“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” Part 1

(Pro 18:1-7)

[Study Aired August 28, 2025]

Pro 18:1  He who keeps himself separate for his private purpose goes against all good sense.
Pro 18:2 A foolish man has no pleasure in good sense, but only to let what is in his heart come to light.
Pro 18:3 When the evil-doer comes, a low opinion comes with him, and with the loss of honour comes shame.
Pro 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are like deep waters: the fountain of wisdom is like a flowing stream.
Pro 18:5 To have respect for the person of the evil-doer is not good, or to give a wrong decision against the upright.
Pro 18:6 A foolish man’s lips are a cause of fighting, and his mouth makes him open to blows.
Pro 18:7 The mouth of a foolish man is his destruction, and his lips are a net for his soul.

This chapter of proverbs has a strong emphasis on how death and life are in the power of the tongue (Pro 18:21), and what joy there can be when we are blessed to partake of the tree of life (Pro 3:18, Rev 2:7), laying hold on her as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, seeing His life increase within us as we’re given a mind of power, love and soundness, that puts to death our old man who is dying daily (2Ti 1:7, 1Co 2:16, 1Co 15:31).

Pro 3:18  She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

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

Christ’s life within us is what gives us victory over the most unruly member of our body, the tongue, the rutter of our spiritual ship that is a small part of the ship, but when our thoughts our brought into subjection to our Lord, then the whole ship can go in the path God has set before us (Jas 3:4) via the Way, the Life and the Truth, our Hope of Glory within who gives us the power to have minds of peace that are stayed on Him (Jas 3:8, Isa 26:3). As we learn to conduct ourselves together in “the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”, we are in fact helping each other bring our thoughts into subjection so that we speak only those things that are edifying to the body of Christ (1Ti 3:15, Eph 4:29).

Jas 3:4  Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor [Christ Php 2:12-13] listeth.

Happy is the man that finds wisdom [Christ (Joh 6:44)] and gets understanding (Pro 3:13), and what must happen to make that more than just an ‘anon with joy’ reality (Mat 13:20) in the lives of God’s children is answered in the preceding verse (Pro 3:12). In other words, it is not enough to just find wisdom, but if we are blessed to continue in the truth and have that wisdom tried through much tribulation (Joh 8:32-33), then as we near the end of our spiritual sojourn we will be able to say with Paul, I “now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24).

That same sentiment is expressed by the parable that states ‘a red sky at night is a sailors delight’, because that sailor has gone through the storms of life [symbolized by the one Day of the Lord], and has witnessed God’s faithfulness and can now say that even these trials in the latter part of their life is something they can delight in, knowing the Lord is faithful and that nothing can separate us from his love toward us that will culminate with the beautiful sunrise of the morning that represents the first resurrection. The ‘hypocrites’ could not discern the meaning of the parable, and were as we all did at one time, only looking for the outward physical signs as proof that we we’re blessed of God, not seeing the need to be tried in the fire of His word, the red sky in the evening (Mat 16:2, 2Ti 4:8).

Pro 3:12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth;(Heb 12:6) even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Pro 3:13  Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

Mat 16:2  He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.

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

It’s the son who is being received, who is being corrected, chastened and scourged in this life, and it is our own iniquities that chasten us as we self-righteously partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not yet having had our senses exercised through fiery trials so that we can discern good and evil (Heb 5:14), and benefit from that strong meat that takes time to be able to digest. Thankfully in due time, Christ who is the tree of life, died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6) and by God’s goodness we were led unto repentance so that we can partake of His life that gives us the strength and victory over sin, now with the ability to discern good and evil as a result of having our senses exercised through much tribulation (Gen 2:9, Rev 22:14, Act 14:22).

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

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

It takes the humbling experiences that God’s people go through in this life in order to become a people who are abased and made ready to rule the kingdoms of this world (Mat 18:3), having been given victory over the sinful kingdoms of this world within us first, so we can rule the kingdoms of this world outwardly one day (1Pe 5:6, Rev 11:15).

Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

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

God has to give us the power to lay hold upon her [Wisdom] (Joh 6:44), and with eyes that are now open and ears unstopped we can be quickened by His words of eternal life (Joh 6:63) that, if we are blessed to continue in, will lead to our salvation in this age (Joh 8:31-32).

our first verses:

Pro 18:1  Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
Pro 18:2  A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

Christ’s spirit in the body of Christ gives us the power to ‘intermeddle’ with Christ our husband who has all wisdom (Jas 1:5). God is the one dragging us to His son and Christ is the one working within us both to will and to do of our Father’s good pleasure (Php 2:12-13). So the “desire of a man” which brings us to separate ourselves from Babylon is all of God and is the miracle of our calling that has been hidden from the masses (Rom 8:14-16, Joh 6:44, Mat 22:14).

So we ask of God for wisdom, but Christ is the mediator for us who drives the beasts out of our temple, the foolish part of us that has no delight in understanding His wisdom, and mind. The proverb says, “that his [the fool’s] heart may discover itself” and is the way that seems right to a man but leads to death and no spiritual growth and connecting to the body of Christ, our body, that is made up of many joints that supply in love (Rom 8:17, Eph 4:16, Rom 12:4-5).

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, (Php 1:29, 1Co 10:16) that we may be also glorified together.

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

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.

Pro 18:3  When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt [disrespect], and with ignominy [dishonour] reproach [disgrace].

It’s when God shows us who we are by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our heavens that “the wicked cometh” (2Th 2:8, Pro 16:4), and that wickedness within us is accompanied with contempt [disrespect], ignominy [dishonour], and reproach [disgrace] expressed through lying lips within us that are there ‘for but a moment’ (Pro 12:19, Jas 4:14) and will be silenced by God’s chastening grace that teaches us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts (Tit 2:11-12) (Psa 31:17-18).

Psa 31:17  Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
Psa 31:18  Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously [with contempt [disrespect], ignominy [dishonour], and reproach [disgrace] ] against the righteous.

These verses below show us that God uses evil for good, and that Satan, the evil smith is the one that God uses to blow on the coals within us, to create the conditions for the fiery trials that we are not to think as something strange that is happening to us in this age as God’s elect. God also uses the seraphims [God’s messengers] to use the effect of those coals of God’s word to minister unto the body of Christ (1Pe 4:12, Job 2:4-6).

Job 2:4  And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:5  But put forth thine hand now, [Satan is God’s hand Psa 17:13, Isa 10:5] and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

Isa 44:12  The smith [Satan] with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. [At this time Satan is not benefiting from these coals, but is being used of God to try, test, tempt, and accuse God’s people]

Isa 44:19  And none considereth in his heart (Pro 14:12), neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire (1Pe 4:12); yea, also I have baked bread [God’s word being refined within us] upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

Isa 44:19  And no one takes note, no one has enough knowledge or wisdom to say, I have put part of it in the fire, and made bread on it; I have had a meal of the flesh cooked with it: and am I now to make the rest of it into a false god? am I to go down on my face before a bit of wood? [BBE]

[Is God going to put us through all the trials of this life and take us so far and then just let us slip back into making an idol of our flesh. The answer is given in (Isa 44:21 “thou shalt not be forgotten of me”). This question of God reminds us that this residue, or remnant [the elect] that he is trying in the fire will not be forgotten, we are His blessed and holy workmanship, that are overcoming the giants in this life little and by little to the glory of God. We do fall back and lose our first love, and make an idol of the beast whose deadly wound is healed (Rev 13:12), but then as God’s people He destroys that idol, that “bit of wood” that is left so we can inherit eternal life (Num 14:9)]

Isa 44:20  He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? [we ask who can make war with the beast, and we carry that lie until we don’t by God’s grace and the faith of Christ (Rev 13:4)]
Isa 44:21  Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

Isa 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Isa 6:7  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. [Fervent love covers a multitude of sins 1Pe 4:8]

[The elect take the word of God, which is likened unto a live coal that represents the trial of our faith as a means to help us grow and comfort others with the comfort that God comforts us with (2Co 1:4). We bear the trials together [the cross], the coal that is hot and handled with tongs, which tongs also represents the word of God, telling us we learn to handle our trials with the word of God, as we continue in the truth and find safety within a multitude of counsellors. The coal is taken off the altar, where the elect are bound (Psa 118:27) [the many joints that supply]

Pro 18:4  The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

The living waters that flow from the body of Christ spoken of in (Joh 7:38) can be likened unto “the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook” as a result of the faith of Christ that has been given to us.

The words of a man’s life are likened unto “deep waters” that come from a well, but it is not just any well or any water that we must be drawn to (Joh 6:44) in order to have living waters flow forth from us as “a flowing brook” (Joh 4:13-15, 1Co 2:11-16).

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Joh 4:15  The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Pro 18:5  It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.
Pro 18:6  A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.
Pro 18:7  A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.

“Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity” of (Pro 17:26) is a very parallel proverb to (Pro 18:5) which says it’s “not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment”. It is by the grace of God that we are able to keep a bridle on our lips and mouth and heart, and not ‘speak as a fool’, which can and does get us into a lot of trouble, especially if we are being judged in this age.

Pro 18:6  The lips of a fool enter into an argument and his mouth invites a beating. (TLV)
Pro 18:6  The lips of a fool enter into strife, and his mouth invites a flogging. (NET)
Pro 18:6  When some fool starts an argument, he is asking for a beating. (GNB)
Pro 18:6  Foolish talk will get you into a lot of trouble. (CEV)

We need those coal spoken of earlier on our lips in order to cease from sinning, as God alone can put an end to ‘the lips that enter into contention’, or ‘a foolish mouth that is our destruction’, or ‘lips that are a snare to our soul’. Iniquity will be cut off, thanks be to God (Psa 94:23).

Psa 94:23  And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

God knows our frame (Psa 51:2-5), and has made a way for us to be more than conquerors through Christ (Tit 2:13-15) who can give us the power to be more than conquerors of these weak conditions that are found in all flesh (Rom 8:37,  Php 4:13).

Psa 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psa 51:4  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
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.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

As we go through the rest of this chapter we will look more closely at why “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” is a truth that incentivizes us to keep fighting a good fight of faith, knowing that we are committing our lives as unto a faithful Creator who loves us and has the greatest of plans for each of us (2Ti 4:6-8, 1Pe 4:17-19).

