Matthew 6:1–15 The Lord’s Prayer

[Study Aired April 7, 2025]

Introduction

Our study today is centered on two areas – alms and prayer. In verse 1 of today’s study, the Lord warned us to take heed so that we do not carry out our righteousness before men. The issue of alms, prayer and fasting must all be carried out such that we do not manifest our righteousness before men. 

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. (ASV)

Carrying out our righteousness before men means coveting the praise of men more than our fellowship with the Lord, which must be done in secret. As a result, we shall not be rewarded by the Lord. Our review today will therefore touch on the subject of reward for the Lord’s elect. 

Giving to the Needy

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 
Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 
Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

In verse 1, most versions of the Bible talk about taking heed that we do not our righteousness before men. In the King James version of the Bible, however, instead of righteousness, alms was used, which seems to imply that verse 1 is talking about alms. Verse 1, however, is the general principle we must apply to our lives when it comes to alms, prayer and fasting. 

It is important to note that under the law of Moses, our righteous acts are all carnal. When we were in Babylon or the physical churches of this world, we were under the law and all our actions were geared towards pleasing men. In other words, we were hypocrites. It was when faith came that we came out of Babylonian captivity and entered the church of the firstborn. Here we are under the law of the spirit of life which sets us free from the law of sin and death, that is, the law of Moses. 

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 

The whole essence of our worship of the Lord is to please Him in everything, and not man. This guiding principle must permeate everything we do. Since we are physical beings, we naturally gravitate towards pleasing men. However, if our motive is to be seen of men for our giving to those in need, then we have failed woefully. The giving of alms is a righteous act towards man and must be done in secret so that we receive a reward. On the other hand, any act of righteousness before men to receive the praise of men is regarded as receiving our reward already. 

Spiritually, the giving of alms entails sharing the word of the Lord to those in need as shown in the following:

Pro 11:24  There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. 
Pro 11:25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. 

Luk 6:38  give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

The liberal soul is the one who shares the word of the Lord, and he is the one who waters and is therefore watered. As we are aware, water represents the word of the Lord. Being watered therefore means being given a deeper insight into the word of the Lord. 

The reward we receive as a result of our righteousness is in two parts – the one we receive here on earth and the one the Lord has in store for us as His overcomers, which cannot decay. The Lord will meet our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus and at the first resurrection, we shall be given to rule the kingdoms of this world. Later, we shall become judges in the lake of fire age, to bring salvation to the whole of the human race. 

Luk 12:29  And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 
Luk 12:30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 

The Lord’s Prayer

Mat 6:5  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 
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. 

Prayer is a kind of righteousness. Submitting ourselves to prayer means that we acknowledge our own inadequacy, and therefore we depend on the Lord, who has all the resources to help us. As we are aware, by the things that are made, we are able to know more about God. 

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 

Children who have strong ties with their parents have those ties basically through the bond of communication between them. Prayer is part of the communication channel that allows us to build a strong relationship with the Lord. Prayer on one part is we reaching out to the Lord and the other part is the Lord communicating with us through His words.  We should therefore see prayer as a lifestyle that encompasses our reaching out to the Lord and His speaking to us through His words. That is why Paul says that we should pray without ceasing. That is because prayer should be a lifestyle.

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

When our parents speak to us and we do not pay attention to them, our relationship with them gets disrupted. The same is with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is our iniquities which have disrupted our relationship with Him such that He cannot hear our prayers. 

Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.  

In verse 5, we are told some of the things we do that disrupt the channel of communication between us and the Lord. One of them is our desire to be seen by men as being pious. In this case, we have received our reward already. As indicated, receiving our reward already means that there is nothing to look forward to in this life or in an age to come in terms of the Lord rewarding us. An example of this in the Bible is Esau. This is what the word of the Lord says about him:

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 

In verse 6, the Lord is saying that we should enter into our closet and shut the door when we pray. In this way, our Father who sees in secret shall reward us openly. We need to know that the Lord’s words are spirit. The closet that we must enter into to pray is our hearts and minds. To shut the door means blocking out anything in our hearts and minds that will shift our focus from our interaction with the Lord. This means that we are not limited to a place when we are to pray. We may be right on a job or in a car driving, but in the spirit, we are touching base with the Lord. That is one way that prayer can become a lifestyle. 

We must understand that here the Lord is not speaking about answer to prayer but reward of prayer. We know that reward is based on works or what we have done. This implies that the reward of prayer is based on works, that is, what we have done.  That is why prayer is a lifestyle. Our prayers are supported by the way we live as we explained earlier. 

Answer to prayers is based on how our thoughts are aligned with that of the Lord and also His timing. Our lives are in the hands of the Lord and that includes our timing. Because our timings are in the Lord’s hands, we need to exercise patience, coupled with faith, in order to receive what we pray for. Again, that is why praying is a lifestyle.

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 
Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 
Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 

In this age, the Lord’s elect are hidden in Christ. In other words, Christ must be unveiled to you before you can see who is the Lord’s elect. This implies that our works are all hidden in Christ, that is to say that everything pertaining to us – our works, etc. are secret, just as our Lord is also hidden in secret. 

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.   

Isa 45:15  Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

Mat 6:7  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 
Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 

Most of us were guilty of vain repetitions when we prayed, believing that the Lord will hear us because of our much speaking and our supposed “tongue speaking” which is fraught with vain repetitions which are totally meaningless. I remember during my Babylonian days, I would go to a garden with some of my close friends, some of them are now Babylonian Pastors with thousands of people in their congregation, to pray and it’s all about speaking repetitively in tongues. The fact that the Lord knows what we need before we ask means that we do not have to say much when asking for a need. This is different from being persistent in our request whenever we pray as the example of the parable of the woman and the judge shows.

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 
Luk 18:2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 
Luk 18:3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 
Luk 18:4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 
Luk 18:5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 
Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 
Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 
Luk 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?  

What we need to understand is that prayer must be measured by our heart’s desire and not by our much speaking. This implies that our hearts and minds must be right before the Lord. On the other hand, if we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us.

Psa 66:18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 

Rom 10:1  Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 

Psa 112:7  He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. 
Psa 112:8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies. 

Getting rid of iniquity in our hearts and minds is the work of the Lord, and it involves the Lord coming with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to take residence in our hearts and minds as the old man or our flesh is gradually dethroned from our hearts and minds.

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: 

This is a process resulting in the desire of our soul being in tune with His name. That is when our prayers are heard and answered. The timing of our answer, however, is in the hands of the Lord. 

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. 

Psa 21:2  Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 
Psa 21:3  For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
Psa 21:4  He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. 

We must understand that the sum of the Lord’s words shows us that the Lord in His wisdom and mercy answers the prayers of even those who do not know Him, in accordance with His will and purpose.

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. 

Gen 21:14  And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 
Gen 21:15  And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 
Gen 21:16  And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 
Gen 21:17  And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 
Gen 21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 

As we are aware, the Bible was written for the Lord’s elect first, and therefore the Lord is showing us, His children, that there must be a communication channel between us and our Lord. As indicated earlier, iniquity in our hearts is what blocks the communication channel between us and our Lord. Our situation is different from those who do not know the Lord as He may choose to intervene in their circumstance as they cry to Him according to the counsel of His own will.

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  

The Lord here is giving us guidance as to how we should pray and not what we should be using as our prayer as we see in the physical churches of this world. The Lord is telling us here in verse 9 that the first thing we should be aware of is that we should know our Father, whom we are communicating with. That is, our father here is different from our human fathers in the sense that He is our Father in heaven. He is our Father in our hearts and minds. Again, we should know that the Bible was written for the elect and therefore everything here is addressed to the elect, where the Father and His son, Jesus Christ have made a habitation within us. 

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 

Our human fathers do not know us and can be unforgiving and merciless, and are not endowed with all the resources to help us. However, our Father in Heaven is merciful, compassionate towards us and has all the resources to bring us to an expected end. In addition, He has gone through all that we are going through and therefore understands our circumstances and challenges better. We are therefore not to worry but to have confidence when we come before Him. 

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 

As we are aware, in this age, the kingdom of God is within His people. In an age to come, this kingdom will be made manifest for all to see here on earth.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

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

Thy kingdom come here in verse 10 is therefore referring to the Lord establishing His kingdom within His elect first. This is because the salvation of the whole of the human race is dependent on our Lord Jesus Christ and His elect. 

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. 

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. 

Praying for the Lord’s kingdom to come is therefore asking the Lord to establish the kingdom within His elect. It is when Christ sits on His throne within our hearts and minds that the Lord’s will, will be done in our lives as earthen vessels (earth), as it is within us. In other words, Christ within will be manifested in our daily lives. 

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread. 

This verse means that for the kingdom of God to be established within us, His elect, we must be fed with the word of the Lord on a daily basis even as we physically eat everyday. Of course, this verse also includes the Lord’s physical provision for our needs as the kingdom is being established within us.  

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

An example of how we are to feed on the word of the Lord daily is shown in the story of the manna that the people of Israel ate in the wilderness. They were to collect it daily every morning. In other words, it is when Christ the sun rises within us (in the morning) that we are given to assimilate His words daily.  

Exo 16:15  And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
Exo 16:16  This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. 
Exo 16:17  And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 
Exo 16:18  And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 
Exo 16:19  And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 
Exo 16:20  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. 
Exo 16:21  And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. 

When the sun waxed hot, the manna melted. This is to show us that when we meet Christ (the sun) face to face in the resurrection, we shall know Him fully, (the manna has melted) and therefore, we shall not be fed with the word of the Lord daily again. 

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 

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

Spiritually, debt represents our sins as shown in the following parable by the Lord:

Mat 18:23  Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 
Mat 18:25  But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 
Mat 18:26  The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 
Mat 18:27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Mat 18:28  But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 
Mat 18:29  And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 
Mat 18:30  And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 
Mat 18:31  So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 
Mat 18:32  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 
Mat 18:33  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 
Mat 18:34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 
Mat 18:35  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. 

Forgive our debtors in verse 12 means that we must forgive those who sin against us. This is because the Lord is always forgiving us our sins. If we tend not to forgive, then we cannot be the Lord’s servants as He will not forgive our sins. 

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. 

We know from the word of the Lord that the Lord Himself does not tempt us and that we are tempted, when we are pulled away by our own lust. It is when lust is conceived within us that it brings forth sin. 

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 
Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

Here in verse 13, the Lord is showing us that because He is not the one who tempts us to sin but the devil, our prayers should be focused on the Lord delivering us from evil. It takes the grace of the Lord to be delivered from evil, and therefore we should be fervent in praying for the Lord to deliver us from evil. The story of Job depicts the fact that the Lord is not the tempter but it is the devil who is the agent of evil. This does not obviate the fact that everything that happens is according to the counsel of the Lord’s own will, but rather to show us that the executor of evil is the devil.

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.  

The next sentence in verse 13 about the kingdom, the power and glory belonging to the Lord is to bring to our attention that the Lord is mighty and is in perfect control of everything that is happening in this world. As a result, we must have the confidence when we come before Him in prayer that what He has started in us, He is able to bring it to completion. 

1Ti 1:17  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

We have already addressed these verses under verse 12 where the Lord is telling us that we should pray for Him to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. In summary, we must forgive men their trespasses, so that our heavenly Father will also forgive our trespasses. When we refuse to forgive others, we fall from the grace of God and are prone to all kinds of sin – bitterness which defiles many, fornication, etc. In the final analysis, we find no place of repentance and as a result, we are disqualified to inherit the blessing.    

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 

May the Lord continue to uphold us in His mercy as we see the day approaching. Amen!!

Matthew 5:27–48 The Sermon on the Mount, Part 2

[Study Aired March 31, 2025]

Introduction

Today’s study focuses on the Lord’s reforms of the Law of Moses, as He brings in the Law of the Spirit of Life. As we are aware, the changing of the Levitical priesthood must be accompanied by the changing of the law. Jesus did not come from the tribe of Levi but the tribe of Judah, of which Moses never spoke of a priest coming from that tribe. In Hebrews 7:11 we are told that because the law of Moses, with its attendant Levitical priesthood was not perfect, there was the need for a new priest after the order of Melchisedec to come, and His coming ushers in a change of the law.  

Heb 7:11  If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? 
Heb 7:12  For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. 
Heb 7:13  For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. 
Heb 7:14  For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. 
Heb 7:15  And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, 
Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. 

Today’s study therefore focuses on the seventh commandment, which deals with adultery, the law pertaining to divorce, the third commandment which focuses on retaliation and finally, on the law of brotherly love.

Adultery

Mat 5:27  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 
Mat 5:28  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 
Mat 5:29  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 
Mat 5:30  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Here we see Jesus as the Reformer with His reforms in relation to the Law of Moses about adultery. 

Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 

The seventh commandment makes it clear from all intents and purposes that we are not to commit adultery. However, in the exposition of this commandment, it can be taught that there is no such thing as heart-adultery because adulterous thoughts and dispositions, which never proceed to the act of adultery or fornication cannot be regarded as adultery. Based on the law therefore, we may think that we have not committed adultery. Here Jesus comes with His reforms by raising the bar, that is, coming with the new covenant law or the law of the spirit of life which sets us free from the law of sin and death. This law of the spirit of life is the perfect law whose coming does away with the law of Moses. 

