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“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility” Part 3 (Pro 15:25-33)

(Aired on July 10, 2025)

Pro 15:25  The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.
Pro 15:26  The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.
Pro 15:27  He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.
Pro 15:28  The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.
Pro 15:29  The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Pro 15:30  The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.
Pro 15:31  The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.
Pro 15:32  He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
Pro 15:33  The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

This is the last section of Proverbs 15 and it’s interesting to note that verse 25 and verse 33 have a parallel message that connects to the overall thread of this chapter which is that God is going to “destroy the house of the proud” and that destruction is something that must happen within each of the elect’s life and will be brought about by our being given to have “the fear of the LORD”.

Our weak corruptible flesh provides the means for God to give us an experience of evil (Pro 16:4) that will humble all (Ecc 1:13) of God’s children in this life. It’s painful and humbling, “before honour is humility”, when God shows us the beasts that we are (Ecc 3:18) but it is the greatest blessing to be given to recognize the beast who gets his power from the dragon (Rev 13:4), and see that man of perdition being destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our temple (2Th 2:3-5), where the mind of our Father and Christ are being formed within us (1Co 2:16, 1Jn 4:17, Joh 14:9, Joh 14:20).

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

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.

Pro 15:25  The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.

We have these two homes within us, one that is built on sand and the other that is built on Jesus Christ (Mat 7:24-27).

Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

It is through the binding on earth and the loosing of things on earth within us that this first old temple is destroyed, and as that process of tearing down and binding of old things on earth is being accomplished by God’s grace, there is increase happening in our heaven as the new creation is revealed by things that are bound in heaven and loosed in heaven. This is what it means to have our names written in heaven, and it is being written. It is ongoing and Christ is the author and finisher of this process of faith (Mat 16:18-19, Luk 10:17-20).

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Luk 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

The pride of life builds the first home without any acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty, or at the very least with a corrupt and deceived mind that builds its own spiritual house upon our own works and self-determination which is the first religious house built on sand, the first religious beast that speaks like a lamb but has the horns, or power which horns represent given to the beast from the devil (Rev 13:11, Rev 13:2).

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

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

The “border of the widow” is established by the tearing down of the first house that comes about by our most humiliating and crushing moments in our life where we are brought low and dragged to Christ to touch the border of His garment where the widow within us is healed from her issue of blood (Mat 9:20-22). The next story that comes right after this miraculous healing of the widow with the issue of blood is the resurrection of the twelve year old girl, in these verses (Mar 5:22-43).

Mat 9:20  And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
Mat 9:21  For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
Mat 9:22  But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. (Joh 6:28-29) And the woman was made whole from that hour.

Mar 5:22  And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
Mar 5:23  And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.
Mar 5:24  And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
Mar 5:25  And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
Mar 5:26  And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
Mar 5:27  When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
Mar 5:28  For she said, If I may touch but his clothes,(Rev 19:8) I shall be whole.
Mar 5:29  And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
Mar 5:30  And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? (Joh 6:44)
Mar 5:31  And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Mar 5:32  And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
Mar 5:33  But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
Mar 5:34  And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Mar 5:35  While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?
Mar 5:36  As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. (Joh 6:28-29)
Mar 5:37  And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.

(three disciples typifying God’s highly favoured bride, the elect who are given to see this process of healing through judgment that is happening to the elect today, and would soon begin in the lives of these three disciples on Pentecost once the spirit of God was given)

Mar 5:38  And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
Mar 5:39  And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
Mar 5:40  And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.
Mar 5:41  And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
Mar 5:42  And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years.

[same situation, the dream is one “an issue of blood twelve years”. A new foundation is being discussed in both of these stories, that new foundation being Christ who brings spiritual healing from death, from the issue of Adamic blood that needs to be replaced with the precious blood of Christ (1Pe 1:19)]

…And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
Mar 5:43  And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

These stories reveal to us the point of this first proverb we are looking at, that God will destroy the house of the proud within us that laughs Christ to scorn saying he is not able to heal this child, ‘she is dead’, when in fact ‘she only sleepeth’ as Christ said, “sleep” being a metaphor for death, revealing as well the unbelief of the disciples who are only seeing the physical events, the thronging of the crowds, the physical interaction of knowing Christ after the flesh and not the hidden spiritual work of healing our Adamic-blood nature typified by the healing of this woman with an issue of blood for twelve years as well as raising the young damsel shortly after this first miracle had occurred.

Surely, when we are given to believe that God can raise us from the dead, we become that child of God raised from death (Eph 2:6), we become that woman who has been healed from an issue of blood, and our new house begins to be built by the author and finisher of our faith Jesus Christ (the issue of blood for God’s elect described in Heb 12:2-6, Psa 127:1).

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

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. (Heb 12:4)

Pro 15:26  The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.

Wicked thoughts come from the earth, and heavenly thoughts that are controlled by the earth are what come out of the mouth of the beast that speaks as a lamb but has the horns of a dragon (Rev 13:11-12).

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

Pleasant words are pure words, meaning the words of God that have been tried and tested and purified seven times in a vessel of clay (Pro 12:6-8)

Pro 12:5  The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
Pro 12:6  The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
Pro 12:7  The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.

Pro 15:27  He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth giftsH4979=gift or bribe shall live.

God is not a liar as men are, and so if He says He’s going to take care of us, He will (Num 29:13-14). This is the anchor of our soul that God cannot lie, and if we are greedy  for gain we are going to trouble our own house, and the house of God; and not be heeding this admonition (1Ti 6:17-19), possibly because we don’t have the faith to believe that God can and will provide exactly what we need both physically and spiritually day by day.

Num 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Num 23:20  Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.

1Ti 6:17  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
1Ti 6:18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
1Ti 6:19  Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Conversely if we ‘hate gifts’, meaning we are not living to gain more and more in this life, either by bribe or covetousness (Luk 12:15, Rev 11:10), believing that through Christ our lives can give the very best widow’s mite as we humble ourselves under His mighty hand.

If we have a lot we are to ‘have pity’ in God’s house to help those who have less (Pro 19:17, Luk 21:1-4). If we are greedy and hold onto that which is the gift that is needed by others, we will be guilty of doing harm to our own body, troubling our own house, the body of Christ”, He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house”. We also learn to be content whether we have a little or a lot, being blessed to experience the strength of the one body that operates together for the benefit of each other, both physically and spiritually (Php 4:11-13).

Pro 19:17  He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; (Mat 25:40) and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Luk 21:4  For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

Pro 15:28  The heart of the righteous studiethH1897=meditate to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.

Meditating on the Truth before speaking or ‘studying to show yourself a workman approved’ is what Christ is teaching us to do, resulting in God opening up the heavens of our minds by simply being diligent in our search every day of His word (Act 17:11, 2Ti 2:15-16).

Act 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

If we don’t focus on our Father and Christ and the words of life He has given us, it will be evidenced by “the mouth of the wicked” that “poureth out evil things”. That is the mouth within us that must be silenced and destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our lives (2Th 2:8-10).

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

Pro 15:29  The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

When we were seduced by our former conversation, we had no ears or eyes to hear and see the things of the Lord, and that was when “The LORD is far from the wicked”, not that he is far away, but only that we do not yet have eyes and ears to perceive His presence (Act 17:27-28, 2Ki 6:16-17).

Act 17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

2Ki 6:16  And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
2Ki 6:17  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Pro 15:30  The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.

The good report is the true gospel of Jesus Christ that when seen and understood rejoiceth the heart and makes the bones fat. We are the flesh and bones of Christ’s body (Eph 5:30) and God has given us to each other as a many membered body that supplies in love what each joint supplies, “a good report that maketh the bones fat H1878 [H8762=Piel]. “ (Heb 10:25, 1Co 14:26).

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

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

1Co 14:26  How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

“fat” H1878 dâshên BDB Definition:
1) to be fat, grow fat, become fat, become prosperous, anoint
1a) (Qal) of prosperity (figuratively)
     1b) (Piel)
            1b1) to make fat, anoint
            1b2) to find fat (of offering – acceptable)
            1b3) to take away ashes (from altar)
1c) (Pual) to be made fat
1d) (Hothpael) to fatten oneself (of Jehovah’s sword)

Pro 15:31  The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

This verse takes us back to the verses that talk about the safety that is in the multitude of counsellors (Pro 11:14, Pro 15:22, Pro 24:6). If we are granted to hear the reproof of life that will come from God’s word and not despise his chastening in this life, we will be blessed to “abideth among the wise”.  Those who are wise have the mind of Christ (1Co 2:16) and God’s spirit dwelling within them (Rom 8:9, Col 1:27), leading them into all truth (Joh 16:13, Rom 8:14-16).

