Hi Mike and Sandi,

I was reading ‘Were Judas’s Steps Ordered by God‘, and I found the following sentence:

Consequently there is a Judas in any of us depending only on the sovereignty of God either hedging Judas in or hedging Judas out of each of us. He truly is “working all things after the counsel of His own will.”

I do understand that we have all the types which were written for our admonition within ourselves. What I never really understood is how “we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”

From what you say in that email, Mike, I understand that although all is within us, not all will come out. I know there is a Judas in me, there is a Peter in me, a Saul and a David and a Goliath… although it might not come out in the physical, in the spiritual realm they are all here. It is the hedging in or the hedging out by our Father which makes them come out in the physical realm or not. Do I understand this correctly?

Your brother in Christ,
R____

Hi R____,

This email will be easy to answer because you have answered it yourself.

You are right, we do not have to commit adultery with another man’s wife, kill that man to cover it up as did King David in order to be guilty of adultery and murder. If we deny that we have done such things as murder and adultery, then we, like King David and like Job, are guilty of saying, “I’m not the kind of person who would ever do such a thing as that.” We are like Joseph’s brothers who were indignant that they were being falsely accused of stealing the silver cup of Pharaoh’s comptroller, while still bearing the guilt of having sold their own brother into slavery. If we see ourselves only as Job saw himself in Job 29, then we still have to learn the lesson learned by Job, by Joseph’s brothers and by King David, which lesson is “Thou art the man.”

2Sa 12:5  And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
2Sa 12:6  And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
2Sa 12:7  And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

“The man that has done this thing shall surely die” is a truth that must be acknowledged, and a new man must take his place. It is to our own benefit to realize this truth which you have come to see, because of what our Lord has taught us.

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.

We have no way of knowing exactly what that woman’s sins were. It doesn’t matter exactly what she had done. What does matter and what was of most benefit to that woman and to you and to me, is that she, like the apostle Peter when the cock crowed while he was cursing the air blue and denying his Lord, and like the apostle Paul, who had persecuted the body of Christ; these people all felt that they were the chief of sinners and worthy of death.

It was only after Job acknowledged that he was “vile” instead of righteous that the Lord doubled his wealth back to him. It was only after Joseph’s brother’s acknowledged that they deserved to die for what they had done to Joseph, that they were delivered from their fear of death, and it was only after David realized he was indeed that man who deserved to die, that he was given the assurance that the sword would not depart from his house, but would finish the work of destroying “that man” and securing the kingdom to the new King David.

If the sword of God’s word is always in our own home, then we too, will “die daily” and be “crucified with our Lord” to our own great benefit.

The verse that best explains how we live every word written in the bible is a verse in 1Jn 2.

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

Those three facets of lust encompass “all [sins] that are in the world.” You and I and all who are “in Adam” are “by nature” full of these three facets of lust. They are listed in 1 John in the very order that our mother Eve displayed them, as she saw the forbidden fruit of the forbidden tree first as food, then as beautiful to the eyes and then as “a tree that would make one wise.”  “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” were all in our mother who came out of our Father, and it was there by nature before she ever touched that tree.

If we can see and acknowledge all of that is within us, then we will understand the depth of the truth of these words of the Lord.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

The timing and the rewards may vary, but there is still but “one event [of fiery judgment (1Pe 4:12-17)] to the righteous and to the wicked,” and “all things [really do] come alike to all.”

As you point out, whether we actually, physically commit a depraved act or not is all determined by God either hedging out or bringing in Satan to excite our flesh to commit any given act of depravity. It was all in our father Adam, and it is all in us.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

E___ wrote:
Hi Mike,
I hope you are doing well.  Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to God.  I have learned a lot about God’s truths through you and your site.  You are very much appreciated.
I have a question about the prophecy of Jesus’s birth in Isa 7:14.  Within its context, it is a prophecy to Ahaz and the house of David that the birth of this child would be a sign that God would be with them during the time of trial that was to come when Syria and Israel came up against Judah and Assyria invaded.
From your paper “Rightly Dividing…” I learned that Matthew quoted this seemingly out of context scripture as a fulfillment of prophecy concerning Jesus’s birth because Jesus had opened the apostles’ eyes after his resurrection so that they could see the specific scriptures in the Old Testament that foretold his coming.  In other words, this scripture had a dual fulfillment.
It’s also generally believed that Jesus has been the only human being born from a virgin.  But, to be consistent, wouldn’t the meaning of the verse in Isaiah have to be the same as the meaning when Messiah was born, which would suggest that the child born in Isaiah was also born of a virgin?  Wouldn’t the circumstances surrounding the fulfillment of both the child in Isaiah and of Jesus need to be the same in order for the dual nature of the prophecy to be fulfilled?
I know that there has been a lot of wrangling over the Hebrew word “almah”; some say it means a virgin, others say it means only a young woman of marriageable age.
I’m confused.  Would you be able to straighten this out for me?
God bless,
E____