1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 

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;  

Col 2:14  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 
Col 2:15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

The doing away of the law of Moses does not mean that the law of Moses is not relevant. It still applies to our lives until faith comes. 

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

This law of the spirit of life tells us that sin is conceived when we regard iniquity in our hearts. The act of physically sinning is only a matter of course when sin has been conceived in the heart. In other words, adultery has been elevated to “looking at a woman to lust after her”. 

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

Psa 66:18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

The Lord laid down the solution to this problem of the lust of the eyes. The Lord’s solution is to tear out our right eye and throw it away if it is causing us to sin. If our right hand is also causing us to sin, then we must cut it off and throw it away. What we must understand is that the Lord’s words are spiritual, and the fact that we must pluck out our eye and cut off our right hand does not mean that we must physically decapitate our bodies to serve the Lord. As the Lord said, it is the spirit that gives life, the flesh, that is physically plucking your eyes, does not profit us. 

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

The right eye here represents the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the right hand here signifies the pride of life. These must be destroyed within us if we are to live as overcomers. The Lord’s way of destroying these in our lives is to judge us in this life. It is through judgment or the suffering that is marked out for us in this age that we learn righteousness. 

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. 

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

If we can remember, John the Baptist proclaimed that it is Jesus who shall baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The fire is the judgment of the Lord which causes us to learn righteousness or stop lusting after a woman.

Mat 3:11  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:  

Divorce

Mat 5:31  It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 
Mat 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. 

To understand the reformation of this law by our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to look at the issue of divorce from the Old Testament.

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

We can see from these verses that divorce was permitted in the Old Covenant when the husband finds uncleanness in his wife. According to Strong’s Dictionary, the word “uncleanness” means nudity, nakedness or shame. The uncleanness therefore has nothing to do with sexual sins since from the law of Moses, such sins shall result in death by stoning.

Deu 22:22  If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. 

As we are aware, nakedness is sin, and it does not refer to any particular sin. That is why in the Book of Revelation, the church in Laodicea was reprimanded to cover her nakedness so that her shame does not appear.

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. 

What this means is that when a man finds a fault (sin) with a woman, he can divorce her, but it must be accompanied by a bill of divorcement. That was what the law of Moses required. However, most men were not compliant with the Law as they just put away (apaluo – put away) the woman without the necessary letter of divorce, and therefore the woman is technically still married to the man, and if the woman or the man marries, he or she has committed adultery. If the woman has the letter of divorce, then she is free to marry and does not commit adultery in her remarriage.

From this, we can see the error created by the translators of the Bible in Matthew 5:32, where the Greek word “apostasion” (G645) which means divorce (with a letter of divorce) is absent. The “put away” here in verse 32 is the Greek word “apaluo” (G630) which means getting rid of a wife without the necessary documentation. Verse 32 therefore seems to suggest that even if a proper letter of divorce is issued to the woman, the remarrying of the man or woman is adultery. That is not the case here since the word “apoluo” was used. What Jesus is trying to say is that if we put away a woman without the necessary divorce letter, we commit adultery when the man or the woman remarries. However, the Lord again raised the bar to a spiritual law (the law of the spirit of life) by saying that except for fornication, all other reasons for divorce are not valid. We therefore need to understand what “fornication” means spiritually, in order to understand what the Lord is saying. 

Before we come to understand what “fornication” means spiritually, we need to understand that physical adultery or fornication does not negate the fact that they can serve as a basis for divorce. However, looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, we can see how He has forgiven us several times during a time of our walk when we were serving another Jesus even though we claimed to be the bride of Christ.

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 

Spiritually, fornication represents our unfaithfulness to the Lord and to our spouse. Based on this, several sins can be classified as “fornication” spiritually. These include abusing our spouse, children, bankrupting the family, etc. Persistent physical, emotional and mental abuse all serve as grounds for fornication, and therefore, occasion for divorce.  The article which has helped in our understanding of these is in the essential reading of the iswasandwillbe website. It was written by Mike Vinson with the title “The Law of Moses Versus the Law of the Spirit”.     

Oaths

Mat 5:33  Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 
Mat 5:34  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 
Mat 5:35  Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 
Mat 5:36  Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 
Mat 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. 

The law of Moses allows for swearing as shown in the following verses:

Deu 6:13  Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. 

Deu 10:20  Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. 

The scribes and the Pharisees took the matter of swearing to a different level as follows:

Mat 23:16  Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 
Mat 23:17  Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 
Mat 23:18  And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 
Mat 23:19  Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 
Mat 23:20  Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 
Mat 23:21  And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 
Mat 23:22  And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

Here  Jesus, as the reformer, brings to us the law of the spirit of life which sets us free from the law of sin and death. He wants us not to swear at all but that our yes must be yes and our no must be no. Anything else apart from our yes or no comes from evil (verse 37). The scribes and Pharisees represent the leaders of Babylon or the physical churches of this world who have the propensity to go beyond what is written. We were like the scribes and Pharisees during our walk in the churches of this world until the Lord came to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to deliver us. That is the time that faith came to us and as a result, we are no longer under the Law of Moses.  

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

The reason we are not to swear as we abide by the law of the spirit of life is that, as the Lord’s elect, we know that everything in this world is working according to the Lord’s will, and therefore swearing will make no difference to what the Lord has destined.  

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: 

Retaliation

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 
Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 

In these verses, Jesus’ reforming words, which are the law of the spirit of life, are that we should not resist evil. He continued by telling us that if someone smite us on the right cheek, we must turn to him the other also. As we have indicated, the words of the Lord are spirit, and therefore if we are to live by the spirt, then we must understand what the Lord is saying to us in the spirit. The question is, “What does it mean not to resist evil?”

It means that as the Lord’s elect, we must be able to embrace whatever comes our way as being of the Lord. In this world, the Lord uses both evil and good to accomplish His purpose here on earth.

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: 

If we are to resist evil, then we may end up resisting the Lord in accomplishing His good purpose in our lives. For example, on the night Jesus was arrested, Peter, being with the Lord, attempted to fight back by drawing a sword and cutting off the ear of one of Jesus’ assailants. However, the Lord told Peter to put back the sword because they that take the sword perish by the sword. 

Mat 26:50  And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. 
Mat 26:51  And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. 
Mat 26:52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

We can see that Peter wanted to resist the evil unleashed upon our Lord Jesus Christ as the Jews came to arrest Him. Peter, in His unrenewed mind, wanted to fight back or resist the evil. However, Jesus told him not to resist evil because when we try to resist evil, we end up resisting the Lord and therefore, we lose our way to the path of righteousness. 

In verse 39, we are told that if someone smite us on the right cheek, we should turn the left cheek to him as well. Again, when we are sued and as a result we lose our coat, we should let them take our cloke as well. As we indicated, these words are spiritual, and therefore we need to understand these from spiritual perspective. It does not mean that literally when someone slaps us on the right cheek, we are to turn the left cheek for him to slap. All that the Lord is telling us is that we must yield to whatever circumstance in which find ourselves, knowing that it will work out for our good since the Lord is the one in charge.  

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.

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. 

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. 

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: 

Not resisting evil does not means that we should allow our rights to be trampled upon. In the Book of Acts, we see Paul emphasizing his rights when he was treated badly as a Roman citizen.

Act 16:36  And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. 
Act 16:37  But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. 
Act 16:38  And the servants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. 
Act 16:39  And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
Act 16:40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed. 

Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 
Mat 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 

The Law of Moses always focuses on what is necessary to fulfill the law. This is so, because we are driven by the flesh. However, with the law of the spirit of life, we are moved by the spirit of the Lord, and therefore we go beyond what our natural thinking and capability will take us. The story of the good Samaritan shows us what the Lord had in mind when He told us to go beyond what we are compelled. 

Luk 10:30  And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 
Luk 10:31  And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 
Luk 10:32  And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
Luk 10:33  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 
Luk 10:34  And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 
Luk 10:35  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 
Luk 10:36  Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 
Luk 10:37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

We can see clearly that the good Samaritan went beyond what was necessary in rescuing the man who was left half dead. He not only bound up his wounds but brought the man to the inn and also paid his expenses. What distinguished the good Samaritan from others is the simple fact that he had compassion on the man (verse  33). Compassion involves showing mercy as we see in verse 37.  It is through the Lord’s compassion that we are not consumed.

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 
Lam 3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 

Through the mercy that we have received, we are to learn to also show mercy or compassion to people. When we are driven by compassion, we fulfill the law of the spirit of life as we go beyond what is needful, according to the law of Moses. Throughout our lives here on earth, the Lord is always showing mercy to us. It is this mercy being shown to us which serves as the foundation of the mercy we are to show humanity during the lake of fire age. If we do not learn to be merciful, then it means we cannot be saviors of humanity.

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

In verse 42, the Lord wants us to give when asked and to lend to those who come to us to borrow. This is all part of the law of the spirit of life. Of course, we cannot give what we do not have. The fact that we must give does not means that even if we have a need pending, we must by all means give and fall into trouble. Verse 42 has been abused by many of the Babylonian preachers for their financial gains.

2Pe 2:3  And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 

Giving here is not restricted to only money. Spiritually, giving entails supporting those who are weak as shown in the following verse:

Act 20:35  I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.  

In terms of lending, we are aware that the people of this world also lend, but with interest or usury. The law of the spirit of life teaches us not to lend with usury as do the people of this world. In our lending, we should do it such that we are not expecting anything back. That is what pleases the Lord. This implies that we cannot lend what we do not have, and if we have an urgent  need, then is not an option. If we have enough to lend, then we must lend not expecting anything back.  

Luk 6:34  And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
Luk 6:35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 

Love Your Enemies

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 
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; 
Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 
Mat 5:46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 
Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 

The law of the spirit of life enjoins us to love our enemies, to bless them when we are cursed, do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despise us and persecute us. This is of a far higher standard than the law of Moses which is based on an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 

Exo 21:22  If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 
Exo 21:23  And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
Exo 21:24  Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

We can see that in the law of Moses there is no mercy. However, in the law of the spirit of life or the law of liberty as indicated by Apostle James, mercy triumphs over judgment. In other words, mercy overrules judgment. 

Jas 2:10  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 
Jas 2:11  For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 
Jas 2:12  So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 
Jas 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.  

In walking in the flesh, it is impossible to love your enemies and to go to the extent of praying for them who persecute you and blessing those who curse you. However, as the word of the Lord says, we, His elect, are strengthened by His spirit so that we do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. As a result, our mortal bodies are quickened by the Lord’s Spirit such that we do not fulfill the desires of the flesh. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 
Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 
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. 
Rom 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 
Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 

Here in these verses, the focus is on the spirit which quickens our mortal bodies to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. From a comprehensive view of the word of the Lord, we know that the judgment we go through destroys the flesh and its desires, while the spirit strengthens us to live a life pleasing to the Lord. That is when we can walk in the spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. 

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 
Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 

In conclusion, the Lord is telling us in verse 48 to become perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. What we need to know is that perfection is a process we are all going through in this life and will become complete when we are resurrected from the dead. 

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 

May the Name of the Lord be Praised. Amen!!

Oba 1:17 But on mount Zion there shall be deliverance, And there shall be holiness,
And shall possess the house of Jacob their possessions

[Study Aired September 11, 2024]

Oba 1:17  But upon mountH2022 ZionH6726 shall beH1961 deliverance,H6413 and there shall beH1961 holiness;H6944 and the houseH1004 of JacobH3290 shall possessH3423 (H8804 Qal)(H853) their possessions.H4180 

H2022 – Har, hill, mountain, hill country, mount, a shortened form of H2042, Harar, mountain, hill, hill country, mount, from an unused root meaning to loom up

H6726 – Tseeyone, Zion = parched place, the same (regularly) as H6725, Tseeyoon, signpost, monument, market, (Used three times in OT) from the same as H6723, Tsiyah, dryness, drought, desert, from an unused root meaning to parch

H1961 – Hayah, to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out, to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come into being, to arise, appear, come, become like, to be instituted, be established, be in existence, abide, remain, continue, to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated, to accompany, be with, be done, be brought about, be finished, be gone, a primitive root

H6413 – Peleytah, escape, deliverance, escaped remnant, from H6412, Paleet, refugee, fugitive, escaped one, from a primitive root H6403, Palat, to escape, save, deliver, slip away, bring into security, cause to escape, cast forth, be delivered, bring to safety

H1961 – see above

H6944 – Kodesh, apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness, set-apartness, separateness, from a primitive root H6942, Kadash, to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate, be set apart, be consecrated, be hallowed, consecrated, tabooed, show oneself sacred or majestic, be honoured, be treated as sacred, set apart as sacred, dedicate, observe as holy, keep sacred, honour as sacred, hallow, set apart, devote, regard/treat as sacred/hallowed, keep oneself apart/separate, cause himself to be hallowed (of God), be observed as holy, consecrate oneself

H1004 – Bayith, house, dwelling habitation, shelter or abode, place, receptacle, home, household, family, family of descendants, household affairs, inwards, temple, on the inside, within, probably from a primitive root H1129, Banah, to build, rebuild, establish, cause to continue, build a house (ie, establish a family), to be built/rebuilt, established

H3290 – Ya`akob, Jacob = heel holder or supplanter, from a primitive root H6117, Aqab, to supplant, circumvent, take by the heel, follow at the heel, assail insidiously, overreach, overreach, attack at the heel, hold back

H3423 – Yarash, (Qal) to take possession of, inherit, impoverish, be an heir, come to poverty, be poor, a primitive root

H853 – Ayth, sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative, contracted from H226, Oth, sign, signal, distinguishing mark, banner, remembrance, miraculous sign, omen, warning, token, ensign, standard, miracle, proof, probably from a primitive root H225, Ooth, to consent, agree (Used four times in OT)

H4180 – Mowrash, possession, (Used 3 times in OT) from a primitive root H3423, Yarash, to seize, dispossess, take possession of, inherit, disinherit, occupy, impoverish, be an heir, come to poverty, be poor, be dispossessed, be impoverished, devour, cause to possess or inherit, cause others to possess or inherit, destroy, bring to ruin

—

Oba 1:17  But on mount Zion there shall be deliverance, And there shall be holiness, And shall possess the house of Jacob their possessions (Interlinear version)

In this study we will look at the two Hebrew words [Zion and Deliverance] and how they are used in the New Testament

[1] Zion H6726 and the corresponding Greek word G4622 Sion

[2] Deliverance H6413 and the corresponding Greek word G859 Forgiveness

Zion H6726 means a mountain of Jerusalem and the corresponding Greek word is Sion G4622.