2Ti 4:6  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
2Ti 4:7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

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

Rev 13:14-18 Part 2, The Mark of The Beast

[Study Aired February 2, 2025]

Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

We ended our last study with the question, “What happens to those who overcome that image, mark, number and name of the beast?” Here is what happens to such a person.

Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Another way of saying what this verse says is:

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

The mark, name, number and image of our beast are one and all associated with our knowledge of, and faith in, the doctrines of the great red dragon who is the father of the beast within us. We are even told that when we worship the beast, we are actually worshiping the dragon.

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

So we have all or none at all, ‘the name, number, mark and image’ while we worship the beast and our father the devil.  The name, number, mark and image are all one package. Notice how that is demonstrated in these two verses:

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

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

So the “mark of the beast” and the “number of the beast” are both demonstrations of “his name.” The name of the beast has no more to do with whether it is Lucifer or Beelzebub than the blaspheming of God’s name has to do with how His name ‘Yahweh’ is pronounced phonetically. The ‘name’ of the beast, like the name of God, has only to do with what others see in us, while we all claim to be of Christ. That is what Christ meant when He made this statement:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

“The name of God” is what Paul meant when he said this:

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

So the word ‘name’ in scripture has nothing at all to do with whether God’s name is pronounced with a Y or a J (there is no ‘j’ in the Hebrew alphabet). God wants His “good name” to be respected by how we live our lives in obedience to the “things He says”. That is the meaning of “a good name”.

Pro 22:1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

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

The image, number, mark and name of the beast, like the name of God, is recognized as being upon us by the life we are living. When we tremble at God’s Word, we will never blaspheme His name, and we will always do the things He says to do. When we fail to do that, then we automatically blaspheme God and those who dwell in heaven, and we demonstrate that we have the image, name, number and mark of the beast.

The “two horns like a lamb” of the beast that ‘comes up out of the earth and speaks as a dragon’ tells us that this part of our self-centered beastly progression is cloaked in a very powerful religious experience.

Psa 75:10  All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

‘Horns’ signify power whether they are the horns of the wicked or the horns of the righteous. Any farmer knows that a small bull with horns will dominate a large bull without horns. A large bull with large horns, which is what the “ten horns” of the beast signify, will dominate “all the world”:

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Another symbol of this part of the “all things [which] are all ours” is the great harlot of Revelation 17-18.

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon [the beast of the earth] the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants [false apostate ministers] of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

“The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies… Come out of her my people…” It is by coming out of Babylon that God’s people are considered to be “the smell of death” to those who are in Babylon, and it is by coming out of Babylon that we can no longer “buy or sell” her merchandise. While we are in Babylon, our beast with two horns causes us to prosper in the sales of her goods, because we fit in with Babylon and with her traditions and her doctrines. When we leave “that great city”, we begin to experience victory over the image, name, number and mark of the beast. When we begin to “come out of Babylon”, we then deny that we have a will that is free from the will of God (Job 23:13; Rom 9:16; Eph 1:11 and Php 2:13):

When we appropriate to ourselves the “all things” which the Lord is working after the counsel of His own will” we are worshiping the beast, and when we acknowledge God’s sovereignty in all things then that is when Christ begins destroying the power of “the beast with two horns like a lamb, who speaks as a dragon”, who is the same as the “man of sin, the son of perdition” who “sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

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.
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

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

The “worship of the image of the beast” of Revelation 13:15, and the worship of one’s self “sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”, is the one and same spiritual fornication and adultery in which we all indulge, at that time and place in our “experience of evil”, during which time we are dominated by the doctrines and traditions of Babylon while we are in these vessels of “corruption” called “flesh and blood” (Ecc 1:13, CLV; 1Co 15:50).

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.

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

Put another way, our beast with two horns like a lamb, speaking as a dragon, is one and the same as our man of sin, who sits in the temple which we are, and demands our unwavering self-serving worship, of doing what our flesh wants to do and seeking to know only what is permissible, and building on the foundation of Christ with ‘wood, hay, and stubble’ to please ourselves instead of building on the foundations of Christ with ‘gold, silver and precious stones’, seeking to do that which is commendable to please the incoming king who destroys our two-horned lamb which speaks as a dragon, and our man of sin within us in “the day of Christ”.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

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.

The ‘gold, silver and precious stones’ of God are His doctrines, His thoughts and His mind. The ‘wood, hay, and stubble’ are the corrupted doctrines of devils which have ‘gone out into the world’ via “many false prophets.”

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Only those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear (Mat 13:10-15) are capable of ‘trying the spirits to see whether they are of God”:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, [I speak in parables to the multitudes who come to  me] Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Until it is “given to [us]” we cannot hear, see or hear “the mysteries of the kingdom of God” which He is working “after the counsel of His own will”:

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

Here is what we think of ourselves before we are given eyes that see and ears that hear, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven:

Rev 3:13  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
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.

Verse 17 describes the true worth of the merchandise of Babylon, while verse 18 contrasts Babylon’s merchandise with the true wealth of the “keeping of every word of God” (Mat 4:4), and the wealth of obeying His commandment to “keep the things written in this book” (Rev 1:3).

Revelation 3:14-18, explains it all. That which imparts to us the image of the beast is that which we value and which we so eagerly “buy and sell.” Just as our new man is “renewed in knowledge after the image of Christ”, in the same manner our old man is renewed in knowledge after the image of his father the devil. It is the doctrines, the thoughts and the mind of both God and the Adversary, which are also their gold, silver and precious stones, and it is the loss of all that “merchandise” which causes the death of both. That’s right, Babylonians consider their false doctrines of the twisted words of Christ just as valuable as we think of the Truths of the doctrine of Christ:

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation [of Christ] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

Rev 18:12  The merchandise [signifying lying false doctrines] of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, [in Babylon]

We all choose the merchandise of Babylon and the worship of our own “man of sin”, first. Then when Christ does come into our hearts and minds, all the delicacies of Babylon suddenly begin to be seen for their true worthlessness, and our “man of sin”, whom we have served for so long, begins to be “destroyed by the brightness of [the] coming of [Christ]” into our hearts and minds to claim His rightful place on the throne of our hearts.

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

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:

Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Rev 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble [2Th 2:8, Rev 18:10-12, and Rev 3:17-18, are all one and the same event].

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.

Here again is part of that “experience of evil… one event”, we must all first endure:

Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.

“He that has wisdom” knows that which signifies is not the same as that which is being signified. If it were then the parables of Christ would have no function in keeping the multitude deaf and blind. The man who has wisdom, has Christ, and Christ knows by the scriptures themselves what each and every symbol signifies. This number of the beast is the number of mankind, and that number is three sixes because the spiritual significance of the number six is all of mankind. That number is three sixes because “he that has understanding” knows what is the spiritual significance of the number three, and that significance is the process of being judged:

Numbers in Scripture – Three: The Process of Spiritual Completion Through Judgment

It is knowing the spiritual significance of the symbols used to signfy what Christ is doing in our lives that “is wisdom”:

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind, and its number is six hundred sixty-six. (CLV)

When our “iniquities are [being made] full” (Gen 15:16) through keeping the things which are written in this book, written in our book (Psa 139:16 ASV; Rev 1:3), our number is 666. It is only after our judgment begins that we can look behind us to see what God has wrought in us:

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

This book is the record of the process of judgment of the beast we all are, and it is all His work of bringing us to see the insidiousness of our self-centered ways and our unwillingness to part with all the things of our life in this world. That judgment is presented to us in three parts; seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials. He that has wisdom is not looking for an outward stamp on his physical right hand or on his physical forehead. Instead he is searching his own heart and asking what is commendable to better serve and glorify the new king of his new man’s heart. The number ‘six’ in all of its multiples is the number of an incompleted image of Christ. It is the number of mankind in sinful flesh and blood, and that is what these verses actually tell us:

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are [aorist tense, being] changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This is the number that has been attached to Adam since the sixth day of the creation of God, when all the beasts of the earth were created, and “the son of man” was created just “a little lower than the angels”.

Gen 1:25  And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Psa 8:4  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Psa 8:5  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

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

As Ecclesiastes 3:18 tells us, mankind is a beast, and the number six, in any of its multiples, is the number which will forever be attached to mankind in the mind of “him that hath wisdom.”

As an interesting aside, sixty-six is the number which signifies our going down into Egypt, separated from the family of Joseph, the symbol of Christ:

Gen 46:26  All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; [66]

It takes Joseph and his family to bring us up to “three score and ten”.

Gen 46:27  And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten. [70]

Summary

Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

We saw in this verse that miracles are not the same as truth, and that miracles are actually used by God to deceive us when we are not yet given to appreciate the value of Christ who is the Truth. We saw that it is that Truth, the Word of God, that was used to inflict the temporary “deadly wound” upon our first beast, who was then healed of that wound, and returned to the state of once again becoming a healthy wild beast who opposes and withstands the truths of the Word of God.

We also learned in our study of this verse, that it is our coming to the knowledge of The Truth, and our faith in The Truth of God’s word which causes us to begin to take on the image of His Son.

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

We saw that it is our “love of the true… knowledge of Christ and His Father”, which changes our old “image” from the image of “our father the devil” into the “new man… the image of Him that created us”. As we come to “see” and “know God and Jesus Christ” we are “transformed into that same image, from glory to glory”.

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

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

“As in a glass” means that we are reflecting and being transformed into the image of Christ.

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.

Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

In this verse we saw that our second beast, who is described earlier in our studies as a beast with “two horns like a lamb, but speaking as a dragon”, is the symbol which is used to signify the time we spend in the sphere of the influence of the great harlot called Babylon the great. It is while we are in this “great city”, also portrayed as our beast with “two horns like a lamb”, that we are actually brought to worship and to take upon ourselves the “image of the beast” who was healed of his deadly wound.

We saw in this verse that just as our knowledge of and faith in the truths of the doctrine of Christ causes us to “be transformed into His image”, in the exact same manner, it is the knowledge of and our faith in the doctrines of our inward beast who literally “buys” into the doctrines of the great red dragon, which imparts to us “the image of the beast”.