Pro 15:32  He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

In the natural that reveals the spiritual no man ever hated his own flesh or despised his own soul, unless that person has been bound by evil spirits (Mar 5:5). Christ comes into our lives to bind those spirits and cast them out of us so we become the one who “heareth reproof getteth understanding”.

Mar 5:5  And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
Mar 5:6  But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
Mar 5:7  And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
Mar 5:8  For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

What hope and great assurance God has given us in His promises that tell us there is no spirit, nothing in the past or present or future, that can separate us from his love because Christ in us is higher than all those powers and principalities that are within the first house, which He alone can sweep clean, and then when seven spirits worse come back, if God is working with us in this age He will pour out upon that house the seven last plagues that will do away with that entire legion of evil spirits. God’s elect are the first to overcome all these powers and principalities for the sake of the rest of humanity who will have in time all these spirits exercised from their heavens in the lake of fire.

Pro 15:33  The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humilityH603 = humility, meekness.

If we are called and chosen and remain faithful to the end then we will be given dominion over every beast of the field within, and it will be a humbling experience, “before honour is humility”, to see all those spirits cast into the sea, but the glorious conclusion of this evil experience that will humble us is that we will be honoured with the greatest honour ever bestowed on anyone on this earth. Christ has taught us the way to obtain this reward through “the fear of the LORD” (Luk 12:5-9) which will bring  the meek to receive “the instruction of wisdom”.

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Luk 12:6  Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
Luk 12:7  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Luk 12:8  Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
Luk 12:9  But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

Psa 37:11  But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

1Pe 3:4  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

]]> Study of the Book of Kings – 2Ki 22:1-20  “Because thine heart was tender,  and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD” https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/study-of-the-book-of-kings-2ki-221-20-because-thine-heart-was-tender-and-thou-hast-humbled-thyself-before-the-lord/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-of-the-book-of-kings-2ki-221-20-because-thine-heart-was-tender-and-thou-hast-humbled-thyself-before-the-lord Thu, 06 Apr 2023 22:36:35 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=27441 2Ki 22:1-20  “Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD”
[study Aired April 6, 2023]

2Ki 22:1  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. 
2Ki 22:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 
2Ki 22:3  And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,
2Ki 22:4  Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: 
2Ki 22:5  And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,
2Ki 22:6  Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. 
2Ki 22:7  Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. 
2Ki 22:8  And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 
2Ki 22:9  And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. 
2Ki 22:10  And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 
2Ki 22:11  And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. 
2Ki 22:12  And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying, 
2Ki 22:13  Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. 
2Ki 22:14  So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her. 
2Ki 22:15  And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,
2Ki 22:16  Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: 
2Ki 22:17  Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. 
2Ki 22:18  But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard;
2Ki 22:19  Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. 
2Ki 22:20  Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

Josiah, like Hezekiah, is one of the few kings of Judah who typifies Christ and in this section of Kings we see how God’s judgments unfolded through this section of his reign that was going to set the affairs of the nation of Judah in order, especially in regard to “the oversight of the house of the LORD.”

That oversight is revealed to have been lacking, and Josiah is the introspective king who sets out to change all that so that through those judgments that are brought upon “the house of the LORD” order can be restored and the breaches repaired spoken of in (2Ki 22:5).

2Ki 22:5  and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and let them give it to the workmen that are in the house of Jehovah, to repair the breaches of the house,

There were physical issues in the distribution of the silver to the workers on the temple which symbolize an unrepentant [silver] body of Christ that was sick from the foot to the head (Isa 1:5-6), with no humble and contrite heart that is softened, tender and yielded to God’s will, as was revealed to be the case with king Josiah, “Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD.” Josiah typifies for God’s elect our hope of glory within (Col 1:27) who is working within each member of the body of Christ to create such an heart of humility and brokenness by which the works of God can manifest in the church (Isa 66:2).

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

Col 1:27  to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

Isa 66:2  For all these things hath my hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith Jehovah: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word.

Josiah sent “Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD” to “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house.” Josiah sent Shaphan to discover this point that there was much physical damage done that typifies the spiritual neglect during the reign of Manasseh and Amon and this was all about to change with Josiah in rule (2Ki 22:4-5).

This story of king Josiah is a shadow of Christ’s judgments that are now coming upon the years of corrupt and defiled leadership that came forth from these two kings Manasseh and Amon, and is written for our sakes to give us hope in how the Lord can and will search out the hidden places in our hearts and cleanse us from all our sins and all our iniquities (Isa 28:7, Isa 28:17, Zec 4:10), which is impossible to detect without this chastening process being brought upon us by the LORD (Psa 19:12, Psa 90:8, Isa 53:4-6, Col 1:24, Col 1:27).

Psa 90:8  Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 

Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all [function of the scapegoat and the means by which that function is being accomplished (Col 1:24, Col 1:27, Php 2:12-13)].

Col 1:24  Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, [Eph 5:30] which is the church;

2Ki 22:1  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. 
2Ki 22:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 

King Josiah being eight years old reveals he is a type of the new man who has God’s holy spirit within him (Rom 8:9), and he is going to affect the nation that will be coming to learn what they were not doing right in regard to the “scroll of the law” that “Hilkiah the priest” finds in the temple. These events typify Christ (Josiah the type) stirring up the spirit of God within the temple of God that has been neglected (Heb 2:3, 2Ti 1:6). 

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

2Ti 1:6  Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. 
2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

The “scroll of the law” is a type of the law found in Galatians 6:2, which is the law of liberty spoken of in the book of James (Jas 1:25) and the means by which the Israel of God (Gal 6:16), the temple of God which we are, can be restored, a law being typified by the “scroll of the law” which will be discovered in the temple and implemented by King Josiah who typifies our Lord who is doing that restorative work within us as our hope of glory (Col 1:27).

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

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

What that “scroll of the law” can do for the nation of Israel if implemented is restore the breaches, and the means by which this is going to be accomplished is typified by the names that surround king Josiah’s life, his own name meaning “sustained of Jehovah” (Php 4:13, Rom 3:27) which is the only way this restorative work of the temple can be accomplished by those who are born of God and meant to be adorned as the bride of Christ (Jas 2:5, Deu 33:12, Rev 19:7) who will be raised up (Rev 12:5) in order to mature and become the  foundation of God’s government built upon Christ the chief corner stone (Mat 16:18, Psa 118:22). All those points are brought out with this one sentence:

2Ki 22:1 Josiah’s [sustained of Jehovah] “mother’s name was Jedidah [beloved], the daughter of Adaiah [Jah adorns] of Boscath [rising ground]”. PNB-kjv

Josiah’s life was typical of what Christ can do through those who are led of the holy spirit: “he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father” (Rom 8:14-15), and foreshadows those who will be granted to look into “the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein“. That continual pressing forward process, the “turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” part of our walk, is accompanied with tribulation that teaches us obedience as were given the faith and strength through Christ to endure to the end, God willing (Heb 5:8, Act 14:22, Mat 24:13). God’s elect are granted to walk in the light turning not aside to the right hand or to the left as the Lord cleanses us from all our iniquities (Psa 103:3-6) and show us what needs to be changed in our lives as we walk in the light, symbolized by “the scroll of the law“(Php 3:13-15, 1Jn 1:7, Psa 119:105).

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

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

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, [“press toward the mark for the prize“] as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin [“God shall reveal even this unto you“]. 

Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

2Ki 22:3  And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,
2Ki 22:4  Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: 

We grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2Pe 3:18) as we are judged by God (1Pe 4:17), and those judgments and instructions of the LORD keep us on the straight and narrow path that takes us from “death to life” (Pro 5:1-6, Pro 10:17, Joh 5:24, Mat 7:14, Mat 22:14).

Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

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

The eighteenth year (2×9 or 1+8 connected to judgment) is the year king Josiah sends “Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD” and he is the one who is sent to “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people.” 