Here is how it appears first in the New Testament

Mat 21:4  All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
Mat 21:5  Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of a beast of burden

This prophecy spoken of is linked to Zechariah 9:9 and also referenced in Isaiah

Zec 9:9  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass

Isa 12:5  Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
Isa 12:6  Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

The words of Jesus Christ are then said to be a stone of stumbling in Zion, to the outward Jews. This is true even today because to the orthodox Jew, the New Testament is not considered Holy Scripture.

Rom 9:32  wherefore? because—not by faith, but as by works of law; for they did stumble at the stone of stumbling,
Rom 9:33  according as it hath been written, ‘Lo, I place in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence; and every one who is believing thereon shall not be ashamed.

A few chapters later Paul writes about the mystery of Israel’s salvation:

Rom 11:25  Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Rom 11:26  And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob

The Deliverer who will “come from Zion” is Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world:

1Jn 4:14  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son [Jesus Christ] to be the Savior of the world.

Deliverance H6413 Peletah, is from the root word H6403 paw-lat meaning “to escape”.

The corresponding Greek word is G859 aphesis meaning freedom, to pardon, or deliverance. It comes from the root word G575 meaning “off” or separation, departure.

Mat 1:21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from/separation [G575] their sins.

The same word for deliverance used in Obadiah 1:17 is the same word used by Joseph. We are given to see there is only one truly sovereign will: the will of God the Father.

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance [H6413].
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Spiritually, deliverance means forgiveness. Here are the words of Christ, who went into the synagogue on sabbath and stood up and read from Isaiah 61:1

Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised

The holy spirit of God the Father is on Jesus Christ, his son, and we are witnesses to this truth, when we preach the good news of the gospel of Christ, the one true saviour and redeemer of our sins

Luk 24:47  And that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name [JESUS CHRIST] among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

It is the blood of Christ that is the new testament

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus Christ was the rock of offence, the stumbling block in Zion, because he was crucified

Act 5:30  The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Act 5:31  Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Spirit [of God the Father], whom God hath given to them that obey him.

The only thing that distinguishes us from the [Jews that seeked to kill him] is obedience. When we are obedient to the word of God, we are able to say not my will be done, but your will be done:

1Pe 2:6  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
1Pe 2:7  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
1Pe 2:8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him [JESUS CHRIST] who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Because of Jesus Christ’s excellent example (the love he had for his Father), we understand that love means to be obedient

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

Finally, Mount Zion appears twice more in the New Testament where it is referred to as the heavenly Jerusalem, a kingdom which cannot be moved

Heb 12:22  But ye are come to mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear

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

When we have our Father’s name written on our forehead  we simply follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

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

Following the Lamb wherever he goes enables us to became able ministers of the new covenant (written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God) knowing that we are not sufficient to think any thing of ourselves.  This is how we are delivered from the many lies and false doctrines of Babylon.

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

1Co 4:6   that ye might learn in us not to think above that which is written

2Co 12:5  Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
2Co 12:6  For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ [the son], which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God [the Spirit of God the Father].
Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us

Following the Lamb wherever he goes means our hope is firmly placed in His words, not our own:

2Co 3:11  For if that which is done away [The Mosaic Law] was glorious, much more that which remaineth [The mind of Christ] is glorious.
2Co 3:12  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
2Co 3:13  And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ

We use great plainness of speech when we speak the words of Christ. Amen

Ezekiel 20:1-25  For His Name’s Sake, we are not Consumed

[Study Aired June 10, 2024]

Introduction

Today’s study is focused on the answer the Lord gave to Ezekiel to tell the elders of Israel who came to enquire of Him. The Lord’s answer shows His displeasure against Israel as a result of their unfaithfulness toward Him. The Lord showed His providential care for the people of Israel as He took them out of Egypt, even though they were ungrateful in their dealings with Him. In the wilderness, the people of Israel continued to rebel against Him. As a result, the Lord promised to judge them by scattering them among the nations and giving them laws which they could not live by. In all of this, the Lord did not use His power to destroy them so that His name would not be blasphemed among the nations of the world. The main takeaway of today’s study is that for His name’s sake, the Lord will carry out all that He has said about us to bring us to an expected end.     

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 
Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 
Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. 

The Elders Came to Enquire of the Lord

Eze 20:1  And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
Eze 20:2  Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
Eze 20:3  Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

The elders of Israel coming to enquire of the Lord from Ezekiel in the seventh year, the fifth month and the tenth day of the month have significance. The number seven means completion, that of fifth (five) means grace through faith, and the number ten signifies the fullness of the flesh. In verse 1, therefore, we are shown the spiritual depravity of the elders of Israel. It is when the sins of the leaders have reached their fullness, that is in their complete apostasy, that we are given to go through the process of grace through faith. This grace is the judgment of our old man. Spiritually, the elders of Israel here signify the Lord’s elect during our sojourn in Babylon. This is what the Lord says about us as the leaders of Israel:

Eze 34:1  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 34:2  Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 
Eze 34:3  Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 
Eze 34:4  The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
Eze 34:5  And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 
Eze 34:6  My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

The elders coming to enquire of the Lord means that we had not realized our spiritual depravity when we were in Babylon. The Lord’s initial refusal to answer the elders through His elect who are signified here by Ezekiel was to indicate to us that our works were not pleasing to Him. 

Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 
Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Isa 59:3  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

Our hands being defiled with blood in Isaiah 59:3 means that we were guilty of the death of the Lord and His servants as we refused to hear them and thought they were evil. Our fingers with iniquity means that our works were dominated by our flesh. Our lips speaking lies and our tongue muttering perverseness refer to the false doctrines in our hearts and minds which are the lies of the evil one.

Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: 
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Our lives at this stage of our walk with the Lord are likened to the elder brother of the prodigal son. Because he had not been shown his sins, he thought that he was better than his prodigal brother and therefore had the right to the estate of his father. On the other hand, his prodigal brother had come to know his sins and was therefore looking up to his father for his mercy.

Luk 15:21  And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Luk 15:22  But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
Luk 15:23  And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 
Luk 15:24  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 
Luk 15:25  Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 
Luk 15:26  And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 
Luk 15:27  And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
Luk 15:28  And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 
Luk 15:29  And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 
Luk 15:30  But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 
Luk 15:31  And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
Luk 15:32  It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

It is a privilege to be shown our sins by the Lord. The Lord’s coming to us in Babylon was to show us our sins and to provide a way for us to overcome the flesh through the fire of His words. The next verses therefore show us the Lord showing the elders of Israel their sins.

We Must Know that We Have Sinned Against the Lord

Eze 20:4  Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers: 

In verse 4, the Lord is asking Ezekiel to cause the elders of Israel to know their abominations. It is after we come to realize our sins that judgment follows. Knowing our sins is therefore a prerequisite before we are judged by the Lord. In this life therefore, the Lord is seeking for an occasion to cause us to know our abominations so that He can judge us. Judgment therefore is a privilege the Lord is bestowing on us, His elect. 

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 next four verses show the sins of the people of Israel. 

Eze 20:5  And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;
Eze 20:6  In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had spied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
Eze 20:7  Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Eze 20:8  But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 

It is with the Lord’s mighty hand that He sets us apart from the world (Egypt) to come and worship Him. The lifting up of the Lord’s hands to the seed of the house of Jacob means that the outstretched arms of the Lord are ready to receive us in Him no matter our sinful state, just like the prodigal son. This mighty hand also means that the Lord will judge us as He pours out His fury on us to cause us to obey Him, resulting in Him ruling over us. 

Eze 20:33  As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:
Eze 20:34  And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

In verse 7, we are shown our abominations of defiling ourselves with the idols of Egypt. These idols of Egypt are the false doctrines of man’s wisdom and traditions in our heavens which cause us to worship the created things instead of our creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, we rebel against the Lord as we become entrenched in the worship of another Jesus.

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

In verse 8, we are told that as a result of our rebellion against the Lord, we are going to be judged as He pours out His fury upon us to accomplish His anger against us. As we are aware, it is through the Lord’s judgment that we learn righteousness.

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.

For His Names’s Sake We Shall Not be Consumed

Eze 20:9  But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
Eze 20:10  Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

Here in verse 9 we are told that the Lord acted by bringing the Israelites out of Egypt so that His name would not be dishonored among the nations. Our decision to come out of the world and serve the Lord is not our decision. If we are called and chosen, then the Lord will act on our behalf to bring us to an expected end so that His name is not dishonored among the nations of the world. What this means is that from the beginning to the end of our walk in Christ, it is all His work. What He has begun in us, He will see to its completion!!

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

Verse 10 shows us that after the Lord has caused us to leave the world to come and worship Him, we are sent straight into the wilderness where there is lack of water, that is, famine of the word of the Lord. This wilderness is Babylon where we end up worshiping another Jesus as part of the wonderful plan of the Lord. Babylon therefore serves a purpose for our walk in Christ. It is in Babylon that we come to see how sinful we are as we are confronted by the law of Moses which is preached in Babylon. This is what Paul has to say about this:

Rom 7:7  What should we say, then? Are Moses’ laws sinful? That’s unthinkable! In fact, I wouldn’t have recognized sin if those laws hadn’t shown it to me. For example, I wouldn’t have known that some desires are sinful if Moses’ Teachings hadn’t said, “Never have wrong desires.” 
Rom 7:8  But sin took the opportunity provided by this commandment and made me have all kinds of wrong desires. Clearly, without laws sin is dead. 
Rom 7:9  At one time I was alive without any laws. But when this commandment came, sin became alive 
Rom 7:10  and I died. I found that the commandment which was intended to bring me life actually brought me death. 
Rom 7:11  Sin, taking the opportunity provided by this commandment, deceived me and then killed me. 
Rom 7:12  So Moses’ Teachings are holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good. 
Rom 7:13  Now, did something good cause my death? That’s unthinkable! Rather, my death was caused by sin so that sin would be recognized for what it is. Through a commandment sin became more sinful than ever.
Rom 7:14  I know that God’s standards are spiritual, but I have a corrupt nature, sold as a slave to sin. (GW)

Eze 20:11  And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.

It is in Babylon that we are shown the laws and rules of the Lord through the teaching of the Law of Moses, which if we are able to obey, we shall be saved. However, when we are dominated by our flesh, or the old man, there is no way we can obey the laws and rules given to us by the Lord. The Law of Moses was therefore to make us aware of what sin is, but lacks the capacity to cause us to obey. The Law of Moses was therefore to lead us to Christ and after we have known Christ, or are known by Christ, we are therefore no longer subject to the Law of Moses. 

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

Eze 20:12  Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

Through the Law of Moses, we are given to know the sabbath which represents the day of rest. However, in our spiritual poverty, we look at the sabbath physically as a day of rest from our works. It is after Christ has come to us with His words that we are given to know that the sabbath is not a day of rest but a lifetime of resting from our works and depending on the Lord to carry out His work in us. Of ourselves, we can do nothing. As the word of the Lord says, when the sabbath was first preached to us, we did not experience the rest of the Lord because of our unbelief. 

Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

Our Rebellion Against the Lord and His Judgment

Eze 20:13  But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. 
Eze 20:14  But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. 
Eze 20:15  Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

The house of Israel in the wilderness represents the harlot woman or Babylon or the physical churches of this world which have rebelled against the Lord. We were part of this church in the wilderness until the Lord came with His brightness and the spirit of His mouth to judge us as He initiates the process of destroying our old man or flesh so that we can learn righteousness. Thus, the Lord saying that He would pour out His fury upon us to consume us in verse 13 is His judgment, and that is the best thing that could have happened to us in this life. His judgment is therefore what the Lord is working out for His name’s sake such that we do not drag His name in the mud among the heathen of this world.

