1 Samuel 23:1–29 David Saved the City of Keilah 

[Study Aired June 29, 2026]

Our study for today can be categorized into four sections. The first one relates to David rescuing Keilah from the Philistines. The second part deals with the Lord’s warning and escape from Keilah. The third section of the study is about Jonathan coming to encourage David. Finally, the study concludes with the Ziphites informing Saul about David and David’s narrow escape. This study therefore illustrates the principle that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers us out of them all.

Psa 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. 
Psa 34:20  He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. 

David Rescued Keilah from the Philistines

1Sa 23:1  Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshing floors. 
1Sa 23:2  Therefore David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. 

Here in verse 1, David was told that the Philistines were fighting against Keilah and that they were robbing their threshing floors. Keilah means ‘fortress.’ Therefore, what verse 1 signifies is that taking refuge in Christ as our fortress involves being at war against our flesh, denoted by the Philistines. In the Bible, a threshing floor is a flat, hard surface used to separate edible grain from inedible husks and chaff. Because of the intense labor and wind-swept separation involved, it serves as a powerful biblical metaphor for the Lord’s judgment. The threshing floor therefore represents the suffering we go through from the hand of the Lord or the judgment of the Lord. This implies that the Philistines robbing the threshing floor of those in Keilah that when we are of the flesh, we are robbed of the need to go through the Lord’s judgment.

We all, naturally, do not want to suffer. This means that living according to the flesh (Philistines) robs us of the need to suffer. However, if we have taken refuge in Christ, then we are enjoined to suffer, just as our Lord suffered for our sake.

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 

1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 

In verse 2, David enquired of the Lord whether to go to the rescue of the Israelites in Keilah or not. The Lord responded that David should go and destroy the Philistines to save those in Keilah. Verse 2 signifies that it is through enquiring of the Lord through His word we come to know that we must fight the fight of faith against our flesh to save our lives. We must also realize that it is not all those who come to enquire of the Lord who are given to know what the Lord is saying. It is only the Lord’s elect, signified by David, who are given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. 

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.  

1Sa 23:3  And David’s men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? 
1Sa 23:4  Then David enquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. 

As we can see in verse 3, David’s men were afraid of confronting the Philistines in Keilah. This implies that they were not spiritually matured like David. These men were new to the church of the Lord’s elect and were as we were still holding to the mentality that we cannot win the war against our flesh (Philistines). 

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? 

For the sake of these immature believers, David enquired of the Lord again and came to the same conclusion that the Lord would grant them victory over the Philistines or their flesh. He did not rebuke them for their unbelief, but was very patient with them. We must therefore be patient with our brothers and sisters in the faith. 

1Th 5:14  Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 

David enquiring from the Lord again also shows us one of the principles that helps us to be guided when studying the word of the Lord. The number two means a ‘witness’, and therefore David enquiring from the Lord for the second time implies that we must have a witness when we study the word of the Lord. In other words, we are to have at least a second scriptural witness to establish a Scriptural truth or doctrine.

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

2Co 13:1  This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 

1Sa 23:5  So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.  

Through faith in the word of the Lord, David and his men went to Keilah and defeated the Philistines, thus, delivering the inhabitants of Keilah from the hands of the Philistines. What this is showing us is that through faith in the word of the Lord, we shall overcome our flesh.

Heb 11:32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 
Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 
Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 

1Sa 23:6  And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. 

As indicated in the previous study, Abiathar, which means ‘my father is great’, was the only one who escaped from the slaughter of the priests at Nob, to join David and those with him. His escape represents our escape from the church system of this world or Babylon, to join the church of the Lord’s elect or the Heavenly Jerusalem. 

An ephod, on a positive note, signifies the sacred priestly garment. As we are aware, garments in the Bible represent our righteousness, which is of the Lord. In other words, our righteousness is the Lord’s righteousness. 

Exo 28:4  And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 

Exo 28:6  And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. 

Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. 

Jer 33:16  In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. 

On a negative note, the ephod represents an idol. This indicates that self-righteousness is an idol of our hearts, which prevents us from knowing the Lord.

Jdg 8:27  And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house. 

Jdg 17:5  And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 

Going back to verse 6, we can see that Abiathar had not put on the ephod yet after his escape from Nob. This implies that when we came to the church of the Lord’s elect, we were not yet clothed in Christ’s righteousness, since in Babylon, we believed in our own righteousness. However, Abiathar having the ephod in his hand when he came to Keilah in verse 6, signifies that coming to the assembly of the Lord’s elect brings us closer to Christ’s righteousness or it is at hand. In other words, Christ’s righteousness is within our reach through faith. 

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

Divine Warning and Escape from Keilah

1Sa 23:7  And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. 
1Sa 23:8  And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 

As we can see, the Lord had raised Saul and his men as His instrument of judgment of David and his men. Saul and his men symbolize the people of this world, including our brothers and sisters in Babylon, whom the Lord uses sometimes as His instrument of judgment against the Lord’s elect. In the Bible, the Lord, on some occasions, used some foreign nations to judge His people as shown in the following verses:

Isa 10:5  O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.  

In the mind of Saul and his men, they thought they had cornered David and his men and that there was no way of escape. Sometimes we come to situations that we cannot figure out how we can get out of them. In our desperation, we forget that it is the Lord who is in charge. The Lord has given us assurance through His word that we should not fear whatever comes our way in this life, because He is the one in charge.

Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. 

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 

1Sa 23:9  And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod. 
1Sa 23:10  Then said David, O LORD God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. 
1Sa 23:11  Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the LORD said, He will come down. 
1Sa 23:12  Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up. 
1Sa 23:13  Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth. 

As indicated earlier, the ephod represents the Lord’s righteousness which is imputed on us, His elect. David asking Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod in verse 9 means David appealed to the righteousness of the Lord to show him the way forward. 

Verses 10 to 13 show us that as we come before the Lord in our desperation, the Lord hears us and shows us a way out, such that we are able to bear whatever trouble we find ourselves in. 

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 
1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

Comparing scripture with scripture, we can see that verses 10–13 of this study are the same as Psalm 107 where we find ourselves in trouble such that we have no way out. In our desperation, we cry out to the Lord, and in His mercy, the Lord brings us to our safe haven. 

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

Jonathan Encourages David

1Sa 23:14  And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand. 
1Sa 23:15  And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood. 
1Sa 23:16  And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God. 
1Sa 23:17  And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth. 
1Sa 23:18  And they two made a covenant before the LORD: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.

In our time of trial, we need to be strengthened by our brothers and sisters in the Lord as we see Jonathan coming to Ziph to encourage David’s hand in God. This walk with Christ is a lonely journey, and therefore we need to be strengthened in Christ. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest, He was in deep agony as He prayed and was strengthened by an angel. This angel represents us, His elect, as we encourage one another in the Lord especially during times when we are under the judgment of the Lord.

Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 
Luk 22:44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 

Our Lord Jesus specifically told Peter that after he is converted, he should strengthen his brothers, which emphasizes the fact that we are to strengthen one another in the Lord. 

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

The fact that David and Jonathan made a covenant in verse 18 before the Lord, signifies that we are in a covenant relationship with each other as the Lord’s elect, to strengthen one another both in good times and in bad times. 

1Th 5:11  Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (ESV)

Heb 10:24  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 
Heb 10:25  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (ESV)

In essence, what every joint supplies in the body of Christ is to build each other up.

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. 

The Ziphites Inform Saul and David’s Narrow Escape

1Sa 23:19  Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon? 
1Sa 23:20  Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand. 
1Sa 23:21  And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the LORD; for ye have compassion on me. 
1Sa 23:22  Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly. 
1Sa 23:23  See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah. 

Ziphites means ‘smelters.’ Hence they represent all those that the Lord uses as instruments of His judgment. As instruments of the Lord’s judgment, it is no wonder that these Ziphites went to report to Saul the hiding place of David and his men, to put more fire under David and his men. 

These Ziphites are likened to us when we were in Babylon where we were more interested in pleasing our leaders and persecuting the Lord’s elect.    

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

Col 3:22  Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: 

Here in verse 21, Saul was blessing the Lord for His compassion toward him for being told by the Ziphites where David and his men were. This signifies that there are many who please the Lord with their mouth, but their hearts are far away from Him. 

Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: 
Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 

1Sa 23:24  And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. 
1Sa 23:25  Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

Although David and his men did not know that the Ziphites were looking for him and his men to hand them over to Saul, the Lord guided the steps of David and his men to lead them out of Ziph to the wilderness of Maon. Through the guidance of the Lord, our steps are ordered, such that we are kept from being harmed by anyone.

Psa 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. 
Psa 37:24  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.   

We must remember that when Cain killed his brother Abel, the Lord came and told him that as part of his punishment, he shall be a fugitive and a vagabond or wanderer. In response, Cain told the Lord that his punishment was too much and that anyone who finds him would kill him. To this end, the Lord put a mark on Cain such that no one could harm him as he wanders from place to place. If the Lord could protect Cain through a mark on his forehead, how much more would the Lord protect us, His beloved, who cry to Him day and night? He would surely take care of us, just as he protected David from the hand of Saul and his men.  

Gen 4:12  When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
Gen 4:13  And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 
Gen 4:14  Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. 
Gen 4:15  And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. 

As the Lord’s elect, we also carry on our forehead a mark by the Lord such that no one can harm us in this life.

Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; 
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:

1Sa 23:26  And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them. 
1Sa 23:27  But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land. 
1Sa 23:28  Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Selahammahlekoth. 
1Sa 23:29  And David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at Engedi. 

In verse 26, we see Saul and his men on one side of the mountain and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. It demonstrates the gulf between the Lord’s elect and our brothers and sisters in the church system of this world or Babylon. Coming from Babylon to the church of the firstborn requires climbing a mountain. This mountain is the false doctrines in our heavens which acts as a blockade which separates the Lord’s children from the children of the devil. As we can see from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, there is a great gulf between the Lord’s elect and the people of this world, including our brothers and sisters of this world.  

Luk 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 
Luk 16:24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 
Luk 16:25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 
Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 

Verses 27-29 also show us how the Lord diverted the attention of Saul and his men to pursue after the Philistines instead of David and his men. It emphasizes the fact that Lord knows how to take care of His own and has assured us in His word that none can pluck us out of His hand. 

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 
Joh 10:30  I and my Father are one. 

We thank the Lord for involving us in His wonderful plan of His salvation. May His name be praised. Amen!!

The Fear of God: From Seed to Delight

[Study Aired June 9, 2026]

The Journey of the Fear of God

Scripture reveals the fear of God not as a single, static experience but as a living, growing reality—a seed planted in the soul that progresses from its smallest beginning toward a completion so glorious that the Messiah Himself delights in it. As with every dimension of God’s sovereign purpose, the fear of the Lord begins in its natural, external, elementary form and moves toward its spiritual, internal, completed reality in Christ.

Solomon declares, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov 1:7). The word beginning (Hebrew: re’shiyth, Strong’s H7225) carries the sense of the first, the chief, the starting point. It is the same word used of creation’s commencement in Genesis 1:1—“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The fear of God, then, enters at the genesis of the spiritual journey, but like everything that begins, it must grow. Isaiah’s messianic prophecy reveals its destination: “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:” (Isa 11:2–3 AMR). The Hebrew rendered “And his delight” is ruwach (H7306), whose root means to smell, to scent—to breathe in as one receives a pleasing aroma. It is the same root used when the LORD “smelled a sweet savour” after Noah’s offering (Gen 8:21). The completed fear of God is not dread but this kind of deep, pleasurable perception of God’s goodness—and Christ, the Last Adam, is the firstfruits who has already arrived at that destination.

As we trace this pattern through the testimony of Scripture, we discover that two qualitatively different fears operate within the believer’s experience: the old man’s fear of death and the new man’s reverential awe of God. These are not the same fear in different measures but opposite dispositions proceeding from opposite natures. The consuming fire of God’s presence terrifies one and gladdens the other—and the journey of the believer is the dying of the first and the strengthening of the second, until love is perfected and the fear that “hath torment” is cast out entirely. “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” (James 1:2-3)

The Nature of God: Love as Consuming Fire

Before the fear of God can be understood, the nature of God must be established. Scripture makes two declarations that appear to stand in tension but reveal themselves as a single, unified reality. John writes, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16), while the writer of Hebrews declares, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29), echoing Moses’ testimony: “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God” (Deut 4:24). That Moses connects the consuming fire directly to jealousy—the language of covenant love—is no incidental detail. The fire is not opposed to love; the fire is love in action, pursuing its end goal with relentless purpose.

What is that end goal? Paul states it plainly: “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28). The consuming fire of God’s nature is the burning zeal of His love working toward this completion—the total union of Creator and creation, every shadow consumed, every barrier removed, every carnal limitation yielding to the fullness of His presence. This means that the fire is not a threat to those being conformed to His image but the very means of their transformation. The fire does not destroy the new man; it purifies the new man by burning away the old.

Isaiah confirms this with a remarkable question and answer: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Isa 33:14). The expected answer might be “those that are evil,” but Scripture reverses the expectation: “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly” (Isa 33:15). The righteous dwell in the consuming fire. The same truth appears in Daniel’s account, where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walk unharmed in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, and a fourth figure—“like the Son of God” (Dan 3:25)—walks with them in the midst of the flame. Same fire. Opposite experience. The difference is not the intensity of the fire but the relational standing of those within it.

What the Fear of God Is: Scripture’s Own Definitions

Scripture does not leave the definition of the fear of God to speculation. Multiple witnesses provide direct, declarative statements of what it is—not merely what it produces, but its essential nature. The Hebrew yir’ah (H3374), from the root yare’ (H3372), encompasses both reverential awe and moral response. Its semantic range in Scripture is remarkably consistent: the fear of God is bound to the hatred of evil, the pursuit of wisdom, and the turning of the whole person toward God.

Solomon writes, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Prov 8:13). Job’s testimony agrees: “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28). The Psalmist teaches it as a way of life: “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD. . . . Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it” (Ps 34:11, 14). And Moses presents it as inseparable from love and service: “What doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deut 10:12). Fear, love, walk, serve—these are not separate commands arranged in sequence but a unified posture of the whole being toward God.

What emerges from these witnesses across Proverbs, Job, Psalms, and Deuteronomy is a consistent portrait: the fear of God is the disposition of the new man—the hatred of evil, the love of God’s ways, and the growing capacity for wisdom. It begins as a seed and grows toward its completed expression as we read in Isaiah 11:2–3 earlier, where the Spirit of the fear of the Lord rests upon the Messiah, and He delights in it. This gladness is not a different thing from the fear of Proverbs 1:7; it is the same reality, fully mature.

Two Fears: The Old Man’s Terror and the New Man’s Awe

The growing nature of the fear of God cannot be understood apart from the two natures present in the believer during the transition from the natural to the spiritual. Scripture distinguishes two fundamentally different fears—not the same fear in different degrees, but qualitatively opposite postures belonging to opposite natures. Paul identifies both: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15). The spirit of bondage produces fear—the old man’s terror of death, punishment, and judgment. The Spirit of adoption produces a different relation entirely—the new man’s confidence before the Father.

