2:1-3

“Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions and for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof”

[Aired November 9 and 16, 2024]

In the Introductory Study of Amos 1:1, we come to understand that our symbolic Richter Scale earthquake, rated at a symbolic 10 and multiplied by 10 for each digital increment, releases a 31-fold increase in incremental energy and correspondingly represents a catastrophic emotional event impacting our Old Man of flesh spiritually. This earthquake will shake us with such spiritual violence that it will symbolically liquefy the Old Man, rendering it impossible to piece back together. (The phenomenon of liquefication happens when the ground’s foundation has subterranean saturation, yet with a honeycomb-like relatively solid structure, and when it is shaken violently in an earthquake, all layers combine and literally turn to slop, as happened in Mexico City in 1985. For us, the focus is on it not being possible for us to be reformed in our original evil shape ever again, whether crushed, dashed, liquified or shaken).

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

Psa 22:14  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels [That is Christ’s prophesied experience of being ‘spilt on the ground’ that resulted in him never to be re-formed in the flesh, yet never ‘expelled from the Father’].
Psa 22:15  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

There is tremendous spiritual significance in the way the holy spirit inspired Amos to identify our sins,  aligning us with Egypt, Sodom, Old Jerusalem, Syria and finally, all represented as Babylon. They all cryptically represent Amos’s first six cities and countries he uses, neighbouring Israel symbolically as one replicated in the seventh and eighth, Judah and Israel, where our Lord was crucified (Rev 11:8). They represent the land of our flesh and all that is in the world who cannot inherit the Kingdom and will, in their own time and order, bow down and serve the Christ, the first and last new man.

The Book of Amos is a parallel to John’s astonishment and bitter tribulation of not understanding his ‘little book’ in Revelations that translates to our even greater astonishment for being given the Keys to the Kingdom to understand those tribulations of John’s and keep those revelations given to us, the Seven Churches of Asia (Rev 1:9-20).

The first six nations and cities Amos identified represent our basest of natures in our Old Man of flesh. They are broadly distinguished as Ammonites or Moabites, which Deuteronomy 23:3 covers as “any of their descendants“, meaning Egypt, Sodom, Esau, and Old Jerusalem. They are all exposed as Babylon the Great.

Deu 23:3  No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
Deu 23:4  For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
Deu 23:5  Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you [through chastisements].
Deu 23:6 Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
Deu 23:7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.
Deu 23:8 The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.

These verses powerfully express that we are Christ’s spiritual works in progress, ‘we are begotten of them‘, evolving into the New Adam, becoming the embodiment of Christ. We must reflect on our history from Egypt to understand our present and drive future transformation toward becoming precisely Christ under his headship. Consequently…

There are a total of 8 occurrences only appearing in scripture in Amos saying, “For three transgressions… and for four“. The first concerns 6 symbolic Gentile Christian nations within and, finally, her 2 treacherous sisters, supposedly the Lord’s righteous priestly tribes, particularly Judah, yet in collaboration with Israel. They all point to our physical journey to becoming Christ with its accompanying final and violent spiritual earthquake of spiritual understanding.

In this study, all eight of Amos’s listed ethnicities, cities, and nations can symbolise the Seven Churches of Asia since they all, by their precise number, with Judah and Israel as one added to the Gentile six, parallel our transition from the Old Man to the New Man in Christ. Without the holy spirit, they all epitomise itemised aspects of our thorn of unconquered flesh. Geographically, none of them parallels the Seven Churches of Asia in Revelations, particularly since Edom, Ammon, and Moab were nowhere near them; in fact, their origins directly depict Esau and Ishmael and thus more poignantly emphasise our Old Man of the flesh in Esau despising his birthright and dwelling in dry places of spiritual desolation. Nonetheless, Amos’s eight nations directly correspond to the Seven Churches of Asia in Rev 1:4.

Amos’ listed nations:

GENTILES:

DAMASCUS—Southern Syrian Empire. Very prosperous on the crossroads between Mesopotamia-Syria. Not bordering, yet East of the Sea of Galilee. 

GAZA—The land of the Philistines on the Mediterranean Sea coast West of Judah. 

TYRUS—On the Mediterranean Sea coast, relatively close to Jerusalem. Tyrus is another name for the strongly fortified city of Tyre noted for trade and luxurious excess.

EDOM—Edom, Ammon, and Moab were East-Southeast of the Dead Sea and all strongly connected to Esau. 

AMMON   

MOAB  

JEWS:

JUDAH—The treacherous Priests and incipient Elect of God.

ISRAEL—The chosen but not the Elect of God.

Provocatively, the “Seven Churches of Asia“, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, are all north of old Israel and Amos’s list of Gentile nations, indicating that judgment will come from the north upon our old man Israel and Judah in the south. (Isa 41:25. Jer 1:14. 4:6. 6:1. 6:22. 13:20. 46:20. Eze 1:4. Dan 11:24).

Intriguingly, Amos’s eight ethnic groups fit into God’s plan for the salvation of humanity. The first six represent the man of flesh, and the last two, Judah and Israel, illustrate Gentile Flesh by portraying in spiritual order Judah, the Temple and Priests on the Sabbath Day and the number seven, and Israel characterising the Court, the last man of perdition of the Seven but is the Eighth. Through the Seventh and Eighth Old Man, Christ is making the two, being the house of Israel, ONE New Man in him.

Eze 3:7  But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Eze 3:8  Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
Eze 3:9  As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

The Lord’s Elect have been given to likewise have flinty faces against our formally impudent ways within and to not be dismayed at the inevitable hatred of our fleshy households who are yet blind (Mat 10:34-39).

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains [Nations within and depicted by Amos’s Seven Nations], on which the woman [The Great Whore – you and I] sitteth.

Where the Whore sits is you and I, who is of the Eighth nation, the self-righteous man with the spirit of a different Jesus first physically represented as one in Judah (Jew) and Israel (Gentile). 

Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11  And the beast [You and I] that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition [meaning to be destroyed].

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
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, [Jew and Gentile made on spiritual man in Christ] so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Following is a close quote from Mike Vinson. And since we are all, as “one” in Christ, heartily agree and speak the same thing:

“The positive application of the number ‘8’ is the new man who is resurrected on the 8th day, which happens to be the first day of the week when Christ was resurrected. If our names are written in the Book of Life, we will understand how it is possible for us to “ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition, and through that experience of evil (Ecc 1:13), go on to become “the eighth… the new man”, made into the very image of Christ. All things are ours, including being that man of perdition who goes ahead of our Gentile Brothers and is raised on our eighth day. The rest of humanity gets raised on their eighth day at the end of the GWTJ. The word ‘eighth’ has both a positive and a negative application.”[He] who knew no sin [said] why to call ye me good, there is none good but God” (2Co 5:21 and Mat 19:17).

The scriptures tell us:

2 Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, will let], until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

That wicked be[ing] revealed” is “the man of sin be[ing] revealed [as] the son of perdition,” as verse three makes very clear:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

“That man of sin” is “the eight [which] is of the seven and goes into perdition” in the negative application of this word, ‘eighth’. The Elect do not escape being the man of perdition; we ARE OF THE EIGHT. We are part of the 7, the whole of mankind who goes into perdition and results in coming out the other end as the eighth. The negative application of the word ‘eighth’ is that we are decaying flesh, and thus we have this treasure in earthen vessels, in earnest, and our Lord Himself, “who knew no sin”, said, “Why call ye me good, there is none good but one, that is God” makes that point. 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. Christ was in human form as a beast. In that form, He was the negative application of “the eighth”. His flesh and blood could not inherit the Kingdom of God any more than our’s can, and while His flesh did not see corruption, it was “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from flesh to spirit, with the ability to pass from one realm to the other at will. That is the positive application of “the eighth… the new man” who will not go into perdition while “the eight [which] is of the seven… goes into perdition” because “there is none good but one, that is God”. 

Remember that even around the throne of God, we are still called ‘seraphim’, serpents (Isa 6:2), and ‘beasts’ in the positive application of those words. The negative ‘eighth’ ‘beast’ goes into perdition, while the positive ‘eighth’ ‘beast’ becomes the new man in “the redemption of the purchased possession”. (Eph 1:14) The ‘dark as night “to them”, and “light by night day to these” nature of the Word of God:

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

The Elect of God is first granted a profound spiritual awakening, that can be referred to as their “earthquake,” that dramatically causes them to realise that they are given to go ahead of their brothers to learn righteousness, just as Christ did for them. Consequently, the Elect are first to perceive themselves as the man of perdition, who escapes from Babylon and is presented to Christ as His Bride immediately before the Seventh Day, which is represented as the One Thousand-Year reign with the rod of iron. This divine understanding is part of their magnificent and powerful “earthquake” of glorious truth.

Eph 1:9  And He has made known to us [in order of his very Elect] the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
Eph 1:10  as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.
Eph 1:11  In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
Eph 1:12  in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. 
Eph 1:13  And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised holy spirit, 
Eph 1:14  who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

Significations

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

Amo 1:2  And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. 

For the Israelites, through unbelief their initially unseen ‘earthquake’ comes in the form and outward reality of Amos and his compatriot prophets prophesying Israel and Judah’s sequential exile into slavery; unwittingly, their slave masters are already enslaved to their heathen ways. Interestingly, the first six prophecies of Amos identify with her neighbours, deemed Gentiles outside of the Camp of Israel, whose heathen ways spiritually align with ours in our journey to becoming the New Adam in Christ.

In scriptural terms, there are only two groups of people, and those two groups are Jews and Gentiles. In their own order of utter demolition, and later spiritually beginning at the Temple of God, symbolised by Judah, the Lord spiritually roars from Zion with his voice from the heavenly Jerusalem in the form of a vessel-shattering ‘earthquake’ of spiritual understanding. The “shepherds’ of Judah represent the Priests of God, his Bride, today. Descending in the order of ruination is Israel, represented by the Court. Because of Israel’s God-given harlot ways, she is included with the Gentiles. Hence, there are only two groups of people. Physical Judah is last to be exiled and the new spiritual Jews, the Elect become the first.