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

In verses 14 and 15 we are made aware that the Lord lifted up His hands upon the people of Israel to prevent them from entering the land flowing with milk and honey. In other words, we cannot possess our bodies, which are represented by the land flowing with milk and honey, until the Lord has poured out His fury on our old man.

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

Eze 20:16  Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 
Eze 20:17  Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

In verses 16 and 17, the Lord is telling us that in spite of our spiritual depravity, He did not destroy us but continued to keep us in the wilderness.  This shows us that even though Babylon, or the established churches of this world, has derailed from serving the Lord, they are being kept by the Lord for His own purpose. As we can see, we were not serving the Lord acceptably during our time in Babylon, but the Lord did not destroy us but kept us until the set time symbolized by seventy years when He came with His brightness and the spirit of His mouth to deliver us from Babylonian captivity outwardly and within our hearts and minds.

Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
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.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 
Jer 25:12  And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

Physically, Babylon, or the physical churches of this world, is being kept for a set time, and then will be destroyed by the Lord. This is what the Lord says about its destruction:

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. 

Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 
Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 

Eze 20:18  But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: 
Eze 20:19  I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
Eze 20:20  And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. 
Eze 20:21  Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 

Throughout our stay in Babylon, the Lord was urging us through His messengers to walk in His statutes and judgments, but we did not pay heed to them as we were enchanted by another Jesus (defiling ourselves with idols). In our state, we were not able to find rest (sabbath) in Him as we thought that we were responsible for our own actions because of our famed freewill.  As a result, we rebelled against the Lord, setting ourselves up for the Lord’s judgment of our old man as He pours out His fury upon us. 

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Eze 20:22  Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. 
Eze 20:23  I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; 
Eze 20:24  Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. 
Eze 20:25  Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; 

In verse 22, the Lord did not use His power to destroy the people of Israel so that His name would not be dishonored among the nations who had watched Him bring the Israelites out of Egypt. This implies that because of the Lord’s name which we bear as His children, He will see to the completion of what He has started with us. 

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

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th 5:24  Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

In keeping with His name not being profaned among the nations, the Lord takes steps to bring us in line with His purpose. Our rebellion as described in verse 24, relates to not following the Lord’s laws, not resting in Him and lastly, serving another Jesus.

The Lord’s judgment as shown in verse 23 is to scatter us among the heathens or countries with the objective of putting an end to our filthiness. That is to say that we learn righteousness through the Lord’s judgment.

Eze 22:15  I will scatter you among the nations and force you into other countries. I will put an end to your uncleanness. (GW)

As the verses below show, scattering us among the heathen or nations means drawing the sword after us. 

Eze 12:14  And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.
Eze 12:15  And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries. 

Eze 5:2  Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

The third part that is scattered in the wind means that the drawing of the sword after us is a process and not a one-time event.  The negative aspect of sword refers to words that are spoken which destroy us. The sword refers to the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary. 

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

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

These negative words spoken are one of the tools that the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect, as part of the Lord’s judgment. 

In verse 25, the Lord is saying that as part of His judgment, He allowed us to follow laws that were not good and rules by which we could not live. As Peter stated, the Law of Moses was like a yoke that we were not able to bear during our time in Babylon.

Act 15:10  Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 

As indicated earlier, the Law of Moses is what is practiced in Babylon. These laws were not different from the laws that are applicable in the heathen countries that the Lord had scattered us into. 

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

The essence of the Lord giving us laws (the Law of Moses and its related rules) which are not good and which we could not obey is to show us that we are sinful. It is only when we come to appreciate our spiritual depravity of not being able to obey the Law of Moses that Christ comes in to help us by delivering us from our flesh which is the repository of sin. Oh, how wonderful is the Lord’s plan of salvation for us!!

Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen. 

May His name be praised forevermore!!

Ezekiel 16:43-64  The Lord’s Useless and Faithless Bride, Part 3

[Study Aired May 13, 2024]

Introduction

Today’s study continues with the Lord showing us our abominations. It focuses on how our sins as the Lord’s elect far outweigh that of our sisters Sodom and Samaria. Before we can go further, we need to understand what Sodom and Samaria represent. Spiritually, Sodom represents Jerusalem which is and is in bondage with her children. Therefore, Sodom is another name for Babylon or the physical churches of this world in which we spent the days of our youth. 

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city (Jerusalem), which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 

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 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 

Samaritans were the Lord’s people (the ten tribes of Israel with the exception of Judah and Benjamin) who rejected the rulership of Rehoboam, the son of king Solomon. Spiritually therefore, we can say that Samaria represents the Lord’s people who have rebelled against Him. Samaria is therefore another term for Babylon. 

1Ki 12:16  So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. 
1Ki 12:17 But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
1Ki 12:18  Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. 
1Ki 12:19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. 

In another perspective, we can also say that Sodom represents the people of the world who have no portion in the Lord, in the sense that they worship themselves as idols. Samaria, on the other hand, signifies other religions apart from Christianity.  

The study ends with the assurance from the Lord that He will remember the promise He made during our days of youth (our lives in Babylon) and will make it a promise which will last forever.

As is the Mother, so is her Daughter

Eze 16:43  Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations. 

As we indicated in the previous study, the days of our youth refer to our time in Babylon when we were naked and polluted by our own blood. Being naked means we were sinful. Being polluted in our own blood means our lives are dominated by our flesh.

Lev 17:11  For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Eze 16:22  And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. 

Here in verse 43, we are told that we shall surely be judged by the Lord as long as we continue to wallow in sin. It is important to note that the judgment of the Lord is the prerogative of His elect in this age. We are the meek that the Lord is guiding to walk in His ways through His judgment.

Psa 25:9  The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. 

Eze 16:44  Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 
Eze 16:45  Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
Eze 16:46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

We were just like our mother, the harlot, before the Lord came to us with the Spirit of His mouth and His brightness. Our mother here is Babylon or the physical churches of this world. In these verses, we are given to know some of the characteristics of our mother, the harlot. Our mother being a Hittite means that she is just like people of the world who are not given to know Christ.  This implies that we were just like people of the world during our stay in Babylon, a strange land where we are carried away captives by the evil one. Our father being an Amorite signifies the devil being our father. This is because Amorite comes from an unused name which means prominence. In this case, it is the devil who is prominent in a negative way. 

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.

In verse 45, we are told that our mother loathed her husband. What is being implied here is that Babylon hates her husband Christ. No wonder she plays the harlot with another Jesus. In our time in Babylon, we thought we loved the Lord, but we were not prepared to obey Him. Obedience to the Lord is a sign that we love Him. 

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Joh 14:24  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. 

Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

We are also told that our mother not only loathed her husband but also her children. This means that Babylon is not a typical mother who loves her children. In her case, she hates her children. No wonder the food we receive from our mother in Babylon poisons us to become spiritual dead. That is why she is drunk with the blood of the saints. 

Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Rev 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

As indicated in verse 45, our sisters also loathe their husband and children. In other words, they hate both their husband, Christ, and His children. Externally, our sisters refer to all kinds of religion, including Christianity, which hate our Lord Jesus Christ and kill their children as they become worse off, that is, spiritually dead. In verse 46, Samaria and Sodom are mentioned as examples of our sisters who loathed their husband and children. 

Jer 23:13  Say this about the prophets of Samaria: I saw something disgusting. The prophets of Samaria prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 
Jer 23:14  Say this about the prophets of Jerusalem: I see something horrible. The prophets of Jerusalem commit adultery and live a lie. They support those who do evil so that no one turns back from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me, and those who live in Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.
Jer 23:15  This is what the LORD of Armies says about the prophets: I will give them wormwood to eat and poison to drink. The prophets of Jerusalem have spread godlessness throughout the land. 
Jer 23:16  This is what the LORD of Armies says: Don’t listen to what the prophets are saying to you. They fill you with false hope. They speak about visions that they dreamed up. These visions are not from the LORD. 
Jer 23:17  They keep saying to those who despise me, “The LORD says, ‘Everything will go well for you.'” They tell all who live by their own stubborn ways, “Nothing bad will happen to you.”
Jer 23:18  Who is in the LORD’S inner circle and sees and hears his word? Who pays attention and listens to his word? (GW)

The Sins of Sodom and Samaria

Eze 16:47  Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. 
Eze 16:48  As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 
Eze 16:49  Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
Eze 16:50  And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. 

The Lord is showing us in these verses that we have committed more grievous offenses against the Lord than our sister Sodom as He went ahead to narrate the offenses of Sodom. In other words, the Lord is showing to us, His elect, that we have committed more grievous sins than our brothers and sisters in Babylon. However, the Lord showed us His mercy.  The iniquity of our sister Sodom are pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness and their negligence to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Our pride is the result of our false doctrine of man having his own will to make his own decisions. We put ourselves in the status of the Lord when we think we make our own decisions.

Psa 10:4  The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

Psa 59:12  For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.

Oba 1:3  The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

The fullness of bread means that Babylon has all the resources needed, but we use these resources to gain treasures here on earth where thieves break through and steal. In other words, instead of using the resources the Lord has given us to know Him more, we become like the rich fool who filled his barn and told himself that it is time to enjoy!! In other words, we focus on what we can gain here on earth.

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 
Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luk 12:16  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luk 12:17  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
Luk 12:18  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 
Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 
Luk 12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 
Luk 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Abundance of idleness means we do not work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We have this mantra that whatever will be will be!!

Ecc 10:18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.

As the Lord’s elect, we are admonished not to eat the bread of idleness. 

Pro 31:27  She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

Not strengthening the hand of the poor and the needy means that Babylon is not a place that seeks the spiritual development of the Lord’s elect, signified by the poor and needy.

In verse 50, the Lord taking away Sodom is to warn us of the consequences of our actions if we continue to rebel against the Lord. 

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world 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.

Eze 16:51  Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done. 
Eze 16:52  Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. 

As we indicated, Samaria is also a type of the people of God who have rejected their king who is Christ our Lord and therefore Samaria is Babylon. Again, the Lord is telling us that our sins far outweighed that of Samaria. As Paul said, we are indeed the worst sinners that the Lord is saving us by His grace. 

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. 
1Ti 1:16  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 
1Ti 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Eze 16:53  When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them: 
Eze 16:54  That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. 
Eze 16:55  When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. 

These verses show us when our brothers and sisters in Babylon shall be saved. Although both Sodom and Samaria represent Babylon, Sodom and her daughters can specifically signify the people of the world who do not know the Lord. Samaria, on the other hand, represents other religions apart from Christianity who are trying to seek God through other means. What these verses under discussion mean is that the last on the line to be saved is our brothers and sisters in Babylon since they knew the Lord but did not worship Him as Lord but became futile in their thinking and committed more sins than even Sodom and Samaria.

Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 
Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 
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. 
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

In verse 54, we are told that we shall suffer disgrace, that is, we shall be judged by the Lord as we remember the terrible things we have done during our time in Babylon.  In all of this, the Lord assures us that He will comfort us. The Lord’s comfort here means making a way in us for the glory of the Lord to be revealed through His judgment. 

Isa 40:1  Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 
Isa 40:2  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. 
Isa 40:3  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 
Isa 40:4  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 
Isa 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 

Eze 16:56  For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, 
Eze 16:57  Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about. 
Eze 16:58  Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD. 

In verse 56, we are told that we did not mention our sister Sodom during our time in Babylon which was the day of our pride. The false doctrine of the Lord burning all those who do not submit to Him in this life forever makes it impossible for us to acknowledge that the people of the world, signified here by Sodom, are also children of the Lord and that He has a plan for them. As a result, the physical churches of this world or Babylon are hated or despised by people of the world, represented in verse 57 as daughters of Syria and Philistines. This hatred is the fuel that will result in the destruction of Babylon in the fullness of time as shown by the Lord in the Book of Revelation.

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.

As stated in the beginning of chapter 16 of Ezekiel, the Lord’s intent is to show us our abominations. Thus, throughout this chapter, the Lord has painstakingly shown to us our lewdness and abominations.

Eze 16:1  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

In verse 58, the Lord is saying that we must bear our lewdness which refers to our wicked devices and abominations which has to do with something disgusting morally; especially idolatry or having an idol. 

Deu 29:17  And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)

Deu 32:16  They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

The Lord is showing us our lewdness and abominations to serve as the occasion He is seeking to judge us. 

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. 

Just as the Lord was seeking an occasion against the Philistines, because they had dominion over Israel, the Lord is seeking an occasion to come and judge our flesh or the old man (Philistines) who has dominated us during our sojourn in Babylon. 

The Lord’s Everlasting Covenant

Eze 16:59  For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
Eze 16:60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

In verse 59, the Lord is showing us that because of our lewdness and abominations, we have despised His oath by breaking the covenant. As a result, we shall surely face His judgment. 

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 

Through the Lord’s judgment, we learn righteousness and become obedient children of the Lord.  This judgment, therefore, is not to destroy us. It is the Lord’s merciful act to restore His everlasting covenant with us, His elect.

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

Eze 16:61  Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. 
Eze 16:62  And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: 
Eze 16:63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth anymore because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD. 

As indicated, it is through the Lord’s judgment of our old man that we learn righteousness. Verse 61 is showing us the benefits of the Lord’s judgment. We shall be ashamed of what we have done against the Lord, and we shall learn to be merciful to our sisters, elders and the younger ones in the fullness of time during their judgment in the lake of fire.