The writer of Hebrews confirms the old man’s condition: Christ partook of flesh and blood so that “through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb 2:14–15). This fear of death is the hallmark of the old man’s existence—slavery, bondage, lifelong subjection. Against this stands Paul’s declaration concerning the new man: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim 1:7). The Greek deilia (G1167), translated “fear” here, denotes cowardice, timidity—the cringing dread of one who expects punishment. This spirit belongs to the old man. The new man receives power, love, and a sound mind—the very qualities that enable the fear of God to mature into joyful reverence rather than remaining in fear.

John’s declaration resolves the apparent tension: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). The fear that perfect love casts out is specifically defined—it “hath torment” (Greek kolasin, G2851, punishment). This is the old man’s fear of death and judgment, not the new man’s reverential awe. The fear of God as wisdom, as hatred of evil, as gladness in His presence—this is not cast out by love but is love’s own companion. When love is perfected, the punitive fear of the old man is gone entirely, and what remains is the pure delight of Isaiah 11:3. These two fears never merge. One dies; the other comes to fullness.

The Seed Planted: From Ignorance to Knowledge

The old man does not begin with partial knowledge of God—he begins in wholesale ignorance. Paul describes this starting condition plainly: “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph 4:18). Peter confirms that ignorance belongs constitutionally to the old man’s state: “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance” (1 Pet 1:14). Ignorance is not an accident of circumstance but the created condition of the natural man—the darkness that precedes the dawn by sovereign design. “The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Rom 8:20).

Into this ignorance, the seed of the fear of God enters. Solomon identifies this entrance: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov 1:7). The fear of God arrives at the very start of the process—but in seed form, not in fullness. Christ’s parable of the mustard seed illuminates the pattern: “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs” (Matt 13:31–32). The kingdom enters as the smallest of seeds and grows into the greatest reality. So it is with the fear of God—the same substance from beginning to end, but in vastly different measure. Solomon confirms the growth is not automatic but requires diligent pursuit: “If thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Prov 2:3–5). The fear of the Lord is not merely the starting point—it is also the destination of the one who seeks.

The trajectory is clear: ignorance gives way to the seed of knowledge, and with knowledge comes the fear of God in embryonic form. This seed must grow, and its growth occurs within the simultaneous dying of the old man and the strengthening of the new. Paul describes this twin process: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16). Two things happening at once within the same person: one decreasing, one increasing. The outward man—the carnal, natural, Adamic—is perishing. The inward man—the spiritual, heavenly, Christic—is being renewed. Ezekiel prophesied this same reality: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezek 36:26). The stone heart is not reformed or softened; it is removed. The heart of flesh is not developed from within; it is given. A qualitative replacement, accomplished by God’s sovereign work, progressing throughout the believer’s life.

This dying and growing maps directly onto the fear of God. As the old man perishes, the fear of death and punishment diminishes. As the new man is renewed, reverential joy in God’s presence increases. Paul knew both realities simultaneously: “I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind” (Rom 7:22–23). The inward man delights; the members wage war. Both present. Both real. Both ongoing. Scripture speaks of the old man’s death in completed terms—“Our old man is crucified with him” (Rom 6:6)—because God “calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Rom 4:17), declaring the end from the beginning (Isa 46:10). Yet experientially, Paul testifies, “I die daily” (1 Cor 15:31). Hebrews holds both realities together in a single breath: God “hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb 10:14)—perfected (completed action) those who are being sanctified (ongoing process). God’s declaration and our experience are both true from their respective vantage points.

Christ the Prototype: The Fear of God Completed

Every pattern in Scripture finds its substance in Christ, and the fear of God is no exception. He is the prototype who walked through every stage of this journey first and arrived at its completion. The writer of Hebrews establishes that Christ experienced the full process: “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Heb 2:18). He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). He “learned obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb 5:8–9). The word “learned” (Greek manthano, G3129) and the phrase “being made perfect” (teleioo, G5048) both indicate process—genuine progression, not mere appearance.

What enabled Christ to navigate this process without sin? John provides the answer: “For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him” (John 3:34). Christ received the Spirit without measure—the full, unrestricted anointing from the Father. This was the enabling agent, not the bypassing of the journey. Hebrews confirms that the Spirit was the means of His offering: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:14). We, by contrast, receive the Spirit as an earnest—a down payment pledging the full amount: “Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit” (2 Cor 5:5). The Greek arrabon (G728) is a commercial term meaning a deposit guaranteeing future payment in full. Christ carried the Spirit without measure and navigated the process without sin; we carry the earnest and navigate through sin, repentance, and cleansing—but the destination is the same.

And that destination is the completed fear of God: “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him . . . the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD” (Isa 11:2–3 AMR). Christ takes pleasure in the fear of the Lord. This is not the old man’s terror; this is the new man’s fullness. Even at the cross, Christ’s heart was set toward this completion: “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb 12:2). The joy was ahead of Him during the suffering, anticipating fullness. He arrived first as our forerunner, and His arrival guarantees ours. Our declared destination is “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph 4:13)—the very fullness that includes gladness in the fear of the Lord.

Addressing Alternative Interpretations

Two significant alternative readings challenge this understanding of the fear of God. Both seem to have apparent scriptural support to many in Babylon.

The first alternative appeals to Christ’s own words in Luke 12:5: “But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” This is thought to teach a permanent, terror-based fear of God—a threat of destruction directed at believers. If the fear of God is meant to remain as dread, then the journey toward gladness described above would be mistaken. However, the framework accounts for this passage rather than contradicting it. Christ speaks to those still operating from old man territory—those whose primary posture is toward the carnal and external. For such hearers, the fear of consequences is the appropriate entry point, the seed-level form of the fear of God. The seed must break ground somewhere, and for the natural man, the gravity of God’s power over life and death is where it begins. This is consistent with Proverbs 1:7’s declaration that fear is the beginning of knowledge, not its end. As the new man grows, this entry-level dread gives way to the joyful reverence of Isaiah 11:3. The dread is not the permanent state but the starting form of a seed that is meant to mature.

The second alternative argues from 1 John 4:18 that perfect love eliminates the fear of God entirely. If “perfect love casteth out fear,” then at completion no fear of any kind remains—including the reverential awe we have described. This reading, however, ignores John’s own qualification. He defines the fear being cast out: it “hath torment” (Greek: kolasin, punishment). The fear cast out by perfect love is specifically the fear of punishment—the old man’s fear of judgment and death, identified by Paul as the spirit of bondage (Rom 8:15) and by the Hebrews writer as lifelong subjection through fear of death (Heb 2:15). But the fear of God as defined by Proverbs 8:13 (hatred of evil), Job 28:28 (wisdom itself), and Isaiah 11:2–3 (a Spirit of God resting on the Messiah) has no connection to punishment. The Messiah takes pleasure in it. To claim that perfect love eliminates this gladness would require John to be contradicting Solomon, Job, Isaiah, and the messianic portrait of Christ—a reading that fails the whole counsel of Scripture. These are two qualitatively different fears, and only the one bearing torment is cast out.

The Fire That Perfects

From the darkness of ignorance to the seed of knowledge, from the old man’s dread of death to the new man’s gladness in God’s presence, Scripture reveals the fear of God as a living journey—the same substance throughout, but growing from its smallest beginning toward its glorious completion. This pattern follows the order that governs all of God’s redemptive work: the natural came first by divine design, the spiritual follows as God’s intended goal. The creature was made subject to vanity “in hope” (Rom 8:20)—not in tragedy, not in accident, but in purposeful anticipation of the glory to come.

Christ stands at the center of this pattern as both prototype and destination. He is the Last Adam who received the Spirit without measure and navigated the process to its completion, arriving at pure delight in the fear of the Lord (Isa 11:3). He is the forerunner who passed through the fire and emerged glorified, blazing a trail for all who follow. His consuming fire—which is His love in action—does not destroy those being conformed to His image but burns away the carnal dross of the old man, liberating the new man into the freedom of God’s presence. The righteous dwell in the fire (Isa 33:15). The Son of God walks with them in the furnace (Dan 3:25). The fire is not the enemy of the new man; it is his native atmosphere. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)

The Old Testament’s external, ceremonial fear—the trembling before Sinai, the dread of judgment, the terror of the sinner before a holy God—was the natural shadow, the first-stage expression of a reality that finds its substance in the internal, spiritual fear of God that characterizes the mature believer. The shadow was necessary, created by design as the seedbed of something greater. The shadow gives way to substance, the natural to the spiritual, the terror of bondage to the joy of sonship. This is not restoration to a prior perfection; it is the arrival at a destination that was planned from before the foundation of the world.

We who are in Christ are somewhere within this journey—the old man perishing, the new man being renewed, the fear of death diminishing, the gladness of God increasing. The process is real and often painful, as every consuming fire must be. The destination is sure, sealed by the earnest of the Spirit (2 Cor 5:5) and guaranteed by the One who arrived first: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). The joy that was set before Him is now set before us. The gladness that He embodies is becoming ours. And the pattern remains: “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor 15:46–47). In Christ, the consuming fire that once terrified the old man becomes the dwelling place of the new—and the fear of the Lord, fully grown, is pure delight.

(Ecc 12:13-14)  “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

The Spiritual Meaning of Caves: Divine Refuge, Concealment, and Transformation

[Studies Aired November 11, 2025]

Introduction

Throughout Scripture, caves appear at pivotal moments in redemptive history, serving as places of refuge, encounter, burial, and transformation. These hollowed spaces within the earth carry spiritual significance pointing us toward Christ and revealing truths about God’s protection, His purposes in times of concealment, and the journey from death to resurrection life.

The Hebrew word for cave, me’arah (H4631), signifies a hollow place, den, or cavern—often in rock formations. This word appears in contexts ranging from burial places to sanctuaries of refuge, from testing grounds to locations of sacred revelation. The cave represents both literal and spiritual realities: physically, it offers shelter and concealment; spiritually, it speaks of seasons when God hides His servants for protection, prepares them in obscurity, or brings them through death’s darkness into resurrection light. When we understand that God orchestrates physical circumstances to reveal spiritual truths, we see caves not as random geographical features but as appointed settings for crucial moments in His redemptive plan. David wrote, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). As secret places illustrating this principle, caves throughout biblical history ultimately point to Christ’s burial and victorious resurrection—the pattern for our spiritual journey from death to life.

Caves as Places of Protection and Refuge

One of the most prominent themes associated with caves in Scripture is heavenly protection during persecution and danger. When God’s servants faced mortal threats, caves frequently became their hiding places—not by accident, but by providential care. These accounts reveal how the Lord shelters His people in vulnerable moments and uses seasons of concealment to accomplish His purposes.

During Jezebel’s violent persecution of the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah, governor of Ahab’s household, provided a powerful example: “Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD’S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?” (1 Kings 18:13). The cave represents God’s provision of sanctuary for faithful servants during intense spiritual darkness. While the nation openly worshiped Baal, God preserved a remnant hidden away, sustained through Obadiah’s obedience. This foreshadows how God has always preserved a remnant even during darkest apostasy and persecution. Christ Himself becomes our true hiding place, as David declared: “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).

David’s life provides the most extensive biblical example of caves as sanctuaries. When fleeing Saul’s murderous jealousy, the cave of Adullam became not merely a hiding place but a gathering point for those who would become his mighty men: “David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men” (1 Samuel 22:1-2).

The cave of Adullam (‘Adullam, H5725, meaning “justice of the people” or “refuge”) represents a place where the rejected king gathered those whom society rejected. This beautifully typifies Christ, who calls to Himself all who are weary and heavy laden (Matthew 11:28), gathering outcasts and transforming them into His army. In the cave, David—anointed but not yet reigning—formed his band of followers who would later rule with him. Similarly, Christ in His humiliation gathers us during this present age, and we who were “in distress,” “in debt” to sin, and “discontented” with the world’s empty offerings find in Him our refuge and are transformed into His royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).

David wrote Psalm 142 from a cave, revealing the spiritual posture appropriate for seasons of concealment: “Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: (earthly) refuge (H4268) failed me; no man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my (heavenly) refuge (H4268) and my portion in the land of the living” (Psalm 142:1-5). In the cave, stripped of earthly supports, David discovered God Himself as his machaseh (H4268, meaning shelter, hope, or trust). When earthly refuges fail and human support vanishes, we discover that God alone suffices as our true shelter. Christ Himself is our machaseh, and sometimes He causes cave-seasons specifically so we learn to find sufficiency in Him alone. The superscription of Psalm 57 identifies it as “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave,” and there David proclaims: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast” (Psalm 57:1). The cave becomes the setting where trust in God’s mercy and refuge deepens.

Caves as Places of Sacred Encounter and Revelation

Beyond protection, caves become settings for profound encounters where God reveals Himself and His purposes. The darkness and isolation remove human distractions, allowing sacred revelation to emerge—teaching us that God often draws us into concealment before revealing His truth.

A remarkable cave encounter occurs when Elijah, fleeing Jezebel’s threats, traveled to Mount Horeb: “And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9). Exhausted and despondent after his great victory on Mount Carmel, Elijah needed a heavenly encounter to restore his perspective. God met him in the cave, telling him to stand at the entrance: “And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11-12).

God was not in spectacular displays of power but in the gentle whisper. This cave encounter taught Elijah—and teaches us—that God often works in quiet, hidden ways rather than dramatic manifestations. The cave at Horeb served as a place where God recalibrated Elijah’s understanding and renewed his commission. Sometimes our cave-seasons are not primarily about protection but about God recalibrating our perspective and preparing us for the next phase. Elijah entered discouraged and ready to quit; he emerged with renewed purpose and clear direction.

This reflects the broader biblical pattern that before major revelations or ministry phases, God brings His servants into concealment. Moses spent forty years in Midian before the burning bush. Paul went to Arabia after Damascus. Jesus entered the wilderness forty days before beginning public ministry. Even Moses’ encounter with God’s glory involved a cave-like experience: “And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by” (Exodus 33:22). The cleft of the rock functioned as a protective cave where Moses experienced God’s presence in extraordinary measure. Isaiah prophesied of Christ: “And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (Isaiah 32:2). The cave represents these seasons of preparation where, away from public view, God shapes His servants and reveals His truth.

The revelation Elijah received also contained prophetic dimension. God told him: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18). Elijah thought he stood alone, but God revealed a faithful remnant hidden throughout the land. Even when we feel isolated in our cave-experiences, we are part of a larger body whom God preserves. Paul applies this: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5). Throughout history, God has preserved a faithful remnant, often hidden from public view, sustained by grace. This principle extends to believers throughout all ages, for we read of faithful saints who “wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:38)—persecuted yet trusting God even while hidden from the world’s sight.

Caves as Places of Fear and Faithlessness

While caves often represent godly protection and purpose, Scripture records instances where they became places of fear, hiding from God, or expressions of unbelief. These negative examples teach that the same physical sanctuary that shelters us when we trust God can become a place of cowering when we operate in fear.