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city [The Priests; the Two Witnesses: the Bride’s ministery] shall they tread under foot forty and two months [or 3.5 years; “forty and two months” – Rev 22:3]

The phrase “For three transgressions of…, and for four” in Amos 2 refers to the judgment that extends on the six nations from Damascus to Moab and into the seventh of Judah and Israel. The six nations highlight the sins of neighbouring Gentile nations outside the Camp of Israel, yet our Lord sees them as being equal with Israel, inwardly reflecting the Elect’s failings. The Lord will not withhold His punishment from us due to these unique yet relatable sins manifested by these six ethnic groups. Both groups of Jews and Gentiles experience one event for the same symbolised timeframe of “forty and two months” chastisement since every man is but a “beast” (Ecc 3:18. Joh 8:44. Rev 13:14. 2Pe 2:12-15) who speaks great swelling doctrines of blasphemies. It all mirrors Joseph identifying Pharoah’s dreams as ‘one event to all’ (Gen 41:25-26).

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him [The Beast, sitting on God’s throne] a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Regarding Amos’s “For three transgressions of…, and for four” statements:

The number 3 represents the process of spiritual progression for the completion of judgment regarding that thing. 

The number 4 represents the whole of a thing and tribulation. It doesn’t matter if it is 4 or 4,000.

Adding up to 7 represents the completion of that process through judgment and is the primary message of Amos judging the Seven, the Priests of God, with all things being theirs (1Co3:21-23).

Jer 29:7  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Jer 29:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jer 29:9  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

Therefore, the first six characteristics of Israel’s neighbours are inherently worldly and will remain so, reflecting their fate in the Lake of Fire along with Gentile Israel and Christians who say that they are spiritual Jews and are not. In that place, they will mourn bitterly for a designated time culminating in their earthquake of understanding most gloriously and ecstatic peace for the love of the Father.

Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares [All not in the first holy resurrection, Christ’s Bride] are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world [ultimately in the Lake of Fire. However, the Elect are first to go through the fire, but it is not THE Lake of Fire]. 
Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

It is deemed that everyone ever conceived will become righteous and shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. It is just that the very Elect of God is first to experience God’s earthquake of his fiery word and live by his every commandment.

Let us begin to study our disappearing sinful nature as we learn from our timely experiences; we were and sometimes still are equal to our neighbour’s earthy sensualities, stubbornly resisting Christ and thus quenching his spirit.

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you [for  the evil experiences that teach us to juxtapose with Christ’s spirit].
1Th 5:19  Quench not the spirit.
1Th 5:20  Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1Th 5:22  Abstain from all appearance of evil.
1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amo 1:3  Thus saith the LORD; [ONE] For three transgressions of DAMASCUS, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: 
Amo 1:4  But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. 
Amo 1:5  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD. 

Remembering that ‘all things are ours’ and beginning with the nature of the people of Damascus, inclusive of the characteristics of the other five to be studied, is the progression and completion of physical judgment flowing into total tribulation perfectly parallels our spiritual earthquake and the journey, which is hopefully soon coming to a close for our redemption.

Damascus is a city in Syria, and it has historically instilled a deep sense of iron-like fear in Israel. It is represented as Gilead’s threshing because Israel never conquered that nation as the Lord required. Nevertheless, in 2 Samuel 8:6, the Syrians within the spiritual Elect are depicted as vanquished, leading to the Syrian’s servitude for our spiritual growth.

2Sa 8:5  And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
2Sa 8:6  Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

Mic 7:12  In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
Mic 7:13  Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate [mirroring our former spiritual deslolation] because of them that [we previously!]  dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 
Mic 7:14  Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

What a profound insight this is! It is first understood by the budding Elect through the ‘rod’ of Christ’s teachings and then by those whom Christ has designated to shepherd his people with the guidance of his word. This is especially true for the Gentiles during the One Thousand Year reign when they experience this bewildering frustration without the holy spirit. Later, in the Lake of Fire, they will increasingly receive this chastising guidance with the increasing holy spirit.

The key names and their meaning in verses three to five:

Gilead H1567 means  – ‘a witness heap’, and our sins likewise witness against us.

Hazael H2371 means  – ‘one who sees’.

Benhadad H1130 means  – ‘son of [the false god] Hadad.’

Aven H206 means – ‘vanity’.

Eden H5731 means – ‘pleasure. Luxury, dainty, delight, finery’.

Kir H7024 means – ‘wall. To dig’.

Thereupon, Amos’s prophesy is a ‘witness heap’ against two groups of people: the Gentile neighbours and the Priests of God, parallelling Israel and Judah and, spiritually, the entire Gentile world inclusive of Gentile Christianity and the Elect. The times of Gentile rulership are nearing the end, at which point Christ and his Christs will begin to rule in the One Thousand Year reign with the rod of iron (Luke 21:20-24).

The narrative derived from those names spiritually means that our former ways, aligned with Egypt, Syria, Sodom Old Jerusalem, and collectively represented by Babylon, are a ‘witness heap’ between us and ‘God who sees’ our every thought and action ‘vainly’ worshipping a ‘another Jesus’ while ‘luxuriating in our epicurean ways’,’ living high on the hog behind impenetrable ‘walls’ of self-righteousness, thinking no force can assail us. We dig our own wells to drink our doctrines that sensually delight us more than our new beginnings of small things of understanding symbolised as our Lord’s light bread (Zec 4:10. Num 21:5).

It is the Priests of God who hold his sceptre from ruling righteously in the house of Eden in that they do not swiftly bring justice first to themselves for Israel to mirror. When the foundation, the core of the nation represented by the corrupt Priests, is irretrievable, there is nothing left for the Lord to do but to chastise them in captivity.

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

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?

1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1Co 5:13  But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person [who is you and I, and not some other poor, blind, hapless sinner].

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? [first within?].

Amo 1:6  Thus saith the LORD; [TWO] For three transgressions of GAZA, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: 
Amo 1:7  But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: 
Amo 1:8  And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD. 

It is noteworthy that the holy spirit inspired Amos to say “the whole captivity” only twice and nowhere else in the Bible: once for Gaza and once for Tyrus.

Remember that Gaza was the land of the Philistines. During the reign of wicked King Jehoram, the son of King Jehoshaphat, who reigned following his father’s death (2Ch 21), the Edomites (Esau) who were under the dominion of Judah in those days. Because the Edomites revolted against Judah, Jehoram went and slew many of them. Additionally, Jehoram caused Israel to typically go a whoring and commit fornication and compelled Judah to do likewise. In retribution, the Lord caused the Edomites to collaborate with the Arabians to strike against Judah. Scripture recounts…

2Ch 21:17  And they [Edomites] came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

That act of carrying away “all the substance of the substance of the King’s house” to Edom is the very act of taking them all captive, as expressed in Amos 1:6. On that account, the Lord sends a “fire of infamy” upon the wall and strength of those wicked nations within us and devours our high places and tears up the roots of evil worship and take ‘the whole into captivity’. The outcome is the complete destruction of our self-proclaimed leadership for the ‘remnant’ of Philistinean doctrinal intellectualism within. That glorious annihilation of our old man is a gift of chastising grace from God.

Eph 4:7  But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8  Therefore He says, “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.”

As with Gaza, similarly is the exact same destruction of Tyrus within for delivering up the whole captivity to Edom, and additionally for a broken covenant.

Amo 1:9  Thus saith the LORD; [THREE] For three transgressions of TYRUS, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant: 
Amo 1:10  But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof. 

What is that “brotherly covenant” that we deem an easy dismissal and of little consequence?

Remember that all six neighbouring heathen-gentile nations of Damascus, Gaza, Tyrus, Edom, Ammon and Moab are one and the same, yet pointedly reflecting upon Edom, who directly represents Jacob’s brother, Esau and Mt Seir. Consequently, it is Jacob’s typically scheming, supplanting ways represented by Israel and Judah who attracted Esau’s hatred and forgetfulness of the peace treaty between him and Jacob for Jacob’s past deceptions over Esau’s birthright and blessings. Consequently, those six nations were always antagonistic towards Israel, representing Esau’s forgetfulness of their ‘brotherly covenant’ of peace (Gen 33).

The following scriptures in Ezekiel 35 portray that saga of our Lord’s wrath against our old Esau within.

Eze 35:1  And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
Eze 35:2  Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir [Esau] and prophesy against it.
Eze 35:3  And say to it, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a ruin and a waste. 
Eze 35:4  I will raze your cities, and you shall be ruined, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Eze 35:5  Because you have had a never-ending hatred, and have shed the blood of the sons of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that iniquity had an end,

In other words, Jacob, who represents Israel, had received forgiveness from God. However, Esau continued to hold onto resentment and vengeance against him. This situation mirrors how we often struggle to let go of our past sins or harbour bitterness towards our Babylonian wives, preventing us from moving forward in Christ’s loving correction. We must remember that we, too, are often guilty of sin against Christ, just as our Babylonian wives may be seen as intimately indifferent offenders towards us.

Eze 35:6  Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

That verse is similar to the sword never departing from David’s house and ours, spiritually, until all remnants of our heathen neighbours within are made desolate.

Eze 35:7  So I will make Mount Seir [Esau] a ruin, and cut off from it the one passing through, and the one returning.
Eze 35:8  And I will fill his mountains with his dead. In your hills, and your valleys, and all your rivers, those slain with the sword shall fall in them.
Eze 35:9  I will make you ruins forever, and thy cities shall not return. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Eze 35:10  Because you have said, These two nations and these two lands shall be mine, we will possess it [the Heavenly Jerusalem above and within]; 
Eze 35:11  therefore, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will act by your anger and by your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them. And I will make Myself known among them when I have judged you.
Eze 35:12  And you shall know that I am Jehovah. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, Desolation! They are given to us [The Elect] for food.
Eze 35:13  So with your mouth you have boasted against Me, and have multiplied your words against Me. I have heard them.
Eze 35:14  So says the Lord Jehovah: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a ruin.
Eze 35:15  As you rejoiced at the inheritance of the house of Israel because of desolation, so I will do to you. You shall be a desolation, O Mount Seir and all Idumea, even all of it. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

Consequently, we forget our ‘brotherly covenant’ Christ has made with us and despise our birthright when we don’t desolate those six nations within. If we don’t forgive for the duration of our unforgiveness, our Lord likewise holds back from forgiving us.