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

Through the judgment of the Lord, we shall come to know Him as the Lord of everything. In verse 63, the Lord showing us our abominations and lewdness is also to humble us so that we become recipients of His grace. 

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 
Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 

May the Lord continue to show us our sins and help us to overcome as we see the day approaching. Amen!!

[Study Posted July 31, 2022]

Shame is frequently a result of one’s moral virtues being broken. Many Christian Babylonians, with much prayer, have moral integrity and overcome drug, alcohol and other addictions and sins through various programs with acclaimed success. Why do we in the Body of Christ sometimes experience a painful thorn of a particular sin in our side seemingly forever?

Acknowledgement of guilt is good. Guilt is an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. It’s hopefully a learned lesson not to be repeated. Shame, on the other hand, is less about a specific behaviour or a specific action and more about a deep-seated feeling. Shame etches deeper than an immediate embarrassment, and as Adam and Eve graphically experienced, it deeply rasps our conscience that some unidentified matter is wrong.

This study highlights one possible oversight dedicated to “shame” to hopefully inspire any number of Saints battling entrenched sins to overcome spirits in their high places. It is not meant to be the elixir Job’s miserable friends hoped to deliver ~ but at the Lord’s hand, it could.

Joh 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven, [and sometimes only revealed to him alone, as similarly,] 

Dan 10:7 And I Daniel [the individual’s name] alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 

Shame, as does fear, causes us to run and hide, but the one whose eyes are opened sees with clarity of vision for change.

Optimistically, this study will stimulate the audience’s spiritual minds for personal breakthroughs, from grinding struggles to freedom from a particularly dogged sin.

For the Elect and Babylonians alike, there are enormously powerful emotions intrinsic to sin where the feeling of intense shame frequently supersedes and disguises the underlying forbidden action. Overwhelmingly in scripture, shame is an essential and elementary agent to motivate change, yet, it can be an obstacle to repentance that carnality is drawn for possibly unwitting blindness.

Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Mat 18:2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Young children almost always burst into tears with sorrow for their guilt. Adults, on the other hand, become more ingenious than children at hiding and covering shame rather than calmly and unreservedly identifying the contentious issue by simply learning to acknowledge a sin with the authentic joy of a more “converted” spirit.

If the shame isn’t quickly expressed and forgiveness asked, it can become a crippling emotion. Shame induces hiding, and when covering becomes a habit, it consolidates the sin with layers of scarring for a seared conscience.

Jas 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Pro 28:13  He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Jer 3:13 Only [simply and from the heart] acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways [both good and bad seed] to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

One would think that those three simple verses are the key to repentance, which is found in authentically acknowledging your iniquity ~ and it is!  However, many artful nuances of sinful flesh find ways to mitigate or even avoid the simplicity in that foundation. One such possible nuance is the deeply etched emotion of “shame”.

Covering one’s sin is the first impulse. With a truthfully contrite heart, confessing our sins to Christ is the most liberating experience.

Joy for recovering from sin comes in the morning when we appreciate the spiritual reality of change more than the grinding shame. It is only through the practice of recovering from disobeying our Lord that inward grovelling shame is more joyfully cast aside. The approach of quickly and authentically acknowledging our sins brings immense joy and privilege to leave behind those servile elements which keep us submerged in the “deep”.

Psa 30:2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 
Psa 30:3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 
Psa 30:4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 
Psa 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Those verses succinctly order the flow of guilt. In our spiritual immaturity, as do children, we feel more humiliation from being caught in our sin than the broken law. After a night of restless reflection, in the morning we acknowledge our transgression meekly.

The Bride should not be shocked by her nudity before herself, in the Body of Christ or before her Husband! It is a ridiculous notion that she is appalled by her nudity while she searches for spiritual spots and wrinkles. We cry out in alarming shame for being “caught with our pants down”, a classic adage for unintentional nudity and its consternation, first experienced by Adam and Eve, rather than composedly recognising our nakedness and serenely covering up. It takes many years of humiliation to attain, by the Lord’s strength, to cover up with Christ’s righteous clothing and move on decorously.

The Body of Christ reverently notices his brother or sister’s nakedness of sin without voyeuristic intentions, as we all, from time to time, inadvertently do in our physical families. For our learning, Ham capitalised on the fortuitous occasion of his Father Noah’s nakedness, for heightened ridicule by engaging his brothers. His brothers saw their Father’s nudity and respectfully covered it. Ham’s chance to amplify the humiliation by including his brothers backfired as they didn’t buy into the violation.

Righteous shame is excellent for motivating repentance, yet, frequently, the exaggerated sensitivities of the unfortunate one caught physically naked exacerbate his disgrace to be identified as the sin rather than the underlying transgression. As is our bias, Adam and Eve, born of the flesh, primarily recognised the emotional consternation of shame that their uncovered privy parts evoked as the sin more than disobedience to the Lord.

Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

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

Our scarred memory of seemingly endless humiliations causes us to run and hide the object that causes immense emotional pain that, by God’s design for all but a few, soundly hides its purpose.

As always, the spirit quickens understanding, not the underlying shadow that points to the spiritual and is more frequently identified as the object to be avoided. As such, we default to making our clothing cover the seat of disgrace when it should be Christ’s spiritual clothing that glorifies Him. Over and over, we beat ourselves up to try harder to overcome and thus quench the strength of Christ.

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

The classic example of shame is Christ hanging naked on the cross, yet he despised the physical shame for his Elect to see their spiritual shame of their nudity progressively. It is oh so stressful to get to that joyful, comfortable place of being spiritually naked in the fire before Christ and His Christs where one doesn’t feel ridiculed as did Noah by his son, Ham, who sought to dramatise the humiliation by believing his brothers would automatically find pleasure in the opportunity to disgrace their dad.

Upon realising our sin, like Cain, we can become sullen and bitter and identify the colossal shame as the greater evil than receiving chastisement with joy.

Gen 4:13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

King David is a timeless example of hiding from his shame following his affair with Bathsheba that cascaded to greater depths of humiliation. The prophet Nathan exposed David’s sin and amplified his immense embarrassment before all of Israel. We much prefer hiding our shame (as did David) for months or even years rather than quickly exposing our spiritual nudity.

To their enduring frustration, some openly state their sins and are bewildered by the sometimes years it takes to be free, not remembering that we are the Lord’s workmanship for Him to indulge His good pleasure ~ the creation of the Bride is not a rushed work. We are His workmanship of a long firing in the furnace for perfection. Through much pain and suffering, we possess Christ, the promised inheritance through patience.

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls, [and during the often years of the same old grinding sin if our utter dependence is on Christ,]

Luk 21:18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.

Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Num 32:22 And the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the LORD, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD.
Num 32:23 But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.

Mankind to this day is physically and spiritually nude like Adam and Eve, our God-given natural state and the nudity are symbolic of sin. Flaunting that nudity is sometimes us being the Corinthian fornicator in shameless pride of self-righteousness and “be sure your sin will find you out.”

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness [and joy] in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 
1Jn 4:18 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. 
1Jn 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

Shame is the most destructive of all the feelings that holds us back, keeps us down, and quenches our spiritual growth. We fail to see that fear is often a cover, a protective layer to keep us from feeling shame; the more significant worry should be for disobedience, not the torment of disgrace.

Upon Goliath’s slaying, the soon-to-be King David portrayed a positive side of unintentionally displaying our privy parts and despising the shame. With his toga twirling and writhing, David energetically danced moves that would inspire modern-day rap dancers while being semi-conscious yet mostly uncaring for possibly exposing his pudenda. His and his men’s joy at re-establishing the power of God in Israel superseded the puerility of Ham-like voyeuristic opportunists ~ except for Michal, his wife. She self-righteously identified more with the shadow of shame than the reality and joy of the coming powerful and righteous leadership. The greater shame was her unconsciously attempting to rule her husband by her prissy evaluations of David’s indiscreet gyrations and repressing virtuous leadership in Israel.

If we fear the physical humiliations and identify them mainly as the objects of shame to be eradicated, our love is not perfect; their spiritual applications quickeneth and not the emotions of the flesh that causes us to hide in shame from our Lord and brethren.

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

We are without excuse if we have known the heavenly gift of spiritual discernment and go back to the weak and beggarly elements of serving the flesh more than God.

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth [the spirit] of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

In all of its genuinely natural glory, the creation points to the spiritual, the Beast that we are, and without God’s spirit, we default to its worship. To which entity does our devotion belong? Are we attempting to serve two masters – the creature and the Creator?

Consider that the shame of any seemingly hopelessly entrenched sin can serve the creature more than the Creator. Shame induces hiding and throws away the key to the shackles of slavery.

In confusion, Adam unconsciously blamed his sin on his genitalia. His overall nakedness caused him to focus on his exposed privates and how vulnerable he felt when the other living being in the Garden, Christ, was clothed.

Adam and Eve were made in the likeness or outward form of the Lord, and it is natural for humans to want to belong to their kin and not the beasts of the field. The latter unconsciously and blithely procreated before all and sundry whilst chewing their cud without a hint of shame at being unclothed.

Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, [Christ] and eat, and live for ever:

Gen 2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

Now the object of immense shame, his exposed genitalia skewed his focus from the colossal sin of overall nakedness ~ for seven thousand years! He was intensely focused on covering the physical seat of his shame rather than the unwitting hidden reality of the entirety of his spiritual nakedness, his unrighteous endemic nature. Unconsciously, his kin, the Lord, having the same outward image and likeness, was his spiritual mentor to eventually gain equality with God. Adam and Eve’s shame wasn’t so much their disobedience to God for taking from the forbidden tree; more willingly, it was their feelings of awkwardness for not being clothed like their spiritual father; they eagerly desired identity, dressed indistinguishably in both righteous and unrighteous clothing. The more significant and hidden shame was their God-given blindness that takes a seven thousand-year experience of evil to identify the Christ and be clothed in his purity.

Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Nobody told Adam and Eve they were naked! Nakedness was a God-induced spirit of shame that directly caused Adam and Eve to identify the difference between the only similar kin in the Garden and them.

Had the Lord not been clothed and without shame, strolled in the nude with hypothetical genitalia, Adam and Eve would have felt normal and accepted. Although the Lord was dressed in incorruptible spiritual clothing, Satan to Adam and Eve appeared indistinguishable; in fact, a lot more intriguingly dressed with knowledge, the Lord refused them!

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

Satan was clothed with apparel of light; to Adam and Eve’s eyes, identical; in fact, experimentally better than the Lord’s.

Adam and Eve desperately wanted to feel a kinship with someone, even with the temporary pleasures of the mind which the fascinating Tree of the knowledge of good and evil incited. A new, unidentified, devastating emotion of shame emerged, and they both knew they wanted to evade the torture associated with nudity. Their child-like nature was to hide from the tormenting inescapable spirit of the mind by physically running away ~ but they couldn’t elude their mental distress; it followed them everywhere! The reason for their anguish was that they (the old Adam within) were not given to recognising their spiritual nakedness. Their spiritually immature reasoning caused their minds to go into overdrive to fathom, for now, the spiritually unfathomable, eclipsed by shame; confusion began to reign as the cornerstone for the tower of Babylon was laid in their hearts.

Adam and Eve’s physical nudity was the difference between them and their nearest kin; they now were compelled to do anything to change the contrasting shame ~ fig leaves were the immediate option.

Except for the Elect of God and seven thousand years, Adam’s warped focus and reaction is on the shame of his physical nudity rather than the aionian-unfathomable spiritual reality for disobedience.

Since that first devastatingly etched and new emotion of shame, man has been intent on justifying his nudity to rid himself of its disfiguring psychological scars. “How dare God eternally condemn the beautiful pudenda that give us the epitome of joy!” And so, mankind celebrates sex at every opportunity. Well, it is the very first of many strong delusions. God didn’t condemn our privy parts; He merely used them to highlight our intrinsic nakedness of sinful flesh that is highly prone to celebrating, even worshiping our most sensual members.

Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Adam and Eve effectively worshiped themselves, “the creature more than the Creator” by unconsciously honouring their shame rather than a composed acknowledgement of their direct violation of the Lord’s command not to touch the tree being the knowledge of good and evil. Their shame results in an arduous seven thousand-year worship of the creature, the Beast, more than their Creator.

Gen 3:7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

To hide the devastating new emotion of shame now directly identified with their genitals rather than the more crucial disobedience to God. The endearing natural humility of a little child, unashamedly being naked for the short term before our Husband and the Christs, is precious as we learn to acknowledge our transgression with joy and receive white linen.

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

We should be joyful for our spiritual nudity being exposed and not give power to the emotion of shame once it has done its hopefully short work that points us to the healing power of Christ and Him fighting for us.

Wits’ End

“I have done all the above by acknowledging my sin yet remain enslaved.”

Purely for its quote and not necessarily a recommended work, C. S. Lewis, with his essay, “Startled into Hiding,” speaks on the subject of shame and says, “Over time, we learn to retreat behind walls and clenched fists of control. We resort to hiding without seeking, surviving without exploring; the body constricts and goes numb in a desperate attempt to deflect attention and disappear”.