After Israel’s failure to enter the Promised Land, a new generation faced enemies and responded in fear: “And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds” (Judges 6:2). These caves represented Israel’s fear and oppression under Midianite domination—cowering rather than trusting God. This changed only when God raised up Gideon.

The contrast is striking: David used caves as sanctuaries while trusting God and waiting for His timing, but Israel under the Midianites used caves as expressions of fear and defeat. External circumstances alone do not determine whether our cave-season is redemptive or destructive. The crucial factor is our heart posture. Are we in the cave because God has hidden us there, trusting Him in darkness? Or are we hiding in fear, running from our calling, operating in unbelief?

The most sobering picture of caves as futile hiding places appears in Revelation’s description of judgment: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:15-16). Here, caves become places where unbelievers seek to hide from God’s righteous judgment, revealing the futility of trying to hide from God. Adam and Eve tried to hide after sin (Genesis 3:8), and mankind continues attempting to hide from God’s presence. David declared, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” (Psalm 139:7). No cave can shield anyone from God—we either flee to Him as our refuge or discover there is no refuge from Him in judgment.

Caves as Burial Places: The Patriarchs’ Hope

Beyond protection, encounter, and even fearful hiding, caves in Scripture also serve as burial places—pointing forward to a greater hope. These tomb-caves carry profound typological significance, for they speak of death’s reality yet also of confident expectation in God’s promises.

The first burial cave mentioned is Machpelah, which Abraham purchased from Ephron as Sarah’s burial place: “And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth” (Genesis 23:19-20). This cave became the family tomb where Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob were also buried (Genesis 25:9-10; 49:29-31; 50:13).

The cave of Machpelah (Makpelah, H4375, meaning “double” or “portion”) carries significance beyond its function. Abraham purchased this cave in faith, believing God’s promise that his descendants would possess Canaan. Though he owned only this small plot during his lifetime, the burial cave represented confidence in God’s faithfulness. The patriarchs were buried in hope of resurrection, as Hebrews confirms: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

The tomb-cave points toward the truth that death is not the end for those trusting God’s promises. Just as the patriarchs were laid in the cave awaiting fulfillment, believers throughout ages have been buried in hope. The cave represents death’s temporary hold on God’s people—a holding place until the morning when God’s promises would find their ultimate fulfillment. The patriarchs died looking forward to something they had not yet seen, buried in faith that God would accomplish what He promised. Their burial in Machpelah’s cave was not an ending but an expectant waiting—trusting that the God who made promises would bring them to pass, even if it meant calling them forth from death itself.

The Ultimate Cave: Christ’s Burial and Resurrection

All of Scripture’s caves—places of refuge, encounter, fear, and burial—find their ultimate meaning in one rock-hewn tomb. Every Old Testament cave pointed forward to this moment: the burial place of the Son of God, and the site of history’s greatest victory.

After His crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathaea requested Jesus’ body: “And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed” (Matthew 27:59-60). The tomb (mnemeion, G3419, meaning memorial) was hewn from rock—essentially a cave carved into hillside. Luke adds: “And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid” (Luke 23:53). This fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy: “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9). Christ, though numbered with transgressors in His death, was buried in a rich man’s tomb—the rock-hewn cave of Joseph.

Christ’s burial in a rock-hewn tomb fulfills and transforms the meaning of all previous burial caves. The cave of Machpelah represented faith in God’s promises while the patriarchs waited; Christ’s tomb represents the fulfillment of every promise. The patriarchs were buried awaiting resurrection they trusted but had not seen; Christ was buried and would become “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20), guaranteeing resurrection for all in Him. What Abraham believed and hoped for, what the patriarchs died trusting, now found its answer in this tomb.

The tomb-cave teaches the necessity of Christ’s burial. Paul emphasizes: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Christ’s burial was not incidental but essential—confirming His death’s reality and magnifying resurrection power. The sealed cave could not hold Him.

The Gospel accounts emphasize Jesus’ burial place details. It was a new tomb where no one had been laid before (Luke 23:53; John 19:41), signifying Christ’s uniqueness—His death and resurrection unlike any other. It was hewn from rock (Matthew 27:60), emphasizing solidity and permanence. It was sealed with a great stone (Matthew 27:60) and guarded by Roman soldiers (Matthew 27:65-66), testifying that when found empty, no human agent could have removed the body.

Then came the morning that changed everything. Mary Magdalene came early on the first day and found the stone rolled away: “Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him” (John 20:2). Peter and John found the linen cloths but Jesus gone (John 20:6-7). The empty tomb became the first evidence of resurrection, transforming the cave from place of death to proclamation of life. The angel’s declaration confirmed this transformation: “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:6). The tomb that held death now testified to resurrection power.

When Mary saw the risen Christ, He told her: “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). The tomb-cave became the transition point between Christ’s earthly ministry and His ascension, between humiliation and glorification. What appeared defeat—His dead body sealed in a cave—became history’s greatest victory.

Baptism symbolizes our spiritual identification with Christ’s tomb-cave: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). We have died with Christ, been buried with Him, and risen to walk in newness of life—not through water ritual but through faith in His finished work. The tomb-cave becomes the spiritual pathway from death to life, a transformation wrought by God’s power.

Christ’s emergence transforms how we understand every cave-experience in our lives. Our seasons of concealment, darkness, limitation, and even death itself are not the end but the pathway to resurrection life. Paul writes: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11). The same power that brought Christ from the tomb works in us, giving life now and guaranteeing future resurrection. The empty tomb assures us that God specializes in bringing life from death, light from darkness, and resurrection from burial.

Living in Light of the Empty Tomb

Understanding caves’ spiritual meaning equips us to navigate our own cave-seasons with faith and hope. Throughout our journey, we will experience times of concealment, protection, preparation, testing, and transformation mirroring biblical saints’ cave-experiences.

We recognize that whatever external cave we occupy—literal isolation, seasons of limitation, times of waiting, or intense trial—our spiritual reality is that we are hidden in Christ. Paul declares, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Our identity is not found in circumstances but in union with Christ, the eternal Rock.

We embrace cave-seasons as opportunities for sacred encounter and transformation. Rather than resisting obscurity or limitation, we ask, ‘Lord, what do You want to teach me here? How are You preparing me?’ Paul’s experience demonstrates this: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:15-16). God’s revelation often comes during seasons of separation and concealment, preparing us for His purposes.

We exercise faith during cave-seasons, trusting God’s timing and purposes even when we cannot see outcomes. We honor God when we refuse to force our way out prematurely, when we wait for His deliverance rather than manufacturing our own, and when we allow the season to produce the character He desires. Like Jonah in the fish’s belly—a living cave for three days and nights (Jonah 1:17)—our confinement serves eternal purposes. As Jonah’s experience foreshadowed Christ’s three days in the tomb (Matthew 12:40), so our cave-experiences foreshadow resurrection power at work in us: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10).

We maintain hope through resurrection promise. Just as Christ was buried and rose victorious, we know every death-experience in our lives—death of dreams, burial of hopes, entombment of relationships or ministries—is not the end of God’s story. Our tomb-caves become birthplaces for resurrection power when we trust Him through darkness. Because He has gone into the tomb and come out victorious, we can say with Paul: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). The cave of death has been transformed by Christ’s resurrection into a passageway to eternal life.

Conclusion: From Darkness to Light, From Death to Life

The caves of Scripture—from Machpelah to Adullam, from Horeb to Christ’s tomb—all point toward profound spiritual truths. They teach us that God is our refuge in danger, that He meets us in concealment, that He transforms apparent death into resurrection life, and that no darkness is too deep for His light to penetrate.

The ultimate cave—Christ’s tomb—stands as redemptive history’s centerpiece. What Satan meant for defeat became God’s greatest victory. What appeared the end of hope became the beginning of eternal life for all who believe. The sealed stone could not hold the Son of God, and the tomb’s darkness gave way to resurrection morning’s light.

As we face our own cave-seasons, we do so with confidence grounded in Christ’s victory. He has sanctified every cave-experience by His presence. He has transformed the meaning of concealment, limitation, burial, and death itself. We are hidden in Him, protected by Him, prepared by Him, and destined to share His resurrection life. Let us therefore embrace our cave-seasons with faith, knowing that “he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). Our refuge is not in caves of stone but in Christ Himself, the Living Rock who was buried in a cave and rose victorious, transforming every dark experience into an opportunity to know Him more fully and reflect His resurrection power.

Rev 15:1-4 Part 2, The Seven Angels With The Seven Last Plagues

[Study Aired March 7, 2025]

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Rev 15:4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

We concluded our last study looking at Job as an Old Testament type of ourselves while we are being judged in these clay vessels.

Job had declared himself righteous and could not understand why God would treat him as His enemy. Job, typifying us to a T, was completely blinded to His egregious sin of self-righteousness, and the Lord let him know how little He appreciated Job’s self-righteous iniquity:

Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

It is nothing less than “the pride of life” which leads us to think that for some reason we ought to escape the “rage of God’s wrath” and “the indignation [thumos] or God’s wrath [orge]” (Rom 2:8-9). Are we better and less deserving of God’s wrath than Christ?

Isa 54:7  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8  In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Mat 27:45  Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Are we better and less deserving of God’s wrath than the apostle Paul?

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

The apostle Paul had persecuted the church and was first as guilty of “ungodliness and unrighteousness”. In fact this is his own spiritual assessment of himself:

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

Is this verse teaching us that no one has ever been as sinful as the apostle Paul? No, of course we are not. Paul is setting us an example of how we are to spiritually assess ourselves before we start pointing our finger at others as Job’s “miserable comforters” did. For those who think they are far less sinful than the apostle Paul and don’t  deserve to experience the Lord’s wrath, here is another warning from God, which we can add to Rev 22:18-19:

Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
Jer 25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

If God’s own Son was “foresaken… in little wrath… for a small moment” who are we to declare that we will never know the wrath of God? We will all “certainly drink of His cup and be baptized with His baptism” and be tread out as “the grapes of the earth.”

Mat 20:22  But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but [it shall be given to them] for whom it is prepared of my Father.

We are all first the generation of Israel that comes up out of Egypt before we die in the wilderness and become those who enter into God’s rest. So this is what we are told about our old man who refuses to drink the cup of God’s wrath of which Christ drank.

Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

“God’s rest” is in “His habitation” spoken of in Jeremiah 25:30. We are God’s temple and His habitation, and no man will enter into God’s rest or His habitation or His temple “until the seven plagues of the seven angels have been fulfilled.”

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

This last verse takes us back to the first verse. No man can enter the temple until the seven last plagues which “fill up the wrath of God… is fulfilled” in that man’s life.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Verse 2 ties in perfectly with the seven last plagues as it speaks of the “sea of glass mingled with fire.”

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

What is this “sea of glass mingled with fire”? We read about this same ‘sea’ in Revelation 4:6.

Rev 4:6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

If we fail to understand the symbolism of the “sea” which was part of the temple court, then we will never understand why we are speaking here in Revelation 15:2 of “a sea of glass mingled with fire” in this vision of the heavenly temple and its throne and its court. So let’s take a quick look at the ‘sea’ that was between the altar and the tabernacle or the altar and the temple in ancient Israel. In the case of the tabernacle, it is called “a laver”.

Exo 30:17  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 30:18  Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.
Exo 30:19  For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:
Exo 30:20  When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:
Exo 30:21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

Exo 38:8  And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Exo 40:7  And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein.

The word brass is really copper, and being copper, we know this part of our walk is all outside the temple, before any man “can enter the temple”.  Everything inside the tabernacle or the temple was all of gold. That this ‘laver’, or ‘sea’, is copper and is ‘without’ or outside of the temple, tells us that this part of our walk is not to be thought of as being within the tabernacle or temple. This is made clear by this, and many other verses:

Lev 8:11  And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them.

So the ‘sea’, or ‘laver’, is to be considered as part of the court of the temple, where the Levites, who were not the sons of Aaron, and who could not enter into the temple, performed their duties of ministering to the people, and where the priests themselves were to wash and cleanse themselves before entering into the temple “lest they die”, or “until the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled”. That is the spiritual significance of “lest they die”.

It is at the construction of the temple to replace the tabernacle, that we first see this laver, greatly  increased, and in a “line upon line” fashion, we learn that it is now called a “molten sea”.

1Ki 7:23  And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
1Ki 7:24  And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
1Ki 7:25  It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
1Ki 7:26  And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

Here are more very important details given us in the account of the construction of the “molten sea”, in the book of 2Chronicles:

2Ch 4:2  Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
2Ch 4:3  And under it was the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about: ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast.
2Ch 4:4  It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
2Ch 4:5  And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths.
2Ch 4:6  He made also ten lavers, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them: such things as they offered for the burnt offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
2Ch 4:10  And he set the sea on the right side of the east end, over against the south.

A cubit is said to be 18 inches in length. So this molten sea was 15 feet in diameter, “from brim to brim”. It was 7 and 1/2 feet high, and it was 45 feet in circumference. “And the thickness of  it was a handbreadth.” It stood between the temple and the brasen altar, and only the priests were permitted to wash in this “molten sea”.

“But the sea was for the priests to wash in” tells us why those who are on this “sea of glass mingled with fire” are God’s “kings and priest”, His very elect, who have overcome the image, name, number and mark of the beast. The Levites, who served the temple but were not the sons of Aaron the high priest, were never permitted to wash in this “molten sea” which is the shadow and type of this “sea of glass, mingled with fire” in the heavens here in Revelation 15.

Why is this sea called a sea of glass? The Greek word here is ‘hualinos’, and it means clear or transparent. So those who are on this sea of glass know who they are, from whence they have come and how they have been placed where they are by the sovereign hand of their Lord and Savior. They themselves, like the sea on which they stand at this time in their walk, are completely transparent and have nothing to hide. While it is argued that glass, as we know it today, did not exist when the book of Revelation was written, it is interesting to note that this sea of glass is “like crystal” which was transparent and which did exist when the book of Revelation was written. It is also instructive to note that the glass of today is made of sand which has been melted, unified and purified and made transparent by means of the heat into which it is placed. That is the significance of the fire here as it is the significance of fire throughout God’s Word. Whether we are speaking of crystal or glass, both are made clear and purified by pressure and heat. God’s fiery Word is the fire mingled which provides the pressure and heat signified by this “sea of glass”. It is God’s Word which has purified and made transparent everyone who stands upon this sea of glass. It is through God’s Word, “Christ in us”, that any of us are given the victory over the beast, his image, his number, his name and his mark. Christ is the fire that is mingled with those who are standing on this clear and transparent “sea of glass”.