Col 3:13  forbearing one another and forgiving yourselves, if anyone has a complaint against any. As Christ forgave you, so also you do.

Jas 2:13  For he who has shown no mercy shall have judgment without mercy, and mercy exults over judgment.

Amo 1:11  Thus saith the LORD; [FOUR] For three transgressions of EDOM and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother [Esau] with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: 
Amo 1:12  But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. 

The fourth transgression against Edom has been covered, but its second mention is a second witness for the Lord’s assurance of not turning away his punishment. Teman represents the grandson of Esau and directly corresponds to the Lord’s curse against the third and fourth generations of sinners. Bozrah means “sheepfold or fortress” and conforms with our Esau-like stubbornness in sustaining our righteousness of self-proclaimed false doctrines when in Babylonian churches.

Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him [Moses], and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exo 34:7  Keeping [Chastising] 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. 

That revisiting of chastising punishment is carried forward in all eight listed nations to pointedly indict the seventh, Judah, the priests of God, the Elect first for judgment before her sister, Israel, who is subsequently judged in the Lake of Fire on the eighth day.

The next nation for judgment is Ammon, kin to Edom and Moab, yet with a variation of sin that transcribes to us spiritually. Amos says,

Amo 1:13  Thus saith the LORD; [FIVE] For three transgressions of the children of AMMON, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: 
Amo 1:14  But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: 
Amo 1:15  And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD. 

We are somewhat dismayed as to why our Lord designed Satan to incite mankind to treat his fellow man with such unspeakable violence. Of course, such barbarism without the holy spirit reflects our true nature of being a beast in our unfinished transition to being recreated as God. Our innate way of endless war, treachery and brutality is designed to etch our minds appallingly to contrast God’s nature. Of course, those beastly ways are to mirror how we, with Christ’s power and might, are to war against the Beast we are and recoil from our image.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

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

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

2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isa 2:5  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Ammon’s ripping up Israel’s pregnant women is an image too horrible to contemplate. Nonetheless, and for our benefit, all the natural and spiritual belong to us as food for transitional growth (Num 14:9, negatively and positively). We save nothing alive in cleansing our land within, and particularly the cuteness of pet sins symbolised as unborn false doctrines growing in pretty pregnant women as churches, ready for Satan to devour and sustain his nature in us, all seemingly paradoxical to non-spiritual eyes. The city of Rabbah means ‘great’, and was the capital city of the Ammonites. and reflects our self-styled headship as the Beast sitting on God’s throne. And of course, as with the other eight nations and cities, we go into captivity for sins unacknowledged (Jer 2:13).

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Amo 2:1  Thus saith the LORD; [SIX] For three transgressions of MOAB, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 
Amo 2:2  But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 
Amo 2:3  And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD. 

Again, Moab is in lockstep with Esau and typifies the Christian churches of this world who all cannot agree on doctrine and thus fight disputes of doctrine within their very own kin, only this time they burned the bones of the King of Edom, their near kin, into lime. That exaggerated expression of utterly burning the King into lime, being a vital product for hardening mortar in the construction of a city’s walls and palaces, characterises our hardened hearts against Christ’s word as we build our temple inwardly where we sit as the Beast on our Lord’s throne profoundly, yet mostly unconsciously presenting ourselves as king! That astonishing measure is represented in 2 Thessalonians,

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [who is You and I upon the earthquake realisation];
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The city of Kerioth is a town in the southern district of Judah, and its location potently points to our Esau-like nature residing in the heart of us and our supposed priesthood represented as treacherous Judah, ruling the laity and fleecing the wealth of Israel into their captivity and destruction. Kerioth and Moab within die with much noisome anguish turned into joy for its chastisement in the hope of the last trumpet for our resurrection to life in and with our husband, Christ. Consequently, and as Amos concludes in 2 verse 3, our order of judgment in this age is cut short in our midst, having had our “princes” of rulership destroyed within.

With our judgment cut short, our sisters in Babylon are immediately ruled by the Lord’s Elect with Christ’s rod of iron in the One Thousand Year Rule. They are utterly frustrated that they cannot consistently keep Christ’s commands since the holy spirit is quenched thus confounding the whole measure and stay of His word.

Isa 3:1  For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the adviser, and the skilled worker, and the expert charmer.

Until that time and in the interim, it is all happening daily before our eyes with juvenile leadership by men claiming to be leaders but injured in their privy members and stones, effectively making them women. To add insult to our Lord’s headship, women literally are our leaders in high courts and government, and worse, as priests in the Babylonian churches of the world.

Deu 23:1  He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD [Spiritually, such a man and priest, cannot lead the Lord’s flock. Being neutered, he gains female qualities of gentleness and makes judgments based mostly on emotions rather than the seemingly harshness of God’s word].
Deu 23:2  A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
Deu 23:3  An Ammonite or Moabite [like nature, just studied] shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:
Deu 23:4  Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

Isa 3:4  And I will give young boys to be their rulers, and caprices shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be crushed, every man by another, and every man by his neighbor; the boy shall act proudly against the old man, and the low against the honorable.
Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand; [Ironically, at least some in Babylon can see that their disarray of 40,000+ churches preaching another Jesus disquiets their consciences and seeing it all as a “ruin”].
Isa 3:7  in that day [and most pointedly soon in the rule with the rod of iron] he shall swear, saying, I will not be a healer; there is no bread nor a cloak in my house. You shall not make me a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah has fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of His glory.
Isa 3:9  The look of their faces witnesses against them; and they declare their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it! Woe to their soul! For they have rewarded evil to themselves.
Isa 3:10  Say to the righteous that it is well; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Isa 3:11  Woe to the wicked! For the evil doing of his hand will be done to him.
Isa 3:12  As for my people, children are their taskmasters, and women rule over them. Oh my people, your rulers cause you to go astray and destroy the way of your paths.
Isa 3:13  Jehovah stands up to plead His case, and stands up to judge the people.
Isa 3:14  Jehovah will enter into judgment with [upon] the elders of His people, and their kings; for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
Isa 3:15  What do you mean? You crush My people and grind the faces of the poor? says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts [vividly happening today in the churches of the world and government].
Isa 3:16  And Jehovah says, Because the daughters [churches] of Zion are proud, and have walked with stretched out necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;
Isa 3:17  therefore Jehovah will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will make their secret parts naked.
Isa 3:18  In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of ankle-bracelets, and the headbands, and the crescents,
Isa 3:19  the pendants, and the bracelets, and the veils;
Isa 3:20  the headdresses, and the leg ornaments, and the sashes, and the houses of the soul, and the amulets;
Isa 3:21  the rings and nose jewels;
Isa 3:22  the festal apparel and the outer garments; and the mantles, and the purses;
Isa 3:23  the mirrors and the fine linen; and the turbans and the veils.
Isa 3:24  And it shall be, instead of sweet smell, there shall be an odor of decay; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a wrapping of sackcloth; burning instead of beauty.
Isa 3:25  Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war.
Isa 3:26  And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall sit deserted on the ground.

Those verses graphically depict the destruction of the first six nations of our neighbours studied, with whom we have been in lockstep, in preference repudiating Christ’s commands.

In our upcoming study, with the Lord’s guidance, Christ amplifies the alarm and unrest among His people, Judah. Judah symbolises the Elect of God, moving ahead of her elder sister, Israel, to face a greater judgment. This is because Judah was expected to lead with righteousness but instead abused her esteemed position out of lust for power thus establishing pride.

Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
Lev 26:21  And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Accordingly, for those chastisements, the Elect of God is learning to receive them most heartily since we know that they bring forth a ravishing connection with our husband, Christ, and he for us.

Ezekiel 35:1-15 – Prophecy Against Mount Seir

[Study Aired October 28, 2024]

INTRODUCTION

Today’s study is about what the Lord has spoken regarding the destruction of Mount Seir. To understand this prophecy against Mount Seir, we need to know what Mount Seir represents. In the Bible, Mount Seir is the same as “Seir”. It refers to the mountainous region that the Lord gave to Esau. This is recorded in Deuteronomy 2:22 as follows:

Deu 2:22  As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:

In view of Seir belonging to the descendants of Esau who was the elder brother of Jacob, the Lord forbad the Israelites from invading the Seir region.

Deu 2:2  And the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Deu 2:3  Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
Deu 2:4  And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:
Deu 2:5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

During the time of King Hezekiah, some men from the tribe of Simeon attacked the Amalekites who were living in Seir. After defeating the Amalekites, they dwelt there permanently.

1Ch 4:41  And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and smote their tents, and the habitations that were found there, and destroyed them utterly unto this day, and dwelt in their rooms: because there was pasture there for their flocks.
1Ch 4:42  And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to mount Seir, having for their captains Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.
1Ch 4:43 And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt there unto this day.

Over time, Edom became a threat to Judah and therefore the Lord allowed Judah to attack the Edomites or Seir.

2Ch 25:11  And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand.
2Ch 25:12 And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces.

In Today’s study about the prophecy against Mount Seir, the Lord is speaking to us about the destruction of Seir or the Edomites. We need to understand that the Edomites represent our flesh as we see that Esau is the elder brother of Jacob, a symbol of the elect. In other words, we are fleshly related to the Edomites and therefore Mount Seir signifies our flesh or old man.

In our walk in the churches of this world, which is symbolized by the Israelites’ forty-year journey through the wilderness, we did not see our flesh as a serious threat to our walk with the Lord and therefore we did not engage our flesh in any fight in accordance with the Lord’s command to the people of Israel, not to meddle with the Edomites. In spite of that, we did win some victories over the flesh as we were able to stop some of the overt sins that we were committing, just as some of the Israelites in King Hezekiah’s time defeated the Amalekites living in Mount Seir and stayed there.

We can see that the Israelites did not confront the Edomites during their journey in the wilderness. It was when they were in the land of Canaan that they started to engage Mount Seir or the Edomites. Being in Canaan therefore represents becoming part of the assembly of the Lord’s elect.