Shame should always be a positive vehicle that leads to swiftly acknowledging the guilt of sin. However, it is common for folk to confess their sins before Christ, his family and the Body of Christ and distressingly remain entrenched in a vice. The condition can go on for years, even the best of a lifetime, taking a heavy toll on the person’s worth before the Lord.

Whether the sin is an annoying “child”, a “giant”, or a giant with deep roots and one is riddled with guilt and shame, be of some cheer; that shame is beautiful!

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.

What further steps can be taken to be free from a particularly stubborn or addictive sin when we have genuinely and fearlessly acknowledged our sin before the Lord and even the Saints and remain shackled in despair? We mostly every day ask the Lord for help; our Elders, family and friends give sound counsel and endless supplications; we have cut loose from the physical devices that promote access to the particular sin, and the fiendish condition remains entrenched! Some people end their wretchedness in suicide, only to face the same circumstances in the Great White Throne Judgment now with two problems: taking your life and the original matter. It is best to have the sense of easier torture before the Lord and his Angels today than the more profound torture in the GWTJ, where the more immeasurable shame is felt before our brothers and sisters with whom we once shared holy communion.

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 you, that suppurating carcass chained around your neck is an abomination, yet learn to love your enemy since you are guaranteed to win over “him”. It is a beautiful thing to learn to be of good cheer in your patience for the work the Lord is doing with that oppressive sin with His timing for release.

Ecc 3:1 To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Ecc 3:10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
Ecc 3:11 He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world [1Jn 2:16] in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

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

“Everything” and “all things” means the totality of everything, including the negative of our evil “beautiful” trials.

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

The Lord gives his perfectly evil servant, Satan, the nod to test us but not beyond our endurance ~ how good is that! So whatever entrenched sin is being fought, it will be easily or tortuously conquered; not necessarily twenty years ago or today, but with the Lord’s measures, you will rule over it.

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, [replace with your name] Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? [Why do we feel so utterly dejected, even unto death, for the giant in our land?]
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.

So, what additional measures can a person review to hopefully escape a deep-rooted sin when he has done all that is required for repentance?

Well, it could be the simple measure of patiently waiting on the Lord. In the meantime, search the heart for the nagging shame of a lying spirit.

Ahab, a King of Israel, elegantly portrays a lying spirit (2Ch 18:1-34, well documented in IWWB studies) who wanted Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, to join him in picking a war with Syria at Ramothgilead.

The Lord always requires us, as budding Kings and Priests, to ask Him to go before us into battle; if we attempt to fight a foe on our terms, we will, in all likelihood, be defeated. If we are not beaten in battle, the idol of our heart for our works begins to establish a hardened heart that can entrench the underlying sin.

Ahab itched to fight at Ramothgilead, and he knew that if he asked Micaiah, the Lord’s prophet of the time, for His blessing in victory, he would be denied the action. Ahab hated Micaiah’s righteousness as it always opposed what Ahab wanted to achieve. Ahab secretly sought kinship with a prophet outside the Lord’s prophets to get the answer he coveted. Ham, too, attempted to garner support by including his brothers to deride their Father. For us, that support is almost always hidden within our scheming hearts that make us appear righteous, yet the reality is a lying spirit driving that intention. It is spiritually known as an idol of the heart.

By all intents and purposes, we can lie to ourselves, our family and the Body of Christ when we have boldly confessed our sin, acknowledged it before Christ, and appear righteously at our wits’ end ~ how can it be a lie?

Ham, Ahab, and we worship the Beast and his image when we hear the trumpet blast for impending war within and refuse the nagging shame to authentically ask the Lord for Him to go before us to battle. Our heart is to rely on the false prophet within to concur with our heart. We consistently lose the fight by not genuinely desiring the Lord’s truth over our desire; to all family and peers, we are in right standing with God, and they put our struggles and wits’ end down to having to wait on the Lord for release from the chains ~ when in fact, the root problem is not worshiping the Lord with all your authentic heart in action and not a forked tongue.

Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Eze 33:2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When [not if] I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: 
Eze 33:3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
Eze 33:4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, [within for the slavery] and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
Eze 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
Eze 33:6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. 
Eze 33:7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 

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.

If not checked by the trumpet warning of the still small voice from within, corruption continually cascades in steps, beginning with a lustful thought.

Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

At the Lord’s hand, we, the Ahab within, curse ourselves in many ways. None is more damnable than the unclean spirit of worshiping ourselves, the Beast; and when initially tempted, not quickly, and from the heart, asking the chief prophet in Israel above, Christ, for him to go before us into battle. Unrighteous lust always comes from the ruling thought of going near the harlot’s door or any sin, by testing one’s imagined robust resistance to indulge just a little of the titillation rather than immediately exhilarating the Lord to lavish His power of resistance. The foundational problem is unbelief by refusing to heed the trumpet.

Unbelief is not believing with all of your heart. It stems from our indifferent eye for our fiancé’s (Christ’s) ardent desire for us, just as a harlot naturally has dull eyes for her renter. By prayer and fasting, we must consistently crave strong meat by being where the eagles are daily gathered at the carcass.

In Mark 9:14-29, the apostles were perplexed by their inability to cast out the dumb spirit inflicting the boy. Christ says:

Mar 9:19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

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

Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

At the Lord’s hand, Adam and Eve’s terrifying new emotion of shame shackled them to their unwitting father, Satan, for hiding a series of unfamiliar evil experiences of equal alarm for which they soon grew accustomed ~ for seven thousand years, life became wonderfully rich in Babylon.

Jdg 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. 

From the outset, the hidden King from Eden steadily revealed himself and his Father to a few in this age, showing them how to identify the bondage of a spirit that relies on one’s own strength by the stealth and nagging shame of a lying spirit.

Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Amen.

Jer 34:12-22 You Brought My Servants into Subjection to You

[Study Aired April 3, 2022]

Jer 34:12  Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 34:13  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,
Jer 34:14  At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.
Jer 34:15  And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:
Jer 34:16  But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.
Jer 34:17  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Jer 34:18  And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,
Jer 34:19  The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;
Jer 34:20  I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.
Jer 34:21  And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.
Jer 34:22  Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

In our last study we saw that Judah and Jerusalem had finally done the right thing and had set their Hebrew servants free while seeking the Lord’s mercy during the siege of the city by the king of Babylon. As we will see this week, the Lord sent the Egyptians to deliver the city and Judah, and once they were no longer under siege, Jerusalem immediately went back on their word to set their servants free.

Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.
Jer 34:12  Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 34:13  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,

The Hebrew word translated ‘turned’ is H7725, ‘shub’. Judah had ‘turned’ away from the Lord by rebelling against His commandment to release their Hebrew slaves. It is the same word that is used whether it is ‘turning to the Lord’ or ‘turning away from the Lord.

H7725
שׁוּב
shûb
shoob

A primitive root; to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point); generally to retreat; often adverbially again: –  ([break, build, circumcise, dig, do anything, do evil, feed, lay down, lie down, lodge, make, rejoice, send, take, weep]) X again, (cause to) answer (+ again), X in any case (wise), X at all, averse, bring (again, back, home again), call [to mind], carry again (back), cease, X certainly, come again (back) X consider, + continually, convert, deliver (again), + deny, draw back, fetch home again, X fro, get [oneself] (back) again, X give (again), go again (back, home), [go] out, hinder, let, [see] more, X needs, be past, X pay, pervert, pull in again, put (again, up again), recall, recompense, recover, refresh, relieve, render (again), X repent, requite, rescue, restore, retrieve, (cause to, make to) return, reverse, reward, + say nay, send back, set again, slide back, still, X surely, take back (off), (cause to, make to) turn (again, self again, away, back, back again, backward, from, off), withdraw.

Being in Egypt signifies being enslaved to this sinful yet self-righteous world. Egypt here is called “the house of bondmen”, and that is where we all are when the Lord sends His Word and begins the process of bringing us out of this world and out of the bondage we are under by nature. We cannot serve the Lord if we remain in Egypt, and the Lord will plague the world within us and destroy the firstborn within us and make a way through the Red Sea to get us out of this world. The death of the firstborn of Egypt within us is the negative application of the death of the firstborn of God. The firstborn of Egypt signifies the man of sin who sits on the throne of our heart until Christ begins the process of destroying him with the brightness of His coming into our heart to take His rightful place sitting upon the throne of our heart.

Exo 4:22  And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exo 4:23  And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

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

Israel’s deliverance from Egypt signifies our being delivered from a life of self-righteous sins, and here in Jeremiah 34 the completion of our time in Egypt as bondsmen is signified by six years of bondage and being set free in the seventh year:

Jer 34:14  At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.
Jer 34:15  And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

The spiritual significance of “letting [our]… Hebrew servant… go free” is to let Christ be free in our lives. When Christ is free in our lives, we become His servant, and we become the servants and slaves to righteousness. When we enslave Him, we reject Him as our master, and we seek to make Him and His Word serve us according to the idols of our heart. We do so because we are deceived, and we are slaves to sin and unrighteousness. That is exactly what we all do in our own appointed time.

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

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?
Rom 6:17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants [G1401: doulos, slave] of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants [G1402: douloo, slaves, same root word] of righteousness.
Rom 6:19  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Rom 6:21  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

When we read, “The Lord hath made … even the wicked for the day of evil,” we must come to realize when the Lord tells us that He is not speaking of some particularly evil men, nor does it speak of a particular ‘day of evil’ which excludes the righteous man. The fact is:

Psa 53:3  Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Rom 3:9  What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

That Truth is so all encompassing that even our Lord included His own corruptible clay vessel when He said:

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

This story of the release and then the re-enslavement of our Hebrew servants is for our own personal admonition. It is a “Hebrew servant” because we are all ‘Hebrews’, and when we give our Hebrew slave his liberty, we are giving ourselves liberty. Therefore, it is each of us who releases our own Hebrew servant and then we bring him back into bondage. We do so when we repent of our rebellious, self-righteousness and then we “lose [our] first love” and go right back to our “own vomit… and… [our own] wallow in the mire”:

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Their “latter end is worse with them than the beginning” was certainly the case for King Zedekiah, who typifies our own doomed ‘man of sin’. It was also true for rebellious, self-righteous Judah, which typifies the loss of our first love for the kingdom of God within to be replaced with “the cares of this word and the deceitfulness of riches”

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; [Gives his Hebrew slave liberty]
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. [‘Working out our own salvation’ (Php 2:12-13) is more than our old man can bear]

That is what happened to King Zedekiah and to Jerusalem and Judah when they released their Hebrew servants while under siege and then went back on their word when the siege was lifted:

Jer 34:16  But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

The Hebrew word translated as “turned” here in Jeremiah 34:16 is the same Hebrew word translated as “turned and returned” in verse 11. It means we do a 180 degree turn whether it is turning toward or turning away from our Lord.

Jer 34:17  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour:  behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

This 17^th verse of Jeremiah 34 is exactly what Paul said in the verse quoted earlier:

Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Being “free from righteousness we are not at liberty to reap the fruits of that ‘liberty’… “behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth”.

We are “removed to all the kingdoms of the earth” because that is where our “trespasses and… iniquities” are common to all men. That is where we belong. When we are in rebellion against our Lord, we belong in ‘the kingdoms of the earth’ where we are ‘at liberty’ to reap the fruits of that ‘liberty’ – “liberty… to the word, to pestilence, and to famine”, or as the apostle Paul puts it in the very next verse of Romans 6:

Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Rom 6:21  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

The choice to serve sin is an obviously bad choice:

Rom 6:22  But now being made free [liberated] from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Like Israel we are “marred in the Potter’s hand”, and we simply cannot choose to do what we know we should do, as Paul explains in the next chapter of Romans:

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Twice we are told that “[we] do that [we] would not”, and twice we are told “It is not I that do it, but sin that dwells in me”, because we are “sold under sin” by “the law of sin which is in my members”.

How did that law get there? Did we choose to be sold to sin under the law of sin in our members? No, we had no choice in the matter because there is but “one lawgiver”, and that law is in our members by His design and not by our fabled ‘free will’. It is that “one lawgiver” alone who is able to save and is able to destroy, and who is in the process of utterly destroying the kingdom of our old man and all that pertains to him, including his false doctrine of ‘free moral agency’.

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

It is only when we become aware of this Truth that we are brought to cry out to the Lord realizing that we simply cannot freely choose to be obedient to the Lord:

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

Only then, after the Lord has raised up a storm in our life that brings us to our wits’ end, will we be given to realize this Truth:

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.

What a blessing it is to be free from the sin of believing that my salvation and your salvation hangs upon our ability to make the right choices and to do the right things. Indeed, we will by faith choose to do “good works”, but those ‘good works’ are “not of [our]selves, rather “[they are] the gift of God… which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The truth cannot be stated any more clearly than this:

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

That is the only way possible to “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling”, all the while crying out:

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

As long as we cling to the damnable doctrine of man being given a will that is free from God, we will be denying that our faith is “not of [our]selves, [rather] it is the gift of God”, and we will remain in rebellion against the truth that our salvation is only “by the faith of the Son of God” and “not our yourselves”.

Gal 2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Gal 2:20  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.