ShaphanH8227 typifies the holy spirit which is sent to God’s elect, the treasure in earthen vessels (2Co 4:7), that is able to lead us into all truth (Joh 14:16). Shaphan goes to “HilkiahH2518 the high priest” who represents that portion of God’s spirit that God has been given us and that He is working in our lives as our high priest (Eph 2:8-10 , Col 1:27). 

Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

The work that is at hand in the lives of God’s elect is symbolized by this statement “that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people” and only made possible by God’s spirit working within us, symbolized by “Hilkiah the high priest” who is the one who will  “sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people”. Christ is the one who gives us the power to give an accounting of our sins in this age, which is what Hilkiah the high priest typifies for us today (Rom 2:4).

The “keepers of the door” who have gathered represents those who have watered and planted, but God must give the increase and that comes by way of the holy spirit that is sent and shed abroad in our hearts. The watering and planting is the Body’s part that we do with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God who is working in us both to will and to do, giving the increase that comes from Him alone (1Co 3:6, Php 2:12-13, Rom 5:5, Rom 2:4). 

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

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

Rom 5:5  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. 

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

2Ki 22:5  And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,
2Ki 22:6  Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.
2Ki 22:7  Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.

Those who have “the oversight of the house of the LORD” is speaking of the fellow labourers that we are in the Lord, “doers (Rom 2:13) of the work which is in the house of the LORD” who have been called to work together to “repair the house” each joint supplying in love what is needed “to repair the breaches of the house“.

Rom 2:13  (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

The body of Christ has many members but is one bread and one spirit (1Co 10:16-17). This multi-faceted body is typified by these different trades who were used to repair the physical temple of God, “Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.”

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? [Eph 5:30]
1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

To carry on with the analogy, once the gifts (the monies) are given to the builders of the house there was “no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully“, telling us that the work that God does in us through Christ is a faithful work that he will start and finish as he is the builder, the author and finisher of our faith (Php 1:6, Psa 127:1, Heb 12:2).

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:

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

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

2Ki 22:8  And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 
2Ki 22:9  And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. 

God’s wisdom is hidden from the world and foolish in the heart of the natural man, and it takes Christ in us as our hope of glory to find the truth: “I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD“(1Co 2:7, 1Co 3:19). This account of Hilkiah the high priest giving the book that he found to Shaphan the scribe to read is symbolic of how God’s spirit can lead us into all truth (Joh 14:16), and reveal things that have been hidden from us. 

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 

1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 

Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

The work of God is given to those “that have the oversight of the house of the LORD” and Shaphan brings this message to king Josiah who typifies Christ, “Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD”, which typifies for us how we acknowledge Christ who is typified by Josiah whose servants, “thy servants“, that represent God’s workmanship are given gifts to be used for the body, that is fitly framed by God (1Co 12:18) as we learn to operate in the measure of faith given (Eph 4:7) so we can demonstrate the right “oversight of the house of the LORD” and come to the same unity of faith to the glory of God (Eph 4:13).

1Co 12:18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

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

2Ki 22:10  And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 
2Ki 22:11  And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. 

It is after we read and understand the word of God that we learn how spiritually lacking we are, it is “when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes“, a symbol of the elect who read, hear and keep the sayings of the prophecy (Rev 1:3) that convict us so that we mourn and sigh and cry for our own wretchedness and nakedness that is now exposed: “he rent his clothes“. In this case Josiah represents Christ who rends his heart and not his garments as he weeps over Jerusalem (Joe 2:13) typified by Josiah who sees the need for judgement upon the nation of Judah who have not kept “the words of the book of the law“(Rev 1:3, Rev 3:17, Luk 19:41).

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 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:

Joe 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Luk 19:41  And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

2Ki 22:12  And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying, 
2Ki 22:13  Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

We must, at the command of the King, study to show ourselves approved which will benefit everyone in time (2Ti 2:15, 1Ti 4:16). This is what enquiring “of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found” will produce, in type and shadow. Until we do that God’s wrath continues to abide upon all unrighteousness of men “for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us” (Rom 1:18), and the reason being is that the natural carnal status of mankind leaves us in a state where “our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us”. It is only when we “enquire of the LORD” and seek him with all our hearts that we are promised that we will find him, which cannot happen unless we are dragged to His son (Jer 29:13, Joh 6:44).

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

1Ti 4:16  Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

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

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

2Ki 22:14  So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her. 
2Ki 22:15  And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,
2Ki 22:16  Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: 
2Ki 22:17  Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. 

Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asahiah went unto “Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe” and she in no uncertain terms explained the punishment that was going to come upon Judah: “Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched“. The number of men that went up to see the prophetess is significant as it is by God’s grace symbolized by the five men that the nation of Judah will learn of the Lord’s chastening grace for forsaking him.

Huldah is married to “Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her” creating imagery for us that tells us that she is a type of Jerusalem above the mother of us all whose lineage has someone in it who is a “keeper of the wardrobe” which symbolizes the words of God that are eternal and being preserved (Joh 6:68). Dwelling in “Jerusalem in the college” also reminds God’s elect today in type and shadow language where we dwell with knowledge which is described in this verse (1Ti 3:15).

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

2Ki 22:18  But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard;
2Ki 22:19  Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.
2Ki 22:20  Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

This is the key point being made in this study “Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD“.  God grants the king to have that humble and contrite heart just as he does His elect, who sigh and cry for the abominations that are now being revealed to us just as they were to King Josiah (Eze 9:4). This sighing and crying which occurs is true of both Christ and His body (1Jn 4:17), and that’s the main typical message of this chapter of Kings. When God is working with you, He is humbling your heart which is a miracle because the natural status of the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, not able to be known (Jer 17:9, Eze 36:26).

Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 

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

The fact that we are even inquiring of the LORD is a miracle as king Josiah demonstrates, and we have not because we ask not (Jas 4:2). Josiah not only asked, he asked with a humble and contrite heart and was heard “Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD“. So God made him to be a type of a vessel of honour who demonstrated that God was working with him because thou “hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD“. That act of sighing and crying before the LORD also can remind us of this verse that says for the elect sakes those days shall be shortened (Mat 24:22).

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

God will physically stop the destruction of this earth from unfolding because of the elect who will be the reason that God will not bring about utter destruction upon the nations of the world and then at the end of the thousand year reign the elect will fulfill the spiritual counter point of saving the world from physical destruction by saving all mankind in the lake of fire judgment (1Co 15:46, Rom 1:20, Oba 1:21).

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 

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: 

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

]]> The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 22:1-16  Was Not This to Know Me? https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-221-16-was-not-this-to-know-me/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-221-16-was-not-this-to-know-me Sat, 23 Oct 2021 04:14:48 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=24610 Jer 22:1-16  Was Not This to Know Me?
[Study Aired October 24, 2021]

Jer 22:1  Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
Jer 22:2  And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:
Jer 22:3  Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
Jer 22:4  For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
Jer 22:5  But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
Jer 22:6  For thus saith the LORD unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
Jer 22:7  And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
Jer 22:8  And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?
Jer 22:9  Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
Jer 22:10  Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
Jer 22:11  For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:
Jer 22:12  But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
Jer 22:13  Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
Jer 22:14  That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
Jer 22:15  Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
Jer 22:16  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

These first two verses reveal to whom the Lord is addressing these words:

Jer 22:1  Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
Jer 22:2  And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

Keep in mind who and what the Lord, through the pen of Isaiah, means by the words “the king of Judah and thy people who enter in by these gates [of Jerusalem].” Jeremiah and Isaiah are sent by the Lord to the exact same people. Here is who and what the Lord means by the words, “the king of Judah and thy people who enter in by these gates.”

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.

Isaiah was also sent to “Judah and Jerusalem” and to kings “Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah”, and this is who the Lord says the king of Judah and his people are:

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

It is the Lord Himself who equates His own people as a murdering harlot. It is the Lord Himself who considers those who claim His name and reject His doctrine to be “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth”:

Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

It was the “great whore” of Revelation 17-18 who “murdered” our Lord. This “great whore”, this “harlot” is revealed to be those who think of themselves as the Lord’s own chosen people. This “harlot” is any and all men who claim to know God but refuse to be obedient to Him.

Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

That “sinful nation” includes each of us, while we are first a part of this great whore before we are dragged out of her:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [G1670: ‘helkuō’, drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

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.