In the fulness of time therefore, when we have left Babylon and are in the assembly of the Lord’s elect or the church of the firstborn, as our eyes are being enlightened and our ears are hearing, we come to see clearly that our enemy or the present danger is our old man or flesh. That is when the Lord comes to judge our old man or flesh with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to destroy it so that we can walk in victory.

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:

Today’s study focuses on the destruction of Mount Seir as part of the Lord’s promise to His elect to deal with our old man or flesh to grant us the grace to be overcomers. As we can see in Today’s study, the destruction of Mount Seir or the Edomites is through the Lord’s judgement. The study therefore emphasizes the need for our old man or flesh to be judged so that we can learn righteousness. It is through the Lord’s judgement that we come to know Him intimately.

Eze 35:4  I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

As the Lord’s elect, we shall have complete victory over the flesh or the Edomites as we see David, a symbol of the elect, destroy every male in Edom.

1Ki 11:15  For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom;
1Ki 11:16 (For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom: )

In 1 Kings 11:16, we can see that David and the people of Israel stayed for six months in Edom as they put to death every male. The number six is the number of man. The six months therefore show us that it takes a lifetime here on earth (six months) to have complete victory over the flesh.

Mount Seir or Edom Shall Be Judged

Eze 35:1  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 35:2  Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 
Eze 35:3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. 

As indicated in the previous studies, the word of the Lord coming to Ezekiel signifies the Lord coming to His elect with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness. What this means is that the Lord coming to His elect is to judge them for the destruction of their flesh. The coming of the Lord is also to illuminate His words (His brightness) so that we can understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

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:

As we have indicated in the introductory section of this study, Mount Seir refers to the Edomites who were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother. Mount Seir therefore represents our old man or flesh. Here in verse 3, the Lord is showing us that He is against our old man or flesh. The coming of the Lord to us with His words is therefore to show us that our flesh is destined to be destroyed through His judgement. The Lord stretching His hand against Seir to make it most desolate in verse 3 is therefore the Lord coming with His judgement to destroy the beast within us or our old man or flesh.

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

It is through the destruction of our flesh that we learn righteousness.

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

Eze 35:4  I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 

The judgement of the Lord not only destroys our flesh, but also ruins the cities within us. In the Bible, cities represent churches. For example, the city of New Jerusalem represent the assembly of the Lord’s elect. However, Jerusalem which is and is in bondage with her children symbolizes the physical churches of this world or Babylon.

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! 
Rev 18:19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The cities laying waste in verse 4 therefore means that Babylon within us shall be destroyed and “thou shall be desolate” signifies the judgement of our old man or flesh which shall result in his destruction.

Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Eze 35:5  Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: 
Eze 35:6 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: since thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. 

The Edomites or Mount Seir hated the people of Israel. This enmity started even when Esau and Jacob were in the womb of Rebekah. The people of Israel were therefore perpetual enemies to Mount Seir or the Edomites.

Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Our flesh, signified by Mount Seir, is always against the formation of Christ within us. This formation of Christ within us is the new man after the image of Christ. The two nations in Genesis 25:23 therefore represent our flesh and the new man within the Lord’s elect. As indicated, our new man shall be stronger and dominates our flesh.

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, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Shedding the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in verse 5 means putting the Lord’s elect to death through false doctrines, signified here by the force of the sword. We are therefore guilty of the death of the Lord and of His saints during our time in Babylon. This is because the water (the false doctrines) we were drinking in Babylon makes us hate the Lord’s elect and as Apostle John said, everyone who hates his or her brother or sister is a murderer.

Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

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

The force of the sword in verse 5 refers to the negative aspect of sword, which are words that are spoken which destroy us. The sword refers to the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary which makes us hate our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.   

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

The period that we are put to death through false doctrines is referred to in verse 4 as the time of the calamity of the Edomites or the time that their iniquity had an end.  This time is the period of our walk in the physical churches of this world or Babylon.

As a result of the enmity of the flesh against our new man, the Lord is saying in verse 6 that He is preparing Mount Seir unto blood or to be pursued by blood. That is to say that the Lord is preparing our flesh to be put to death.

In verse 6, we are also told that since the Edomites or Mount Seir had not hated blood, blood shall surely pursue them. That is another way of saying that if we take the sword, we shall surely perish or die by the sword.

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Eze 35:7  Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. 
Eze 35:8 And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword. 

The Lord turning mount Seir into a barren wasteland implies that our old man or flesh shall be destroyed through the Lord’s judgement such that he will not resurrect to harm us again. Everyone who comes and goes from mount Seir in verse 7 refers to us who are dominated by the flesh during our time in Babylon. The Lord cutting off those who come and go from mount Seir signifies the destruction of our flesh or old man when He comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness.

The mountains, hills and in the valleys all represent places of worship. Here in verse 8, the Lord is telling us that our places of worship are filled with people who are spiritually dead as a result of being slain with the sword which signifies being put to death through false doctrines. As we can see, the rivers in verse 8 represent false doctrines. Therefore, the rivers which are filled with the slain means that the false doctrines we imbibe cause us to become spiritually dead.

Eze 35:9  I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 

Making the Edomites a perpetual desolation means making the destruction of our flesh permanent. The other part of the sentence in verse 9 which states that their cities shall not return, emphasis the permanency of the destruction of our flesh and all his accessories including the assemblies or churches of this world (cities) which end up strengthening our flesh.

Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

Eze 35:10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there: 

The two nations or countries referred to verse 10 are Judah and Samaria which represent the people of Israel, that is, the Lord’s elect in Babylon. Verse 10 therefore shows us the enmity that the Edomites had against the people of Israel. This verse is portraying to us the flesh’s desire to dominate or possess us as the Lord’s elect and therefore we are always in a struggle against our flesh. However, as the Lord’s elect, we are assured of victory over our flesh.

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 thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

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

Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Gen 25:24  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
Gen 25:25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
Gen 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
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.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

In Genesis 25:26, Jacob taking hold of Esau’s heel means that as the Lord’s elect, symbolized by Jacob, we shall overcome or possess our flesh. It is insightful to note that in verse 10, the Lord is telling us that He is there with the people of Israel in spite of the hatred which was driving the Edomites to possess Judah and Samaria. In a similar vein, the Lord has been with us throughout our walk with Him even when we were dominated by our flesh.

Isa 43:1  But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
Isa 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Eze 35:11  Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee. 

The Lord doing according to the anger and the hatred of the Edomites against the Lord’s people is similar to the Lord telling us that He will answer us according to the idols in our hearts. In other words, we reap what we have sown.

Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

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

In verse 11, we are also told that the Lord will make Himself known among us as our flesh or old man is being judged. This implies that it is through the Lord’s judgement that we come to know Him as He unveils to us the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Eze 35:12 And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.
Eze 35:13  Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.  

Verse 12 continues to make us aware that it is through the Lord’s judgement that we come to know Him. The blasphemies of the Edomites refers to our old man or flesh thinking Himself as God and occupying the temple of the Lord in our hearts and mind. Our inability to walk in the spirit but succumb to the flesh makes our old man or flesh think that the Lord has given us over to him to dominate us permanently. In other words, our old man thinks that the Lord has laid us waste and therefore we are given to follow His dictates all through our lives. In this sense, our flesh is always boasting against the Lord (verse 13).

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

The Lord hearing the boast of our flesh in verse 13 means that He is doing something about it. At the acceptable year of the Lord, He comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to deliver us from our flesh.

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:

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isa 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Eze 35:14  Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. 

Verse 14 is saying that the whole earth would rejoice when the Lord turns mount Seir or the Edomites into a wasteland. This is speaking about the salvation of all men during the lake of fire age when all humanity shall rejoice as they are judged, resulting in the death of their old man.

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

Eze 35:15 As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 

The inheritance of the house of Israel is the reward we shall receive when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. In Revelation chapter 2 and 3, we are given details of this reward. Our reward is also referred to as the crown of righteousness, the crown of life or the crown of glory.

2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

1Pe 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

This inheritance is dependent on overcoming the flesh or our old man. This means that when we are dominated by the flesh, then our inheritance is desolate. In other words, we have lost our inheritance. In verse 15, we can see that our flesh rejoices when we are under his control or domination. Here the Lord is telling us that He will make our flesh or old man desolate just as at a time in our lives, our inheritance was desolate. Mount Seir and Idumea all refer to our flesh. It is the destruction of our flesh through the Lord’s judgement that we come to know the Lord. In other words, we come to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

We thank the Lord for His wonderful work of salvation in our lives. May His name be praised. Amen!!

Ezekiel 32:17–32 A Lament Over Pharaoh and Egypt – Part II

[Study Aired September 23, 2024]

INTRODUCTION

Today’s study concludes the Lord’s words regarding Pharaoh, king of Egypt and the Egyptians. It show us the end result of the judgement of Pharaoh and the Egyptians together with the mighty nations that are accomplices to Egypt. In the final analysis, Pharaoh, the Egyptians and the multitude of the strong nations of this world shall all be brought to the grave. In other words, the beast or the flesh of the entire human race shall die through the Lord’s judgement.  This study helps us to know those who shall be part of the second death, that is, those who shall be in the lake of fire.

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

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.

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

The cities and empires whose destruction are indicated together with Egypt at the end of this chapter include Assyria, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, Edom and Sidon. All these cities and empires shall end up in the pit or death together with Egypt, through the Lord’s judgement. Does it mean that all is lost for the multitude of these cities and empires? No. The Bible says that there is hope for a tree if it is cut down. Trees represent the people of the world. Therefore, there is hope for the human race of every generation and nation.

Job 14:7  For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 
Job 14:8  Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
Job 14:9  Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. 
Job 14:10  But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
Job 14:11  As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
Job 14:12  So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Job 14:13  O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.  

We Must First End Up in the Pit

Eze 32:17  It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 32:18 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. 

As indicated in the previous study, the number twelve means foundation and the fifteenth day of the month signifies the time that we are given new lease of life when the Lord comes to deliver us from our old man or flesh as He builds our foundation in Him.

Isa 38:4  Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,
Isa 38:5  Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
Isa 38:6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. 