This is exactly how Isaiah had already described this experience the Lord has given us. It is “an experience of evil”, and it is the Lord who “makes us to err from His ways” for the very purpose of giving us “liberty… to the sword… famine… [and] freedom from righteousness” so He can then humble us:

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. (CLV)

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.

Any time we refuse to believe and obey the Lord and go our own self-righteous way and deny that it is He who works “both [what we] will and [what we] do” (Php 2:12-13), the Lord proclaims:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jer 2:20  For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

Our own wickedness corrects us because the Lord “made us to err from [His] ways… to humble us”, and when we turn back again to Him, we do so only because He works that also “after the counsel of His own will”, not ours. What He is telling us is that when He says, “All things” what He means by that is “all things”.

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:

We say we will obey the Lord and we agree to His commandment to give His word, our Hebrew servant, freedom to help us to overcome our sinful, self-righteous nature, then by His design, we turn and twist the Lord’s words to make His Words cover the idols of our hearts. It is all “after the counsel of His own will”, nevertheless He also requires that we “give an accounting” of “His workmanship” in us:

Luk 16:2  And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

This is how our own wickedness and backsliding corrects and reproves us:

Jer 34:18  And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,
Jer 34:19  The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;

Cutting the calf in half and passing between the two parts of the calf, is witnessing to the fact that we have each participated in the sacrificing of our Lord for our sins. Yet we witness against ourselves that we will not, of ourselves, turn away from our sins and our iniquities, and turn again to Him and obey His Words.

Jer 34:20  I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.
Jer 34:21  And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.

The army of the king of Babylon going up from besieging us and then us immediately reinstituting the slavery of our Hebrew servant, demonstrates that passing between the two parts of the calf means nothing to us at first. Our initial repentance is not a mature repentance. It is a carnal repentance because of the Lord bring trials into our lives to besiege us for a season.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

As soon as the Lord gives us a reprieve from those trials, we immediately forget that we witnessed against ourselves, and we go right back to our old ways without skipping a beat.

Jer 34:22  Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

The Chaldeans, also known as Babylonians, had “gone up from you” because the Lord had sent Pharaoh to come up against the Chaldeans and had distracted them and caused them to lift the siege of Jerusalem for a short time:

Jer 37:5  Then Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
Jer 37:6  Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 37:7  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
Jer 37:8  And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
Jer 37:9  Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.
Jer 37:10  For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

The message for us, if the Lord has given us to “know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”, is that we must go into Babylon and be chastened for our self-righteous iniquities. We must acknowledge that we have committed iniquity in going back on our word to set at liberty our Hebrew slave the moment the Lord showed His mercy and gave us a reprieve from our trials. The Lord forgave Judah and Jerusalem, and they immediately went out and grabbed their fellow Hebrews by the throat and demanded immediate payment. It is the same spirit against which the Lord Himself admonishes us in the parable of the servant who was forgiven an unpayable debt, only to demand immediate payment of a much smaller debt from a fellow servant.

Mat 18:23  Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Mat 18:25  But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Mat 18:26  The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Mat 18:28  But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
Mat 18:29  And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:30  And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Mat 18:31  So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Mat 18:32  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mat 18:34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Mat 18:35  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Only after we acknowledge our self-righteous trespasses against our Lord while in Babylon will we be dragged out of her:

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

While we are refusing to acknowledge our iniquity we just naturally look to this world, to Egypt, to deliver us from our God-ordained chastening which we endure while we are in the bondage of Babylon. Isaiah prophesied of this inevitable part of our “experience of evil” (Ecc 1:13):

Isa 30:1  Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
Isa 30:2  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Isa 30:3  Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

For over seven decades, from the time of Isaiah to the time of Jeremiah and the dissolution of the kingdom of Judah, the Kings of Judah made alliances with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, as they sought protection from the Assyrians of Nineveh and later, in the time of Jeremiah, the same people were dominated by Babylon.

The lesson for us is to depend only on the Lord and not on our own understanding and our own worldly strength.

Pro 3:1  My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Pro 3:2  For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Pro 3:3  Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

If we have “favor with God and with man” we will never need to fear the king of Egypt or the king of Babylon. The Lord will give us favor with our very enemies:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Pro 16:5  Every one that is proud in heart [self-righteous] is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Pro 16:6  By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

What that means inwardly is that all the energy we wasted in our self-righteous sinful ways will now be channeled into the Lord’s service and against our old man.

As a type of this process of making our enemies to live at peace with us, the Lord made the king of Babylon aware of the prophecies of Jeremiah, and the king of Babylon was solicitous of Jeremiah when Jerusalem was taken:

Jer 40:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.
Jer 40:2  And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.
Jer 40:3  Now the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he hath said: because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.
Jer 40:4  And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.
Jer 40:5  Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.

Jeremiah had not gone back on his word just because the Chaldeans had lifted the siege. Jeremiah had no Hebrew servants because he typifies those who love God and keep His commandments:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If we keep the Lord’s commandments and we have a Hebrew servant, then we will give that servant His liberty, and we will “change not“, even when we come to see how much we had depended upon our enslaved Hebrew servant… our twisting of the word to fit it around our heart’s idols.

Psa 15:4  In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

Being rooted deeply in Christ is required to keep us from going back to our own vomit and to our own wallow in the mire of all the false doctrines of the churches of this world. “Come out of her My people” is not a popular doctrine, and it is given to very few to endure the “persecution…because of the Word.”

Mat 13:18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root [Christ, (Isa 11:10 and Rom 15:12)] in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Mat 13:23  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Jeremiah typifies and foreshadows those who are deeply rooted in Christ. He typifies the Lord’s elect who are faithful to His Words even as those words proclaim that we must all be carried away as captives to Babylon where some few will be granted to “acknowledge [their] iniquities” (Jer 3:13) and be dragged out of Babylon to return to the Lord and become rulers over the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

“The earth [must be] destroyed”, because “the earth” symbolizes our corruptible clay vessel which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and which the Lord destroys “at His coming”:

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

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:

If the Lord destroys our “man of sin” in “this present time” and we are given to “endure to the end (Mat 10:22), then we will be given the greatest of all blessings, the blessing which we have now only in “earnest”:

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

This is “the redemption of the purchased possession”:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

What we are learning is that when Christ said:

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, [“whosoever readeth” (vs 15)] when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation [Reading these words] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. [“All these things” includes “Till the seven plagues… were fulfilled” (Rev 15:8)]
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

We are learning that “My words” includes this prophecy of Jeremiah and all the prophets and all of scripture, which is all “given by inspiration of the holy spirit…” and is applicable to the Lord’s elect in every generation since Christ.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) [that these words are spiritual and are being fulfilled in the lives of the Lord’s elect of each and every generation]

2Ti 3:16  All scripture [Old Testament prophets included] is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

In conclusion, the Lord uses our trials to demonstrate to each of us just how shallow our repentance is to begin with. We say we will be obedient to Him, and we even set our Hebrew slaves free. The Lord reveals to us that we are quick to make liars of ourselves when the going gets tough. If the Lord has given us to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in this present time, then He comes into us and performs what He has appointed for us:

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.

We are all “His workmanship, created…unto good works…”

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We are required to endure afflictions in this present time, but even in those afflictions we are being cured and made whole spiritually.

Jer 33:6  Behold, I will bring it [vs 4: “this city”, Jerusalem] 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.

Gospels In Harmony – The Stone the Builder Rejected

Mat 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12, Luke 20:9-18

[Study Aired June 15, 2021]

Mar 12:1a And he began to speak unto them by parables.Mat 21:33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, Mar 12:1b for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
Mat 21:34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, Mar 12:2 he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.
Mar 12:3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
Mar 12:4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
Mar 12:5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.
Luk 20:13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
Luk 20:14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.
Mat 21:39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
Mar 12:9a What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? 
Mat 21:41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Luk 20:16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.
Mat 21:42a Jesus saith unto them, Luk 20:17a What is this then that is written, Mat 21:42b Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Mat 21:45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
Mar 12:12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.

In this study Christ continues with another parable. These parables from our last few studies have a pattern to them. They are accusing the chief priests and the Pharisees of wrongdoing. Our last parable was about the two sons; one refusing to work the vineyard and then repenting, and the other agreeing to work and then not going to work it. As we know, these parables are telling us what is going on in our heavens, and each parable gives us more detail about the battle within the heavens of each of us.

The main details of this parable answer the following questions: Who is the stone, who seeks to kill him, and what is their judgment?

Psa 118:21-23 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

The stone is the head of the corner. Now who is the head of the corner?

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

Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

The above verses tell us that Christ is the “head of the corner stone”. They also tell us that the “corner stone” is the church. Continuing with our next question, “Who seeks to kill him?”

Mat 21:45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

Mar 12:12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.

Remember, this is anyone who thinks they are in control of and rule themselves.

Isa 28:14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

These people are the rulers of the religions of the world which we are still coming out from under while we are in the world. We must be reminded of this in order not to be deceived.

2Th 2:1-4 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The son of perdition is the son of our last parable who lied about going to work in the vineyard. In this parable the husbandmen are the “sons of perdition” which the chief priests and Pharisees perceived Christ was accusing them of being. The Lord tells them just as he did in the last parable that they will not be entering into the kingdom first but will be instead judged. Not that they are the only group judged. They don’t even believe they will be judged. Christ on the other hand has a different plan.

Jer 51:23-26 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD. Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.

We are all guilty of killing Christ and His body. Christ is the truth, and denying the truth is the same as putting Christ to death. Here is the parable again, and notice that the householder is the Father, and Christ is the son, and the servants are Christ’s body.

Mar 12:1a And he began to speak unto them by parables.Mat 21:33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, Mar 12:1b for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:

Mat 21:34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, Mar 12:2 he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.

Mar 12:3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
Mar 12:4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.

Mar 12:5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.

Luk 20:13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
Luk 20:14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.

Mat 21:39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

As said above, Christ is the truth, and we are His Christ.

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.

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

Our last question is, “What is the judgment of those who seek to kill Christ?”

Mat 21:41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

Luk 20:16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

Mat 21:42a Jesus saith unto them, Luk 20:17a What is this then that is written, Mat 21:42b Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Judgment is the destruction of the lies within us by being broken and ground to powder. We all must endure this judgment because we all have sought to kill Christ and His Christs by denying the truth. There is a reason why we kill Christ.

Joh 16:4-15 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Once the Comforter is sent to us, our lives begin to change. The elect, the publicans and harlots, begin this change now and the rest especially the chief priests and Pharisees are changed later. Judgment is now on the house of God, and we are become one with Christ and his Father.

1Pe 4:12-19 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 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. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

If we are give to endure this fiery trial, we will receive great rewards. Here is how we obtain this reward.

Eph 4:1-32 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 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: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 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. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 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: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Mat 21:20-22, Mar 11:20-26

[Study Aired May 4, 2021]

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

In today’s study we will attempt to answer these questions: What is faith? Where does faith come from? Who receives faith? What is the purpose of faith? How does our faith become stronger? What is forgiveness, and finally how do we obtain forgiveness?

Here are the answers to our questions about faith.

Heb 11:1-4 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

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

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

Eph 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Rom 5:1-6 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

2Th 1:11-12 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1Ti 1:12-14 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

1Jn 5:1-4 (BBE) Everyone who has faith that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God: and everyone who has love for the Father has love for his child. In this way, we are certain that we have love for the children of God, when we have love for God and keep his laws. For loving God is keeping his laws: and his laws are not hard. Anything which comes from God is able to overcome the world: and the power by which we have overcome the world is our faith.

What is faith? 

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Where does faith come from? 

Faith is a gift of God.

Who receives faith? 

Those that believe and diligently seek him.

What is the purpose of faith?

That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you. Without faith it is impossible to please him, and we cannot overcome the world without faith.

How does our faith become stronger?

Jas 1:2-6 (BBE) Let it be all joy to you, my brothers, when you undergo tests of every sort; Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope; But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing nothing. But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him. Let him make his request in faith, doubting nothing; for he who has doubt in his heart is like the waves of the sea, which are troubled by the driving of the wind. 

Heb 5:11-6:6 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 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. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Here again are the verses of our study pertaining to faith.

Mar 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

Mat 21:21a Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, Mar 11:23b and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Mat 21:21b ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Christ says “what things soever you desire” will be given to you if you have faith and have no doubt that you will receive the desire of your heart.

What do we desire being the sons of God, the elect, the new man, a child of God?

Jas 1:19-27 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Those that receive the gift of faith are also given the desire to ask for what is proper in the sight of God. Those with faith seek diligently the things of the kingdom of God and not the desires of this world. Our faith will be tested in order to receive more faith until the end of our age so that, in the ages to come we can be faithful kings and priests of our Lord and God and receive the crown of glory and life replacing our crown of pride.

2Ti 2:1-13 (BBE) So then, my child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. And the things which I have said to you before a number of witnesses, give to those of the faith, so that they may be teachers of others. Be ready to do without the comforts of life, as one of the army of Christ Jesus. A fighting man, when he is with the army, keeps himself free from the business of this life so that he may be pleasing to him who has taken him into his army. And if a man takes part in a competition he does not get the crown if he has not kept the rules. It is right for the worker in the fields to be the first to take of the fruit. Give thought to what I say; for the Lord will give you wisdom in all things. Keep in mind Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, who came back from the dead, as my good news gives witness: In which I put up with the hardest conditions, even prison chains, like one who has done a crime; but the word of God is not in chains. But I undergo all things for the saints, so that they may have salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a true saying: If we undergo death with him, then will we be living with him: If we go on to the end, then we will be ruling with him: if we say we have no knowledge of him, then he will say he has no knowledge of us: If we are without faith, still he keeps faith, for he will never be untrue to himself.