It is the Lord’s own people who have rebelled against Him and His ways. Jeremiah is also inspired to reveal that the Lord considers those who claim his name and hate his doctrine as “the harlot”:

Jer 3:6  The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

Jer 3:8  And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

Israel and Judah are not two different people. ‘Israel’ is just the early part of our apostasy, and ‘Judah’ signifies the latter part of our apostasy, leading to our being dragged out of Babylon and beginning to be judged in this present age. Far from avoiding the fiery judgments of God, His elect are simply the first to experience them:

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

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Our “fiery trials” are the Lord’s judgments which He is at this very moment pouring out on His own house because “He first loved us” and therefore we are the first to be judged and chastened.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

Those who comprise “the house of God” are all first in “Babylon… the mother of harlots” before they are dragged out of that great whore to “begin” the purging work of grace and judgment in their lives.

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.

When Peter speaks of “Judgment… first… beginning… at the house of God” he is referring to the pouring out of the seven last plagues of His wrath upon ‘the throne of the beast’ within each of us in “this present time”:

Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat [G2362: ‘thronos’, throne] of the beast;  and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

This is the fruit of the rebellious house of the carnal mind in each of the Lord’s elect. This is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the end this fruit produces death regardless of how much knowledge of good is in it. The Lord’s standards are so much higher than simply coming to know about good and evil. The knowledge of Christ is not dead knowledge. The knowledge of Christ is life and liberty:

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

The great harlot is spiritually murdering all her adherents. So, the Lord tells us the benefits of coming out of the house of this murderous harlot:

Jer 22:3  Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

Why is the Lord telling us to “Execute… judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place?” He is telling us to do these things because we do not just naturally execute judgment… or deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor. He is telling us that we just naturally do what is wrong and are just naturally violent to strangers, the fatherless and the widow, and we are just natural murderers in the eyes of a God whose standard of what constitutes murder is:

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

We all self-righteously deny that we are guilty of any of those sins. I tell myself that I have never once done violence to any stranger, fatherless or widow, and I certainly have never murdered anyone. However, by the Lord’s standards I am lying to myself and to God, but He sees right through that lie and, if I am His, He cannot deny Himself. What that means is that He must pour out the seven plagues of the seven angels upon the kingdom of my old man so I can enter His temple, become His bride (2Co 11:1: Rev 21:9) and become a part of the family of God (Eph 3:15):

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

2Ti 2:11  It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

If we are “dead with Him” then we will believe Him. It is our flesh and our old man in that flesh who is capable of not believing Him. But Christ has overcome my flesh and will not “deny Himself” because He knows those who are His:

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

If we “are His” then He has us bound to the altar with cords, and we are being sacrificed daily in His service, not of our will or our works but because “we are His workmanship”:

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

No sacrifice binds itself to the horns of the altar. That would be “His workmanship”, the work of His chastening grace and not of our own 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 [our own] 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.

It requires a miracle of God to blind us to the Truth of those words, and we have all been blinded to those words in our own time.

Therefore, when we do the “good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them”, we are simply fulfilling our next verse:

Jer 22:4  For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

In words which are not intended to be understood by “the natural man”, the scriptures teach that the Lord spiritually has two wives. The first one is a harlot, and the last one is “a chaste virgin”. The scriptures are very clear on this matter, but the Lord has blinded the eyes and stopped the ears of our “first man Adam… until the time… appointed of the Father”:

Psa 105:19  Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.

It is the fiery words of God (Jer 5:14) which try us all, and those fiery words teach us that we are all spiritual infants, “carnal babes in Christ”, before we begin to be judged and mature into spiritual adulthood:

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child [G3516: ‘nepios’, an infant], differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children [G3516: ‘nepios’, infants], were in bondage under the elements [G4747: ‘stoichion’, elements, principles] of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son [G5207: ‘uihos’ adult Son], made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons [G5206: ‘uihothesia’, an adult son].
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons [G5207: ‘uihos’, spiritual adults], God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son [G5207: ‘uihos’, adult] into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son [‘uihos’]; and if a son [‘uihos’], then an heir of God through Christ.

Only the spiritual adults can receive this same message in these words concerning Christ’s two wives. Here in this same fourth chapter, this process of passing from being spiritual infants to the beginning of spiritual adulthood is repeated in another form with these words:

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid [spiritual infant, ‘nepios’], the other by a freewoman [spiritual adult, ‘uihos’].
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh [naturally]; but he of the freewoman was by promise [super-naturally].
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 

This is where the mind of the natural man “cannot receive the things of the spirit because they are foolishness unto him” (1Co 2:14). The only people at Mount Sinai were the physical descendants of Sarah, the physical ‘freewoman’. Yet the holy spirit equates the physical descendants of Sarah at Mount Sinai with the descendants of Hagar, the physical bondwoman:

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

The Lord has blinded the entire orthodox Christian world to the Truth of these words of Galatians 4:

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all [“all” who are in Christ].
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise [super natural birth].
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

We are all spiritual infants before we can become and grow into spiritual adulthood. It is in this ‘nepios’ infantile stage that we are simply incapable of seeing with our spiritual eyes and hearing with our spiritual ears these words:

Jer 22:5  But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
Jer 22:6  For thus saith the LORD unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
Jer 22:7  And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

“This house” is the ‘house’ and ‘kingdom’ of our old man.  In this chapter of Jeremiah, King Josiah typifies both the father of his evil sons and the father of our new man, just as Christ Himself is “the beginning… first man Adam… and the end… the last Adam”. Christ was “made of a woman, made under the law (Gal 4:4), and made sin (2Co 5:21). It was through His death to His physical flesh that He became the savior of all men of all time and the ‘Everlasting Father’ of our new man.

King Josiah was the best king Judah ever had, and yet, as a type of us (1Co 10:6), Judah is still judged and must suffer with “the whole creation… in this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Therefore, Lord’s elect are part of “this city” who must endure the humiliation of having denied their own Lord and Savior:

Jer 22:8  And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?
Jer 22:9  Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

It serves no good purpose to fail to acknowledge that each of us have denied our Lord and have been party to His crucifixion and death.

Jer 22:10  Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

This is just one more verse which confirms The Truth that the day we begin to die to our old man is much better than the day we were born into our old man:

Ecc 7:1  A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

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.

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

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

The remainder of this chapter is addressed to the sons of Josiah, Shallum and Jehoiakim, who typify our old man. Our Lord Himself had to accept the fact that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, and even He endured the pain of His heavenly Father’s rejection of His corruptible flesh.

This is an experience which is common to all men:

Psa 22:1  To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me,  and from the words of my roaring?

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

Mar 15:34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

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

Josiah’s sons typify how our own corruptible old man is indeed unworthy of being accepted by our Lord:

Jer 22:11  For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He [Shallum] shall not return thither any more:
Jer 22:12  But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
Jer 22:13  Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
Jer 22:14  That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

These verses are a perfect description of what we do when we fleece the Lord’s flock or participate in being fleeced. The one is as evil as the other, because the one supports the other. A house built by unrighteousness is a house built upon false, lying doctrines which are taught to the Lord’s flock by men who are “corrupting [and are] peddling the Word of God”:

Here is that message in the King James Version of the scriptures:

2Co 2:17  For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

Look at what Strong’s, Brown, Driver, and Briggs, and Thayer reveal is the meaning of the Greek word translated as ‘corrupt’ in the KJV:

The CLV does a better job of giving us the sense of this word:

2Co 2:17 For we are not as the majority, who are peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God in Christ, are we speaking.

Christ instructs all who follow Him and tremble at His words:

Mat 10:7  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:8  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

It is a dead giveaway that there is no “stay of bread [nor any] stay of water” if so much as a penny is requested by those who claim to be preaching the kingdom of heaven. There is obviously little regard for these words of Christ and absolutely no one is “trembling at [His] Words” (Isa 66:2).

The holy spirit poses this question in contrast to the example of Josiah typifying Christ:

Jer 22:15  Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
Jer 22:16  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

It is natural for us to be choked out of the kingdom of God by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. As Christ grows within us, more and more, day by day, we begin to think outwardly of the physical and spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are blessed to be given to minister to those needs as the Lord provides.

“Was not this to know me? Saith the Lord” is another way of saying ‘Is not this life eternal?’