The only thing left to inquire of is the fact that everyone on this sea of glass has been given a harp. The verse ends with these words: “… having the harps of God”. Who have we already been told has “the harps of God?” That is right, once again, this is but a symbol which is peculiar to those who are overcomers and who are Christ’s own “nation of kings and priests”, and who are worthy as Christ’s priests to “wash themselves” in this “sea of glass mingled with fire, before the temple in heaven”. Here is why we are told that these people on this “sea of glass” are given harps:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

Who are these “four beasts and four and twenty elders”? We are not left to wonder or guess about who these four beasts and four and twenty elders signify. In the next two verses, they themselves tell us who they symbolize, and we find that they are the symbols of the very ” redeemed… priests” who are worthy to wash themselves in the sea which is between the altar and the temple:

Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

This same group of overcomers was mentioned in chapter 14, and are again called “redeemed… firstfruits… harping with harps.”

Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

It is God’s elect who are symbolized by these four beasts and four and twenty elders, who are symbolized by virgins who have not been defiled by women, who bow down to the Lamb and tell us that they are kings and priests. It is God’s chosen few elect who are the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, who were redeemed from among men, who stand on the sea of  glass mingled with fire, and who have the harps of God.

We are also told that they sing while “harping with their harps”. Here is what they are singing:

Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

The “song of Moses” is “the song of the Lamb”, because both sing about the victory of the obedience of the spirit over the rebellion of our flesh. It is a song about the wrath of God being poured out upon the armies of Egypt within us. Here is the song of Moses:

Exo 15:1  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Exo 15:2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
Exo 15:3  The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
Exo 15:4  Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
Exo 15:5  The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
Exo 15:6  Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Exo 15:7  And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
Exo 15:8  And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, [ and] the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
Exo 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
Exo 15:10  Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Exo 15:11  Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Exo 15:12  Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.
Exo 15:13  Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.
Exo 15:14  The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.
Exo 15:15  Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
Exo 15:16  Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.
Exo 15:17  Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
Exo 15:18  The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.
Exo 15:19  For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.

These two verses in Revelation 15, summarize all of these first 19 verses of Exodus 15:

Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Rev 15:4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

The seven plagues of the seven angels are “Thy judgments… made manifest”, and until the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled in our lives, “no man is able to enter into the temple of God in heaven” (Rev 15:8).

Summary

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

In this verse we are reminded of the Truth that this is a book of signs and symbols of heavenly realities, and that the angels that bring us to see these heavenly realities are “in heaven” which is the realm of the spirit within our own hearts and minds. We saw that being seven in number, signifies their completion, and that there is no way of separating the first six plagues from the seventh, and that just as we live all seven trumpets, we must also fulfill all seven vials or bowls of “the wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness” within each of us (Rom 1:18).

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

In this verse we saw that the only people who are given to wash themselves in the ‘sea’ of God’s fiery words, are His priests. This fiery ‘sea’, is not that different from “the devouring fire, and the everlasting burnings” of “the lake of fire” where the elect dwell as they “judge angels:

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

In any case, those who stand on this “sea of glass, mingled with fire”, are certainly the same as “He that walks righteously and speaks uprightly…”

We also saw, that the four beasts, and the four and twenty elders, are also given “the harps of God” and are said to be “harping with their harps”, and they also tell us that they are symbols of God’s very elect.

Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Rev 15:4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before the for thy judgments are made manifest.

In these two verses we saw that the song of Moses, celebrates the victory of the obedience of the spirit over the disobedience of the flesh. What is so often missed and what is so often denied is that God’s judgments are said to be “great and marvelous”, both here in verse three, as well as in verse one.  We are also told that “God’s judgments are made manifest” through the seven angels with these seven last plagues of God’s wrath upon all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of the lives of those who are found standing on this “sea of glass mingled with fire”.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Next week, Lord willing, we will cover these last four verses of this chapter, and we will be reminded of what the word “opened” means in this, the revelation of Jesus Christ within us.

Rev 15:5  And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
Rev 15:6  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Mal 3:6-18  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me – Part 2

[Study Aired January 11, 2024]

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. 
Mal 3:7  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? 
Mal 3:8  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 
Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 
Mal 3:10  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 
Mal 3:11  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Mal 3:12  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Mal 3:13  Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
Mal 3:14  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
Mal 3:15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 
Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Last week we were talking about how John the baptist was the messenger of God in Malachi 3:1 who understood there was a change coming, and was used by God to point to that change, a change described in this manner: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (Rom 3:21, Luk 16:16, Joh 1:17). The elect, unlike John, have God’s spirit within them (Rom 8:9), and as a result are able to  prepare the way of the Lord before Christ’s second coming by becoming mature sons, as John was witnessing to in a type and shadow manner (1Co 10:11, 1Pe 1:12). The natural life of John which was dedicated to God’s service, led to his being beheaded, which also represents how we must lose our first Adamic mind in order to take on the mind of Christ, makes it possible for us to be prepared for the return of the bridegroom (Rev 19:7). John’s natural relationship with Jesus on the earth was the physical relationship that preceded the spiritual one that would begin with the body of Christ on Pentecost (1Co 15:46). In both relationships Christ reveals the encouragement and strength He will always bring us through our sojourn as His servants (Mat 28:20, Luk 7:22-23, Luk 13:32, 1Co 10:13). 

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; [John and Christ] and afterward that which is spiritual [Body of Christ being prepared, Christ returning in power and might].

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

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The glorious event of seeing our Lord and King come back in power and in might will be fulfilled at the first resurrection in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye (Rev 19:7, Rev 1:6-8, 1Co 15:52). Until that time we are to “Occupy till I come” (Luk 19:13, 1Pe 1:13) by doing what John did, the difference being that John’s preaching “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” in the wilderness is a type as well of the fiery baptism of God’s word into which we are baptized as we die daily and are baptized into Christ’s death (Rom 6:3). Neither the baptism John was administering in the flesh nor only knowing Christ in the flesh, can save us. However, when we are baptized into His death by a relationship that is made possible with the holy spirit within (Joh 16:7), then we are able to be raised in heavenly places and know the Father and the son in the spirit, which is what eternal life is (Mar 1:4, Col 1:28-29, Mat 24:14, Joh 17:3).

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

We are experiencing this relationship today in earnest, in downpayment form, as we are washed by the blood of the lamb, so those wedding garments can remain in a state that is acceptable to God through Christ being without spot (Mat 26:29, Mat 22:11-12, Rev 19:8, Eph 5:27, 1Ti 6:14, Heb 9:14, 1Pe 1:19, 2Pe 3:14).

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

1Ti 6:14  That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Heb 9:14   How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

1Pe 1:18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19   But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 

2Pe 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

The blessings that become ours are a result of being refined by God in this age through fiery judgment that removes all those spots (1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17). “For our God is a consuming fire“, and the fruit of His workmanship produced through that judgment is the main theme of what we’ll be looking at in this last section of Malachi chapter 3 (Mal 3:6-18).

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Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29), and it is for that reason that “ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” What God consumes or destroys are those things with which we naturally defile the temple (1Co 3:17-19). The way He accomplishes this is by grace through faith, which is a gift of God (Eph 2:8), that will save us if we are given that honor to endure that judgment today and be made ready as the bride of Christ (Tit 2:11-12, Heb 12:6, Rev 19:6). 

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

We are not consumed, “For I am the LORD, I change not“, meaning with God there “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas 1:17-18). “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Num 23:19, Rom 3:4, Heb 6:18-19) So all His promises are true including the promise that all men will be saved by putting off this corrupt flesh which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, each man in his own order (1Co 15:22, Luk 12:5). The corrupt flesh is connected to a corrupt heart that is either judged in this life or in the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:15).

Mal 3:7  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, WhereinH4100  shall we return? 

In Genesis 12:18 we see the same Hebrew word ‘wherein‘^H4100 used as the word “what” and “why”. God is showing us that He does not change and what He has always desired is obedience, but He was always aware mankind would not naturally obey unless dragged to him, “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.”

Gen 12:18  And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What^H4100 is this that thou hast done unto me? why^H4100 didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

The desire of God has always been for all the world to “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts“, but the reality is that our fleshly carnal hearts, without a miraculous gift of being spiritually healed, cannot return to God and keep his “ordinances.” So we reply unto God, “But ye said, Wherein shall we return?” Return to what? Why? What value is there in serving the Lord?  We say all this at first if we are not being dragged to Christ and continuing on in the truth to become disciples indeed who are granted to overcome and witness Christ make war against the beast within that we otherwise could not (Isa 4:1, Mat 7:1, Luk 6:46, Joh 8:31-32, Rev 13:4).

Paul says this about his own life in Acts 20:24 regarding how we ought to think about our own day to day dealings with the world (Luk 6:38), knowing that through Christ we can be preferring others before ourselves (Php 2:4, 1Ti 5:21, Rom 12:10) that we “might finish my course with joy” by losing our life for His sake, presenting it a living sacrifice wherever we are led of the Lord (Mat 10:39, Rom 8:14-16). This all ties in with the verses we are looking at tonight which tell us to bring “all the tithe” into the temple (Mal 3:10), all our lives committed to our Father as unto a faithful Creator (1Pe 4:18-19).

Act 20:24  But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

The disciples all had the same question about being a living sacrifice, and questioned the Lord himself about all that they had given up to follow Him (Mat 19:27-29). They matured into a conviction of seeing there is nothing to hold onto in this life (Php 1:23-24), and that with the mind of Christ we ought to be doing only one thing with the earnest of our inheritance within (Php 3:13-15, Rom 12:1-2).

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Mal 3:8  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 
Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 

“This whole nation” is cursed, meaning our whole land is cursed, which land represents our cursed flesh in the earth going the way that seems right to us but leading to death (Pro 14:12) because of our thoughts and actions that are not yet in accord with the will of God at this point (1Jn 2:15-17). 

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

It is only when we are blessed to have our old man cursed, by hanging on a tree, which symbolizes our dying daily process (Deu 21:23, Gal 3:13), that we are then able to mortify the deeds of the flesh as we live by the faith of Christ (Gal 2:20). What begins as a curse when we see our wretchedness in these bodies of death leads to life, as we’re given victory over the giants of our land through Christ, little and by little (Deu 7:22), taking away that curse in the land so we no longer rob or defraud God of our lives that belong to Him (Isa 43:1).

Isa 43:1  But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

We first rob ourselves of the blessing He has now given to us to see, “the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (of verse 10) (Gen 13:15, Mat 19:28-29).

Gen 13:15  For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

The carnal mind also asks the same question as in verse 7: “wherein‘^H4100 have we robbed thee?” We do not see our blindness which is the curse Christ has pronounced upon all the world and will remain until the eyes of humanity are opened by Christ, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation” (2Co 4:4). It is when our eyes are open that we can then confess our blindness that naturally questions God’s motives with questions like, “Wherein^H4100 have we robbed thee?” and “Wherein^H4100 shall we return?” of  verses 8 and 9 (Joh 9:39). All the world has been blinded by Satan (2Co 4:4), and it is all to the glory of God, “but that the works of God should be made manifest in him”  (Joh 9:2-3, Rom 9:20).

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.

Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

Mal 3:10  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

The key point to be realized in this verse is the word “all“. God does not play second fiddle to our flesh that is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9), so how are we actually going to bring “all” our life, represented by the ‘tenth’, the “tithe”, “into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house?” There’s only one way, and that way is through Christ (Rom 7:24-25).

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.

God knows our hearts perfectly and makes His strength perfect through the weakness of our flesh so that we do seek Him with all our hearts and consequently find Him (Jer 29:13, Heb 11:6,  Php 2:12-13). He knows our doubting hearts can’t imagine how we can make war against the beasts that we are (Rev 13:4) and yet challenges us over and over as His children: “and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.“

The reality is that everything is of God, our blindness which He causes, our bringing our life as a living sacrifice into the storehouse, our doubting of what He can do through us, and then ultimately the victory He brings us when we are brought to our wits’ end and dragged to our safe haven in Jesus Christ. That is when He “pour[s] you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” and that blessing that is poured out is the life of Christ within each of us being shared, being poured out for each other as a joint that supplies in love (Psa 107:27-31, Eph 4:16).

Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Mal 3:11  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:12  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

The “delightsome land” represents our bodies that are the Lord’s (Rom 12:1), and He will fight our battles for us. “For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2Ch 20:15), and we will be victorious, “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.” That victory is all predicated on whether we bring “all the tithe” into the storehouse which represents the throne of God, where the body of Christ resides (Heb 10:25). No man can come to Christ unless the Father drags us to him, so “what can we say to these things?” If God is for us, who can be against us (Joh 6:44, Rom 8:31-39)? Clearly there is no room for boasting in the life of a Christian who is living by the faith of Christ and being dragged to Him to accomplish predestined works of our Father (Luk 17:10).

“Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time^H7921 in the field, saith the LORD of hosts” is another way of saying that with Christ in us as our hope of glory, our spiritual fruit will come to maturity, and we will provide spiritual meat in due season as this is what God has ordained from the foundation of the world will happen within the body of Christ (Eph 2:10). 

H7921 shâkôl  shaw-kole’   A primitive root; properly to miscarry, that is, suffer abortion; by analogy to bereave (literally or figuratively): – bereave (of children), barren, cast calf (fruit, young), be (make) childless, deprive, destroy, X expect, lose children, miscarry, rob of children, spoil.  Total KJV occurrences: 23

Isa 66:9  [In the same way,] I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born.” (ERV)

It is not just in the body of Christ in this age that God is working, but also the work that God will continue to do throughout the thousand-year reign of the saints, which is a symbolic number identifying that the elect will be judging all the world and preaching to all nations at an ordained time “in the field” which field represents the world (Mat 13:38). The inward application of this verse is revealed in how God’s church is blessed today to receive the word and be washed with that word in our heavens so we can overcome all the sin of the world that is within us, and that field belongs to the Husbandman who has an “early and latter rain” representing all of humanity, each man in his own order (1Jn 2:16-17, Jas 5:7).

We are always a “blessed” and “delightsome land” when we can fulfill the will of our Father, and that is what God is going to be accomplish in all men in time, bringing all the land into subjection, which is the ultimate goal of our great Father in heaven who is likened to a patient husbandman (1Co 15:28, Eph 1:23, 1Co 12:6, Jas 5:7-8). 

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

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 
Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Mal 3:13  Your words have been stout^H2388 against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? 
Mal 3:14  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
Mal 3:15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. 

These three verses do not demonstrate the converted mind that becomes as a child of Matthew 18:3 but rather a  stout^H2388 (self-willed stubborn, obstinate, hardened) heart that replies back to the Creator, “What have we spoken so much against thee?” This self-willed child says, “It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?” Not seeing the value in all God’s words is a curse, and not seeing the need to die daily and to walk “mournfully before the LORD of hosts” is also a curse (Ecc 7:2-4), and produces the fruits of that cursed ground, as mentioned in these terms, “now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.” This is the spiritual condition of the world we live in today, and David contemplated this supposed stability in the earth (that we all were in our appointed time), and He concluded, as we can through Christ, that they were all, the “now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered” on slippery ground. David says it is better to be in the house of mourning being judged by the Lord than to align oneself with those who were prospering in the earth (Psa 84:10-12, Psa 37:1-11)

Psa 84:10  For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 
Psa 84:11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 
Psa 84:12  O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Psa 37:10  For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be [Mal 3:18].
Psa 37:11  But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace [Mal 3:12].