In this verse we also saw that it is at this point, having bought into the doctrines of the dragon, that we come to hate those who have overcome the image, name, number and mark of the beast and who having overcome the name of the beast, are now faithful to the Truth of Christ’s Words. It is our hatred of those truths, and our hatred of those out of whose mouths those truths and doctrines are coming, that causes us to “kill” those who are no longer worshiping “the image of the beast”.

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

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

We saw that this verse six times qualifies the meaning of the word ‘all’, and we saw that there is not one exception to this rule. While Christ never sinned and always resisted the temptations of His flesh, He was still in flesh which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and even He had to struggle against what was in His “forehead” when confronted with the specter of imminent death.

Luk 22:41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will [of my flesh], but thine, be done.
Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Luk 22:44  And being in an agony [struggling against His flesh] he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Christ was truly “the son of man” and as such was struggling against the flesh of the first Adam, just as we do.

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God [“One God, the Father”, 1Co 8:6]: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Luk 13:31  The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee.
Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Christ does not lie. He knew He was made of a woman, made under the law, and He knew what that meant, even if we do not. In the gospels He calls Himself “the Son of Man” 16 times more often, than He tells us that He is “the Son of God”. He is, of course both, but the overwhelming emphasis is upon His humanity, and His ability to identify with our pain and our struggles.

Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

In this verse we learned that the merchandise of both Christ and the dragon, are their different doctrines. Their doctrines are their names:

Pro 22:1  A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

We learned that we all buy into the doctrines of demons before we buy into the doctrine of Christ. We also learned that the mark, name, number and image of the beast are all speaking of the doctrines of the dragon, who is the spiritual father of our inward beast.

Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.

We saw that the number of mankind is six because mankind, right along with all the “beasts of the earth”, was created on the sixth day, and we learned that all the multiples of six serve only to magnify and demonstrate the fact that man without Christ is not the completed image of Christ, and is nothing more than a beast and has no preeminence above a beast.

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.

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

We are being “changed into the same image” of Christ, and that process began in Eden.

In our next study, Lord willing, we will be encouraged and reminded that those who first keep the things written in this book, are those who will have their heavenly Father’s name written in their foreheads as “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Rev 14:4). The reason they have their heavenly Father’s name is because they have come to know Him and have begun to think as He thinks and to see that mankind must “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” and must therefore “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book”.

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

Rev 13:3-5 Part 1, His Deadly Wound was Healed

[Study Aired January 10, 2025]

In this study we will seek to understand, among other things, what is meant by telling us that one of the beast’s seven heads had received a deadly wound and the wound was healed.

Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Introduction

We need to be reminded of three things before we begin this study.

1) “Blessed is he that reads, hears, and keeps the things which are written” in these three verses as well as all the other “prophecies of this book” (Rev 1:3 and 22:7). This means that…

2) This chapter, the previous chapter, and the next two chapters, are all part of a long introduction to, and the culmination of, the revelation of what is the work of the seventh trumpet in our lives. That work is revealed in Revelation 15 and 16, as the pouring out of the seven last plagues upon all of our “ungodliness and unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). We are told that ‘No man can enter the temple in heaven until the seven last plagues of God’s wrath begins to be poured out in each person’s life.’ Revelation 15:8 is in the aorist tense signifying that this ‘pouring out of these seven last plagues is a process that must first begin in us as “the house of God” (1Pe 4:17) before we can begin entering the temple in  heaven:

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled^G1072 [G5681-Aorist tense] with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter^G1525 [G5629-Aorist tense] into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled^G5055 [G5686-Aorist tense].

3) The last thing we need to remember before we begin this study is that the pouring out of these seven plagues is the working of the Lord Himself giving the beast within us a deadly wound to all seven of his heads after the deadly wound of one of our seven heads is healed. This revelation of Jesus Christ shows us the evil experience the Lord gives us to humble all of us. It does this with the emphasis upon how stubborn and rebellious we all are by nature, and how loath is the beast we are to relinquish to the Lord His throne.

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

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

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

Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour [our new man], and another unto dishonour? [Our old man]

We all “live by every word” (Mat 4:4) including our own “day of evil” (Pro 16:4). While in that ‘day of evil’ it is the Lord who sends evil spirits to “harden [our] hearts” and to “cause us to err from His ways”.

He calls this process “strong delusion”:

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he [“the beast… the son of perdition”] might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
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.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

God, the Father, Himself tempts no man, but God created a tempter to do His tempting for Him:

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God is without temptation of evils, and he himself tempts no man. (ASV)

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

1Th 3:5  For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

When the Lord turns us over to the tempter, He refers to that trial as “strong delusion”. It is not a ‘weak delusion’. It is a self-righteous delusion of iniquity to which we attach ourselves with great resolve, and we “believe a lie”.

Eze 33:13  When I say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in his iniquity [“His righteousness”] that he hath committed, therein shall he die.

Part of that “strong delusion” includes giving us a deadly wound which causes us to sincerely, “anon with joy” receive the truth and rejoice in it for a short time. However, in time “when triblation or persecution arises because of the word by and by we  are offended, or the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and we become unfruitful and in time we believes a lie and are condemned.

Mat 13:18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root [Christ (Rev 22:16)] in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

“The deceitfulness of riches” includes the deceitful false doctrines which have enriched so many of us in our own time. All of this is “strong delusion”, which is the meaning of “his deadly wound was healed”:

Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

For the beast within us to be wounded, “as it were wounded to death”, requires the work of the Word of God. Only God’s Word can deliver a wound which would give our first head a deadly wound. The word translated ‘one’ in this verse is the Greek word ‘mia’ and carries with it the thought of ‘first’ as well as ‘one of…’ ‘Mia’ is most often translated with the English word ‘one’, and this is completely proper. It is also eight times translated ‘first’, as in “the first day of the week” and “after the first and second admonition reject”. It should be clear from scripture the “one of his heads” that was “as it were wounded unto death”, would only logically be the first, most immature head of our beast within.

Mat 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first [G3391: mia] day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Tit 3:10 A man that is an heretick after the first [G3391: mia] and second admonition reject;

How is this wound inflicted?

It is when God first begins to bring us to the point that we see our need for a Savior that this first head receives a “deadly wound.” The Old Testament type of this deadly wound being healed is when Israel cried out to God for a Savior with an innocent and sincere heart, and God heard their cry and delivered them from their oppressors. This is the Old Testament type of the Word of the Lord giving our inward beast a deadly wound when we are first caused to cry out to God for our salvation.

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child [H5288, ‘naar’, “a youth”, an immature child], then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
Hos 11:4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.

When God heals us, He does so by causing the beast within us to receive a “deadly wound”.

Joh 3:30 He [“Christ in you”] must increase, but I [the beast that I am by nature] must decrease.

The only thing that can make war with this beast is Christ and His Word. We of ourselves are hopeless to overcome our own beastly flesh:

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

So what is it that delivers this “deadly wound”? We are not left to speculate. We are plainly told:

Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles [real miracles] which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Since we are told that Christ can, and in the end He does, destroy this beast “with the sword of His mouth”, we therefore know that the only thing that could inflict this “deadly wound” on this beast is the sword of the Word of God.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Rev 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast [aorist tense] alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain [aorist tense] with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled [aorist tense] with their flesh.

“Who is able to make war with the beast?” It is the Christ with the “sword which proceeds out of His mouth” who can and does “make war with the beast” and who will with that “sword… smite the nations” within us, and cast the beast and the false prophet within us into “fiery trials which will burn up our old man with all of his ‘wood, hay and stubble’ in  us, as well as every evil thought in all the rest of mankind at a later fiery experience known as “the lake of fire”. The ‘lake of fire’ is just another symbol for the fiery work of the Word of God which takes place after the saints of this age rule with Christ for a thousand years. It is the great white throne/lake of fire/second death which will purify every man who has ever lived. This fiery work takes place only “when the thousand years are expired”:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, [Those who in this present time die to their old man first] and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection [“the resurrection of life” (Joh 5:27-30)]: on such the second death [White throne judgment, “resurrection of judgment” (Joh 5:27-30)] hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The Defeat of Satan

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever [At the great white throne judgment].
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The fiery trial of this present time and the fire of the lake of fire “when the thousand years are expired” are the same ‘fire’ in both instances. This is clear to all who have the mind of Christ, because we are clearly told that both ‘fire’ and the ‘sword’ are symbols of the law and Word of God.

Deu 33:2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.

2Sa 22:9 There went up a smoke out of his [the Lord’s] nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them [God’s “two witnesses”], fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

What happened to the Lord’s son, Israel, after he was given a deadly wound and was called out of Egypt? Here is the Old Testament spiritual type of the healing of the deadly wound of “one of the heads” of the beast within us all. This is what we all do.

Hos 11:2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

Here is Hosea 11:2 in Christ’s words:

Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

“Making one proselyte” symbolizes “a deadly wound with a sword” and “twofold more the child of Gehenna than yourselves” is the “healing of the deadly wound” of the first head of our beast.

Now let’s examine verse four:

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

How do we “worship the dragon which gives power to the beast?” The first thing we need to realize is that we do not think we are worshiping the dragon while we are doing so. Those who “worship the dragon” actually believe they are worshiping Christ and His Father.

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then] are ye my disciples indeed;

Speaking to “those Jews which believed on Him”, Christ said this:

Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Joh 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye [andI] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

“You do the deeds of your father… you are of your father the devil…” That is us when we “believe on [Christ]”, claim the name “Christian” and refuse to “hear [and do] His word.” That is how we “worship the dragon who gives the beast his power and throne and great authority.” As Christ tells us here, when we first come to Him as the first head of the beast, we “cannot hear His word.”

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

What orthodox Christian can hear and obey Christ’s speech which says:

Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell [ Greek – Gehenna] fire.

What so-called ‘Christian’ can hear and obey Christ’s speech which says:

Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Finally, what Christian can hear these words of Christ’s speech?

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

There it is in plain English. “That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven”. We are God’s children only when we “do the things that He says.” Likewise, we are “of our father the devil” when we do not do the things he says, and worship and serve the beast who is the seed of the serpent, having seven heads and ten horns, just like his father.