The multitude of Egypt in verse 18 refer to the people of the world who are dominated by the flesh. The daughters of the famous nations symbolize the physical churches of this world or Babylon. Verse 18 is therefore foretelling of the evil experience that humanity together with our brothers and sisters in Babylon must endure for their old man or flesh to be put to death, that is, go down into the pit. As the Lord’s elect, we are to wail for these multitude of Egypt and the daughters of famous nations as we judge them or cast them down during the lake of fire age. According to Strong’s Dictionary, “wail” in verse 18 means ‘to groan’. The reason we are to groan for humanity and our brothers and sisters in Babylon is that their salvation depends on us as we wait to be perfected for their salvation.

Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

2Co 5:2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

2Co 5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

Eze 32:19  Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. 
Eze 32:20 They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes. 

To understand verses 19 and 20, we need to know that, as explained in previous studies, the Lord has endowed our old man or flesh which is referred to as Tyrus or Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, with beauty and resources to flourish. Beauty here implies the attractiveness of our flesh. As a result of the attractiveness or beauty of our flesh, all humanity succumb to their flesh. That is to say that we all worship or are dominated by the beast or our flesh.

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

The beauty that the Lord has bestowed on our flesh or the attraction of the flesh is what causes our flesh to be proud. As we are aware, pride always comes before a fall.

Eze 27:3  And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. 
Eze 27:4 Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. 

Eze 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Pro 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 
Pro 16:19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

In verse 19, the Lord is rhetorically asking whether any can surpass the beauty of our flesh. What we need to know is that in spite of her beauty or attractiveness, she shall be destroyed or put to death through the Lord’s judgement. This judgement is symbolized here in verse 20 as the sword. We are also told that this destruction of our flesh or our old man is not only for us His elect but also for the multitude of Egypt, that is, the people of the world including our brothers and sisters in Babylon. It is through the Lord’s judgement that our old man or flesh dies and as a result, we are able to learn righteousness. In this life, it is the flesh of the Lord’s elect that is being put to death through the Lord’s judgement. In the lake of fire age, the flesh of the whole of the human race together with our brothers and sisters in Babylon shall also be put to death.

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
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.

It is the Lord’s elect who shall administer the Lord’s judgement to all humanity in the lake of fire age.

Isa 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Eze 32:21  The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 
Eze 32:22  Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword: 
Eze 32:23  Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living. 

Verse 21 says that the strong among the mighty or the mighty chiefs shall be in the grave together with godless people, Pharaoh and his helpers. As we have indicated, Pharaoh represents our old man or flesh. The mighty chiefs here signify the rulers of this world who are not given to know Christ and therefore are dominated by the flesh. Verse 21 is therefore saying that we His elect, together with the rulers of this world, the godless people of this world and all that help our flesh, shall be judged and as a result, our flesh or old man shall be brought to death.

In verse 22, Asshur which is the same as Assyria is mentioned here as being in the grave with his whole army as a result of being slain by the sword. Assyria and her company represent Babylon and her multitude of followers. What this verse is saying is that all the multitude in Babylon are spiritually dead, being put to death through false doctrines propagated by this army of horsemen, that is, false messengers with two hundred million false doctrines.

Rev 9:13  And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Rev 9:15  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Verse 23 show us that the grave of the Assyrians are at the uttermost part of the pit. This is another way of saying that our brothers and sisters in Babylon shall be the last on the line for their old man or flesh to be put to death through the Lord’s judgement.

Eze 16:53  When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

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

It is worth noting in verse 23 that the Assyrians were noted for causing terror in the land of the living. This terror is the false doctrines that is propagated in Babylon by these horsemen (false messengers) which causes us much pain.

Joe 2:4  The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Joe 2:5  Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Joe 2:6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. 

Eze 32:24  There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. 
Eze 32:25  They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.  

Elam was one of the places which God’s people were exiled according to the Book of Isaiah. It was in Shushan, in the province of Elam that Daniel had a vision from the Lord by the river Ulai. They were warlike people who kept the Lord’s people captives. Elam therefore represent Babylon where the Lord’s people are kept captives and cannot worship the Lord in a way that will please Him.

Isa 11:11  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

Dan 8:2  And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.

In order for the Lord’s elect to be free to worship the Lord in truth and in spirit, Elam or Babylon must be destroyed within us through the Lord’s judgement.  In the Book of Jeremiah, the Lord has promised that Elam shall experience the wrath of the Lord as He comes to judge her.

Jer 49:34  The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
Jer 49:35  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
Jer 49:36  And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
Jer 49:37  For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: 
Jer 49:38  And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

This end result of this judgement by the Lord is what we are shown in verse 24 and 25 where Elam and her multitude are slain by the sword and are therefore brought to the grave or the pit. This implies that Babylon or Elam within us shall be dealt with by the Lord and this will happen in this age.

Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 
Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

Outwardly, Elam and her multitude representing our brothers and sisters in Babylon shall be judged and brought to experience the second death together with people of the world who are symbolized here in verse 24 as uncircumcised people. As noted in the case of the destruction of Assyria where it was noted for causing terror in the land of the living, Elam is also accused of causing terror in the land of the living. This is all to show us that Assyria and Elam are the same as Babylon as they take the Lord’s people captives. As indicated earlier, causing terror in the land of the living means making the Lord’s people suffer or be in pain as a result of the false doctrines propagated in Babylon.

Joe 2:6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. 

In both verses 24 and 25, we are also told that Elam and her multitude shall bear their shame with them who go down the pit. As indicated in verses 24, those who go down the pit are the uncircumcised people who represent the people of this world who are dominated by their flesh. This implies that in the lake of fire age, many shall be ashamed including our brothers and sisters in Babylon. This is contrary to the Lord’s elect who shall not be ashamed.

Rom 10:11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 

Isa 54:4  Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 
Isa 54:5  For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

Eze 32:26  There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living. 
Eze 32:27  And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 
Eze 32:28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. 

Meshech means ‘drawing out’. It represents a people of the line of Japheth, son of Noah. Tubal, on the other hand, means ‘thou will be brought’. The grandson of Noah was called Tubal and therefore they are also a tribe that descended from Noah. In Psalm 120, we are told that it is really a curse to dwell in Meshech as the Psalmist was praying for the Lord’s deliverance from people that hate peace and are always speaking lying words.

Psa 120:1  A Song of degrees. In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.
Psa 120:2  Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. 
Psa 120:3  What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
Psa 120:4  Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
Psa 120:5  Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
Psa 120:6  My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. 
Psa 120:7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

During the Lord’s life on earth, He was accusing the people of Jerusalem that they do not know the things which will bring them peace. Thus, Jerusalem is just like Meshech and Tubal who hate peace. This means that Meshech and Tubal also represents Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children – that is Babylon. In Psalm 120, we saw that the Psalmist was crying to be delivered from lying lips and from deceitful tongue in his sojourn in Meshech. This is Babylon which thrives on the propagation of false doctrines through their false ministers of the gospel.

Luk 19:41  And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Luk 19:42  Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 
Luk 19:43  For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Verses 26 to 28 therefore show us the end result of the Lord’s judgement of Meshech and Tubal. That is to say that Babylon shall be destroyed or put to death and her lot shall be among the uncircumcised people of the world. As the Lord’s elect, Babylon within us must be put to death in our walk with Christ. Outwardly, the physical churches of this world or Babylon shall be destroyed in the fulness of time when those whom the Lord has put in their hearts to destroy her rise up against her.

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

In verse 27, we are told that Babylon shall not lie among the mighty of the uncircumcised people who died with their weapons of war. That is to say that our brothers and sisters in Babylon shall be the last on the line to be saved.

Eze 32:29  There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

Edom means red and it speaks of our Adamic nature which is our flesh. Edom is also known as Idumea. The people of Edom were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother and therefore represent our flesh or old man. This is what the Lord says concerning dealing with Edom, our flesh:

Eze 25:12  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;
Eze 25:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.
Eze 25:14  And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

The Lord’s vengeance on Edom by the hand of His elect implies that judgement of the Lord’s elect, which destroys our old man or flesh, is the vengeance upon Edom. Edom’s kings and princes represent the devil and his cohorts who empowers our flesh. The death of our flesh or old man means the devil’s influence or hold in our lives is limited. Thus, the death of Edom is also the death of its kings and princes. The slaying of Edom by the sword means that it is the fire of the word of the Lord which destroys our flesh. Edom lying in the grave with the uncircumcised means that our flesh is not different from the flesh of the people of the world, as all flesh of humanity shall end up being destroyed or end up in the grave. In this age, it is the Lord’s elect who are given to overcome the flesh or Edom. The rest of humanity shall eventually have the victory over Edom or the flesh during the lake of fire age.

Amo 9:12 That they (His elect) may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.

Eze 32:30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. 

Zidon in the Old Testament is the same as Sidon in the New Testament. It is a city of Phoenicia, north of Tyre and it means hunting. In the Book of Judges, Sidon is portrayed as a quiet and secure city with no one possessing authority to correct them.

Jdg 18:7  Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was none in the land, possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with any man.  (ASV)

In this sense, Sidon is Babylon as our brothers and sisters there feel secured in this life and do not have Christ as their Lord to correct them.

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

However, the Lord shall judge her in the fulness of time when her sins have reached the heavens.

Eze 28:20  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 28:21  Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,
Eze 28:22  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
Eze 28:23  For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 28:24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 

Here in verse 30, we are shown the end result of the Lord’s judgement where Sidonians together with the princes of the north (their leaders) shall be destroyed as they lie slain with the sword with the uncircumcised. As indicated earlier, the sword which is the instrument of judgement, is the spirit of the Lord’s mouth and His brightness which destroys our flesh or old man. In Ezekiel 28:24 above, we are told that Sidon is like a pricking briar and a grieving thorn unto the house of Israel. We know from the Lord’s words that briars and thorns represent the false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition propagated in Babylon which is the terror of the Sidonians in verse 30.  The spirit of the Lord’s mouth is therefore like the hail that comes to destroy these refuge of lies.

Eze 2:6  And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.       