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

The way to deal with the wickedness of this world and the iniquity that is abounding more and more in this time as evil men wax worse and worse at the end of the age is to not forsake the assembling of ourselves (Heb 10:25) which commandment is being related to us in these words, “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” When we fear the LORD and think upon His name, we are blessed and given peace that passes all understanding (Php 4:7). Thinking on things pure, honest and just (Php 4:8) is also what brings us peace. It is in the confines of this healthy relationship of thinking that “a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” Christ is the author and finisher of that book representing those who have kept the commandments of God and are ready now to judge the rest of the books of humanity in the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:12).

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Php 4:9  Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

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

Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

It is our Father in heaven who tells us that we are His workmanship (Eph 2:10) in this manner, “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.” He has shown great mercy to us and given us great riches and honor to be judged first in this life, to be spared from the plagues to come upon all the world (having gone through them already), and as such we are called God’s spiritual jewels, being formed through fiery trials, sore pressed on every side at times, just as physical jewels are formed over time with great heat and pressure in the earth (Rev 15:8, Rev 18:4, Rom 8:18, Heb 11:25-26).

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

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

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

It is when we are judged and go through much tribulation in this life (Rev 3:18) that we begin to “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Heb 5:14).

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

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

Our being dragged to Christ is for the express purpose of purifying us (Heb 12:6) so we can become discerning sons and daughters of God being spared, “and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (1Jn 3:1-2).

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. “and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him“.

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

2Ki 4:1-7  “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”

[Study Aired August 18, 2022]

2Ki 4:1  Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 
2Ki 4:2  And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. 
2Ki 4:3  Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 
2Ki 4:4  And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
2Ki 4:5  So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. 
2Ki 4:6  And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 
2Ki 4:7  Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest. 

This chapter of Kings has five main sections that have a theme running through them that shows us how God will provide an abundant spiritual life for all mankind in time and “shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Joh 10:10, Php 4:19).

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Php 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

The thief that comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” of  (Joh 10:10) is Satan and his influence over mankind as the prince of the power of the air (Joh 8:44, Eph 2:2) and he accomplishes this destruction through false doctrines, lies, that cause everyone in their appointed time to “climbeth up some other way” as Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden (Joh 10:1, Pro 16:25, Gen 3:4).

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

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.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Joh 10:1  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 

The life that we can have “more abundantly” of John 10:10 is the life of Christ within us to which we are dragged (Joh 6:44, 2Co 10:17-18, 1Co 11:19). These stories in the fourth chapter of Kings were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come (1Co 10:11) and remind us of the faithfulness of our Creator whose workmanship we are (Eph 2:10). We are being given all the provision we need (Eph 3:20, 1Ti 1:14) through the bride of Christ who will be made ready (Eph 3:10), and so we ought to rejoice always for that truth (Rev 19:7, Php 4:4, Rom 12:15, Php 1:8).

2Co 10:17  But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 
2Co 10:18  For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. 

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

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

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

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

Rom 12:15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 

Php 1:8  For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

2Ki 4:1  Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 

The husband in this story who dies typifies Christ, the head of the wife, who when he dies causes the wife [the church] whose husband was a servant of Elisha to be indebted to “the creditor” who “is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.” The wife, who represents the church, has two sons that witness to how we are slaves to sin or “bondmen” who must pay all that we owe to the “creditor” (Mat 5:25, Rom 13:7) and that only through Christ working within the church, which is His body (Col 1:24), can we be delivered from this spiritually impoverished state that would otherwise keep us in bondage (Joh 8:36). The rest of the parable goes on to explain how that freedom or liberty is obtained through an obedient spirit that does what we are asked of the prophet who typifies Christ and His body (Mat 17:27, Mar 12:14-17) and because of that obedience which we learn through suffering we are given His holy spirit that strengthens us to overcome and endure through Christ (Heb 5:8, Act 5:32)

Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Rom 13:7  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour [“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s“].

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

Mat 17:27  Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, [1Co_8:13] go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

Mar 12:17  And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him. 

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

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

2Ki 4:2  And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.

Our Father in heaven also asks “What shall I do for thee?” and Christ reminds us to cast our cares upon him, to the end that we may receive what we ask of Him for He cares for us (1Pe 5:7, Jas 4:2-3).

1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 
1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Jas 4:2  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Jas 4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 

This woman typifies the church who has “a pot of oil“, representing the holy spirit, and at the same time recognizes that there is “not any thing in the house” meaning when God gives us to see it, we realize that we bring nothing to the table and are unprofitable servants who are accomplishing through Christ that which is expected of us (Luk 17:10, Php 2:12-13).

Luk 17:10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. 

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

2Ki 4:3  Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 
2Ki 4:4  And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.

Borrowing empty vessels and not a few is a parable for us that tells the elect that we must “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations“. It’s true the vessels are “empty” in this world, the spirit of God or oil is not within the vessel (Rom 8:9), and yet God tells us how important our neighbor is in this parable and how we must have three measures of meal obtained in this life via the loving relationships that we have outside of the church, doing good unto all men (Mat 5:47) but especially unto the household of faith (Gal 6:10, 1Co 5:11).

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

Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 

Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 

The Meaning of The Widow’s Sons Being Sold Into Bondage

2Ki 4:5  So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. 
2Ki 4:6  And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 
2Ki 4:7  Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

Shutting the door “and shut the door upon her and upon her sons” (Exo 12:22,  Mat 25:10, Mat 6:6) is what we do on the world within us, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and pride of life through mortifying the deeds of the flesh, and by not giving the devil a foothold (1Jn 2:16, Rom 8:13-14, Eph 4:27) that can only happen through the crushing process the body of Christ is going through in the temple of God which is Christ’s body (Col 1:24, Mat 21:44). The filling up what is “behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” is what it takes to produce the precious oil of God’s word (Joh 12:3) which anoints our walk in the Lord and gives us dominion over sin and those who would try to spy out our liberties in Christ (Gen 4:7, Rom 6:14, Jdg 16:3, Gal 2:4, 2Pe 2:19, 2Co 11:14).

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

Mat 25:10  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. [“and she poured out“]

Mat 6:6  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. [“and she poured out“]

Joh 12:3  Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 

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. 

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

Jdg 16:3  And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. 

Gal 2:4  And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 

2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 

2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Selling the oil (“sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest“) represents our fervent love toward all whom we encounter, including our enemies to whom through Christ we can turn the other cheek and love them even while they are enemies as God loved us while we were yet enemies (Col 1:21, Rom 5:8, 1Jn 4:17). Fervent love toward our family covers a multitude of sins within today (1Pe 4:8, Mat 5:44) and is needful if we are going to be used by the Lord to ultimately cover the sins of the innumerable multitude who will give an accounting in the second resurrection (Rev 7:9). If we don’t forgive our debtors their debts today, the Lord will not forgive us of our debt, so it is critical that we examine ourselves and love our enemies and pray the Lord continues to soften our hearts so they don’t grow bitter or wax cold because of the iniquity that we are promised is going to abound more and more at the end of the age (Mat 6:12, Mat 24:12).

Col 1:21  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 

Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

1Pe 4:8  And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. [Jas 5:20, 1Co 7:14-15]

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

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; 

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

God’s desire for the church is going to be accomplished which is the opposite of what is happening in Babylon where the whole stay of bread and water has been taken away, and it is all happening according to the counsel of His own will (Isa 3:1, Eph 1:11). As for the body of Christ, we are growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ to a full measure, “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph 4:13) typified with this verse, “And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.”

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, 

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

God has truly called us to learn from every single soul we meet in this life and is maturing His children so that we do not render “evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing” (1Pe 3:9).

Being given the power to overcome and lose our life (Mat 16:24-25, Mat 10:38-39) as we learn obedience in this life through the judgment process that is upon the body of Christ today is what produces the abundant life of which Christ spoke in this verse, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” This is an abundant life that fills us with hope that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” a purpose that teaches us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lust and to love God with all our heart, mind and soul, and our neighbor as ourself (Rom 8:28, Rom 5:5, Mar 12:30-31).

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

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. [If we love God whom we don’t see, we have passed from death to life and love everyone else we do see (1Jn 4:20)]

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; [Rom 1:16] because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

1Ki 11:5-25  “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom 11:5)

[Study Aired March 17, 2022]

1Ki 11:5  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 
1Ki 11:6  And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. 
1Ki 11:7  Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. 
1Ki 11:8  And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. 
1Ki 11:9  And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, 
1Ki 11:10  And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded. 
1Ki 11:11  Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. 
1Ki 11:12  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 
1Ki 11:13  Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. 
1Ki 11:14  And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed 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:) 
1Ki 11:17 That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a little child. 
1Ki 11:18  And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran: and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt; which gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land. 
1Ki 11:19  And Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 
1Ki 11:20  And the sister of Tahpenes bare him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house: and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh.
1Ki 11:21  And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country. 
1Ki 11:22  Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise. 
1Ki 11:23  And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah: 
1Ki 11:24  And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a band, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus. 
1Ki 11:25  And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria. 

One of the “exceeding great and precious promises” (2Pe 1:4) that have been given to God’s elect to understand first is the promise found in Ephesians 2:8 which states, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” In this book of kings, we continue to learn of the process of judgment that is upon God’s people, the Israel of God who are a type of God’s elect (Gal 6:16) who are experiencing a judgment which will ultimately lead to both the northern and southern parts of the nation of Israel being divided and then taken into captivity. That separation of Judah, representing our head Christ, and Israel, typifying the body of Christ, is the two parts, the twain that must be made one through the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13-15).

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

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 
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, so making peace;  

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

In our last study we saw how Solomon’s heart was drawn away by “the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites”, typifying our going into Babylon, which we all must do before we are called out of her (2Co 6:17). God causes us to err from His ways as Solomon did (Isa 63:17) and then drags us into captivity, and in time delivers us from ourselves. There is a very large overview of that process of overcoming our Father has given us in the pages of the books of kings and throughout His words that starts with our hearts being hardened from His fear, but then, for a very few in this age, “for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance”, a few return and are saved as a very small remnant whose hearts are being worked with (Isa 1:9, 1Pe 2:9, Jas 1:18, Zep 2:7, Isa 6:10-13, Eze 36:26).

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Zep 2:7  And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.

Isa 6:10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Isa 6:11  Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 
Isa 6:12  And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 
Isa 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

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

It is “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” that grace and peace can be multiplied unto us, and so we read: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Gal 2:20). For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” (Gal 6:14-16)

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

The precious faith of Christ we have obtained is “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (2Pe 1:1), which is the encouraging word that is given to us found in the same context, in this statement: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2Pe 1:4).

These promises are realized through the faith of Christ which God gives to a small remnant (Rom 11:5, Mat 13:16, Mat 22:14), a grace found in the LORD’s words given to us even in our studies that cover this 11th chapter alone, about king David who typifies Christ in us as our hope of glory (Col 1:27), a sound pattern found throughout the book of kings and throughout God’s word:

• 1Ki 11:10-12  And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded. Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 
• 1Ki 11:13  Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen [Gal 4:26, Mat 22:14].
• 1Ki 11:32  (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen [Mat 22:14] out of all the tribes of Israel:) 
• 1Ki 11:34  Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: 
• 1Ki 11:38  And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. 

These things being commanded of Solomon by the LORD “that he should not go after other gods” are written for God’s elect sake to admonish us to fight a good fight of faith as we remain unspotted from the world and visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction in this life (Jas 1:27). God has determined from the foundation of the world who it is that will endure unto the end, and it is those who have the life of Christ within them, represented by king David, that God will build a sure spiritual house (Psa 127:1). Solomon’s house was truly built upon sand for our sakes (1Co 10:11, 2Co 4:15) and it took time for that to be manifested. So when “the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Mat 7:27), it was only after those events of rain and floods and wind that Solomon’s kingdom began to crumble. Many historical events had to unfold to make this manifest for our sakes, including the civil unrest of the nation of Israel, the mounds of idolatrous behavior and evil kings that possessed Jerusalem’s gates, ultimately leading to the captivity of both kingdoms in their appointed time.

The book of kings is not just a history lesson. It is an exposé of what happens to each of us as the man of sin is destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming, and there is a great falling away represented by the dividing of the head and body, Israel and Judah, two parts that can only become one again by grace through faith in Christ Jesus (2Th 2:3, Eph 2:14).

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; 

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

Solomon and both the northern and southern kingdoms must fall from grace and be taken into captivity. As we have said over and over, all such activity does not declare the end of all things; only the beginning of what God will ultimately do for His elect and eventually in time for the rest of His creation.

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 
2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord [Gal 6:16],
2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

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

1Ki 11:5  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 
1Ki 11:6  And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. 
1Ki 11:7  Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. 
1Ki 11:8  And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. 
1Ki 11:9  And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,
1Ki 11:10  And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded. 

God had commanded Solomon “that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded“, yet Solomon’s words and works would be focused on going after “Ashtoreth^H6253 the goddess of the Zidonians^H6722, and after Milcom^H4445 the abomination of the Ammonites^H8251“.

Ashtoreth: H6253 – Probably for H6251; Ashtoreth, the Phoenician goddess of love (and increase)
H6251: Probably from H6238; increase: – flock.
H6238: A primitive root; properly to accumulate; chiefly (specifically) to grow (causatively make) rich: – be (-come, en-, make, make self, wax) rich, make

Zidonians: H6722 – Patrial from H6721; a Tsidonian or inhabitant of Tsidon: – Sidonian, of Sidon, Zidonian.
H6721: From H6679 in the sense of catching fish; fishery; Tsidon, the name of a son of Canaan, and of a place in Palestine: – Sidon, Zidon.
H6679: A primitive root; to lie alongside (that is, in wait); by implication to catch an animal (figuratively men); (denominative from H6718) to victual (for a journey): – chase, hunt, sore, take (provision).

Milcom: H4445 – From H4428 for H4432; Malcam or Milcom, the national idol of the Ammonites: – Malcham, Milcom.
H4428: From H4427; a king: – king, royal.
H4432: From H4427; a king: – king, royal.
H4427: A primitive root; to reign; inceptively to ascend the throne; causatively to induct into royalty; hence (by implication) to take counsel: – consult, X indeed, be (make, set a, set up) king, be (make) queen, (begin to, make to) reign (-ing), rule, X surely.

Ammonites: H5984 –  Patronymic from H5983; an Ammonite or (adjectively) Ammonitish: – Ammonite (-s).
H5983: From H5971; tribal, that is, inbred; Ammon, a son of Lot; also his posterity and their country: – Ammon, Ammonites.
H5971: From H6004; a people (as a congregated unit); specifically a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively a flock: – folk, men, nation, people.
H6004: A primitive root; to associate; by implication to overshadow (by huddling together): – become dim, hide.