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

We will pause our study at this point and in our next study we will consider the spiritual significance of “forty and two months”:

Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Rev 9:20-21-Part 4-The Sixth Trumpet

[Study Aired Sept 1, 2024]

We are continuing to seek to know the scriptural significance of all the symbols used to inform us of our judgment, and the judgment of all men in the sixth trumpet.

Rev 9:20  And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Rev 9:21  Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

The rest of the men

8) “The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues” tells us that God’s wrath is on all our self-righteous, ungodliness, and His Wrath is an ongoing yet incomplete process in which we are “dying daily” and being “crucified with Christ” daily. If we do not believe on Christ and do the things He says then we are not ‘dying daily’ and ‘His wrath abides on us’:

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

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.  [I am “killed by these plagues… 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.

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
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, [dying daily and being crucified with Christ daily]
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Yet repented not of the works of their hands

9) “Yet repented not of the works of their hands” signifies the same ongoing judgment which is upon the self-righteous “worship of devils” and “idols of the heart” with which we struggle for so very long. All of this is leading up to the revelation and the judgment of self- righteous Babylon within us in chapters 17 and 18. It is we who are admonished to “read, hear, and keep the things written therein”:

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.

We read and we actually understand those words and yet we struggle every day to apply the Lord’s words of admonition to ourselves instead of all those sinners somewhere ‘out there’

Jeremiah admonishes us:

Jer 2:30  In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. [Our own words condemn us “like a destroying lion”]

Luk 19:22  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

Paul admonishes us:

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: [All men, Eph 2:2, are by nature “the children of disobedience”].
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog [is] turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

We all ‘lose or first love’ (Rev 2:4) and “return to [our] own vomit [and our] wallowing in the mire”.

Idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood

10) “Idols of gold, silver, brass, stone and wood” are these very same false convictions with which we struggle, ranging from the false doctrine of salvation through self-righteous good works to “turning grace into lasciviousness”. These are all false doctrines called “idols of the heart.”

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity [self-righteousness, Eze 33:13] before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Eze 16:18  And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
Eze 16:19  My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, [wherewith] I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and [thus] it was, saith the Lord GOD.

“The stumbling block of our iniquity” is our own self-righteousness, the most insidious of sins. Ezekiel defines this phrase for us in:

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

When we fail to believe these following verses, at that moment we become self-righteous:

Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [G1670, ‘helkuo’, drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth [How much clearer can the Lord be?], nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

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

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.

Which neither see, nor hear, nor walk

11) “Which neither see, nor hear, nor walk” is the perfect spiritual description of these self-righteous idols of the heart which have taken away our spiritual sight, our spiritual ears, and therefore our ability to walk in Christ’s  steps and live as Christ lived.

Job 12:25  They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like [a] drunken [man].

Isa 59:12  For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions [are] with us; and [as for] our iniquities, we know them;
Isa 59:13  In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
Isa 59:14  And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
Isa 59:15  Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it displeased him that [there was] no judgment.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16  But blessed [are] your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

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.
Joh 9:40  And [some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth

Neither repented they of their murders

12) “Neither repented they of their murders” signifies both the hatred which is in our hearts for our fellow man, as well as the blasphemous doctrine of a “Christian soldier” being a physical soldier physically fighting for his country.

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

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

Nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication,

13) Refusing to repent of “…their sorceries, [and] their fornication” signifies the tenacity of the false doctrines of “another Jesus” which cling to us even as we are being judged “in one day… the day of the Lord… the day of His wrath”, and as we are struggling to be free of them, and of the influences of “another Jesus”.

Isa 47:9  But these two [things] shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, [and] for the great abundance of thine enchantments.

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

Rev 2:14  But I have a few things against thee (Pergamos), because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Rev 2:20  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee (Thyatira), because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.

Rev 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

14) The gold and silver implements of the temple signify the doctrines and thoughts of our Lord:

Rev 9:20  And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Rev 9:21  Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

“Nor of their thefts” tells us that we have stolen God’s Words and doctrines of gold and silver, and we have twisted them and have perverted them and have used them in that way to cover the idols of our hearts and the doctrines of “another Jesus” signified by all those “idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood”.

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

Joe 3:5  Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

These are not physical idols in either Ezekiel, or Joel, or Revelation. These are self-righteous idols of our hearts, made by twisting God’s gold and God’s silver, which signify His Words and His doctrines. These are self-righteous “idols of the heart… images of men” which we have “made to ourselves”, and we commit whoredoms and fornication against our Lord by believing in and living by those self-righteous “idols of the heart.”

Our ‘idols of our hearts’ are always accompanied by “the stumbling block of [our self-righteous] iniquity”:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

‘Iniquity’ is defined as “trusting to our own righteousness”:

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

That is exactly what every harlot does. Spiritual ‘harlots’ do not perceive themselves as harlots at all. This is what a spiritual harlot always does:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

A spiritual harlot cannot see that she is spiritually malnourished and naked. Instead, this is how she perceives herself:

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

What this “adulterous woman” is eating is “[her] own bread” while she is dressed in [her] own apparel”, and she really believes that “I have done no wickedness” and she “has need of nothing”, while the spiritual truth is that “thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”.

The whole world is groaning and travailing with us as we are being judged. But there are far more of those men who continue in their self-righteous, rebellious ways and do not repent who will be judged at a later resurrection, the resurrection of the great white throne judgment:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920, ‘krisis’, judgment].

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Summary

Here is what we have just seen in the demonstration of the spirit (the Word, Joh 6:63) and of power [the Word, 1Co 2:4).

Mat 22:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

1Co 2:4  And my speech and my preaching [was] not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in [words of the] demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of [the words of] God.

God’s words are His power. It is our fidelity to His words which empowers us to overcome the adversary and all His lies.

Ecc 8:4  Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

All these symbols signify what the Lord is doing with His power:

1) An army signifies ongoing spiritual warfare within us all.

2) Men on the horses signify the incredible power and influence of the testimony and doctrines of this vast army which is within us.

3) The number two, as in “two hundred thousand, thousand” tells us  that  that there are myriads of false witnesses to all those false doctrines.

4) The breastplates of fire and of jacinth, and brimstone on the horsemen tell us that we will be judged by the words of our own mouths and by the very doctrines we have been teaching to others.

5) The death of “the third part of men” tells us that we are dealing with the process of judgment upon “the inhabiters of the earth,” upon the house of God first (1Pe 4:17).

6) The fact that the power of these horses is in their mouths, which are “as the mouth of a lion,” instead of coming out of the mouth of the men on the horses, tells us that the horse and his rider are both one and the same beast speaking all the same lying doctrines of demons.

7) “Their power is in their mouth and in their tails” tells us that these are the false doctrines of false prophets with which doctrines we all have been hurt, and from which we are being delivered by the process of judgment which is at this very moment taking place in “the house of God.”

Isa 9:15  The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

8) “The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues” tells us that God’s wrath is on all ungodliness, and this is an ongoing, yet incomplete process in which we are “dying daily,” and being “crucified with Christ” daily.

9) “Yet repented not of the works of their hands” signifies the same ongoing judgment which is upon the “worship of devils” and “idols of the heart” with which we struggle so very long.

10) “Idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood” are these very same false convictions with which we struggle, ranging from the false doctrine of salvation through good works, to “turning grace into lasciviousness.”

11) “Which neither see, nor hear, nor walk” is the perfect spiritual description of these ‘idols of the heart’ which have taken away our spiritual sight, our spiritual ears, and therefore our ability to walk in Christ’s footsteps and live as Christ lived.

12) “Neither repented they of their murders” signifies the false doctrine of a “Christian soldier” being blessed to be a physical soldier physically fighting for God and country, as well as failing to understand that hatred of one’s fellow man is spiritually the same as murder (1Jn 3:15).

13) “Nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication” both signify the tenacity of the false doctrines of “another Jesus,” which cling to us, even as we struggle to be free of them, and of him.

14) “Nor of their thefts” tells us that we have stolen God’s Words and have twisted them, and have perverted them, and have used them in that way to cover the idols of our hearts, and the doctrines of “another Jesus.”

Next week, Lord willing, we will consider what is the little book in the hand of Christ, and why it is that we are not given the message contained in the voices of the seven thunders.

Rev 10:1  And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face [was] as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
Rev 10:2  And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and [his] left [foot] on the earth,
Rev 10:3  And cried with a loud voice, as [when] a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
Rev 10:4  And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
Rev 10:5  And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
Rev 10:6  And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Ezekiel 14:1-23 Idols in our Hearts – The Stumbling Block of our Iniquity

[Study Aired April 22, 2024]

Introduction

We will look at chapter 14 of Ezekiel which deals principally with idols of our hearts, which the Bible calls the stumbling block of our iniquity. Idols are images made by man and worshiped as deities. Since these idols are the work of man, they reflect man’s carnal wisdom and tradition. 

1Ch 16:26  For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. 

Isa 2:8  Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 

Isa 45:16  They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.

The idols of the heart, therefore, represent the false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition which prevent us from knowing the truth of the word of the Lord. Right at the beginning of creation, when Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent, the Lord told Adam that because of what he had done, the earth or ground was cursed such that he shall eat from the earth in sorrow and that thorns and thistles shall the earth bring forth.  

Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

The thorns and the thistles that come from the earth means that what naturally comes from our earthen vessels or flesh is false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition which is represented here by thorns and thistles.

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

We know from the word of the Lord that we are able to appreciate spiritual truth by the things that are made. No father or mother teaches his children how to lie. However, children naturally lie. Since they are earthen vessels, what comes out are these thorns and thistles or false doctrines.  

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:

In Paul’s farewell speech to the elders of Ephesus, he warned them that of their own selves men shall arise speaking perverse things. Our own selves here refer to our earthen vessels that naturally come up with false doctrines, that is, perverse things.  

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

The fact that we have come to know the Lord does not extricate us from false doctrines in our heavens or earthen vessels. It is when we start to submit to Him that He gradually takes away our false doctrines.

Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 
Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 
Rom 1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

The first part of today’s study shows us how our false doctrines or idols of our hearts prevent us from coming to know the truth of the word of the Lord. It also shows us how the Lord uses these false doctrines to blind us as He keeps us in outer darkness until He comes to us with His words. 