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

That is our study for today, and here is the rest of this chapter for our next study which will demonstrate that “while we were yet in our sins” Christ died for us. Thus, the words “O earth, earth, earth, hear the words of the Lord”:

Jer 22:17  But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
Jer 22:18  Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
Jer 22:19  He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Jer 22:20  Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
Jer 22:21  I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
Jer 22:22  The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
Jer 22:23  O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
Jer 22:24  As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
Jer 22:25  And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jer 22:26  And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
Jer 22:27  But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.
Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
Jer 22:30  Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

]]> Study of the Book of Kings – 1Ki 6:4-7 “Shew the House to the House of Israel” https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/study-of-the-book-of-kings-1ki-64-7-shew-the-house-to-the-house-of-israel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-of-the-book-of-kings-1ki-64-7-shew-the-house-to-the-house-of-israel Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:43:37 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=24457

1Ki 6:4-7 “Shew the house to the house of Israel”

[Study Aired September 30, 2021]

1Ki 6:4  And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.
1Ki 6:5  And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:
1Ki 6:6  The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.
1Ki 6:7  And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

Last week’s study was about recognizing the temple which we are (1Co 3:16) that is being built “in a fitting and orderly way”. There are no more foundational words that describe where the foundation of our temple is to be built in a fitting and orderly way than the words of our Lord to Peter in Matthew 16:18.

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

Our Father and Christ are one in mind and purpose (Joh 10:29-30) and we are being built upon Christ and are as He is in this world, with one mind and purpose “which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (1Jn 4:17 1Co 2:16, 2Ti 1:7-9). God is love (1Jn 4:16), therefore we are being built up together as a holy temple so that through Christ, where we abide and are accepted (Joh 15:4-5 Eph 1:6), we can now reflect the love of God and worship our Father in spirit and truth as He gives us that increase which makes this possible (Joh 4:23, 1Co 3:6, Rom 5:5).

Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
Joh 10:30  I and my Father are one.

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

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

Rom 5:5  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.

The cleansing of our heavens is a process we are going through when we are blessed to believe the words Christ speaks to us (Joh 6:28-29), and this is how the foundation is laid in our lives so we can then abide in Christ and bring forth much fruit (Joh 15:8-9). The fruit in our life is symbolized by the temple that is built upon the foundation of Christ, who is the chief cornerstone of the temple who stabilizes and bears the burden of all the temple through each joint that supplies (Mat 21:42, Eph 2:19-22, Gal 6:2).

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ [Col 1:24,27]

Only when we are given to become a hearer and a doer of the words of Christ are we being given the keys to the kingdom (Mat 16:19) to now grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Christ the rest of our lives (2Pe 3:18). We have that confidence through Him that what He has started in us as His body will be finished as we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake which is the church (Col 1:24). This section of the book of Kings will give us more insight through the type and shadows within the temple of what God’s workmanship can accomplish within us as we are built upon the foundation of Christ.

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven – Part 1

Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

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

God has called us to have confidence in what He has promised that He will start and finish in our lives through Christ, who is the author and the finisher of our faith (Php 1:6, Heb 10:35). With that faith being tried and tested, we can then bring forth the fruit of love that is described for us in these verses in 1Corinthians 13:3-10. We are the workmanship of God’s hand, and that love has been growing and maturing in each one of His children to His glory so that we can all come into 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” (1Jn 5:4, Eph 4:13). That fullness of Christ is accomplished in the church, which is Christ’s body, as we learn together as one body that all things really do “work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” which is how the bride is going to be made ready (Rom 8:28, Rev 19:7-9, Php 4:4-7).

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

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.

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

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

With all these foundational verses in mind let’s now look at what God is building upon the foundation of our loving Saviour (Mat 16:18) and see how it applies to each and every one of our own day-to-day dying daily walks in the Lord which is being refined or sanctified so that we can one day, Lord willing, be raised in the first resurrection and judge the mount of Esau, which is what we will be doing when we “shew the house to the house of  Israel” and are given to “measure the pattern” today (Eze 43:10, 1Co 15:31, 1Jn 1:5-7).

1Jn 1:5  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1Jn 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Eze 43:10  Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

1Ki 6:4  And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.

After the foundation of any building is laid, which consequently is the part that takes the longest, then things begin to happen rapidly. Christ is that foundation and the rock upon which Peter, who represents all of God’s elect, is going to be built. All the prophesies in God’s word point back to our Saviour and how each man in his order will be dragged to Him of our Father (Joh 6:44) in order to become a new creation through Him (1Co 8:6, Col 1:15-17, Php 4:13). If we are as Christ (1Jn 4:17), then Christ must have had a typical event of being in Babylon or Egypt and then been called out of it, just as we have our time in Babylon which is represented by this later verse we will look at later (1Ki 6:7) which tells us there is a place where preparatory work is being done in the life of the elect, before the temple of God is-was-will be, built without hands (Hos 11:1).

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

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

This first verse, “And for the house he made windows of narrow lights“, tells us something about our perception of our Father and Christ while we are in this fleshly temple that looks through a glass darkly (1Co 13:12).

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.

The light enters in through “windows of narrow lights” because today we have this relationship with our Father and Christ in earnest and not in the fullness, and have been told by Christ that broad is the path which represents our flesh that leads to destruction and cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but narrow is the way that leads to life (Mat 7:13-14).

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

Christ is the one who makes it possible for us to endure through this life seeing he is the one who gives us light and life (Joh 14:6) through God’s holy spirit that makes it possible for us to see and understand what is going on in the temple of God (1Co 2:10) that we are so blessed to be part of today (Eph 1:14, Psa 119:105).

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.

1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

This word narrowH331 [aw-tam’], which means ‘to shut’ or ‘to stop’, is used in a few other areas of the temple’s construction and elsewhere in the bible…

“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuttethH331 his lips is esteemed a man of understanding” (Pro 17:28)

…is one such verse that reminds us that as the temple of God we must be very discreet ambassadors in this life who are learning to let our speech be seasoned with salt (Col 4:6), and, Lord willing, we will be given that bridle on our tongue that we need in this world which vexes us with its filthy communication, knowing how to answer those who opppose and resist the truth (2Ti 4:14-16), and knowing when we should not answer others even to their being marvelled at our conduct in doing so (Joh 19:11, Psa 141:3-4, 2Pe 2:7, Mar 15:5). Also, we must know when enough is enough, and no further witness is needed (Tit 3:10). As God’s ambassadors we are always to be striving for the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ (Php 3:13-14) which is found by staying above the fray of this society.

1Ki 6:5  And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:
1Ki 6:6  The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

These chambersH3326 that are spoken of in this section of the book of Kings represent the rest into which we labor to enter (Heb 4:11, Joh 6:27). That rest is “against the wall” meaning that when we have done all we can, stand, and others can then rest on us as we become walls, or pillars, where that rest can be found (Eph 6:13, Mat 11:28). The chamber is a couch or bed, and they were systematically placed throughout the temple “round about“, and symbolize the continual rest that can be found in God which He gives us in the Lord as we sojourn unto perfection on the third day as He prepares our hearts for each and every trial and restores us as at these resting points or chambers as we go further toward Christ who is in the oracleH1687 which is the holy of holies.

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Joh 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

It is when we look back that we see God’s mercy (Rev 1:10) that has taken us along the way and held us up throughout our walk that He guided as a shepherd of His little flock whom He led by still waters to restore our souls, never to try us beyond the measure we can endure (1Co 10:13) and always making a way where their often seems to be none.

(Psa 23:1-3, Psa 1:1-3, Luk 12:32 – ‘couches’ and ‘beds’ symbolize the mercy and rest we find in the Lord – Isa 43:19, Joh 5:8 – and picking up our bed is working out our own salvation with fear and trembling knowing that it is God who is working in us both to will and do of His good pleasure Php 2:12-13.)

Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psa 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Psa 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Luk 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (Psa 23:2, Joh 15:16)

“The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad“: the five cubits like the five pillars at the entry into the temple symbolize how we enter into God’s rest by putting off our flesh by the grace and faith of Christ which causes us to be abased, or found in the nethermost chamber which is where we should always want to abide (Luk 14:8, Mat 23:12, Php 2:7, Luk 18:13-14, Isa 66:2).

Luk 14:8  When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

Mat 23:12  And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, [Mar 10:18] and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross [Gal 2:20].

Luk 18:13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted [1Jn 1:9].