Solomon could not go “fully after the LORD, as did David his father“, and as a result of that lukewarm spirit which God called “evil in the sight of the LORD“, the kingdom of Israel was rent and spued out of God’s mouth (Rev 3:16) showing us that when the head is sick, the body suffers the consequences of that sickness that God caused in Solomon’s life whose heart was in His hands (Isa 1:5, Pro 14:34, Pro 21:1).

Isa 1:5  Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 

Pro 14:34  Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. 

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

Solomon’s spirit was idolatrous, and the building of a “high place for Chemosh^H3645, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech^{H4432 H4427}, the abomination of the children of Ammon” was an outward expression of that inward idolatrous heart. Chemosh means ‘to subdue’ and that is exactly what was happening to Solomon as he was subdued and seduced by these pagan woman and the gods and idols that they served and worshiped to the point that he was fully embracing these practices and being instructed by their pagan practices (Rom 6:16).

Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

This was the case for all of Solomon’s strange wives: he was Chemosh^H3645 “subdued” or Molech^{H4432 H4427} “taking counsel and consulting” with each one of them and these abominable acts were happening before God in “Jerusalem” to remind us that it is God’s people who are the first to come to see the depths of the idolatry that resides in us.

Abomination H8251 – From H8262; disgusting, that is, filthy; especially idolatrous or (concretely) an idol: – abominable filth (idol, -ation), detestable (thing).
H8262: A primitive root; to be filthy, that is, (intensively) to loathe, pollute: – abhor, make abominable, have in abomination, detest, X utterly.

God commanded Solomon something that he was not given to do, and yet the Lord was angry with him: “And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel” (Isa 63:17). God witnesses to us that we are beasts, and His appearing to Solomon twice is a witness to us that regardless of God’s visitation in our life, without the mind of Christ we will not learn or even recognize our idolatrous ways unless the Lord corrects us (Rom 9:18-24). Coming to Solomon twice establishes this truth that the heart of man is blind and not able to see the day of his visitation (Luk 19:44, Gen 41:32). Solomon’s kingdom, although it had peace for the most part, was eventually shown to be more of a ‘peace, peace when there really was no peace’ kingdom that was not going to stand (Jer 6:14).

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.

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. 

Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, (Mat 13:16, Luk 10:24).

1Ki 11:11  Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. 
1Ki 11:12  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 
1Ki 11:13  Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.

This is the first section of our study where our title (Rom 11:5) becomes the very clear typical message being given to the body of Christ today. God’s purpose of election is going to stand regardless of Solomon’s idolatrous ways. Our time in Babylon, which is represented by this self-serving idolatry of Solomon, does not go unpunished by God. In time God will “rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant“, meaning if we are His children with whom He is working in this age, we will be chastened and scourged to see Solomon and his kingdom decrease in us and the kingdom of God increase in us: “Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen“. The kingdom is then given “to thy servant” who we know represents Christ in us who is the servant typified by “David“, who is working in us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure (Joh 13:14, Mat 23:11, Php 2:12-14). God rends the kingdoms of the world from within us, but not all of them: “I will not rend away all the kingdom“, and that one kingdom which is reserved represents the elect who will rule over the kingdoms of this world (Rev 11:15) and as God’s remnant are typified by this statement: “for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen“.

Rom 11:5  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

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

Mat 23:11  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 
Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 

1Ki 11:14  And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed 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:) 

Twice we are told that every male was cut off in Edom, a witness of the destruction of our sinful nature that is accomplished through God’s holy spirit in our lives. It was one of David’s mighty men, Joab, who was “the captain of the host” who “was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom“. To further confirm that these actions of Joab symbolically represent the destruction of the man of sin within us, we are given the length of time which is the number of mankind: “For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel“ the time it took “until he had cut off every male in Edom.

This adversary of Solomon, Hadad, was not one of these males in Edom, but rather “he was of the king’s seed in Edom“, and as we will read he was being reserved of God until the time Israel would be attacked. Joab’s initial victory over Edom is like the parable of the unclean spirit that is gone out of a man, and then after David and Joab die, this king’s son, Hadad, who was “yet a little child“, is now all grown up and bringing many armies up against Solomon. This patient pattern of the devil is by God’s design and reminds us that sin is persistent, and there are stages to overcoming the beast within us that begins with a wounded beast, but that wound gets healed as described in this parable: “Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, [“they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt”] and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” Only Christ can bind “the strong man” of Mark 3:27 and give God’s elect the ability to see and confess that we are “this wicked generation” who can now declare that we are more than conquerors through Christ who judges us and brings us to acknowledge our need for deliverance through Him as we acknowledge we are guilty of all the blood of all the prophets (Luk 11:51, Mat 23:30).

Mar 3:27  No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Mat 23:30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 

1Ki 11:17 That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a little child. 
1Ki 11:18  And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran: and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt; which gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land. 
1Ki 11:19  And Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 
1Ki 11:20  And the sister of Tahpenes bare him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house: and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh
1Ki 11:21  And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country. 
1Ki 11:22  Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise.

Just as we are being nourished and built up in the Lord, the adversaries God uses in our lives are also being built up and strengthened to do battle against us in a very prescribed manner that will bring about the exact “skin for skin” measures God has ordained that these evil spirits will accomplish to His glory (Job 2:4-5). This is what this section of scripture is all about. Hadad represents that evil spirit which has found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, who is a type of Satan, and Hadad, as a result of this great favor, was given “to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes^H8472 the queen“. What happens next is “the sister of Tahpenes bare him Genubath^H1592 his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house: and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh“, a birth representing the false doctrine and lying spirits of the devil that are going to come up against us as God’s elect (2Ti 3:13). We are not to fear any of these things because God is the one who is letting them manifest for our sakes, for our growth and maturing in Him as we’re given power to overcome the wicked one through Christ (Isa 54:17, Rev 2:10, Num 14:9).

Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. 

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 

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

Notice when Hadad decides to make his move to come up to Jerusalem it is “when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country“. Pharaoh, who represents Satan in this instance, asks of Haran this question “Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise“. It’s true he did lack nothing in Egypt, and so “he answered, Nothing” but regardless, was compelled of God to be sent to do this work, “howbeit let me go in any wise” (1Sa 16:14).

1Ki 11:23  And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah: 
1Ki 11:24  And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a band, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus. 
1Ki 11:25  And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria

God is the one who stirred up Haran (Eph 1:11) and God is also the one who “stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah“. Both parties are leaving their ‘lords’ as it were to go to be that power and principality (Eph 6:12) which is going to be used to come up against the world within us, represented by Israel, “And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.” Satan knows the principle of a three-fold cord, and God causes Rezon to gather “men unto him, and became captain over a band, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus.” It is these men and their parties which represent what we must overcome day by day as the body of Christ. There we are more than conquerors who are strengthened through our daily trials and persecutions that are brought about by “an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.“

Hadad: H1908 – “mighty” (BDB)

Edom: H123 – From H122; red (see Gen_25:25); Edom, the elder twin-brother of Jacob; hence the region (Idumaea) occuped by him: – Edom, Edomites, Idumea.

Rezon: H7331 – From H7336; prince
H7336: A primitive root; probably to be heavy, that is, (figuratively) honorable: – prince, ruler (Psa_2:2).

Eliadah: H450 – From H410 and H3045; “God knows”(BDB)

Hadadezer: H1909 –  From H1908 and H5828; “Hadad is help” (BDB)

Zobah: H6678 –  From an unused root meaning to station; “station” (BDB)

1Ki 11:21-25 – PNB-YLT-1 version: And “helper” (Hadad) had heard in “bondage” (Egypt) that “beloved” (David) had slept with his fathers, and that “fathered by I was, I am, I will be” (Joab) the commander of the army was dead. And “helper” (Hadad) said to “destroyer” (Pharaoh), Send me away and I will go to my land. And “destroyer” (Pharaoh) said to him, But what are you lacking with me, that, lo, you are seeking to go to your land? And he said, Nothing. However, you shall certainly send me away. And God raised up an adversary to him, “growing lean” (Rezon) the son of “God knows” (Eliadah), who fled from his lord “noisy helper” (Hadadezer) the king of “standing” (Zobah). And he gathered men to himself, and was head of a troop when “beloved” (David) killed them. And they went to “sack of blood” (Damascus) and lived in it, and reigned in “sack of blood” (Damascus). And he was an adversary to “he will rule with God” (Israel) all the days of “great peace” (Solomon), besides the evil that “helper” (Hadad) did; and he despised “he will rule with God” (Israel) and reigned over “highlands” (Syria).

One of the principle points we can learn from all these enemies that came up against Solomon is that our calling is one that is “according to the election of grace” and grace or favor is expressed through God sending us the daily trials against which we wrestle. They may appear to be unfolding in a very physical way right before our eyes but we are assured through these stories and God’s word that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities (Eph 6:12) which we are told Christ in us is far above (Eph 1:21), and therefore rejoice, and again I say rejoice (Php 4:4), for the Lord is at hand, and we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Rom 8:37).

[Study Aired March 13, 2022]

Jer 33:1  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
Jer 33:2  Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
Jer 33:3  Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Jer 33:4  For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
Jer 33:5  They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.
Jer 33:6  Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
Jer 33:7  And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
Jer 33:8  And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.
Jer 33:9  And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
Jer 33:10  Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
Jer 33:11  The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.
Jer 33:12  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
Jer 33:13  In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the LORD.

This study begins by informing us that this is the second time the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison.

Jer 33:1  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,

We need to remember that when the Lord gives us the same message “the second time” it signifies that this message is established and will “shortly [be brought] to pass”:

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

Jer 33:2  Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;

What is it that “the Lord is the maker thereof”? What is it he has “formed [and] established”? Here is His own answer to all those questions:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

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

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

We have learned that the Lord uses a formula in His dealings with His creatures. We see that formula being adhered to throughout the scriptures, and He tells us many times what that formula is.

Here are a few statements which reveal to us how the Lord works with every man:

Psa 50:15  And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

We simply cannot ‘glorify God’ until we are given to see that “all things are [ours]”. The fact is that until we are granted to acknowledge ourselves as ‘chief of sinners’, we will not be able to accept that ‘all things are ours’ includes being given to see that we are first an unfaithful wife before the Lord pours out His wrath upon us and drags us out of Babylon.

Zedekiah simply was not given to acknowledge his self-righteous iniquity and submit to the man the Lord had sent to chasten him and his self-righteous people. We have either each been in that position, or we are yet to be in that position. The leaders of every nation on this earth self-righteously justify their rebellious false doctrines which directly contradict the doctrines of Christ. We are one and all righteous in our own eyes:

Job 32:1  So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

Psa 36:2  For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

Pro 16:2  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.

Remember what we just read in Proverbs 16:4 and in Isaiah 45:7. It is the Lord who has made all things for Himself, including “the wicked for the day of evil” of Proverbs 16:4, which is the same as “the day of trouble” of Psalm 50:15. He brings us into trouble for the purpose of bringing us out of our troubles after we have been chastened and scourged for our good:

Deu 30:1  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
Deu 30:3  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

Psalm 107 makes this point very clear where we are informed:

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep [In His creatures, Rev 13:1].
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and  for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Jer 33:3  Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

The “great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” include the knowledge of “His wonders in the deep” meaning how He is dealing with His creatures (Rev 13:1). The ‘great and mighty works which thou knowest not’ includes being granted to know that it is the Lord Himself who commands and raises up the stormy winds of this life which is short and full of trouble:

Job 14:1  Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

It is the Lord Himself who has ordained that these marred clay vessels would reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man until we are brought to our wits’ end. The ‘great and mighty things which we know not’ also include the fact that all the humiliation of this rebellious and yet self-righteous mind was intended all along to humble us and give the Lord the occasion He is seeking to destroy the powers and principalities which govern our old man whose flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 3:13-16, 1Co 15:50, 2Th 2:8)

Being humbled and humiliated by the self-righteous, rebellious actions of our old man are the first prerequisites for being entrusted with the true riches which we have been given, and it is all a part of the formula the Lord devised for the salvation of His creatures “before the beginning of the world”.

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.

Ecc 1:13 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.

Being humbled and humiliated is a fiery experience which destroys the self-righteous kingdom of our old man within each of us.

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Remember “all things are yours” and ‘all things are mine’, and there is no man who has ever lived who has not defiled the temple of God and who must therefore ‘die daily and be crucified with Christ’, and suffer the destruction of the man of sin within each of us at “the brightness of His coming”:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [“of the Lord”] 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.
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:

The destruction of the kingdom of the man of sin within us is the message of these verses:

Jer 33:4  For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
Jer 33:5  They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.

The Lord’s people must all “come out of [Babylon]”. Until we acknowledge that we must go into Babylon before we can “come out of her” we are nothing less than “dead bodies” fighting against the Chaldeans:

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

The lesson for us in this story is that Zedekiah was already serving the great whore before the Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar to punish and chasten him for his self-righteous iniquity:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

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

The lesson for us is that we must confess our own self-righteous iniquity and transgressions against our Lord and acknowledge that we personally have spiritually held the Lord’s prophets in prison. Until the Lord brings us to see and acknowledge our own infidelity, the Lord continues to answer us “according to the multitude of our idols” and we continue in darkness thinking we are in the light.

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;

However, the Lord has devised means that His banished be not expelled from Him (2Sa 14:4), and after He has chastened and scourged us with His seven last plagues He will then drag us out of the Babylonian system and make us to repent of the sins He made us to sin against Him. It is He, not us, who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will… for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose.”

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

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

All of which the prophet Jeremiah confirms:

Jer 33:6  Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.

If we are simply granted the faith to believe the Lord’s words, we have been given “the abundance of peace and truth”.

It is the Lord’s Word which ‘cures’ and heals us from all our destructions:

Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

When the Lord sends us His word it means that He Himself is coming to us to heal us because:

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Christ is the Truth and through His Truth, He gives us His peace:

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

Joh 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

While Our flesh struggles to believe those words they are “The Truth” as are these words:

Jer 33:7  And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.

“As at the first” is a reference to our “first love” which we are all given when we are first convicted of our sins. Losing our first love and being brought to repent of doing so is an integral part of the Lord’s wonderous works in the deep, which we referenced earlier and repeat now:

Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Keeping the things written in this prophecy (Rev 1:3) means that it is we who must do so, including the act of losing our first love and repenting of doing so:

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

Jer 33:8  And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.
Jer 33:9  And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.

What a wonderful promise to all who are made to “love God and are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28)!

Our whoredoms and apostasy are ordained for our own “day of evil” and that, too, is made for the Lord:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for Himself [to punish us in our own “day of evil”]: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The day of evil which the Lord has made for each of us gives him the occasion He is seeking to pour out His seven last plagues on the self-righteous, apostate kingdom of our old man.

Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

Rev 18:22  And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Rev 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

The Lord tells us that He caused us to be carried away with these false lying spirits:

Eze 39:28  Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.