The second part of our study today deals with the Lord’s judgment of our old man. Here in this chapter, we are shown the whole of the Lord’s judgment tools that He uses against our old man and the people of the world. 

Idols of our Hearts

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. 
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? 

If we are the Lord’s elect, then we are the elders of Israel whom the Lord is addressing here in verse 1. In this case, Ezekiel represents our Lord Jesus Christ to whom we come to hear the word of the Lord. In verse 3, the Lord identifies our problem. That is, we have set up idols of our heart which are a stumbling block of our iniquity before Him. As we have explained in the introductory portion of this study, the idols of our hearts refer to the false doctrines in our heavens which have become a stumbling block of our iniquity before the Lord. A stumbling block means a difficulty that prevents progress, understanding or agreement. What this means is that it is our false doctrines in our hearts and mind which are the stumbling blocks that prevent our progress in the Lord as it makes it impossible for us to understand the truth of the word of the Lord.

Mal 2:7  For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
Mal 2:8  But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 

In verse 3, this stumbling block is described as being of our iniquity. That is to say that it comes from our iniquity. What is iniquity? This is how the Bible defines iniquity. 

1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

It is what is within us which causes us to be stubborn before the Lord. As we all know, it is our flesh or our old man that is stubborn before the Lord. Sin, on the other hand, is the outward manifestation of the iniquity within us. The idols of our hearts, which are a stumbling block of iniquity, therefore affirms the fact that our flesh is a repository of false doctrines. That means, out of our earthen vessels, we produce thorns and thistles or false doctrines.

It is important to note that the question the Lord asked Ezekiel saying, “Should I be enquired of at all by them?” is a rhetorical one. That means that the question was asked to make a statement and not to require an answer. Definitely, the Lord is making a statement here that when we harbor these idols of our hearts or idolize these false doctrines in our hearts and minds, there is no way we can hear from Him. 

Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. 

Verse 4 shows us that if we continue to treasure the idols of the heart more than the truth of the Lord’s words, what will happen is that the Lord will cause us to be deceived by answering us according to the false doctrines in our hearts. Again, by the things that are made, we are able to know the Lord. We speak to children according to what they know. I remember when my brother was teaching his son (four years old) that God is all knowing and that He sees everything done here on earth and in the heavens. His son then asked my brother whether God sees him when he goes to the washroom. When my brother answered yes, that He is there with us even in the washroom, the response of my nephew was, “that is not good!!” He struggled to see how a good God can see his nakedness in the washroom. To make it simple, my brother told him that God sees everything here on earth and in the heavens except when we go to the washroom.  That was when he became comfortable. 

This illustration shows us that the Lord answers us according to what we have in our hearts and minds. Have you heard of some of our brothers and sisters in Babylon in the churches of this world having the harrowing experience of being tortured in hell? I have read books, during my sojourn in the churches, of people having this out-of-body experience in hell. This is because they have this idol of the heart or false doctrine of the lake of fire being a literal fire that will burn people forever. They are therefore being answered according to the multitude of idols in their hearts. To the elect, when Christ comes to us with His truth, these idols of the heart are destroyed. However, to those who are not given to know the truth in this age, being answered according to their idols of the heart is a way that they become entrenched in deception such that they continue in outer darkness until they die.

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. 
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 

Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 25:30  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Taking the house of Israel in their own heart in verse 5 is the same as being deceived by the Lord.   

Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 
Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself: 
Eze 14:8  And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 

In verse 6, the idols and the abominations, from which we are to turn away, refer to the false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition. Until we come to see that what we thought was the truth of the word of the Lord are all lies of the adversary, we are not ready to repent from our ways.

The Lord answering us Himself in verse 7 when we come to Him with our idols of the heart, or our false doctrines, means we are given over by the Lord for the devil to deceive us. As we are aware, the Lord Himself does not do evil, but since the Lord created everything, including the devil, He is responsible for all that takes place here on earth. Therefore, the Lord answering us by Himself means the Lord takes responsibility for all that takes place here on earth.

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

When we hold on to these idols of the heart, the Lord sets His face against us, and we are cut off from His people. Over the years, many who have separated from us are due to their entrenchment in the idols of their hearts. Our separation from our brothers and sisters in Babylon was due basically to the idols of the heart that they are not prepared to let go. In verse 8, it is through this separation that we are assured of our election as we are given to know more about our Lord.

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing [false doctrines]; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
Eze 14:11  That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD. 

There are several examples of men of God that were deceived and ended up being destroyed from the midst of the Lord’s people. In other words, they became spiritually dead and therefore cut off from the Lord’s people. For example, Nadab and Abihu were deceived into thinking they can offer any kind of sacrifice to the Lord without any consequence. As a result, they were destroyed by the Lord from His people.

Lev 10:1  And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 
Lev 10:2  And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Just as Jacob was deceived into thinking that he was marrying the love of his life (Rachel) and ended up marrying Leah, who represents Babylon, so we were deceived when we embraced Babylon as the true bride and took in all her false doctrines. At that time, we were cut off from the Lord’s elect because we were spiritually dead until the Lord intervened by coming to us with His fiery words.

In verse 10, the Lord is saying that our judgment will surely come without fail, whether we were the propagators of false doctrines or followers of those who preach false doctrines. In verse 11, we are being told that the reason we are to bear the punishment of our iniquity is that it is through this process of judgment that we do not go astray from the Lord and therefore become obedient children of the Lord. That is when we become the Lord’s people, and He becomes our God. Our becoming the Lord’s people is therefore contingent on the false doctrines in our hearts and minds being destroyed through the Lord’s judgment of our old man. 

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

The unclean thing in 2 Corinthians 6:17 refers to these idols of the heart or false doctrines in our heavens.

The LORD Will Judge Jerusalem

Eze 14:12  The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 
Eze 14:13  Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: 
Eze 14:14  Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD. 

When we go astray by sinning against the Lord, there are always consequences, or judgment, if we are called and chosen. Through the false teaching we hear in the churches of this world, we come to see the Lord’s judgment as a punitive action taken by the Lord which does not result in any correction. However, judgment is a loving way that the Lord uses to make His children learn righteousness.

1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 

Psa 119:67 Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. 

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

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 

In verse 13, the Lord uses famine to destroy both man and beast. This verse also confirms that the Lord’s use of judgment is to destroy the old man or the beast within His elect.

Psa 73:22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. 

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

Famine as one of the four sore judgments of the Lord means absence of the truth of the word of the Lord which makes us worse off as we wander from sea to sea. 

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

It is through famine of the word of the Lord that facilitated our exit from Babylon and caused us to come to treasure the truth of the word of the Lord. The fact that three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were mentioned in verse 14 is to let us know that our process of becoming spiritually mature is through the Lord’s judgment. Noah, Daniel and Job here represent the Lord’s elect of every generation who are privileged to be judged in this life. The fact that these righteous men can only save themselves through the Lord’s judgment suggests that every human being will face judgment. However, those who are being judged here in this life are the Lord’s elect. In a later age, the rest of humanity will also experience the judgment of the Lord. They will be judged by the Lord and His elect.

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

Eze 14:15  If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:
Eze 14:16  Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

The word “noisome” means evil. Thus, we are talking about evil beasts. As we stated earlier, human beings are evil beasts.

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

Psa 73:22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

It is this “evil beast” or mankind, that the Lord is using to judge His elect in this age. Peter speaks of this very same beast, by whom God will judge all men:

2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.
2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.

It is with “natural brute beasts” that God is at this very moment judging His house, and it is with “natural brute beasts” that He will outwardly judge this world and make the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, His Christ, who we are.

Again, in verse 16, we are reminded that it is the elect who are being saved through judgment in this age and that every person will face his or her own judgment.

Eze 14:17  Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: 
Eze 14:18  Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

The sword on a positive note means the word of the Lord. 

Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

The negative aspect of sword refers to words that are spoken which destroy us. The sword refers to the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary. 

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

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

These negative words spoken are one of the tools the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Jdg 7:22 And the three hundred [men with Gideon] blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host [of the Midianites]: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

Eze 14:19  Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: 
Eze 14:20  Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

Pestilence comes from the Hebrew word “deber” which means murrain or plague. Murrain means destruction, and the only place the word was used in the Bible was in the fifth plague in Egypt when there was widespread destruction of cattle of the Egyptians.

Exo 9:1  Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
Exo 9:2  For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, 
Exo 9:3  Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

The Lord uses pestilence when we have gotten far away from Him. For example, when the children of Israel were in Egypt, the Lord used pestilence to get their attention. The Lord’s use of pestilence means that the people of Israel were given over to the devil which in this case was represented by Pharaoh, who caused the people of Israel to be under great affliction.

Lev 26:25  And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

Exo 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 

Exo 1:11  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 

Exo 1:14  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in the  morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

Exo 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

When the Lord got the people of Israel’s attention, He came to help them as the people drew closer to the Lord. Today, the Lord still uses pestilence to get our attention when we have drifted far from Him. For example, in the Corinthian church, Paul gave over the man who slept with his father’s wife to the devil so that he may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 

Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? 

Here in verse 21, the tools the Lord is using to judge us are listed. The number four means the whole of the matter under discussion, and in this case, we are dealing with judgment. Thus, the whole of the Lord’s tools that He is using to accomplish His purpose of judgment are the sword, famine, noisome beast and pestilence.

Eze 14:22  Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
Eze 14:23  And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD. 

In spite of the experience of evil that the Lord was unleashing on Jerusalem, He assured them that a remnant shall be brought forth whose conduct and actions will justify His actions. As indicated, the end result of the Lord’s judgment of our old man is that we come to know that the Lord’s way is perfect. In other words, through all the fiery trials we go through, we come to appreciate the way or the path that the Lord has chosen for us. 

Psa 18:30  As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Psa 16:11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. 

May His name be praised. Amen!!