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

Eze 32:31  Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 
Eze 32:32  For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

As we have indicated in earlier studies, Pharaoh signifies our old man or flesh. The slaying of Pharaoh and all his army by the sword symbolize the destruction of our flesh using the sword as the instrument of judgement by the Lord. In verse 32, the Lord is saying that He has caused His terror in the land of the living. The Lord’s terror is His judgement and it is His judgement that our flesh and that of the people of the world who do not know the Lord (uncircumcised) are destroyed or slain. It is through the Lord’s judgement that we are made capable of waging war against everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of the Lord and bring into captivity our old man or flesh.

2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;  

We are grateful to our Heavenly Father for His faithfulness in dealing with everything that impede our growth in Him. May His Name be Praised !!

Numbers 20:1-29  The Death of Miriam and Aaron

[Study Aired September 18, 2023]

Num 20:1  Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. 
Num 20:2  And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 
Num 20:3  And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! 
Num 20:4  And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? 
Num 20:5  And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. 
Num 20:6  And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.
Num 20:7  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 20:8  Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
Num 20:9  And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 
Num 20:10  And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 
Num 20:11  And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
Num 20:12  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. 
Num 20:13  This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them. 
Num 20:14  And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us: 
Num 20:15  How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers: 
Num 20:16  And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border: 
Num 20:17  Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders. 
Num 20:18  And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. 
Num 20:19  And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet. 
Num 20:20  And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. 
Num 20:21  Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him. 
Num 20:22  And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor. 
Num 20:23  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying,
Num 20:24  Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. 
Num 20:25  Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: 
Num 20:26  And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. 
Num 20:27  And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 
Num 20:28  And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. 
Num 20:29  And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. 

Introduction

In order to understand this chapter, we need to note that it begins the history of the fortieth year (which was the last year) of the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness. Finally, after going round in circles in the wilderness for almost forty years as a result of the Lord’s judgment, they were now at Kadesh, near the border with Edom. This Kadesh is not the same as Kadesh-barnea which was near the borders of Canaan. They were therefore on the right way toward the land of Canaan and were not far off from the place where they were when, by the righteous judgment of the Lord, they were made to begin their wanderings.  

Psa 95:10  For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”
Psa 95:11  Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest [the promised land].”

This chapter gives an account of the death of Miriam, the fetching of the water out of the rock when the people of Israel were in distress as a result of lack of water, the negotiation with Edom and finally, the death of Aaron, the High Priest upon Mount Hor.

To understand spiritually what the Lord is telling us regarding this chapter, we need to know that the people of Israel were getting closer to leaving the wilderness and entering the promised land. This means we are going to learn from this chapter what happened to us which necessitated our exit from Babylon, or the physical churches of this world, in order to possess our bodies (land) for Christ. Remember that the word of the Lord has a past application, a present reality and a future perspective. That is the “is”, “was” and “will be” nature of the word of the Lord. This is what happened to Apostle John at Patmos when he encountered our Lord Jesus Christ:

Rev 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 
Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 
Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 
Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 

In Revelation 1:10, John heard behind him a great voice, like that of a trumpet. The voice behind him refers to the “was” part of the word of the Lord. The fact that the voice was like that of a trumpet means that John cannot mistake the voice for any other than the true shepherd, who is Christ. When he turned to see the voice, he saw the seven golden candlesticks. In a similar pattern, it is when, through the word of the Lord, we look back, that we see clearly the deplorable state of the complete church system of this world (Babylon) from which the Lord has delivered us. 

Today’s study, therefore, gives us more insight into how the Lord caused our exit from Babylon as we come to see the deplorable state of the churches of this world and some lessons we need to learn to keep us from being disqualified after calling others to the contest.

1Co 9:27  I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest. (GNT)

Num 20:1  Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. 

The significance about this verse is the death of Miriam. As we are aware, a woman represents the church. Remember that this death of Miriam occurred just a year before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan. The death of Miriam therefore shows us that it was when the Lord was preparing us for our exit from Babylon to possess our bodies (the land of promise) that we saw the spiritually dead state of the church, symbolized by the death of Miriam. Without the Lord showing us the spiritual state of the churches of this world, we would have continued to be in Babylon. We must remember that the last thing we heard of Miriam before her death was that she became leprous as a result of her action together with Aaron to usurp the authority of the Lord’s elect, Moses. The people of Israel had to wait until she was healed before they continued their journey. 

Num 12:1  And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
Num 12:2  And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. 

Num 12:9  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
Num 12:10  And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

Num 12:15  And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

By making Miriam leprous, the Lord was showing us that the problem with the church is sin. The death of Miriam was therefore a symbol of the spiritually dead state of the church which the Lord showed to His elect just before their exit from Babylon.

Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 
Isa 1:5  Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 
Isa 1:6  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Num 20:2  And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 
Num 20:3  And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! 
Num 20:4  And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? 
Num 20:5  And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. 

As the Israelites were close to entering the land of Canaan, it became obvious to them that there was scarcity of water in the wilderness, and without the Lord’s intervention, they would surely die together with their cattle. In this wilderness of life, there is a lack of the truth of the word of the Lord, and it is even worse as we see the end of this age approaching. This is what Jesus told us regarding His coming:

Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

We know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This means that if there are scarcely people with faith in this life, then it implies that the word of the Lord is extremely scarce in this life.  

One of the key factors that pushed us out of Babylon was the realization that there is a lack of the truth of the word of the Lord (absence of water) in the churches of this world. It is as the Lord is preparing us to leave Babylon to possess our bodies (land) that we come to see the scarcity of the truth of the word of the Lord in the churches of this world. Therefore, we came to the conclusion that if we do not leave, we shall die.

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 
Amo 8:12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
Amo 8:13  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

Num 20:6  And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. 
Num 20:7  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 20:8  Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 
Num 20:9  And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 

Two conditions must be satisfied if the elect, symbolized by Moses and Aaron, are to make available the truth of the word of the Lord to all humanity (the people of Israel) in an age to come. We must take the rod from the presence of the Lord and also speak to the rock before the presence of the people of Israel before we can be given the opportunity to feed all humanity with the word of the Lord. The rod in the hand of Moses symbolizes our judgment by the Lord in this life. Speaking to the rock which is Christ and also His words means that our walk in this life must be characterized by faith in His words. It is this faith in His words which translates into works which act as a witness to the whole world (people of Israel) that we are indeed His children. That is what will qualify us to feed all humanity in the lake of fire with the word of the Lord. 

Psa 89:32  Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

Pro 22:15  Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

Lam 3:1  I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

Jas 2:14  What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 

Jas 2:17  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jas 2:18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Num 20:10  And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 
Num 20:11  And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
Num 20:12  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. 
Num 20:13  This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

To understand what we are being told spiritually in these verses, we need to note that Moses and Aaron, apart from representing the elect, also represent the law of Moses. This law is not by faith. It is when we leave Babylon that we begin our walk of faith and therefore the law of Moses becomes irrelevant in our walk since the law which is taught in Babylon is not of faith. 

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

Whenever we walk not according to faith, we sin against the Lord. That was what happened to Moses and Aaron. 

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

Moses and Aaron should have exercised faith in the Lord and spoken to the rock to bring out water. But as explained, the law of Moses is not of faith, and therefore, the Lord allowed them to fail to show us the limitation of the law. Moses smiting the rock twice before the people spiritually implies crucifying the Lord Jesus again and putting Him to public shame. If we adhere to the law, we make the sacrificial death of Jesus of no significance. Incidentally, it is those who have been enlightened, like Moses and Aaron, who end up crucifying to themselves the son of God afresh when they fall away.  This is to serve as a warning to us, His elect.

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.

In Psalm 106:32-33, we are told that Moses spoke unadvisedly because the people of Israel made him bitter. The Lord has warned us to look diligently lest the root of bitterness springs up in us to defile many. 

Psa 106:32  They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, 
Psa 106:33  for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips. (ESV)

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

In verse 11, we are told that when Moses struck the rock twice, there was plenty of water for the people of Israel to drink together with their beasts. The feeding of the beasts together with the people of Israel signifies that the word of the Lord which comes out of the law strengthens the beast within. It is not like the fire of the word of the Lord that destroys the beast within us. In other words, the word of the Lord in Babylon does not profit them that hear.

Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Num 20:14  And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us: 
Num 20:15  How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers: 
Num 20:16  And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border: 
Num 20:17  Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders. 
Num 20:18  And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. 
Num 20:19  And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet. 
Num 20:20  And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.
Num 20:21  Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the firstborn son of Isaac and the twin brother of Jacob. The Edomites were therefore close relatives of the people of Israel.

Deu 23:7  “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. 

In spite of Edomites being close relatives of Israel, we can see in these verses that they were ready to fight the Israelites instead of assisting them to pass through their land. Therefore, they signify our flesh, and as we know, our flesh is in enmity with the spirit the Lord has given us.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
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.
Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

It is when the Lord is preparing us to leave Babylon that we come to see the formidable opposition of our flesh and our helplessness in fighting back, just as the Israelites saw they could not overcome the Edomites. It was when the Israelites were in the land of Canaan as they walked by faith that they defeated their enemies and possessed the land the Lord had promised them. We all go through similar experiences as the Israelites did. This was the experience of Paul when he said the following:

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
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.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Num 20:22  And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor. 
Num 20:23  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, 
Num 20:24  Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. 
Num 20:25  Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: 
Num 20:26  And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. 
Num 20:27  And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 
Num 20:28  And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. 
Num 20:29  And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. 

Aaron, who represents the Levitical priesthood, is a symbol of the priesthood in Babylon. The death of Aaron therefore signifies the fact that the priesthood in Babylon brings about the ministration of death. Again, it is when we are about to leave Babylon that we begin to see the nature of the priesthood in Babylon – a ministry of death. 

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 
2Co 3:6  who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2Co 3:7  Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 
2Co 3:8  will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
2Co 3:9  For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 

Rom 7:6  But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

This is what the word of the Lord has to say about the spiritually dead state of the priesthood in Babylon:

Eze 22:25  The conspiracy of her [Babylon] prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 
Eze 22:26  Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 
Eze 22:27  Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 
Eze 22:28  And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken. 
Eze 22:29  The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. 
Eze 22:30  And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

Jer 5:30  An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land [Babylon]:
Jer 5:31  the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

The stripping of Aaron’s garments by Moses and putting them on Eleazer in verse 28 means that we do not have our own righteousness and that our righteousness is of Christ who puts it on whomsoever He chooses. 