The Lord does not “cause [us] to be led into captivity among the heathen” without first furnishing Himself with “an occasion” to justify chastening and punishing us for our infidelity. The “occasion” He is seeking against us is also a work of the Lord, as the story of Samson so graphically demonstrates:

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

The phrase, “It was of the Lord” tells us plainly that it was the Lord who, through an evil spirit, made Samson disobey His commandment to Israel telling them they must never marry the daughters or sons of the people of the land (Deu 7:3). The phrase “it was of the Lord” is just another way of telling us that the Lord made the vessel of clay to be marred in His own hand:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

All Israel is “as clay is in the Potter’s hand”. That is a Truth which applies to both physical Israel and spiritual Israel, “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:15-16).

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GWV)

Our returning to Him in the day of joy and honor before all the nations of the earth is also His doing. We return to “fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days”:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 60:15  Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

Hos 3:5  Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

If we fail to see the word “afterward” then we will not realize what must happen first. What must first happen is that the Lord must first give Himself an occasion to destroy the kingdom of our corruptible, self-righteous, rebellious old man. Our next verse shows us how the Lord first pronounces us to be evil, providing Himself the “occasion” He seeks to “make [us] again another vessel as it seems good to [Him] to make [us]” (Jer 18:4).

Jer 33:10  Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,

In this verse, the Lord has put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth and then tells us “Ye say… this place… shall be desolate”. The fact is that the Lord had just informed us that it is He who is making this place to be desolate:

Jer 4:27  For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

Jer 9:11  And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

Jer 19:8  And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.

Rev 18:22  And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Rev 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

The Lord takes away the voice of the bridegroom, and then He also causes the voice of the bridegroom to return. He works all things after the counsel of His own will.

Jer 33:11  The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.

Our spiritual adulteries and our unfaithful apostasy are just as much a part of “all things” as our whole hearted return to the Lord. Remember what we read earlier in Hosea:

Hos 3:5  Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

The use of the word ‘afterward’ demonstrates that our apostasy and our part in the death of our Lord are as integral to the Lord’s work in our lives as is our return to Him at His appointed predestined time:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The Greek word translated ‘predestinated’ is ‘proorizo’ and here are all the entries for that word and its various English translations in the KJV:

G4309
προορίζω
proorizō
Total KJV Occurrences: 6
predestinate, 2
Rom_8:29-30 (3)

predestinated, 2
Eph_1:5, Eph_1:11

Before determined, 1
Act_4:28

ordained, 1
1Co_2:7

It will be well worth our time to read all these entries. We just read the first entry in Rom 8:29-30. Here are the next two times this Greek word appears where it is translated as ‘predestinated’:

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Clearly this Greek word ‘proorizo’ refers only to those that have been “made to know the mystery of His will” and those “who first trusted in Christ”. It does not refer to any in “this present time” who are not made to know the mystery of His will and who are not the first to trust in the true Christ. What this tells us is that those who are in the white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death are not to be considered as “predestinated”. That word has no application to any who are not made to know the mystery of His will and who are not the first to trust in Christ. If we fail to see the order in which the Lord is working, we can and we will miss the spiritual message He is imparting to us.

Our next entry is the first time this word ‘proorizo’ appears in scripture:

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before [Greek: ‘proorizo’] to be done.

Christ’s crucifixion was not happenstance. Nothing is happenstance. God is working all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11).

Here is the last entry in the New Testament of this Greek word, ‘proorizo’:

1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained [Greek: ‘proorizo’] before the world unto our glory:

Once again, this verse makes clear that this Greek word ‘proorizo’ has only to do with “our glory”, the glory of being in “the resurrection to life”, and not those who will be raised to “the resurrection of judgment”/the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/ second death after “the thousand years are expired” (Rev 20:7):

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment]

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

We cannot speak of the Lord’s judgments without mentioning their purpose and their fruit. This is the fruit of all the Lord’s judgments, both the judgment which is now “on the house of God” (1Pe 4:17), and the great white throne judgment.

Here is what the Lord’s judgments always produce:

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.

That is not the malicious, slanderous, lying false doctrine of eternal hell fire. That is the good news of the Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now let’s read the context of the 5^th verse of Hosea 3 to learn of how the Lord works with all men:

Hos 3:1  Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
Hos 3:2  So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
Hos 3:3  And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.
Hos 3:4  For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
Hos 3:5  Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

Here again we witness the formula by which the Lord operates with His creatures. This woman was first “beloved of her friend”, then she became a harlot (Hos 3:1). We all experience a “first love”, and then we ‘lose our first love’ and we are a harlot, but in the end the Lord redeems us and drags us back to Himself.

The ‘image’ and the ‘teraphim’ of verse 4 are just two different words for ‘an idol’. An ‘ephod’ is a priestly garment. What the Lord is telling us here is the same thing He tells us in Revelation 17 which we must endure spiritually before He will ‘return the captivity’ of His people to Himself:

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

You and I have “burned her with fire” when we came to see all her lies which had deceived us for so long. We are witnessing this same dynamic working outwardly where religion is under attack worldwide. This is especially true of the self-righteous western world which has been historically ‘Christian’ in name only. Centuries of self-righteous hypocrisy are coming home to roost for an aging harlot who hates her Husband’s clothing and the food He offers her, yet she retains His name:

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

We are experiencing the inward loss of our ‘images’ and our ‘teraphims’ while we are being dragged out of the great whore. Now we are also witnessing the outward fulfillment of these words as the beast turns on the harlot religions of this age and devours her and burns her with the ‘fire’ as they burn us and devour all her images and teraphims, all her false doctrines.

For those who are “predestinated… to be the firstborn among many brethren”, we will be the subject of our next two verses:

Jer 33:12  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
Jer 33:13  In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the LORD.

The phrase “under the hand of him that telleth them” means ‘those who count them’. This is an allusion to those who will judge this world for a thousand years, followed by being the judges of the great white throne judgment where we will also judge the spirits of all men of all time as well as angels:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

The judging of “this world” refers to the saints judging “the kingdom of this world” for a thousand years. The judging of ‘angels’ refers to those who will be very comfortable and at home in the ‘devouring flames’ as judges in the ‘great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second 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.

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion [the great harlot and all of her daughter harlots (Rev 17:1-5)] are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

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

Being comfortable in “the devouring fire [and] everlasting burnings”, while teaching the inhabitants of the world righteousness in the great white throne judgment, is the ultimate fulfillment of being “an habitation of shepherds… [with] flocks passing under [our] hands”.

What wonderful, good news it is to be given to see that all the Lord’s judgments ‘teach us righteousness’. What a great blessing it is to “have made known unto us the mystery of His will” (Eph 1:9), and to be given to be those who will judge this world and angels and ‘teach the world righteousness’ at the great final judgment of the dead who are raised up in “the resurrection of judgment” (Joh 5:27-29). That is why it is not called ‘a great black throne’, rather it is “a great white throne” where you and I, Lord willing, will judge all men of all time, and we will also “judge angels” and the entire spirit realm which is yet in need of being purified.

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in [the] Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Here are our verses for our next study:

Jer 33:14  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

Jer 33:15  In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
Jer 33:16  In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
Jer 33:17  For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
Jer 33:18  Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
Jer 33:19  And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 33:20  Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
Jer 33:21  Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
Jer 33:22  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
Jer 33:23  Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 33:24  Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
Jer 33:25  Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
Jer 33:26  Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.

Jer 26:13-24  Of a Truth the LORD Hath Sent Me Unto You to Speak all These Words

[Study Aired December 26, 2021]

Jer 26:13  Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
Jer 26:14  As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
Jer 26:15  But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.
Jer 26:16  Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
Jer 26:17  Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
Jer 26:18  Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
Jer 26:19  Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
Jer 26:20  And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
Jer 26:21  And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
Jer 26:22  And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
Jer 26:23  And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
Jer 26:24  Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

In our last study the Lord sent Jeremiah to stand in the court of the Lord’s house and tell Jerusalem, and all the cities of Judah, that God was about to make His own house “as Shiloh”. We saw that the significance of being made like Shiloh was to have the glory of the Lord removed from the midst of His own people because of their self-righteous rebellions against His commandments. The response from the Lord’s people being informed of the fact that He would not tolerate their self-righteous rebellion is the same in all of us:

Jer 26:8  Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
Jer 26:9  Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
Jer 26:10  When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD’S house.
Jer 26:11  Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.

“All the people” includes you and me. We all just naturally rebel against the Lord’s judgments and demand to know: “Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant?”

We see ourselves in an entirely different light. We see ourselves as very righteous and giving and caring people, and indeed that may be the case. However, when we see those good works as coming from ourselves, it is at that very point those very “good works” become sinful works of rebellion against the Lord and His Truth, which is:

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Eze 33:13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

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

“If he trust in his own righteousness, and commit iniquity” tells us that self-righteousness is ‘iniquity’, and nothing is more repugnant to the Lord. Yet that is the very message of the parable about the Pharisee and the publican going up to the temple:

Luk 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The Lord will have us to know that He is our righteousness. Jeremiah makes this statement three times:

Jer 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jer 33:16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.

Jer 51:10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

We must indeed live righteously because grace works only “through righteousness”:

Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [G3811: ‘paideuo’, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; [G165: ‘aion’ age]

It is true that we “know a tree by its fruit”, nevertheless we must acknowledge that “the Lord hath brought forth our righteousness”. If we think we have anything to do with making ourselves righteous or producing good fruit, then we are full of iniquity and judgment awaits us.

Jer 26:13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.

The Lord works our righteousness, including our repentance, which He brings to us only through fiery trials of His grace such as Jeremiah is about to experience:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Job 23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

This world esteems us to be “the savor of death”:

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

As a type of who we are, Jeremiah was “the savor of death” to the religious leaders and the people of God in his day:

Jer 26:14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
Jer 26:15 But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.

This is just as it happened to Christ. It was the very “Jews which believed on Him” who shouted for His crucifixion:

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father [“the devil” – vs 44].

Jeremiah’s situation is an Old Testament type of what Christ endured. It was Jeremiah’s own nation who was calling for his death. Nevertheless, as the Lord used Pharaoh’s own baker to help Joseph (Gen 41:9), as He used Saul’s own son, Jonathan, to help David (1Sa 20:9), the Lord here uses the king’s own sons and his own scribe, Ahikam, to rescue Jeremiah from “the priests and the prophets and all the people”:

Jer 26:16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
Jer 26:17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
Jer 26:18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

Notice how fickle “all the people” are. When “the priests and the prophets” tell them Jeremiah is worthy of death, that is what they call for:

Jer 26:8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.

Let’s compare this verse 8 from last week’s study to verse 16 of today’s study:

Jer 26:16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.

It was “the Jews which believed on [Christ] who also “want[ed] to kill [Him]”:

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

You and I are “all the people” while we abide in the churches of Babylon, and our old man will always be working to retain his kingdom within each of us. Knowing this tendency of our flesh is why the holy spirit prompted Peter to tell us all:

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

“The whole world… [our] brethren that are in the world [are] groaning and travailing together in pain until now” even though they are not being judged in “this present time”:

Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are [Greek: present tense] the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 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 [“your brethren that are in the world” (1Pe 1:9)], 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.

This ‘Micah the Morasthite’ of verse 18 is the author of the book of Micah. His prophecy was many years earlier, and it was addressed to both Jerusalem, the capital of the southern nation of Judah, and to Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel:

Mic 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

By the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy, the northern kingdom of Israel had already been carried out of Israel into the cities of the Assyrians. Those cities included the city of Babylon, whose king would in time take over the hegemony of the Assyrian empire, and it would come to be called the Babylonian empire. The Assyrians and the Babylonians are both Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar, also known as Nebuchadrezzar, was the king whom the Lord chose to begin the later judgment of His people by having them spend seventy years in subjection to that pagan kingdom. Micah prophesied while the Chaldeans were still under the hegemony of Nineveh and the kings of Assyria. His prophecy came to both Israel and Judah in the days of King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah listened to the words of Micah and repented, and the Lord spared Judah at that time:

Mic 1:2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
Mic 1:3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
Mic 1:4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
Mic 1:5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

The princes, the king’s own sons, remind the people of that bit of their history and convince them to spare Jeremiah’s life:

Jer 26:19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus [if we kill Jeremiah] might we procure great evil against our souls.
Jer 26:20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
Jer 26:21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
Jer 26:22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
Jer 26:23 And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

Urijah “fled… into Egypt”, and as always when we flee into Egypt for security, we lose our security. It is this very King Jehoiakim, who slew the prophet Urijah, with whom Jeremiah is contending. These ‘princes’ who are defending Jeremiah are the sons of King Jehoiakim.

Ahikam was just as respected in Jehoiakim’s court as he was in the court of Josiah, Jehoiakim’s father. So, Jeremiah has some powerful allies in the king’s court even as he is sent to prophesy against the kingdom of a king who has already slain one of the Lord’s prophets, and Jeremiah knows that his life is indeed in imminent danger.

Jer 26:24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Ahikam is one of the men sent by King Josiah, Jehoiakim’s father, to Hulldah the prophetess to know what would come of Judah for being found so far away from the words of the book of the law which Hilkiah the high priest had discovered in the temple while it was being restored.

2Ki 22:12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest [“the high priest” (vs 4)], and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying,
2Ki 22:13 Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
2Ki 22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.

Ahikam was placed in Josiah’s court and made to partake in many celebrated events just for the purpose of giving him standing with the king and with the people so he could be used by the Lord to intervene on Jeremiah’s behalf.

The Lord’s eyes are upon His elect in the same way:

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

Zec 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Zec 2:9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.

That is our study for today. Here are the verses for our next study:

Jer 27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 27:2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,
Jer 27:3 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;
Jer 27:4 And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters;
Jer 27:5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.
Jer 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
Jer 27:8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
Jer 27:9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
Jer 27:10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.
Jer 27:11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.
Jer 27:12 I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
Jer 27:13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
Jer 27:14 Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
Jer 27:15 For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
Jer 27:16 Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
Jer 27:17 Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?
Jer 27:18 But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.
Jer 27:19 For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city,
Jer 27:20 Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
Jer 27:21 Yea, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;
Jer 27:22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

Jer 20:1-18  I Will Make Thee a Terror to Thyself

[Study Aired October 10, 2021]

Jer 20:1  Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
Jer 20:2  Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
Jer 20:3  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
Jer 20:4  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
Jer 20:5  Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
Jer 20:6  And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
Jer 20:7  O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jer 20:8  For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jer 20:9  Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jer 20:10  For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
Jer 20:11  But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
Jer 20:12  But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
Jer 20:13  Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
Jer 20:14  Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Jer 20:15  Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
Jer 20:16  And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
Jer 20:17  Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
Jer 20:18  Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

In this chapter of Jeremiah, we will see that both Pashur, and Jeremiah experience “fear on every side”, and, Lord willing, we will come to see why this must be.

When we know we are being disobedient and we continue in that disobedience, it is a time of great torment in our lives. We know the Lord’s judgments are inevitable, and there is “terror on every side”. As Jeremiah told us earlier:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter [it’s “fire and brimstone” (Rev 14:10)], that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Our own wickedness, as we will see, makes us a terror to ourselves.