Dan 4:19-37  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall

[Study Aired March 14, 2024]

In this fourth chapter of Daniel we learn about this second dream that parallels the first dream in chapter 2. Both dream images represent Nebuchadnezzar, the statue in the first dream and then the tree of great height in the second dream. The all gold statue that Nebuchadnezzar made in chapter 3 is based on the dream of the statue in the second chapter. The dream is one (Gen 41:25), and both of these dreams are demonstrating what is within every human being. There are progressive steps that need to be taken in order to bring us to see the beast on the throne (Ecc 3:18-19, Deu 7:22) of our own hearts, and the Lord uses these dreams, and the resultant effect of them in Nebuchadnezzar’s life, to teach us something about ourselves (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11). 

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts [Dan 2:31-34, Dan 7:3-8]; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity [Gen 2:17].

Deu 7:22  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations [“they themselves are beasts“] before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee [progressive judgment of the land which our bodies represent].

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 

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

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue being hit on the feet with a stone inwardly represents the beginning of judgment in the life of God’s elect (1Pe 4:17, Paul struck down Act 9:3-4, process of judgment expressed by three days of blindness Act 9:8-9) where all those empires are judged as a result of Christ and His Christ coming into our lives to hit this statue on its feet that stands on a faulty carnal foundation as opposed to the only true foundation Jesus Christ (Mat 16:18). After this happens, the kingdom of God flourishes in our heavens and fills all the earth within us (Dan 2:35). We also make an idol of gold to ourselves, which represents the statue of chapter two, or the beast being healed of its deadly wound of Revelation 13:12.

At the first, when we come into an awareness of our own sinfulness as a result of our feet being hit by the stone on our feet, the beasts of the field do increase upon us. Like Israel fleeing from Egypt, our sinful nature is in hot pursuit of us like the armies of Pharaoh’s day wanting to put us back into bondage. The dispensational view of these statues tell the same story when applied to the unconverted world that the elect will begin to judge when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15, Dan 2:34).

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.

Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. [We fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ today (Col 1:24). That is what fills our whole earth today within us, as all the nations within us are judged so that the elect in turn will be prepared to judge all the nations of the world in the future (Rev 11:15)]

The interpretation of this second dream in chapter 4 reveals to us what must happen to Nebuchadnezzar and to each of us, to have the statue of all gold destroyed in our heavens (Dan 3:1). We are told this of the judgment that comes upon Nebuchadnezzar: “Seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” The “seven times passing over thee” represents the seven last plagues that must be poured out, or passed over us, in order to enter into the fullness of the kingdom of God in the first resurrection. God causes those seven times passing over us to destroy our old man and bring us to be convinced that we are His future rulers who now know (“till thou know“) “that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (1Co 1:26, Eph 1:1-6, 2Pe 1:10, Eph 1:18). God has promised we will inherit His kingdom as a result of going through the afflictions, persecutions, tribulation and suffering of this life (Mat 19:29), conditions that are symbolized by those “seven times shall pass over thee” [“seven last plagues”], and it is His good pleasure to give us that kingdom, so God won’t fail in administering to us the judgments we must go through (Rev 15:8, Luk 12:32, Act 14:22, 1Pe 4:17).

For you see your calling, brethren:

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

Eph 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 
Eph 1:2  Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 

2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

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

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Dan 4:19   Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies. 

Nebuchadnezzar represents the carnal first-man Adam, and when [we] Daniel begins to interpret the dream he has, we are troubled and astonished [astonied^H8075] because we know that there is judgment involved in this interpretation, which happens when we fall into the hands of the Lord (Heb 10:31-33). Nebuchadnezzar, our old man, says, “Don’t let the dream bother you, (let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee.)” Nebuchadnezzar is not troubled because he does not realize what is going to come upon him at this stage, and even with the dream interpreted, it does not change him, but rather witnesses against him at first (Luk 12:19). The dream should bother us greatly and move us to have a Godly fear. However, Nebuchadnezzar has no such Godly fear, which is the problem, just a dream that needs interpreting from God at this stage, and the intent of the dream will not be understood until he goes through God’s wrath, which will come in the form of his having “his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him.“

H8075 shemam shem-am’

(Chaldee); corresponding to H8074: – be astonied.

Total KJV occurrences: 1

H8074 shâmêm shaw-mame’

A primitive root; to stun (or intransitively grow numb), that is, devastate or (figuratively) stupefy (both usually in a passive sense): – make amazed, be astonied, (be an) astonish (-ment), (be, bring into, unto, lay, lie, make) desolate (-ion, places), be destitute, destroy (self), (lay, lie, make) waste, wonder.

Total KJV occurrences: 89

Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 
Heb 10:32  But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; 
Heb 10:33  Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. 

Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?“

Being ‘astonied’ for one hour is a symbol of the day of the Lord, “Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him“, which is what this event in Nebuchadnezzar’s life typifies for us. Daniel is troubled because he has been shown that there will be enemies come up against the king. “Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.” Those enemies of Nebuchadnezzar represent his own iniquities that are going to chasten and scourge him (Jer 2:19), symbolized by both the cutting down of the tree of great height that represents Nebuchadnezzar, and then having “his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him.“

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts. 

Dan 4:20  The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; 
Dan 4:21  Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: 
Dan 4:22  It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. 
Dan 4:23  And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; 

Before we are judged by the Lord, He witnesses against us and shows us who we are (Rev 3:17) and then sends an angel of God (that represents the body of Christ) who has the power to hew down the tree [second dream] and the empires within us, typified by the statue [first dream] (Jer 51:20).

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: 

Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; 

Nebuchadnezzar is being counseled by Daniel, and all of these words, “Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth” are summed up by saying, “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.“

The solution to overcoming this high-minded spirit of Nebuchadnezzar is to bring judgment upon him, which is what is going to happen as described with these verses, “And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; (Jer 51:20) yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him.“

The “watcher” in the king’s life is Daniel, who by God’s grace has been faithful to stand on the word of God and interpret the dream to king Nebuchadnezzar, revealing in type and shadow these verses which must also occur in order for us to be brought to repentance, and in this parable for his/our high-mindedness, “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. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev 3:18-19, Heb 12:6).

The progression of judgment is also shown in the king’s life as the wood, hay and stubble are gotten out of the way in type and shadow with the hewing down of the tree (wood, hay, stubble 1Co 3:12), but there is more judgment to come for Nebuchadnezzar. The roots and the stump that has the iron band and copper band must also be destroyed in order for Nebuchadnezzar to ‘go on to perfection on the third day’ in type and shadow (gold, silver, costly stones 1Co 3:12), which only occurs after the king has “his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him.“

To put this story in other terms, let’s consider all the wealthy and powerful people of the world throughout history whose lives have had “dominion to the end of the earth” just like the rulers of all the empires that make up the statue of Daniel in the first dream. The way Daniel interacts with Nebuchadnezzar demonstrates the humility that must be formed within the body of Christ and the firmness to not shun to declare the whole counsel of God’s will to all the world during the reign of the saints and in the lake of fire, great white throne judgment (Act 20:26-28). God is preparing His people today to do just that (1Co 6:1-3).

Act 20:26  Wherefore I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
Act 20:27  For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God.
Act 20:28  Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. 

1Co 6:1  Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 
1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Dan 4:24  This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: 
Dan 4:25  That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 

These verses in Galatians (Gal 4:1-6) best describe what is happening  to Nebuchadnezzar with “the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king“. Like Nebuchadnezzar, we go into Babylon by being driven away from the world, “they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven.” We think we have come out of the world when in reality we are still abiding “with the beasts of the field.” It is the decree of God that is dragging us (Joh 6:44) so that our dwelling place will be with the churches of Babylon where “they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven“. This eating of grass and being wet with the dew of heaven represents the word of God but it is not the strong meat of God’s word. Nevertheless, this stage is critical, and we must go through it and Lord willing, get beyond it if He permits (Heb 6:3). The only thing that can free us from being a bondservant to the schoolmaster is the “seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” Nebuchadnezzar going through this chastening process is a type of the kingdoms of the world, all the empires on the statue, that will one day be purified in the lake of fire, called the great white throne judgment (Dan 4:37). 

Gal 4:1  But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant though he is lord of all; 
Gal 4:2  but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father. 
Gal 4:3  So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world: 
Gal 4:4  but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 
Gal 4:5  that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

Dan 4:26  And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. 
Dan 4:27  Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. 

Daniel further confirms that this eating of grass and being wet with the dew of heaven represents the word of God. However, it is not the strong meat of God’s word, and that is because the churches of Babylon have not been given to go beyond (Heb 6:3), symbolized by the band of iron and brass and the stump of the tree roots being left. The whole stay of bread and water is not being received with a beastly heart that wraps God’s word around the idol of our carnal hearts, and therefore it is taken away (Isa 3:1). Unless we are crushed under the stone (Mat 21:44), which is symbolized by the process of “till seven times pass over him“, we would remain a nēpios^G3516 (Gal 4:1) and not a mature son of God, a uihos ^G5207(Eph 4:13), who has been blessed to go unto maturity in this life, not hiding our talent in the earth (Heb 6:3, Mat 25:25). The stone falling on us of Matthew 21:44 is what destroys “the stump of the tree roots“, leaving us with the mind of Christ that does not boast against the spiritual root and vine, Jesus Christ, who is doing the work within the body of Christ (Rom 11:18-21, Joh 15:5).

Another way to look at this is that during the reign of the saints we will always be provoking people to love and good works regardless of the fact that we know there will be no conversion, which is another reason Daniel says these words, “let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.“

Rom 11:18  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 

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

The churches of this world are “commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots“, and it is by God’s decree that it must be that way for now. Daniel, all in type and shadow language, goes on to point to how the king can become a mature son of God with these words, “Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.” The command to “leave the stump of the tree roots” is needful and necessary in order that “thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.“

It always comes back to the sin of iniquity, which is self-righteousness, that when it is burned out of us, will produce the works within us which will give us Christ’s peace (“a lengthening of thy tranquillity“) in knowing that these are His works within us that we have worked out in fear and trembling by His power (Php 2:12-13). Daniel’s type and shadow counsel will be acceptable to those who are accepted in Christ, of which counsel Nebuchadnezzar is only hearing at this point, demonstrating that he is not a ‘disciple indeed’ in type (Joh 8:31-32). The fruit of our life, as a result of Christ abiding in us, is captured with the statement, “shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.” The fruit of pure religion will have us visiting the fatherless and widow in their affliction, the fatherless and widow representing the body of Christ whose assembling we don’t forsake, being careful to maintain good works, “may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity” (Jas 1:27, Heb 10:25, Tit 3:8).