1Co 1:30  And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 
1Co 1:31  so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 

2Co 5:21  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In verse 29, when the congregation of the Israelites saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned him for thirty days. It is in the lake of fire age that Babylon, signified here by the congregation of Israel, will see that the law of Moses is an administration of death. Just as the elect are mourning (wearing sackcloth) in this life as a result of the judgment of their old man, the people of Israel or Babylon will mourn as they are judged in the lake of fire for thirty days. The 30 (3×10) days signifies that at the fullness of the flesh, the world, including Babylon, will become mature through the process of judgment in the lake of fire. 

Rev 11:3  And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth [mourning].” 

May the Lord help us to walk by faith but not by sight as we see the day approaching. Amen!!

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Awesome Hands – part 130

Denied by Edom

February 9, 2018

Many times in our lives we find ourselves in need. Whether it is for the basic needs of life like food and shelter, or for those times where we need a helping hand, the Lord has created in us a capacity to always need one another.

He uses this capacity to cause us to look toward one another for help, and how we act or react shows us where our hearts and minds are towards our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This is also true for the general population of people around us who may not be apart of the household of faith yet.

Our study today finds us with the children of Israel being denied access to a resource that would have made their travels and lives a lot easier. Being denied, the Israelites “turn away” from Edom.

The answer is no

Our verses for consideration today are found in Numbers 20. We are going to be picking up form where we left off last week. Moses has just struck the rock, instead of speaking to it, thus denying himself passage to the promised land.

Numbers 20:14  And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
Numbers 20:15  How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers:
Numbers 20:16  And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border:
Numbers 20:17  Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.
Numbers 20:18  And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
Numbers 20:19  And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet.
Numbers 20:20  And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.
Numbers 20:21  Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

The children of Israel are in a strange land, which is not their land, and they are trying to get to where they have been promised by the Lord. Sound familiar?

Along the way, they hearken to their family for help on this journey.  The family of course were their kin folk the Edomites. Edom was founded by Esau, and the Israelites are the descendants of Jacob.

No doubt, Moses was appealing to this family connection when he asks the king of Edom for passage while mentioning to Esau about their “travail”. After all, aren’t family supposed to help family? Well, this would not be the case for Edom helping the Israelites.

There is a particular part of these appeal of Moses to the Edomites that reveals to us a lot about how we are received in the world and specifically by our families. Our Christian families are especially important to note in this story.

Numbers 20:16  And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border:

If you remember the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt, it was Moses who was used to go to the Pharaoh. It was Moses who has been used to intercede with the Lord so that His will was made known to the people. Yet, we are told clearly that “an angel has brought us forth out of Egypt”.

Here are some more complimentary verses to help us understand this discrepancy.

Exodus 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:

Exodus 32:34  Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.

Acts 7:34  I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
Acts 7:35  This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

From these verses it is apparent that Moses was speaking with an angel of God who spoke on behalf of God. We are not left to wonder who this angel of God is.

1 Corinthians 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1 Corinthians 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1 Corinthians 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1 Corinthians 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

If that doesn’t make it any clearer, I will read from John to see if that sheds any light on the subject.

John 5:31  If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
John 5:32  There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
John 5:33  Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.
John 5:34  But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
John 5:35  He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
John 5:36  But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
John 5:37  And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
John 5:38  And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

Jesus Christ was sent to do the will and works of God the Father. These works bear witness that Jesus is who He says He is. Jesus finishes this section of John by telling these Jews, who wanted to kill Him, that they do not have his word abiding in them.

Just before Jesus says this, we see whom it is Jesus is speaking with and sent to at this time.

John 5:16  And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
John 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
John 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

I want to be crystal clear in what I am saying, and how Moses petitioning the king of Edom to let the Israelites pass through the land, is just like us being sent into the world to do the same thing. We just want passage through this wretched world we live in.

Jesus just proclaimed something that will cause us to be mocked and hated by all men for his names sake.

“ ‘He’ …. said also that God was His Father, making himself EQUAL with God”.

Yes, my own flesh bulks at that comment. Why? Because if Jesus claims to be the Son of God, and was killed for making Himself equal with God, then I too must be doing the same exact thing when I proclaim to be the son of God? Right?

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

1 John 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

When I proclaim to be equal with God, what I am proclaiming is that I have been adopted into the family of God as a son. This hope in me proclaims that I do not know what I shall be when I resurrect, but NOW I am a son of God. This hope purifies me.

Taking this concept back to Moses and the king of Edom, who is it we will continue to go to war with while in this life and age if it is not with our own family?

Of course I am speaking about our physical families, but knowing that we are all children of God, and that everyone will come to know this as the Truth eventually, it is beneficial for me to realize that all men will hate me because the “mind” of men is in EVERYONE! The old man in all of man will hate the NEW MAN in ME and You!

That is how all men will hate us.

Our lives and our walks are very simple in concept, but very hard to walk out. It was quite a simple concept that Moses was to take the Israelites to the promised land.

If they had taken a “straight” path, approximated to be 250 miles along the sandy coast, they would have went directly to enemy territory in Philistia. They didn’t go through the Sinai Peninsula which would have probably baked them all since it is a plateau.

Instead, they went south down a coastal plain and then onto many stops along the way. All told, they wondered in the wilderness for 40 years.

This tells us much of how our walk will go with the Lord and with those He places in our lives.  We go on a harder and more round about path to the Lord in living our lives with the hope in us that I spoke of before.

The “obvious” and easiest path is the one that is wide. The path that is narrow is the one much less traveled. On most journeys we take, we want comfort and surety. We certainly to not want stress and uncertainty.

We don’t like the unknown and we have a fear of it. Instead of doing something new that many have never tried, we would rather go back to what we know, Egypt in this case of the Israelites.

We need to accept these truths because, like it or not, when we go to our brother Edom, we are going to be rejected.

Hosea 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Mark 12:10  And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:

Luke 7:28  For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater              than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Luke 7:29  And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
Luke 7:30  But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

You and I will be rejected, just as the people of God were, because we 1) claim to be God’s people, His sons, and 2) claim to be as He is in this world.

We cannot be accepted because being sons to the King of kings, makes us all kings, and that means there is a kingdom we are all apart of.

Luke 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luke 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:22  And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
Luke 17:23  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
Luke 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Luke 17:25  But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
Luke 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luke 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

Moses and the Israelites pleaded with the king of Edom to allow them to simply just pass through his land. They wouldn’t use anything of value and they would go via the kings highway. The kings highway is just another way to say the public road.

Numbers 20:18  And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
Numbers 20:19  And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet.
Numbers 20:20  And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.

When we clarify with our friends, family, loves ones and others that we simply just want to move along and be no burden to them or others, they then get even more aggressive in our attempts to be less intrusive to them.

In other words, the more we desire to have PEACE, they want to make war with the new man IN US.

Numbers 20:21  Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

Our hearts and minds are no very different from those who experienced this happening to them all that time ago. Eventually, we will see where the hearts and minds of our loved ones are and then it will be time for us to turn away from them.

There is no cruelty in this, but it is simply what needs to be done. We simply turn and go away and in a different direction than our family and friends.

This will be used as an occasion against them however, as the Lord will not forget this behavior being perpetrated against His name in and on you.

We see this played out in other parts of scripture, but the message for today is to except these things to befall you as the sons of God from those whom you’d least except it to come from.

Do good to all men, especially to those of the household of Faith, and rejoice in the hope that has been given to you.

Galatians 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Galatians 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Galatians 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Galatians 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Jacob was initially described in the scriptures as a deceiver and manipulator, but in the process of serving Laban for twenty years for his two daughters and securing a flock of animals for himself, Jacob is taken through a process of sanctification to become a type of the true servant of God, Jesus Christ. The theme of sanctification helps us to see how we are positioned by God to take up the proper place to be of service to God and His church, and to be all in the last Adam eventually (Act 26:13-18; 1Co 12:4-7; 1Co 6:2-3; 1Pe 2:9; Rev 20). This includes the process whereby the old man in us is being supplanted by the new man in Jesus Christ (Rom 5:10-21; 2Co 5:15-17; Col 1:13). This is the prayer and purpose of Jesus for His elect in this age (Rom 15:15-16; Eph 5:26-27; 2Ti 2:21):

Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Jacob fled Haran to get away from his uncle, Laban, and to get back into the land God promised to Abraham and his offspring. While in this process of being sanctified from his old nature, Jacob still found himself and his family on the east side of the river Jordan where he is preparing for a confrontation with his twin brother, Esau. Before Jacob wrestled with God in the form of “a man” when he was alone at the river Jabbok in the night, he thought it best to first appease Esau with several gifts (Gen 32:13-15). Within this time of wrestling, the Lord prevailed in the end as He touched “the hollow of [Jacob’s] thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint causing a permanent limp in his walk (Gen 32:24-32). This limp symbolizes the dramatic shift in Jacob’s way of approaching Esau, from his dependence on his old manipulative nature toward the fear of God, as he now trusts God’s word to him and his desire to do what is right in God’s eyes (2Co 12:9; 1Co 2:3-5; Php 4:13). At this place, which Jacob then named Peniel, Jacob’s name was also changed to Israel. From being a deceiver and manipulator, Jacob’s old nature is being supplanted by the symbol of this new name Israel also, which means “a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed”:

Gen 32:27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Gen 32:29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
Gen 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Gen 32:31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

Having seen God face to face, Jacob is now being armed with a new approach to life, as he will now face his brother Esau having his outlook now lifted up to see beyond his own human abilities or limitations. Jacob also made a special arrangement concerning the order in which his family was to face Esau and his men. His beloved wife Rachel and his son with her, Joseph, were placed right at the back for special protection:

Gen 33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
Gen 33:2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

Instead of others and his presents going before him, this time Jacob placed himself at the front to face Esau first, as true leadership requires. Jacob’s gifts to appease Esau have also now turned to symbols of reconciliation as he completely humbled himself when he bowed seven times to Esau (seven is the symbol of completeness in spiritual terms):

Gen 33:3 And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

Jacob bowing seven times to Esau is also showing us spiritually how we should see ourselves while living in this fleshly body. God created this earthly life for us to be an evil experience to teach us humility and to see Him as the only Source of true spirit life:

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

God’s elect is the first to learn this wisdom and God’s plan to take all in Adam through this process as we learn to see our own proud flesh:

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

Pro 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Pro 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Pro 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Pro 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

These encounters with our old man will always reveal things we ourselves were not even aware of as this meeting between Jacob and Esau also shows. It was quite different to what Jacob expected it to be:

Gen 33:4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

Instead of open hatred and animosity, Esau was seemingly very glad to see Jacob. The mind of our old man is devoid of the truth of a matter and only goes on what its natural senses can feed it. This flesh and its deceitful heart have a way to hide its own pride under a guise of false humility and shallow repentance to gain favour with others (Jer 17:9; 1Ti 6:3-5):

Pro 16:7 When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Pro 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Col 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.