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

The “middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad” reminds us that God knows our form that originally is without form (Gen 1:2) as beasts, symbolized by six cubits who need rest that is found by casting all our cares upon the Lord (1Pe 5:7), as we labour in the word and pick up our bed (Joh 5:8) and go onto completion or perfection which the third area of couches represents being “seven cubits broad“.

Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Joh 5:8  Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

We are told that “for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house”. They are not fastened to the temple because they represent those who are joined unto us like Levi and who God extends his mercy toward by giving them their good things (Luk 15:31) just as we should do good unto all men as the temple of God that we are, but especially unto the household of God (Gal 6:10, Mat 5:44-48).

Luk 15:31  And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith [narrowed rests round about on the outside and couches on the inside of the temple].

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.

1Ki 6:7  And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

The Lord wants us to know this critical point:

“And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither:  so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building“

…which admonition is stated this way in the book of Psalms:

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

Unless the Lord has been the author and finisher of our faith from start to finish, or in other words unless we went into Babylon and were dragged out, we cannot be a stone that has been prepared by God and made meet for the master’s use in His temple that we are (2Ti 2:19-21).

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

[depart from a mindset of taking glory unto yourself and believe that God is working all things, the light and darkness, the peace and the evil (Isa 45:7); if we are Christ’s, all such self-righteousness will be burnt out and the bride will be made ready]

2Ti 2:20  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these [Joh 8:36], he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

God must grant us to hear the voice of the true Shepherd in each other so we can follow each other as we follow Christ (1Co 11:1) bearing each other’s infirmities in hope that we will hear less and less the “hammer” or the “axe” or the “tool of iron“, all symbols of our fleshly opinion and not the voice of the true Shepherd that we are learning to discern: “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (Joh 10:27-28).

Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

There are stages to the building of God’s temple which we are (1Co 3:16, Rom 8:9), and this seventh verse in type and shadow tells us that every part of the elects’ life from the first breath we draw until the last in this Adamic flesh was purposed by God to accomplish His work within us as was typified by Jeremiah (Jer 1:5, Gal 6:16, Rom 15:13).

Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

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

Rom 15:13  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

It is a true saying that the marriage of the Lamb is for a blessed few who are called unto this ‘arranged marriage’ (Rev 19:9) from the foundation of the world where God had willed that Christ’s bride would be born again and as such, all things would work out in our lives according to the counsel of God’s will for this good purpose of election (Joh 1:13, Rom 8:29-33). Part of God’s good purpose was to prepare the stones that we represent, off-site, only to later gather His elect from the four corners of the earth (Mat 24:31) to build His temple that we are (1Pe 2:9, Eph 2:20-22).

Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Joh 1:13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

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 [1Jn 4:17].
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light (Rom 2:28-29):

We are being judged in this life so that all things can work together for good, which includes our being given to endure until the end and be found in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Rev 19:7, Rev 20:6, Mat 24:13). Being born of the will of God in this life is the same as saying we are born again (Joh 3:3), and we truly know that we cannot understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God unless Christ our hope of glory is born within us as our wisdom who reveals the very parables that God uses to blind the world (Eph 1:11, Rom 8:28, Mat 13:13, 2Co 5:17).

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

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

There always has to be a sense of urgency in regard to the work that God is doing within us (Luk 21:36, Psa 127:1) and all of the scriptures are ‘yes’ for us (2Co 1:20) and are filled with the exceeding great and precious promises that all point to the truth that we are more than conquerors through Christ. These promises are given to encourage us to not give up the good fight of faith as we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”, forgetting those things that are behind and urgently pressing as Noah did in the building of the ark which represents the church, the body of Christ (2Pe 1:4, Rom 8:35-37, Joh 8:36, Php 3:14, Heb 11:7).

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

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

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

We are seeing with our own blessed eyes and hearing with our own blessed spiritual ears, which is a gift of God (Mat 13:16), the building of the temple of God made without hands and so we do give all glory and honour to the One who is doing this work within us both to will and to do knowing that we, like Christ, must labor to enter into that rest being doers of the word (Jas 1:22). There must be a diligence that is formed in us through our trials and suffering in this life, and God can and will keep us motivated together as the body of Christ (Php 2:12-13).

As God gives us increase through the labour to which He has called us in His vineyard, the certainty of what Christ has started and will finish has already been declared (Php 1:6), and our job now is to be about our Father’s business (Luk 2:49, 1Jn 4:17) showing the house to the house to each other by staying unspotted from the world and coming together often “and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction (Heb 10:25, Jas 1:27).

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:

]]> The Zeal of Thine House Hath Eaten Me Up https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-zeal-of-thine-house-hath-eaten-me-up/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-zeal-of-thine-house-hath-eaten-me-up Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:30:30 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=5003 Mobile, AL Conference, Dec. 2-4, 2011

Joh 2:13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
Joh 2:14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
Joh 2:15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
Joh 2:16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
Joh 2:17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

If Christ is our example, then “the zeal of [ God’s] house” should ‘eat us up’ also. The Greek word for ‘eaten’ here appears fifteen times in the New Testament. Of those fifteen times, twelve entries have been translated as ‘devour’ or ‘devoured’. So the zeal of God’s house had devoured Christ, and the zeal of God’s house ought to also be devouring each of us.

So what does it mean to be devoured by the zeal of God’s house? How would you and I be devoured or eaten up by the zeal of God’s house?Christ did this in the physical temple at Jerusalem. Yet not long after this event, in the fourth chapter of John, just two chapters later when Christ communes with ‘the woman at the well’ in Samaria, He tells her all of her own life’s history, just as if He had known her all her life. Then we learn a rather shocking truth, considering what we just read in chapter 2 of the gospel of John.

Joh 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

So the cleansing of the physical temple in Jerusalem was really nothing more than a type and a shadow of the cleansing of the true temple which Christ tells this Samaritan woman is “neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem” but is rather “in spirit”. If we are given any real ‘zeal for the house of God’, we will realize how blessed we are to know where that temple is. We know that it is “neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem.” So where is God’s new temple “in spirit”? Where are those whose are being ‘eaten up’ by the zeal of God’s house? Where is Christ’s new house? Where does Christ now dwell? Here is the answer to all of those questions:

Heb 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Heb 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

So that temple in Jerusalem, where Christ chased out the money changers, was merely “the pattern of things in the heavens” which “should be purified with… the blood of calves and goats”. Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are [mere] figures of the true; but [He has entered] into [the temple in] heaven itself…”

So where is this new Temple which is not in Samaria or Jerusalem? Where is this temple into which Christ has entered? It is now only by being in this new “house of God” that we can now say, “The zeal of thine house has eaten me up.” So, for our own edification, we need to ask and to know where that house is now to be found, and even more to the point, we need to examine ourselves and ask ourselves if we even have any zeal for that “house of God? Rest assured the zeal of God’s house is still eating up our Lord, as it really should, because it must also be consuming and devouring us whom our Lord equates with Himself.

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Act 22:7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

So where did Christ go after His resurrection? We are plainly told that He has entered into “the heavenly things themselves”. So according to the sum of God’s word, what is the house of God? What do the scriptures tell us? If it is the zeal of this house that should consume and devour us all, then we need to know all we can about “the zeal of thine house”.

Eze 43:4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
Eze 43:5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
Eze 43:6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
Eze 43:7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.
Eze 43:8 In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
Eze 43:9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
Eze 43:10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
Eze 43:11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
Eze 43:12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

“The law of the house” is “the zeal of thy house” which should, and which does, devour all who are granted to have Christ dwelling within.

“… shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.”

Many sermons have been preached concerning these verses in Ezekiel 43, connecting these verses to a coming temple to be built in Jerusalem, but for all who have been granted eyes that see and ears that hear the things of the spirit, here is the anti-type of these verses here in Ezekiel 43. Here is the temple which is “neither in [Samaria] nor yet in Jerusalem”. Here is the house whose zeal should be devouring us all.

1Co 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Yes, God’s word is “that which is written” (1Co 4:6), but where are we told that word would dwell? From where do we receive that word?

Eze 43:6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.