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Tit 3:8  Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men:

Dan 4:28  All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. 
Dan 4:29  At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. 
Dan 4:30  The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 
Dan 4:31  While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. 
Dan 4:32  And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 

All this came upon king Nebuchadnezzar and set the stage for the destruction of his old foundation which is why it was “at the end of twelve months [number for foundations positive or negative] he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.”  While walking in his own palace, with the beast on the throne of his heart, the king spoke these words, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” This is the iniquity that has manifested, the pride of life in full bloom, which is now going to be judged by God. Nebuchadnezzar cannot acknowledge God’s sovereignty, and so, instead of saying “Except the LORD build the house, (Php 2:12-13) they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psa 127:1), he says, “I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty.

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. 

God does a quick work in the lives of those in whom He is working, and so it is worded this way to remind us of this truth, “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee” (Pro 16:18-19, Luk 19:22, Pro 16:4-5).

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

Luk 19:22  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. 
Pro 16:5  Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. 

God has hardened the king’s heart and caused him to err, no one else did it (Isa 63:17). This is the decree of the Lord through the watchers who represent the elect (Dan 4:17), “And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (Eph 1:11). So, not only has this decree gone forth for the elect in this age in our own hearts and minds, but it will also go out to all men, in time, who will, each in their own order, come to the knowledge of the truth of God’s plan of salvation, which requires that we humble ourselves under His mighty hand, which is only possible through Christ (“seven times shall pass over thee).“

Dan 4:33  The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
Dan 4:34  And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 

The events we are reading now regarding the king’s life being “driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws“, parallel with the prodigal son who is brought to his senses only after he has been brought very low (Luk 15:17-20). This eagle is the negative one that is bound to the earth, and not soaring in the heavens as John represents in his gospels, and Nebuchadnezzar’s nails are like birds’, again connecting him to an unkempt beast that eats and forages things in the earth with his over-emphasized beastly condition.

Luk 15:17  But when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger!
Luk 15:18  I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight:
Luk 15:19  I am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
Luk 15:20  And he arose, and came to his father. But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Nebuchadnezzar’s experience is typical of what every man will experience. The details will be different for each person whose stripes will be as many or as few as God has predestined (Luk 12:47-48). However the end result will be the same as they were for Nebuchadnezzar who declared the end result of his chastening from God with these words that acknowledge His might and power as he blessed and honored Him that lives forever, “at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation“. This acknowledgement of God’s greatness is a far cry from the earlier verses where Nebuchadnezzar has not yet even rightly identified God working in Daniel’s life but rather refers to Daniel’s God as one of “the holy gods” (Dan 4:8-9). The statement “from generation to generation” reminds us that we are all the beast being spoken of here in this story and that it is those who are judged first (1Pe 4:17) who will come to their senses, after they identify with all the beasts of the field as the generation who is guilty of all the blood of the prophets from Abel to Zacharias (Luk 11:50).

Luk 11:50  that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

Dan 4:35  And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? 
Dan 4:36  At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. 

If God is working with us in this age, what we will learn after we have been humbled in our flesh is that “all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Eph 1:11, Isa 46:10, Rev 3:7).

Eph 1:11  in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will; 

Isa 46:10  declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; 

Rev 3:7  And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth:

It is at this same time that we are humbled and brought to our senses by God’s chastening that we are told,  “At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.” In other words, God will restore that which He takes away if we are granted to endure His chastening (Heb 12:7). When we are converted through that experience we will be able to save ourselves and those who hear us, both in this life and in that which is to come (1Ti 4:16), “and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.“

Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

1Ti 4:16  Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee.

Dan 4:37  Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Nebuchadnezzar clearly identifies “the King of heaven” whom he is now praising, extolling and giving honor to, acknowledging Him with these words, “all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” These words typify for us the end result of the elects’ own sojourn in this life where we’ve been given to lose our life by having the pride of life burned out of us, as was the case with Nebuchadnezzar, in a type and shadow manner, who states of God, “those that walk in pride he is able to abase” (Rev 4:9-11). 

Rev 4:9  And when the living creatures shall give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth for ever and ever, 
Rev 4:10  the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 
Rev 4:11  Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.

It’s also interesting to note that there are a couple of other mentions of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 5, but that’s it. The new king has come on the scene, whose name is Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, who, unlike his father, did not learn from his idolatrous ways and ends up being slain (Dan 5:30). Lord willing, we will look at that next week.

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

[Study Aired April 3, 2022]

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

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

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

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

H7725
שׁוּב
shûb
shoob

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants [G1401: doulos, slave] of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants [G1402: douloo, slaves, same root word] of righteousness.
Rom 6:19  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Rom 6:21  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The choice to serve sin is an obviously bad choice:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

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

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

The truth cannot be stated any more clearly than this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is “the redemption of the purchased possession”:

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

What we are learning is that when Christ said:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jer 33:6  Behold, I will bring it [vs 4: “this city”, Jerusalem] health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
Jer 33:7  And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
Jer 33:8  And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.

[Posted February 6, 2022]

Hi Mike,

Hope you are well, I was hoping I could get your feedback on something.

Ezekiel 7:19 tells us when disaster strikes the land of Israel, the people will be “casting their silver in the streets” because it has become worthless to them.

I was reading your study on the “Negative Application of Silver, Part 1”, and silver in the negative connotation represents our self-righteousness.

So, when we read of the Israelites “casting their silver in the streets” the spiritual application for us is the people had come to realize their own efforts, own works, and their self-righteousness were all worthless as far as salvation is concerned.

They had given up on their so-called “free-will” and realized their complete and total dependence on God for their deliverance and salvation.

Am I on the right track? I really would like to hear your interpretation of this highly misunderstood verse in God’s Word. Thanks Mike for all your help and for everything you do for us.

Your brother in Christ,
C​____

Hello C____,

You are on the right track!​ The day is coming when every religion on earth will “cast their silver into the streets… because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity”.

Eze 7:19  They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD : they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

I wondered for many years about the exact meaning of that phrase “the stumbling block of their iniquity”. This phrase, which establishes a connection between ‘iniquity’ and a ‘stumblingblock’, is peculiar to the book of Ezekiel, and that connection is made in Ezekiel in five different verses. Here are those five verses:

Eze 3:20  Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Eze 7:19  They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

I had always considered ‘iniquity’ to simply be another word for ‘sin’. Indeed ‘iniquity’ is a sin, but it is more than just another word for sin. The thought of searching for the Biblical definition of the word ‘iniquity’ never occurred to me, but that is why the Lord has made us a ‘body’ with many parts. A dear brother finally showed me the verse which defines the meaning of the word ‘iniquity’. When you read this verse you, too, will understand the meaning of “the stumbling block of their iniquity” and you will know that your understanding expressed in this email is spot on. Here is the Biblical definition of the word ‘iniquity’. It is defined in this very same prophet. This is the holy spirit’s definition of what the Lord Himself means when He uses this word ‘iniquity’:

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

Let’s read again the verse ​about which ​you inquire​d​:

Eze 7:19  They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD : they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Self-righteousness is “the stumblingblock of [our] iniquity”, and that is the most insidious of all sins. That is true because we take credit to ourselves for that which the Lord has performed in  us:

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

Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

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 [G1063: ‘gar‘, because] it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

The iniquity of self-righteousness will come upon every Christian who wants Christ’s name but not His food or His apparel.

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

Self-righteousness is also common to every Muslem, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew and atheist. “The stumblingblock of [our] iniquity” is inherent in the flesh of every man.

Job speaks for all men when he declares shortly before he comes to see just how “vile” he is:

Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Job 29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

Job 35:2  Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?

Read our studies in the book of Job.

Job had appeared before the Lord with “the stumblingblock of his iniquity before His face.”  This was the Lord’s reaction to such a presumptuous spirit:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

There are many commentaries on the book of Job, and they almost always dwell on how good men must suffer in this life. Very few recognize that Job typifies all of mankind and was suffering from the most insidious of all sins, “the stumblingblock of his iniquity”. Job thought his righteousness was of himself, and that is what we all just naturally think.

The tribulation, within and dispensationally, precedes the return of Christ and the resurrection of those who “first trusted in Christ”. Christ’s return strikes “great fear” in the minds of every man and woman on earth at that time of His unexpected appearing to us:

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

Inwardly we fear the Lord as Job did and want to serve Him. Outwardly and dispensationally the world will also in time want to submit to our Lord and His Christ. Christ and His Christ are coming with great power which will instantly make every military device of mankind obsolete and ineffective against the Lord and His Christ.

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

It is my fervent prayer that you realize y​ou and I must have this experience within first and be judged first or we will be in the resurrection of damnation/great white throne judgement/lake of fire/second death. We must be judged now, at this present time, or we will not take part in the blessed and holy first resurrection:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

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?

There are great blessings in being counted worthy to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Rev 20:1  AND I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Your brother in Christ, Mike

[Study Aired December 5, 2021]

Jer 25:15  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:16  And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
Jer 25:19  Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
Jer 25:20  And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
Jer 25:21  Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
Jer 25:22  And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
Jer 25:23  Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
Jer 25:24  And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
Jer 25:25  And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
Jer 25:26  And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

Jeremiah and all the prophets are types of the Lord’s elect. He spoke through the prophets then, and today, by His own testimony, He is speaking to this world within us through His elect:

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

It is a gift from the Lord to be able to read and believe that Christ has sent us “as [His] Father has sent [Him]”. Christ told us He spoke only the words His Father gave Him to speak, and His words were not his own words but the words of His Father:

Joh 8:28  Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

What did Christ’s Father send Him to do? If He is sending us as His Father sent Him, what exactly is it He is sending us to do? Here is the answer to that question:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

If we are sent by Christ as His Father sent Him then we, too, will “speak… nothing of [ourselves]; but [only] as [our] Father hath taught [us].”