God’s elect also suffers in their appointed time under the dominion of this mind-set which conjures up all kinds of false perceptions about others, forgetting its own deceitfulness. Jumping to our own conclusions just based on our carnal observations is not a wise thing to do. The outward display of flesh is not where our attention should be, because the war is spiritual and far beyond what our natural senses can perceive:

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.

Our enemy is much more subtle, and this growth in our understanding of the spiritual warfare in which we are involved develops only over a period of time and through much tribulation (Luk 21:19; Act 14:22; Rev 14:9-12). On the surface Esau indeed displayed a different attitude, and there was no visible hostility present with him. In the twenty years since they last saw each other, many things have changed in their lives. For Esau it was indeed a surprise to see Jacob’s big family as they also showed great humbleness towards Esau:

Gen 33:5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
Gen 33:6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
Gen 33:7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

Esau was also amazed at Jacob’s huge riches in animals and Jacob’s ability to even make a presentation of gifts to him:

Gen 33:8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

Jacob was also unaware that Esau himself was blessed by God as Isaac also promised to Esau that he will also prosper when the yoke of Jacob will be broken. This is the blessing Isaac gave to Esau:

Gen 27:38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
Gen 27:39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;
Gen 27:40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

Esau has now seemingly accepted his fate of not having the inheritance of the firstborn as he was indeed living by “the fatness of the earth” and was a very prosperous man on his own with no physical needs:

Gen 33:9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.

In these words we first notice the signs of pride as the flesh in us matures first to establish huge kingdoms and rulers in the earth (Gen 4:17; Gen 10:11; Gen 11;1-4; Gen 13:12; Gen 23:10; Gen 24:10; Gen 36:1-43). The flesh is also blessed by God with temporary blessings, and it cannot see that it is actually ensnared or swallowed up by the earth in this regard (Numbers 16). The spirit of the world in us is indeed filled with its pride and lusts from its creation (Gen 3:6; 1Jn 2:16). At this point in time, Jacob wanted to give Esau gifts as a token of his gratitude that Esau accepted him and his family and to reconcile with him, even as we should all follow peace with all men (Rom 12:18; Heb 12:14). This reconciliatory gift was eventually accepted by Esau after much convincing from Jacob:

Gen 33:10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
Gen 33:11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.

Jacob could see that this occasion was worked by God as seeing God “face to face” at Peniel prepared Jacob for this meeting with Esau. Esau now actually wanted to give Jacob and his family protection during their journey to where Esau lived in Seir:

Gen 33:12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

Jacob declined the offer respectfully as this is also a lesson to show that the elect of God will never allow the flesh to dictate the direction and the terms or conditions to live by. Jacob was also considering the weak and tender among his family and animals as this also shows how the mature will be patient with those who are still weak in the faith:

Gen 33:13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.

It is also important to note that Jacob lead the way for the weak and tender among the flock and the humans with him:

Gen 33:14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.

Although Jacob was adjusting his pace to the weak in his flock, it is clear that he did not allow the weak to determine the direction they travelled. The mature in faith will never allow the weak in faith to dispute the true doctrine of Christ, even as they receive them with what they can handle:

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.

The road of sanctification is indeed in service to others as well, as we are positioned by God to bear the burdens of others, even if it takes the longer and patient route (Eph 4:1-3):

Gen 33:15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.
Gen 33:16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

We read in the scriptures that Esau and his three wives with their children and all his riches eventually moved out of Canaan to live in a mountainous area in Seir. There was not enough space for Jacob and Esau to live in Canaan eventually because of the riches they both possessed (Gen 30:43):

Gen 36:6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.
Gen 36:7 For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.
Gen 36:8 Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir [Hebrew: “śê‛ı̂yr” = rough; from “śâ‛ı̂yr” = hairy/shaggy/he-goat]: Esau [Hebrew: ‛êśâv = hairy/rough] is Edom [Hebrew: “’ĕdôm” = red].

Seir, like Esau, has in its meaning the concepts of being hairy and rugged. This all links to Esau as this region was also called “Edom” which relates to the colour red. This was the colour of Esau that was mentioned when he was birthed from Rebekah, and this name was also given to him when he wanted the red pottage by which he despised his birthright (Gen 25:25; Gen 36:1-6). All of this also links to the first Adam which in the Hebrew meaning of the name relates to the colour red and being ruddy (Gen 25:24-25; Gen 25:30). We discover more about the heart of Esau and that of his offspring through the words of the prophet Obadiah, “the servant of the Lord”, when he also reveals so much about Esau and these Edomites in us:

Oba 1:1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
Oba 1:2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

Why does God despise Esau and his offspring so much, and why are we told to rise up in battle against them (Mal 1:2-3; Rom 9:13)? Here are the reasons why:

Oba 1:3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Oba 1:4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
Oba 1:5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
Oba 1:6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

The flesh is a marred and deluded creation of God, and it is filled with pride and lusts to please self above all else (Pro 6:16-19; 2Th 2:3-4). This natural man of flesh in us also hates to be exposed by the light of God (Joh 1:9-11; Joh 3:19-20; 2Th 2:8). All the allies of the flesh are also deceived and in their mutual hatred they rejoice in the judgement which falls on the elect of God (Psa 2:1-2; Psa 137:7). Flesh and carnality with its fleshly wisdom, pride and lusts, like all Edomites in us, will be humbled and eventually totally destroyed, as will all death in us (Rom 8:6-8; 1Co 15:26; Rev 21:4):

Oba 1:7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
Oba 1:8 Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
Oba 1:9 And thy mighty men, O Teman [a grandson of Esau], shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
Oba 1:10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

As Edom relates to the first man Adam, the kings of Edom also link to the first rulership and dominion of the flesh over us through its strongholds of pride and lusts (2Co 10:3-5; 2Jn 2:16). The Edomites were more advanced in physical terms than Jacob and his offspring for a long time in the history of these two nations. Esau and his offspring, for example, had kings long before Jacob (Israel) and his family had any king ruling over them (Gen 36:31-39; 1Ch 1:43-55):

Gen 36:31 And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.

God indeed promised to Abraham that there will be kings from his own offspring through Isaac and Jacob ruling in Canaan, but this would only happen long after the nations around them, including Edom, already had kings (Gen 17:5-8; 1Sa 8:4-5). This promise of kings from his loins was confirmed to Jacob at a later stage by God at Bethel just before the death of Rachel and the birth of his twelfth son, Benjamin:

Gen 35:9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.
Gen 35:10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
Gen 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.

It is through the last Adam, Jesus Christ, that the spiritual kingdom is established in us to overcome the earthly kingdoms eventually. This rulership over flesh has been given firstly to the elect of God who will indeed not only have dominion over the flesh in themselves inwardly, but will do that outwardly in the thousand year reign in earth, and have rulership in the next spiritual age in the lake of fire (Rom 6:6-14; Revelation 20). This double portion indeed belongs to God’s spiritually firstborn, even through Jesus Christ and all in Him, who is the hated of those in the flesh (Deu 21:15-17). With this truth in mind we can see why the flesh will never be an ally of the spirit, but always will be in opposition and why these two nations symbolized by Esau and Jacob will also struggle within us (Gen 25:20-23; Rev 12:1-17).

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.

Our flesh will not assist us when we want to get redeemed from sin, sinful habits and false doctrines. This was typically seen when the physical nation of Israel wanted a peaceful thoroughfare through Edom when Israel came out of Egypt to get to the promised land. However, this was their answer after Moses’s peaceful request to them (Num 20:14-17):

Num 20:18 And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
Num 20:19 And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet.
Num 20:20 And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.
Num 20:21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

The pride-filled mockery and laughter for Israel’s calamities is also what Jacob and his offspring constantly experienced from the Edomites for which God judged them eventually (Ezekiel 35, 36). Throughout the history of Israel the relationship between them and Edom (also called “mount Seir”, “Idumea”, “Bozrah”, “Teman” and “Selah”) was not a friendly one at all (Jos 24:4; 2Ki 14:7; Isa 63:1; Eze 34:6; Eze 35:1-15; 2Ch 20:22; Isa 34:5; Isa 63:1-4; Jer 49:17). This constant battle in us was also typified when the first two kings of Israel fought against Edom and other earthly kingdoms, but eventually they all crumbled under king David, even as those in Edom were made servants by David, pointing to the ultimate rulership of the spiritual kingdom of God in us (Oba 1:17-21):

1Sa 14:47 So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them.

2Sa 8:13 And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.
2Sa 8:14 And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

These dynamics are now also involved even in the new relationship being established between Jacob and Esau.  Jacob and his people did not plan to go to Seir at that time. They rather chose to stay in a place called Succoth, still on the east side of the river Jordan:

Gen 33:17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth [Hebrew: “booths”].

Then Jacob moved to Shalem, which means safe or peaceful in Hebrew. This place was outside the city of Shechem in Canaan. Jacob was now back in Canaan where he erected an altar to the mighty God who protected and provided for him and his offspring:

Gen 33:18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.
Gen 33:19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.
Gen 33:20 And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel [the mighty God of Israel].

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Numbers in Scripture
Colors in Scripture – Red – Part 1
The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part 14
Awesome Hands – Part 22 – Receive My Present at My Hand
How to Wage Spiritual Warfare
Waging Spiritual Warfare