What does the Lord say from “out of the house”? What is the “law of the house” the Lord instructs Ezekiel to show to the house of Israel when He instructs Ezekiel to “show the house to the house…” Here is the New Testament anti-type of that verse:

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

“By the church” means the same as “out of the house” where Christ dwells. Let’s read it again: ” … Let them measure the pattern… shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.” This is the house whose zeal should be consuming all of us, making us able to “rejoice in tribulations” because of “the zeal of thine house…”

Psa 69:7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
Psa 69:8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.
Psa 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

The zeal of God’s house causes the reproaches of Christ to fall upon those who are today His home and His house. Here is the New Testament anti-type of those who today are eaten up of the zeal of God’s house.

2Co 7:4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
2Co 7:5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
2Co 7:6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
2Co 7:7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.

It is the zeal of the house of God which produces comfort when brothers come together to encourage brothers. It produces joy in tribulation. It produces an “earnest desire” for the welfare of our brothers and sisters; it produces mourning [“with those who are mourning”] and it produces a fervent mind toward others within this “house of God”. It does all of this within itself, because that ‘house of God’ is you and me, if indeed we are “in Christ.

1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
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.

The ‘zeal of God’s house’ produces “a holy priesthood” which does not tolerate spiritual fornication as spiritual sacrifices, but is zealous to “offer up spiritual sacrifices [which are] acceptable to God…’ and which turns away God’s wrath and gives us a covenant of great peace and the promise of being “holy priests” of God. Here is the Old Testament type of 1Peter 2:5-6.

Num 25:6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Num 25:7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
Num 25:8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
Num 25:9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
Num 25:10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 25:11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous [Hebrew: qana] for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy [qinah].
Num 25:12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:
Num 25:13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

The zeal, or ‘qana’, of Phinehas, and the jealousy, ‘qinah’, of God, worked together to stay the wrath of God upon Israel, as it does within us.

If Phinehas had been indifferent about the open flouting of Israel’s covenant with God, and if he had be half-hearted in his response to this incident, which so clearly demonstrated that Israel despised their marriage vows to God, he would have not been given the priesthood or the covenant of peace. Here is the anti-type of this story of the Israelite man and the Midianitish woman, in the New Testament:

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

When we look at how the Hebrew and the Greek words for this word, which is translated ‘zeal’ in both the Old and the New Testaments, are defined, we get a broader view of how God feels about this thing we call ‘zeal’. John 2:17 is quoted from Psalm 69:9, so we know that we have what the holy spirit considers to be the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew. So let’s just look at how both are defined and how they are used, and we will know what is the mind of the spirit concerning this word ‘zeal’.

We will look at the Hebrew word first. Here is the word and its Strong’s definition:

H7068
qin’a h
kin- aw’
From H7065; jealousy or envy: – envy (- ied), jealousy, X sake, zeal.

Now here are the various translations for this word in the order of how it is most frequently translated:

H7068
qin’a h
Total KJV Occurrences: 43
jealousy, 24
Num_5:14-15 (3), Num_5:18, Num_5:25, Num_5:30, Num_25:11, Deu_29:20, Psa_79:5, Pro_6:34, Son_8:6, Isa_42:13, Eze_8:3, Eze_8:5, Eze_16:38, Eze_16:42, Eze_23:25, Eze_36:5-6 (2), Eze_38:19, Zep_1:18, Zep_3:8, Zec_1:14, Zec_8:2
zeal, 9
2Ki_10:16, 2Ki_19:31, Psa_69:9, Psa_119:139, Isa_9:7, Isa_37:32, Isa_59:17, Isa_63:15, Eze_5:13
envy, 7
Job_5:2, Pro_14:30, Pro_27:4, Ecc_9:6, Isa_11:13, Eze_35:11 (2)
envied, 1
Ecc_4:4
jealousies, 1
Num_5:29
sake, 1
Num_25:11

When we look at the root H7065, from which this word is derived, it becomes even clearer that the Hebrew means’jealous’.

H7065
qa na’
kaw- naw’
A primitive root; to be (causatively make) zealous, that is, (in a bad sense) jealous or envious: – (be) envy (- ious), be (move to, provoke to) jealous (- y), X very, (be) zeal (- ous).

Here are the entries for this word in the order in which it is most commonly translated. Once again it is most often translated as ‘jealous’.

H7065
qa na’
Total KJV Occurrences: 31
jealous, 10
Num_5:14 (3), Num_5:30, 1Ki_19:10, 1Ki_19:14, Eze_39:25, Joe_2:18, Zec_1:14, Zec_8:2 (2)
envied, 5
Gen_26:14, Gen_30:1, Gen_37:11, Psa_106:16, Eze_31:9
jealousy, 5
Deu_32:16, Deu_32:21 (2), 1Ki_14:22, Psa_78:58
envious, 4
Psa_37:1, Psa_73:3, Pro_24:1, Pro_24:19
envy, 3
Pro_3:31, Pro_23:17, Isa_11:13
zealous, 2
Num_25:11, Num_25:13
enviest, 1
Num_11:29
zeal, 1
2Sa_21:2

So when we read that our “God is a jealous God”, we understand that He does not tolerate infidelity or half-hearted love, but is zealous for our affections, just as we ought to be for His. What is it God will not accept?

Jer 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

Here, by contrast, is the only kind of love God will accept of any of us:

Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Psa 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

That is a godly jealousy. That is the zealous love of God, and whole- hearted love is the only kind of love He is interested in. That is the only kind of love we must be willing to show to our Lord and our Savior. In other words “Godly jealousy” is nothing less than “the zeal of Thy house”.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

“I the Lord thy God am a jealous God” simply tells us that he is a God who is zealous for us, His house. Here is where this same word is used as the very name of God:

Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

In conclusion, the Hebrew word translated ‘zeal’ in Psalm 69:9 comes from, and is most often translated as, ‘jealous’ and is related to God’s intense love for His people whom He calls His wife.

Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

Israel here is called the Lord’s bride, while in Hoseah 11, Israel is called God’s son:

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

So the Lord is fervently jealous and zealous for both His son and His wife, whose we are if we are “in Christ” and He is “in us”.

Now let’s examine the Greek word for ‘zeal’ which is found there in John 2. Here is that Greek word with its Strong’s definition:

G2205
ζηλος
ze los
dzay’- los
From G2204; properly heat, that is, (figuratively) “zeal” (in a favorable sense, ardor; in an unfavorable one, jealousy, as of a husband [ figuratively of God], or an enemy, malice): – emulation, envy (- ing), fervent mind, indignation, jealousy, zeal.

Here are the entries for this word in the order of how it is most frequently translated:

G2205
ζηλος
ze los
Total KJV Occurrences: 17
zeal, 6
Joh_2:17, Rom_10:2, 2Co_7:11, 2Co_9:2, Phi_3:6, Col_4:13
envying, 4
Rom_13:13 (2), 1Co_3:3, Jas_3:14, Jas_3:16
indignation, 2
Act_5:16-17 (2), Heb_10:27
emulations, 1
Gal_5:20
envy, 1
Act_13:45
envyings, 1
2Co_12:20
fervent, 1
2Co_7:7
jealousy, 1
2Co_11:2

Here now is the definition of the root for this word translated ‘zeal’ in John 2:9.

G2204
ζεω
zeo
dzeh’- o
A primary verb; to be hot (boil, of liquids; or glow, of solids), that is, (figuratively) be fervid (earnest): – be fervent.

Here are the only two entries for this word in the New Testament:

Act 18:24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
Act 18:25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent [G2204: zeo] in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
Rom 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent [G2204: zeo] in spirit; serving the Lord;

So the Greek word has as its root the concept of being “hot” or fervent, and is most often translated as the word ‘zeal’, as it is translated in John 2:17.

Joh 2:17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

How “the zeal of thine house” applies to a many membered body

We are all to be zealous for the house of God. How does that zeal express itself in the completely different parts of that ‘house’, that priesthood, and that ‘body of Christ’? Let’s notice what we are told in this regard:

Rom 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Rom 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Rom 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Rom 12:7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Rom 12:8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
Rom 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Rom 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Rom 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent [Greek: zeo, to be hot] in spirit; serving the Lord;
Rom 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

He that prophesies is to do so “according to the portion of faith”. He is never seeking preeminence, and he does not ever “think above what is written” (1Co 4:6). Whether ministering or teaching, or exhorting others, we are admonished to be patient and wait for what God gives us to minister and to teach or to exhort.