Hi E____,
Thank you for your question.
I am encouraged that you are profiting spiritually from our efforts to bring light to the darkness which has been cast over God’s Word in the churches of Babylon.
You ask:

“To be consistent, wouldn’t the meaning of the verse in Isaiah have to be the same as the meaning when Messiah was born, which would suggest that the child born in Isaiah was also born of a virgin?  Wouldn’t the circumstances surrounding the fulfillment of both the child in Isaiah and of Jesus need to be the same in order for the dual nature of the prophecy to be fulfilled?

The answer to your question is, no, it is not necessary for Isaiah’s son to be born of a virgin in the same sense as Christ who had no earthly father.
Is it necessary that the dual fulfillment of the prophecy “I have called my son out of Egypt” have similar circumstances? If that were true then Christ would need to be offering incense to Baalim:

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Mat 2:15  And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. 

Perhaps Isaiah’s son, who was born as a sign to King Ahaz, was Isaiah’s first son. Perhaps that child’s mother, Isaiah’s wife, was a virgin before she had this child. But the birth of Christ could not be “the same” simply because, other than Adam himself, Christ is the only person in the history of all mankind, who was not fathered by a physical son of Adam. Christ had Adam’s blood in Him through His mother, but not through a physical Father:

Luk 1:30  And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
Luk 1:31  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
Luk 1:32  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
Luk 1:33  And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Luk 1:34  Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
Luk 1:35  And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Luk 3:23  And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,

On the other hand, Isaiah’s son, whose birth was a sign to King Ahaz, and all of Isaiah’s children were Isaiah’s children:

Isa 8:18  Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

It was not required that either Isaiah or his children be conceived of a virgin, of God’s Holy Spirit, in order to serve as signs and shadows of either physical or or spiritual matters.
Your question insinuates that Isaiah’s son would have to be conceived of the Holy Spirit through a physical virgin in order for this birth to be a type of Christ’s birth. That reasoning would have us to believe that for any of the bullocks, lambs and doves to typify Christ, they would also have to be born of virgin animals and birds and conceived of the Holy Spirit before they could typify Christ.
The birth of Isaiah’s son, like all of the events of the Old Testament, was but a shadow of the spiritual birth of Christ. No ‘shadow’ is the real thing. My shadow is not me. The truth is that we could take things that are not at all like me and make a shadow of me. It’s been a long time since I’ve done so but I can remember showing my children how to use their fingers to make the shadow of a dog on the wall.
Christ is the only person in the history of mankind who was born of the Spirit from His mother’s womb without the need of a ‘road to Damascus’ repentant experience. Christ, being “born of the Spirit from birth, never sinned even though being flesh by his connection to Adam through His mother He “was made sin.”

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay [ Christ’s physical ” body of sin… sinful flesh”] was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
2Co 5:21  For he hath made him [ to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Leave out the words ‘to be’ as they are not in the original Greek. ” He made Him sin for us… in sin did [ His] mother conceive [ Him].” Even Christ’s physical body is but a shadow of “another vessel.”

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

What kind of  flesh was “the same… flesh and blood?”

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh ,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how] to perform that which is good I find not. 

All physical things foreshadow “another vessel, as seems good to the Potter to make it.” In the very same chapter where we are told that Christ was “made sin for us…” we are also told this:

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [ after the flesh].

This next verse was true of Christ from His birth:

Joh 3:34  For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

I hope this helps you to see that a shadow does not need to be like the spiritual reality of which it is a mere outline. Isaiah’s son did not need to be “conceived of the Holy Spirit” of a virgin in order to typify Christ. A “damsel” was indeed sufficient to serve as a shadow of Christ’s coming of a virgin in “sinful flesh.”
Mike