When I was in the third grade in Canton, Ohio, I hated school and would do anything to get to stay home. We lived close to the school and walked the few blocks to school. One day it had rained, and my brother and I deliberately fell down in a mud puddle and went back home and lied to my mother and told her we had accidentally fallen in the mud puddle. Of course, she saw right through that lie and gave us both a paddling and sent us back to school in our muddy clothes with a note to the teacher explaining what we had done. The worst part was Mom assuring us we would get a whipping again when Dad got home from work that night. Dad’s whippings were always much worse than mom’s, and as much as I hated school, I dreaded going home after school for fear of what I knew was coming my way. It was pure torment and I had brought it on myself. That was not an isolated incident. I was simply not capable of doing what I knew I was supposed to do.

That childish story is exactly what it is like to know you are being disobedient to the Lord. We know the Lord’s judgment lies ahead, and we are tormented with that knowledge, just as Joseph’s brothers were tormented with the knowledge of what they had done to their brother:

Gen 42:15  Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
Gen 42:16  Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
Gen 42:17  And he put them all together into ward three days.
Gen 42:18  And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
Gen 42:19  If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
Gen 42:20  But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
Gen 42:21  And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Gen 42:22  And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
Gen 42:23  And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Gen 42:24  And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

“They knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.” That story typifies us being “tormented in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” spoken of in:

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

To whom are these words addressed? Verse 12 tells us to whom the Lord is speaking here:

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

The words here in Revelation and the words in Jeremiah are all addressed in “this present time” only to those who have been given eyes that see and ears that hear, and who know that it is they who must “read, hear, and keep those things written therein”:

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

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

Up until this 20^th chapter, Jeremiah has been prophesying of the impending judgment of Judah and Jerusalem without being overtly persecuted. Christ Himself for a while was permitted to preach the good news of the coming kingdom of God unimpeded at the beginning of His ministry:

Mat 4:23  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Mat 4:24  And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
Mat 4:25  And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from  beyond Jordan.

The time has now come that the powers that be have had enough of being told about the Lord’s impending judgment upon them for their stubborn rebellious infidelity against Him and His Words. Both Jeremiah and Pashur are within us. Inwardly we just become “weary in well doing” (2Th 3:13), and in our weakness we give in to the ever-present “cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches” and the rebellion of our flesh to the words of Christ. We tire of being told:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

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

That ‘enemy’ is Pashur within us, warring against Jeremiah within us.

The name ‘Pashur’ means ‘liberation’, and that is exactly what our self-righteous flesh tells us it is giving us when we succumb to it and become weary of being obedient to the Lord’s words:

2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

Pashur typifies our own flesh which becomes weary in well doing. I did not say that Pashur became weary in well doing. What I am saying is that he typifies our own flesh and even the flesh of Jeremiah who is also a type of us. We all experience times when we tire of having to live out “the patience and faith of the saints”:

Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever [the time required to burn out our old man]: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Jeremiah himself is overcome and is in bondage at the hands of Pashur. This, too, is a work of the Lord:

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.

We must be brought to our wits’ end before we cry out to the Lord:

Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

The Lord brings Jeremiah to his wits’ end:

Jer 20:1  Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
Jer 20:2  Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

This struggle between Jeremiah and Pashur typifies the inward struggle within each of us between the flesh and the spirit:

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.

Here is Strong’s definition of the Hebrew word translated as ‘smote’:

H5221
נָכָה
nâkâh
naw-kaw’
A primitive root; to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively): – beat, cast forth, clap, give [wounds], X go forward, X indeed, kill, make [slaughter], murderer, punish, slaughter, slay (-er, -ing), smite (-r, -ing), strike, be stricken, (give) stripes, X surely, wound.

This is the same Hebrew word used to tell us what a man of similar social standing as Pashur did to Micaiah when Micaiah revealed that the Lord had put “a lying spirit in the mouth of all” of King Ahab’s prophets:

1Ki 22:24  But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?

As a “living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1) you and I experience this kind of retribution in an ongoing, recurring fashion every time the Lord sends a divisive spirit into our fellowship which suddenly disagrees with the Biblical doctrine of submitting to the consensus of a multitude of counselors.

Pro 11:14  Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Pro 15:22  Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

Pro 24:6  For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

The only reason any of us are not overcome of the deceptions of the adversary is that the Lord simply hasn’t written it in our book to be deceived.

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

Here is how Strong’s defines the Hebrew word which is translated ‘stocks’ in Jeremiah 20:2-3:

H4115
מַהְפֶּכֶת
mahpeketh
mah-peh’-keth
From H2015; a wrench, that is, the stocks: – prison, stocks.

This word is used in conjunction with the Hebrew word for ‘house’ in:

2Ch 16:10  Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison [H4115: stocks, prison] house [H1004: ‘bayith’]; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

The Hebrew word translated ‘house’ is:

H1004
בַּיִת
bayith
bah’-yith
Probably from H1129 abbreviated; a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.): – court, daughter, door, + dungeon, family, + forth of, X great as would contain, hangings. home[born], [winter]house (-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, + prison, + steward, + tablet, temple, web, + within (-out).

Being put in stocks appears to be the same thing that was done to the apostle Paul and his fellow laborer, Silas, when they were imprisoned in Philippi:

Act 16:23  And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
Act 16:24  Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

Being imprisoned takes away our liberty. The liberty you and I have been given is the liberty to believe and do the things the Lord has commanded us to do (Luk 6:46). The adversary wants nothing more than to neutralize Christ and His message. That is what being in ‘stocks’ accomplishes for the time we are bound by these ‘stocks’. Our own weaknesses and passions serve as our stocks when they reveal our half-hearted service to the Lord. The adversary wants us to believe that we can serve God and still claim to be His servant.

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

We convince ourselves that we are free to serve the Lord and we are in good shape spiritually and physically, even as we deny Christ out of our fear of losing our standing with the world in this age:

Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:  be zealous therefore, and repent.

It is humiliating when the Lord must use the rulers of this world to reprimand His elect, but if we are His, then that is exactly what He will do as is demonstrated at least three times in scriptures when Abraham denied his own wife before Pharaoh and Abimelech, and when his son Isaac did the exact same thing before Abimelech:

Gen 12:19  Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I [Pharaoh] might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.

Gen 20:2  And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

Gen 20:9  Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

Gen 26:9  And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
Gen 26:10  And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

These things happened to Abraham and Isaac, and they were written for our admonition:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: ‘tupos’, “types of us” (vs 6)]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The Lord will do what it takes to show us what is still within us. If we are His, He will give us an earthquake to deliver us from our sinful ‘stocks’ and drag us to Himself:

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.

We simply are not equipped of our own flesh to deliver ourselves from our own hypocrisy:

Rom 2:21  Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Rom 2:22  Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23  Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Our ‘stocks’ are often our own old man whose doom is certain (1Co 15:50) as Jeremiah tells Pashur. Pashur is a type of our own self-righteous old man:

Jer 20:3  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.

This is how Strong’s defines Jeremiah’s new name for Pashur:

– From H4032 and H5439 with the preposition inserted
Original: מגור מסּביב
– Transliteration: Magowr mic-Cabiyb
– Phonetic: maw-gore’ mis-saw-beeb’
– Definition: Magor-missabib = terror on every side

The name given Pashur the priest by Jeremiah when Pashur smote him and put him in the stocks for prophesying against the idolatry of Jerusalem.

– Origin: from H4032 and H5439 with the preposition inserted
– TWOT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Masculine

Jer 20:4  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
Jer 20:5  Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
Jer 20:6  And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

Jeremiah had already made this prophesy in a more general sense in:

Jer 6:25  Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side [Hebrew: ‘magor min sabib’]

It is very instructive to note that the word for fear in this verse is:

H4032
מָגוּר    מָגוֹר
mâgôr    mâgûr
maw-gore’, maw-goor’
From H1481 in the sense of fearing; a fright (objectively or subjectively): – fear, terror. Compare H4036.
Total KJV occurrences: 8

The words for “is on every side is “min sabiyb”. There is no Hebrew for the word ‘is’. That word is added in the King James Version. When this statement is turned into a name it becomes ‘Magormissabib’, “fear on every side”, Jeremiah’s new name for Pashur, an Old Testament type of our tormented, tortured old man.

Like Joseph’s brothers, and like me in my third grade lies, we become a terror to ourselves, because we are afraid of the judgment we know is in our future. It is sheer terror, and we are powerless to deliver ourselves from the terror we have brought upon ourselves. The name of our old man is Magormissabib, ‘terror on every side’, and the Lord will give our old man no quarter.

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

Now we must carefully consider the change of tone in Jeremiah’s next words:

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

Here we have Jeremiah himself experiencing the “fear on every side”, the exact same Hebrew words used as Pashur’s new name… ‘Magor-mi-Sabib’. However, now Jeremiah is applying these same words to himself because all who knew him are now saying… “Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him”.

Jeremiah, who typifies our new man, is “the eighth [who] is of the seven and goes into perdition. It is through that perdition that our new man is given “the redemption of the purchased possession”.

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.

Unlike Pashur, Jeremiah is given life through the fiery trial of experiencing “fear on every side”.

Jer 20:11  But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
Jer 20:12  But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
Jer 20:13  Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

So, Jeremiah is given to know that he will be delivered from those who seek to “take [their] revenge on [him]”. He is also given to know that it will only be through “fear on every side”. Jeremiah is made to face the fact that he, of himself, is no better than Pashur, who hates Jeremiah, and would prefer to see Jeremiah dead. It becomes such a fiery trial that Jeremiah becomes ‘weary in well doing’. Jeremiah typifies each of us as a self-righteous ‘Job’ whose trials were so heavy and unbearable that he begins to reprove and contend with his Maker, using many of the same words Job used. Immediately after rejoicing in the knowledge that his trials were all for his good (Rom 8:28), Jeremiah gave this lament.

Jer 20:14  Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Jer 20:15  Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
Jer 20:16  And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
Jer 20:17  Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
Jer 20:18  Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Compare these words of Jeremiah, with these words of Job:

Job 3:1  After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
Job 3:2  And Job spake, and said,
Job 3:3  Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
Job 3:4  Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Job 3:5  Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
Job 3:6  As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
Job 3:7  Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
Job 3:8  Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
Job 3:9  Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
Job 3:10  Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Job 3:11  Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

Those are two very similar laments, both coming from men who have known the Lord and who are weary of bearing up under His ways.

Why are we twice told:

Gal 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

2Th 3:13  But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

The reason we are twice admonished “be not weary in well doing” is because that is exactly what we just naturally do. Just like Jeremiah, the Lord sends an evil spirit to tell us that life would be so much easier if we would just stop speaking the Truths of His Word:

Jer 20:8  For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

We need to all be aware of the adversary’s devices. Notice that it is immediately after being assured of the Lord’s faithfulness that Jeremiah’s tone changes and he despairs of all the weight the Lord has placed upon him. The adversary knows that we are most vulnerable when we have just experienced a time of victory and we feel we can take a break from always being diligent, sober, and vigilant.

That was what happened to Job whom the Lord had hedged from any severe trials for a time. When he least expected it, the Lord showed Job what was still in him.

King David stayed behind when he should have been in the battle. He had just defeated both Syria and Ammon and it was when he felt secure enough to let others do his fighting for him that he was seduced by the adversary and committed adultery with the wife of one of his captains.

Elijah had just called down fire from heaven to burn up his sacrifice in the presence of all the prophets of Baal who he then destroyed with the sword when he fled to a cave to hide from Jezebel.

We are all most vulnerable when we think we stand secure:

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

Our own trials come upon us after a time of success when we think we are secure and we let down our guard. The Lord has ordained it to be so.

We feed the Lord’s flock even as we “look to ourselves” and we warn the Lord’s flock of what we see as the warnings of scripture themselves. Nevertheless, the Lord has determined “there must be heresies among you”:

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

Jeremiah tells us that Pashur “prophesied lies”, and therefore Pashur was prophesying heresies.

Jer 20:6  And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

The apostle Paul truthfully prophesied that grievous wolves would arise from our very midst. It happened to the apostles, and it was written for our admonition:

Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Job, Jeremiah, the apostle Paul, and the apostle John in the book of Revelation are all telling us the same thing. That message is that the 144,000 elect who will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years, as well as the “great multitude which no man can number”, and who do not rule and reign with Christ, must both “come up through much tribulation and wash their robes white in the blood of the lamb.”

Notice how much we have in common with those who will be “hurt of the second death”:

Rev 7:1  And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev 7:2  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

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

This same group of 144,000 are later called “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

These “firstfruits… [must] groan and travail in pain together” with all the rest of mankind, who are all “bearing the heat of the day”. However “the lord of the vineyard… the good man of the house” has determined in advance that the ‘groaning [of] this present time produces the Lord’s judgments within those few who are paid first in earnest (Eph 1:14 in “this present time” (Eph 2:6), whereas all others must wait to get their ‘penny’, their days wages, life eternal, until after the firstfruits are rewarded in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. It is they, and they alone, who “live and reign with Christ a thousand years” on this earth, before the rest of mankind will be given life eternal:

Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny [eternal life].
Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny [eternal life].
Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called [to work in the Lord’s vineyard], but few chosen [to be paid first].

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  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.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

“We who have the firstfruits of the spirit… groan within ourselves, waiting for… the redemption of our body”. The Truth of the Word of God is that we are intended to endure the very same fiery words that will save all men. Only by those words will we develop “the patience of the saints and the faith of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity [of “every thought”]: he that killeth with the sword [of the Word of God] must be killed with the sword [of the Word of God]. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

This “patience and faith of the saints” is elaborated upon in the very next chapter, and this is what going into captivity and being killed with the sword entails:

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [That is the very definition of ‘Magor min Sabib’, “fear on every side”]

What is the product of this “magor-min- sabib”, this “torment with fire and brimstone… day and night in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb”???

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Why must the Lord’s “very elect” endure “morgamissabib”? Why must the Lord’s elect endure “fear on every side”? The reason we must do so is for the same reason our Lord had to do so, because we, too, are “saviors” who must “fill up in [our] bodies that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ for His body’s sake which is the church”.

To what end must we do so? We must do so to the same end that our Lord had to do so because “as He is so are we in this world”:

Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

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

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

The scapegoat and the second bird are both as integral to the process of salvation as is “the Lord’s goat” and “the first bird”, and we are that scapegoat, and we are that second bird who bear with Christ “all their iniquities”, and fill up in our bodies that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, for His body’s sake, which is the church”:

Lev 16:22  And the [scape]goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

Lev 14:53  But he shall let go the living [second] bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.

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

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.

That is our study, and these are the verses for our next study:

Jer 21:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
Jer 21:2  Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
Jer 21:3  Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
Jer 21:4  Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
Jer 21:5  And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
Jer 21:6  And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
Jer 21:7  And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
Jer 21:8  And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
Jer 21:9  He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
Jer 21:10  For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
Jer 21:11  And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Jer 21:12  O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jer 21:13  Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
Jer 21:14  But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.