If you are granted to give to others, then just give, without expecting anything in return and without trying to control those you are helping. Give “with simplicity”. If you are granted to rule, then do so diligently and seriously, and if you are granted to show mercy, then do so cheerfully.

None of these things are easy to do. If they were, we would not need to be reminded of them. None of these attributes come naturally. We are admonished never to be slothful in any of our business, but instead be “fervent in spirit”. So then let’s understand clearly that there is no contradiction at all between being patient for our prophesying, our ministering, teaching, or our exhorting, and the ability to be devoured by our zeal for the house of God. Patience is an essential part of our zeal for the house of God.

To Summarize we have seen that the zeal of God’s house devoured our Lord:

Joh 2:17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

These words are not recorded to simply let us know what Christ did that day in the temple in Jerusalem. That entire event took place just for the purpose of telling us that it is we who must be consumed with by that zeal of the house of God. It is we who are told that we must live by those words.

We have seen we are that house, if we are in Christ and He is in us. Therefore it is we who are the house whose zeal must consume the Christ within us.

We have seen that our zeal of God’s house will have us wanting desperately to know all there is to know about that house, and to keep all the things that are written therein so as never to add or take away from that house:

Eze 43:10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
Eze 43:11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.

Are we even interested in “the goings out and the comings in… and all the ordinances of the house of God? Are we zealous to “keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, to do them”?

Our zeal must be “according to knowledge” of the true doctrine of the true Christ. The doctrine of Christ is the form and ordinances thereof, and the doing of them. If we are not even aware of those ordinances and doctrines, then we will always be led into the self-righteousness of Babylon:

Rom 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
Rom 10:2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Rom 10:3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

Zeal is never ever “lukewarm”. Zeal is always a hot, zealous, and “fervent spirit” toward Christ. Zeal is always seeking the comfort and consolation of the house in which Christ dwells:

2Co 7:7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent [Greek: zelos, zealous] mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.

How do you and I feel towards others who have the mind of Christ? Do we have a zealous fervent spirit toward our brothers and sisters in Christ?

The zeal of God’s house within us provokes the same zealous spirit in many others who are in Christ:

2Co 9:2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

Are we provoking others to be zealous and of a “forward mind” toward their brothers and sisters in Christ? They are “Thy house” whose zeal should be consuming us all.

Zeal produces “godly jealousy” toward the Christ of Christ.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous [Greek: zeloo, zealous, fervent] over you with godly jealousy [Greek: zelos, zeal]: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Are we careful to be faithful to our espoused husband and to those with whom He identifies Himself, or is it more important to us to please men?

Zeal produces repentance from dead works.

Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Has our zeal for God changed us from who we were as that “old man, the first Adam” to the point that “all things are become new” and we no longer know any man after the flesh, not even Christ? (2Co 5:16). Or are we still living in the age of this world, walking according to the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience (Eph 2:2)?

The zeal of God’s house gives us power in our lives which produces good works within that house. The zeal of God’s house gives us confidence and the authority to speak and exhort others to walk with, and in the footsteps of, Christ whose prayer was not for the world, but for those whom His Father had placed in His house.

Joh 17:9 I pray for them [those in His house]: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Zeal stays and restrains the wrath of God within the Christ of Christ.

Num 25:11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous [Hebrew: qana] for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy [Hebrew: qinah].

The zeal of the house of God takes us from hating and persecuting Christ and His doctrine to hating the way of life we once lived, and the doctrines we once believed. It is “the zeal of Thine house” which brings us to want to ‘know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, making us conformable unto his death;’

Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those [in the zeal of His house] I [have] counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

‘The zeal of thine house has eaten me up.’ Is that true for all of us? Let’s all follow this scriptural admonition, and let us all pray for the same zeal which is that mind of Christ:

2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you [because you are His house], except ye be reprobates?

“Jesus Christ is in you” because you are ‘lively stones in His spiritual house’. You and I have much to appreciate, and we all have every reason to be ‘devoured by the zeal of His house’.

 

]]> Is Jesus Saving or Judging? https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/is-jesus-saving-or-judging/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-jesus-saving-or-judging Sat, 14 May 2011 04:30:29 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=3018

Mike

Jesus said that he came to save and not to judge mankind, yet we see mankind being judged in the book of Revelation. Kindly explain the discrepancy.

God bless,

M____

Hi M____,
The answer to your question is in the very next verse after the one to which you are alluding. Here are both verses:

Joh 12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Joh 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Christ makes it very clear that the very reason He came is for judgment:

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

But He also makes clear that He is judging only His own house at this time. That is why he said “if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not…” All who are not now being judged will be judged later in the “lake of fire”, white throne 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?

Now here is the answer to your question and to Peter’s rhetorical question, “where will the ungodly and sinner appear?”:

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
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.

I hope this helps you understand why Christ said He is not now judging unbelievers. Judgment is chastening for the intent of correcting.

1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves [ now], we should not be judged [ in the great white throne, lake of fire judgment].
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged [ in either judgment], we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned [ to the white throne judgment] with the world.

When that “great white throne” judgment arrives then all men will learn righteousness:

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.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

]]> Can We Eat With A Friend Who Believes Heresy? https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/can-we-eat-with-a-friend-who-believes-heresy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=can-we-eat-with-a-friend-who-believes-heresy Fri, 22 May 2009 21:16:00 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=2056

Hi Mike,

I am reading “What is the Difference Between Knowing and Believing We Are God’s Elect?”, and I was wondering:

2Jn 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2Jn 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Receive him not into your house, is spiritually speaking, right? I can have someone coming over in my physical brick house, a person who is not abiding in the doctrines of Christ, and have a coffee and a talk with him. Not recieving him in my house is speaking of not spiritually recieving his doctrines in my spiritual house. Am I correct ?

Your brother in Christ
R____

Hi R____,

You can have family members and friends who oppose the doctrine of Christ into your physical home, and you can eat physical food with them. What you do not do is to talk about spiritual matters with those who are not receptive to the doctrine of Christ. That is the meaning of “no not to eat.”

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

In other words, “receive him not into your house” is very similar to “cast not your pearls before swine…”

2Jn 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Mat 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Christ himself physically ate at the house of Simon the Pharisee, who did not have the doctrine of Christ.

Luk 7:36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.
Luk 7:37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that [ Jesus] sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
Luk 7:38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Luk 7:39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
Luk 7:40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.

The Pharisees certainly did not “have the doctrine of Christ.” Christ even warned His disciples to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” They were “called [ Christ’s Jewish] brothers, yet when invited “to eat with Simon the Pharisee,” Christ “went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.” But Christ did not partake of the Pharisee’s spiritual meat. Instead He used the occasion to witness to Simon, the Pharisee:

Luk 7:40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
Luk 7:41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
Luk 7:42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
Luk 7:43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that [ he], to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
Luk 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped [ them] with the hairs of her head.
Luk 7:45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
Luk 7:46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Luk 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
Luk 7:48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
Luk 7:49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

I hope this helps you to see that Christ could physically eat with a man whose doctrine was contrary to His own, and yet not allow that person into His own spiritual house. So it is obvious that we too can eat a physical meal with friends and family members whose doctrine is contrary to that of Christ, and if the opportunity arises to witness to them and they refuse the doctrine of Christ, it become a “witness against them.” But we are not to partake of their spiritual food or allow them into our spiritual house.

Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

That is the principle by which we live. We can feed our enemy spiritually, but we are not to partake of our enemy’s food spiritually. Be not overcome of evil ‘doctrine,’ but overcome evil ‘doctrine’ with good ‘doctrine.’

Luk 9:5 And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.

Shaking off the dust from your feet is also a spiritual statement and not a physical ritual. We have no record of Christ ever performing that ritual as they were driven out of certain towns. The disciples were told to do it, but it is no more a required ritual than ‘drinking His blood’.

Mat 10:14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
Luk 9:5 And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.

It is not that which is outside a man that entering into him defiles him. But that doctrine which is in our hearts which, if it is not that of Christ, will defile us.

Mat 15:11 Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man.
Mat 15:18 But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings:
Mat 15:20 these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not the man.

I hope this helps you to see that when Christ or His apostles speak of eating with someone who opposes His Truth, that it is understood that it is “not that which enters into the mouth that defiles a man, but it is that which proceeds out of the mouth that defiles a man.”

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

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