Rev 5:9-10 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; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Isa 28:3-6 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

Isa 62:1-3 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

Rev 2:8-11 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 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. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Our next verses speak of forgiveness.

Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

While we are praying for whatsoever we desire, we are commanded to forgive if we have anything against another. If we do not do this, we shall not receive forgiveness of our Father.

What is forgiveness?

Let’s answer this by looking at what forgiveness is not.

If we condone the evil that is done by us or others.

Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

If we pretend evil has not taken place.

1Sa 15:13-15 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Forgiveness is not pardoning with no valid basis.

Pro 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Forgiveness is recognizing that we are all going to stumble and accepting that God is working this out in everyone. Once the offender has repented of the issue, then let it go and move forward because there are more offenses to be dealt with.

Pro 14:30-31(BBE) A quiet mind is the life of the body, but envy is a disease in the bones. He who is hard on the poor puts shame on his Maker; but he who has mercy on those who are in need gives him honour.

Mat 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Jas 3:2 (BBE) For we all go wrong in a number of things. If a man never makes a slip in his talk, then he is a complete man and able to keep all his body in control.

Finally, how do we obtain forgiveness?

Col 3:1-17 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

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. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Mat 6:5-15 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 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. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

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Isa 58:9-14 You Shall Raise Up the Foundations of Many Generations

[Study Aired April 26, 2020]

Isa 58:9  Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Isa 58:10  And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
Isa 58:11  And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isa 58:12  And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isa 58:13  If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14  Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

This is how our last study ended:

Isa 58:4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

In this study we will learn what the benefits are which we accrue by keeping the fast the Lord has chosen.

Last week we were told just how carnal we are and how we all just naturally want to be recognized for denying ourselves. We want both God and men to acknowledge all our good works. That is the ‘fast’ we have chosen. What the Lord is doing, with the few He is calling in this age, is revealing to us this naturally “marred”, self-righteous, self-centered nature He has given to all men, and all the evil and the wrath of God which our natural composition brings upon us.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

His word heals us by opening our spiritual eyes to see the deadly sick disease of our naturally rebellious and carnal mind:

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.

This week we will be informed and encouraged to know and appreciate the blessings which accompany the healing hand of the Lord in the life of our new man, whose health comes to us at the expense of the daily dying of our old man as John the Baptist revealed to us:

Joh 3:29  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom [our dying old man], which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

These words of John the Baptist are the New Testament fulfillment of Esau embracing Jacob when Jacob returned to Canaan from Haran:

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

When the appointed, predestined time comes to us, our old man actually accepts his doomed fate with open arms, knowing that if he loses his life he will find it and that if he is granted to “die daily [and be] crucified with Christ” daily the blessings of our study today will come upon his “new man”:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

If we “follow [Christ]” then we will “do the things [He] says to do” (Luk 6:46). This is what the Lord commanded us to do in our last study:

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. [Look within]
Isa 58:2  Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Isa 58:3  Wherefore [Why] have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore [why] have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Isa 58:4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

The ‘fast’ of our old man is done only to please himself and “exact all of his pleasures” by laying a heavy burden on our fellow servant, while self-righteously forgetting the much worse burden which was lifted from our own shoulders (Mat 18:21-35).

The “fast [the Lord] has chosen [by contrast, is] to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? [It is] to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”

When the Lord works His miracle of bringing us to the point that we “hide not ourselves from our own flesh”, from the needs of our brothers and sisters, then we are “entering into His rest… [our] desired haven” where we are now walking comfortably with Christ in the fires of life and “having no hurt”:

Dan 3:23  And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:24  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

Which brings us to our first verse:

Isa 58:9  Then [when we keep the fast the Lord has chosen, and enter into His rest] shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

“The yoke… in [our] midst” is our false doctrines and idols of our hearts (Eze 14:1-9). When we die to those “idols of [our] hearts”, we will never again put a ‘yoke’ or a “heavy burden” upon either ourselves or our brothers and sisters. We will never again see a brother in need and “hide ourselves from” that brother who is ‘afflicted of the Lord’:

Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Those who do not understand who we are in Christ will protest that those verses refer to Christ and not to us. In doing so they reveal how little they identify with Him. These are His inspired words as to who we are in Him:

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

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.

As we saw in our last study, when the servant with the insurmountable debt cried out to his lord for mercy, that mercy was abundantly provided, and his debt was completely forgiven:

Mat 18:23  Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Mat 18:25  But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Mat 18:26  The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

That poor indebted soul typifies each of us when we are brought to see the truth of our shameful, sinful condition. When we are “made to” face the extent of our indebtedness, we are also made to cry out for mercy and relief from the burden the Lord has placed upon us. Like that ungrateful servant, we all forget the size of the debt we were forgiven, and we expect those around us to repent of their sins and ‘pay up’ immediately. We have no patience with their weaknesses and faults and demand “with the fist of wickedness” that they pay their debt to us right this moment. Drop every sin this very moment is what we expect of others. We all do it, and we fight our flesh daily to keep from doing so. It is as natural as breathing to see the faults of our brother or sister while forgetting the huge debt we have been forgiven.

However, as we become more “as He is” day by day, and we become comfortable in the fire of these words, we become far more patient with our poor struggling brothers and sisters:

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

Matthew 6:14 is the message of our next verses:

Isa 58:10  And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
Isa 58:11  And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

There is truth in the words of the prosperity ministers who tell us “You cannot out give God”. What our old man fails to realize is that God knows and deals with our hearts and minds which are an open door of bright light to Him, even when our motives are nothing more than self-centered darkness. As repulsive as this Truth is to our rebellious flesh, it is still the fact of this matter:

Psa 94:11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

How can the Lord possibly “know the [very] thoughts of man”? He makes that very clear to all who are given to ‘see with their eyes and hear with their ears’ that:

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

If those verses are true, then whether our thoughts really are toward the Lord or even if our thoughts are against Him and His ways, it really is true that ‘it is not of him that wills… but of God who shows mercy… or hardens’:

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

The fact is that the Lord first hardens the hearts of each of us to give Himself the occasion He has ordained to destroy our old man and through that destruction to raise up from the dead our new man.

Jdg 14:4  But his [Samson’s] father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines [our flesh… our old man]: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel [over us].

When that predestined time arrives, and we are given dominion over our flesh, this is the blessedness of that day:

Isa 58:12  And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isa 58:13  If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14  Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

These words, “You shall raise up the foundations of many generations” are the very foundation for all the promises of becoming judges and rulers which are given to us by our Lord Himself and by His prophets and His apostles.

When something is repeated twice in scripture, the point being made is being emphasized because it is a pressing matter:

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.

Pharaoh was to immediately begin to prepare for the coming famine by storing up grain in the seven plentiful years of harvest. If he would do so, then Egypt would be saved from the impending disaster of seven continous years of drought.

This story is the positive application of the word ‘Egypt’ which is normally associated with this world and Babylon:

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

In this story, Egypt symbolizes the Gentiles to whom the Lord and gospel are given after being rejected by the Lord’s physical ‘chosen people’, typified by Joseph’s ten brothers who sold him into Egypt. Those who are called physical Jews are no longer Jews at all in any spiritual sense:

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

The story of Joseph and his brothers is in the book of Genesis and is foundational to all the rest of scripture. Larry Groenewald’s series of studies entitled Foundational Studies in Genesis are the best commentary on the book of Genesis which has ever been written. Check it out when the Lord drags you to need that foundation for His Word.

Egypt’s salvation in this story comes before the salvation of Joseph’s brothers. It is Egypt which has the life-saving grain to give to Joseph’s brothers, and it is Joseph’s brothers who typify the so-called Christians who for thousands of years have called Christ “Lord, Lord [but] cannot hear [His] word” (Luk 6:46 and Joh 8:43).

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

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

The physical Jews and the physical Christians who call Christ “Lord, Lord” but do not do the things He says, are all typified in this story by Joseph’s ten brothers who put him in a pit, typifying the fact he is to them a dead man “in the streets of [their] great city”:

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

They sold him into Egypt typifying the living sacrifice Christ was and which we are (Rom 12:1). By not listening carefully and diligently doing the things Christ tells us to do, we have all at our own appointed time, stumbled at the stumbling block and “cannot hear [His] word”. Until the appointed time for each of us to become obedient to the death of the cross, we live in darkness and under the Lord’s wrath.

Ecc 11:8  But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

Act 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

For most people, the time “to turn from darkness to light” is the great white-throne judgment. The promise “they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in” is being made at this time only to those who are given to hear and do the words of our Lord. His words are our “foundations”, and only if we know Him and His doctrine will we be capable of “raising up the foundations of many generations” by judging with righteous judgment all men of all time:

Psa 149:2  Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
Psa 149:3  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
Psa 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Psa 149:5  Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Psa 149:6  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
Psa 149:7  To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
Psa 149:8  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
Psa 149:9  To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

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?

This promise is to us: “If [we] turn away [our] foot from the sabbath, from doing [our] pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing [our] own ways, nor finding [our] own pleasure, nor speaking [our] own words”:

We have seen what is “the fast the Lord has chosen”. Now let’s learn was is our “sabbath”:

Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

What does it mean that “God did rest the seventh day from all His works”? Lo and behold, it means the same thing as “the fast I have chosen”:

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

Are not these words the very meaning of “ceasing from our own works”:

Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

If the Lord so blesses us to enter into His sabbath… if we are given to fast the fast He has chosen, freely giving to and ministering to ever need we are given to supply, and if we are granted to remain faithful to the end of this present evil age, then many “great and precious promises” are ours to cling to with our lives and to claim for our own:

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.

Those who are given to “raise up the foundations of many generations” are the same as those who “turn many to righteousness”:

Dan 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Dan 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

This is clearly speaking of the time of the resurrection, which clearly had not come in Daniel’s day. That time is now “in earnest” for those who are “buried with Christ [and are even now] raised up with Him in newness of life”:

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Now let’s look at what the Lord Himself has promised to those who forsake all to follow Him:

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.
Mat 19:30  But many that are first shall be last; and the last [“few”] shall be first.

Mat 22:14  For many are called [first], but few are chosen [last].

Continuing with the Lord’s “many great and precious promises” by which we “are made partakers of the divine nature”:

Mat 25:19  After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
Mat 25:20  And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
Mat 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:22  He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
Mat 25:23  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

However, there is much more:

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

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

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

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

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28  And I will give him the morning star. [Christ (Rev 22:16)]

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Why are we told “he shall go no more out”? The answer is that the Lord ‘knows all things and who it was that should betray Him’:

Joh 6:64  But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

There are even more “great and precious promises”:

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

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.
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.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The thousand-year reign is just the beginning of the kingdom of God. The salvation of all, who were not kings and priests during that thousand-year reign, is yet to be accomplished, and it will be you and me who will be those to judge those in that great white throne judgment.

How do I know that our hegemony will carry over into the lake of fire/second death? We know it is so because the scriptures tell us that it is “through [our] mercy”, that the Lord’s enemies will be shown mercy:

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

The judgment which is now on the house of God will, at the great white throne judgment, be accomplished through the mercy of the kings and priests who have been judged in this age, and who will have spent a thousand years preparing to be the kings and priests and judges of all those who “the sea… and hell and the grave” will, at the appointed time, “give up” to the great white throne judgment, which is also called “the lake of fire”:

Joh 5:28  Don’t be surprised at what I’ve just said. A time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  and they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done good will come back to life and live. But those who have done evil will come back to life and will be judged. (GW)

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.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

This is what happens at the great white throne judgment:

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.

Also, this is who will be doing the judging in the great white throne judgment… the lake of fire/second death:

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;

“And they were judged every man according to their works” by those who were raised up to life a thousand years earlier. “They were judged every man according to his works” by those whose names were in the book of life. The book of life contains the names of the judges of the great white throne judgment.

Our “many great and precious promises” continue:

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.

Luk 22:30  That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

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

Cain, Joseph’s brothers and all who shed the blood of all the prophets from Abel to the first resurrection, as well as all those who will live through the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ will come to know the judgment which is now on the house of God. All who have ever lived have contributed to the Lord’s stripes and have accused Him of taking them out into the wilderness to kill them. Having done so, as the Lord Himself tells us, they have also accused us:

Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

What is the Lord’s desire concerning those who hate Him and His Christ? What was His prayer to His Father while He was in the process of being crucified?

Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

That prayer is being answered, and it will be answered “through your mercy”. All the rest of mankind who were not given a part in that “blessed and holy first resurrection” are yet to be reconciled to our heavenly Father, and it is all to be done “through your mercy”.

Let’s read those two verses again, and this time we will read it with the next two verses:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

“Mercy upon all” is the Lord’s goal, and what He desires even that He does:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

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

Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Isa 59:3  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
Isa 59:4  None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Isa 59:5  They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Isa 59:6  Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
Isa 59:7  Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.