The words of this prophecy are applicable to “all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth” (vs 26), but let us take note that this judgment ‘begins at the Lord’s own house… Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [in] this present time’ (1Pe 4:17 and Rom 8:18):

Jer 25:15  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:16  And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:

We must note that Jeremiah says this cup is in the Lord’s hand, while the book of Revelation tells us it is in the hand of the great harlot:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Revelation tells us this cup is “full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication”, while Jeremiah tells us the cup in the Lord’s hand is “the wine cup of this fury at My hand… the sword that I will send among them”.

Upon closer examination, the book of Revelation agrees with the fact that the Lord’s fury is part and parcel  of the “abominations and filthiness of [Babylon’s] fornication”:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

There it is in verses 8 and 10. “The wine of the wrath of her fornication” precipitates “the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.” Those who are “keeping the sayings of the prophecy of [the revelation of Jesus Christ within us are given to] read… hear… and keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book [in] this present time.”

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [including the seven last plagues (Rev 1:3, 14:12, 15:8)] 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.

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 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

It is those who have “the patience of the saints… and the faith of Jesus” who are the first to endure the fiery judgment of the seven last plagues, which all men will endure “each in his own order”:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

If we fail to see the order of the Lord’s plan of salvation for “all in Adam”, then we will not even realize who are “they that are Christ’s” who are given a “crown of life… at His coming” which entitles them to be raised in “the resurrection of life” at the beginning of the thousand year reign of “the Lord and His Christ”:

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

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation [in “this present time” Rom 8:18]: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

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

This “crown of life” is also called “a crown of righteousness”, which is given to all who are in “the resurrection to life” (Joh 5:27-29).

2Ti 4:6  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
2Ti 4:7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

The principle of “the sum of Thy word is True” gives us what the mind of God is concerning this apparent dichotomy and apparent contradiction. The King James Version seems to tell us that God does not tempt us, so we just naturally wonder why Jeremiah tells us that this cup of the Lord’s fury is in the Lord’s hand, and that we, as typified by Jeremiah are told, “Cause all nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.”

These verses indeed have an outward fulfillment in the lake of fire, but for us in “this present time” our concern is with “all the nations [within us] unto whom the Lord has send [His word]”.

Every ‘nation’ mentioned in the following verses, beginning with “Jerusalem and the cities of Judah”, signifies all the false doctrines which have taken up residence within us while we are under the bondage, and the hegemony of that “great whore… Babylon the great the mother of  harlots and abominations of the earth” (Rev 17 – The lies of the great harlot have colored and have tainted every doctrine she offers to us at that time of our lives. That is what is meant by these verses of Isaiah 3):

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

Every word of this prophecy must take place within us before we will be honored to judge this world or angels:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? [in “this present time” (Rom 8:18)]

When the Lord takes “the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water” away from us He is beginning to judge His own people, His own house, first:

Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, [“beginning at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17)] to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

This 18^th verse undergirds, and is the Old Testament foundation for, this statement by the apostle Peter in the New Testament:

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?

Being carried away into the Babylonian captivity of all her false doctrines is the beginning of the judgment of the Lord’s spiritual house as it was the beginning of the judgment of His physical nation. After the Lord’s house begins to be judged while still in Babylon, He then begins to drag us out of that harlot system. At that point the Lord gives His redeemed ‘house’ the commission to judge Pharaoh and “all the kingdoms of the world with Sheshach, the same Babylon He used to judge His people. Babylon, aka Sheshach, is not judged until all the nations she ruled over for so long are delivered from her grip.  Sheshach, signifying “Mystery Babylon”, will be the last to be judged by the Lord through the words of “His Christ” (Rev 11:15). That ‘judgment’ by Jeremiah’s words, typifies the Lord’s elect speaking all the words of this prophecy for the Lord. Just as the Lord used Jeremiah to judge the nations of the whole world in his day, He will also give the judgment of the kings of this whole world over to “the Lord and His Christ”:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Rev 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

What is accomplished by the judgment and the hail that come from our Lord?

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

Notice how the whole world is judged by the Lord’s fiery words after His “judgment begins with… Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah”. The Lord twice states (verses 15 and 17) that His judgments and His wrath are upon “all nations”. Then Jeremiah lists all the known nations of “the whole world” of his day:

Jer 25:19  Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
Jer 25:20  And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
Jer 25:21  Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
Jer 25:22  And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
Jer 25:23  Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
Jer 25:24  And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
Jer 25:25  And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
Jer 25:26  And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

The word ‘all’ appears fourteen times in these eight verses of Jeremiah 25:19-26. To be sure we do not fail to get the point, verse 26 makes the clear statement that the Lord is speaking of and to “all the kingdoms of the world”.

Inwardly these verses are speaking to and about all the powers and principalities against which we wage war in our heavens:

Eph 6:12  Because our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principal offices, against the positions of authority, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavens. (ACV)

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

This is first and foremost “all nations” within us. “The wine of the wrath of her fornication” is all the twisted scriptures this great whore uses to keep us all in bondage to the fornication of all her false doctrines. “The kings of the earth” are all the secular leaders in our lives who are in the bondage of all of the lies and false doctrines of the religions of this world. “The merchants of the earth [who] are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” signify all the extremely wealthy, big-name religious leaders in every religion on earth who ‘peddle the Word of God’ as twisted “delicacies”, which signify spiritual lies and false doctrines for personal gain:

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. (CLV)

Here is the significance of the name ‘Sheshach:

Sheshach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sheshach (Hebrew: ששך‎), whose king is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Jeremiah 25:26, is supposed to be equivalent to Babel (Babylon), according to a secret mode of writing practiced among the Jews of unknown antiquity, which consisted in substituting the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet for the first, the next to last one for the second, and so on. Thus the letters sh, sh, ch become b, b, l, i.e., Babel (see: Atbash cipher).^[1] This code is called the Atbash Cipher and was utilized to decrypt.

The city “Sheshach” does not appear on any map nor in any other documents, save the book of Jeremiah. The Atbash Cipher was applied and out of “Sheshach” came the word “Babel”. This is supposed to be confirmed by a reference to Jeremiah 51:41, where Sheshach and Babylon are in parallel clauses. There seems to be no reason to doubt that Babylon is here intended by this name.^[2]

Wikipedia is certainly not scripture, but the scriptures themselves demonstrate that Babylon is the correct signification of the name ‘Shesach’. “How is Sheshach… how is Babylon”:

Jer 51:41  How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
Jer 51:42  The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
Jer 51:43  Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
Jer 51:44  And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
Jer 51:45  My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jer 51:46  And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

This admonition is repeated in:

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.

Each of the nations mentioned in Jeremiah 25:18-28 inwardly signify the depth of the thorough apostasy of the Lord’s elect before He begins to judge us and to drag us out of Babylon. All those lying false doctrines begin to be destroyed within us with the brightness of the coming of the Truth of the doctrines of Christ when the Lord finally opens our eyes to see and accept Him and His mind and His doctrines, instead of the false doctrine of “the springs… of Babylon”:

Jer 51:34  Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
Jer 51:35  The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
Jer 51:36  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

Here is another way of saying the Lord “will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry”:

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

If we are granted to endure to the end, we will have the Lord’s waters springing up within us:

Joh 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

When we are made to accept the mind of Christ, the mind of our old man begins to die every day as we come to know Him better day by day:

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

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed [my… our old man], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

We will come back to this thread here in 2^nd Thessalonians 2 after we read our last two verses:

Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

“Ye shall surely drink” is just another way of saying that the only way to access the Tree of Life is to go through the fiery swords of the cherubim which “guard the way of the Tree of Life”:

Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

When we are carried away into Babylon and are in Babylon for a symbolic “seventy years” we do not see ourselves as the rebellious, deceived apostates that we are. Instead, this is how we see ourselves at this stage of our experience:

Pro 5:3  For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

The spirit of the adulterous woman of Proverbs 30:20 is the same spirit in the church at Laodicea. Spiritually the church at Laodicea is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”, but her spiritual blindness keeps her from seeing her wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked condition, and this instead is how she views her own spiritual condition:

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:

That is truly spiritual blindness and “strong delusion”.

Getting back to the message of 2^nd Thessalonians 2, we are told:

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.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Being in Babylon is being in “strong delusion”. In this state we think we are just the exact opposite of what and where we really are spiritually “because [we] say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that [we] are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev 3:17).

It is because we “know not” our spiritual condition that the Lord must judge us first and show us what we really are. We will never “come out of [Babylon]” if we cannot even acknowledge that we are in Babylon and are the victims of the lies of a great spiritual whore, who literally hates and despises the doctrines of Christ.

The Pharisees who asked Christ if He thought they were blind, certainly did not consider themselves to be spiritually blind. Yet, as types of you and me, they were as blind to their spiritual condition and their spiritual position as the adulterous woman of Proverbs 30:20 and the ‘wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked church at Laodicea’:

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.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Failing to see and acknowledge our deception is the self-righteous “stumbling block of iniquity” which keeps us locked up in Babylon the great for so many wasteful years. We simply are not yet given to “acknowledge [our self-righteous] iniquity”, so we remain blinded to our own blindness:

Jer 3:11  And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Jer 3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

The Lord has given us “pastors according to [His] heart”, and ‘His heart’ feeds us the knowledge of His ways. “His ways” are the way of His fiery judgment which ‘fire’ every man must endure if he wants to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life:

Deu 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Dan 4:37  Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

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.

“The fire [which] shall try every man’s work” is the words of Christ:

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 is the Yahweh of the Old Testament who talked with Adam and Eve, talked, and ate a meal with Abraham, wrestled with Jacob, and talked face to face with Moses. We know this Yahweh is Christ because we are very plainly told that it was Yahweh who did all these things:

Gen 2:16  And the LORD [H3068: ‘Yahweh’] God [H430: ‘elohiym’] commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

Gen 18:1  And the LORD [H3068: ‘Yahweh’] appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
Gen 18:2  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
Gen 18:3  And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
Gen 18:4  Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
Gen 18:5  And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.
Gen 18:6  And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
Gen 18:7  And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.
Gen 18:8  And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

Gen 32:24  And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Gen 32:25  And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
Gen 32:26  And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
Gen 32:27  And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Gen 32:28  And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Gen 32:29  And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
Gen 32:30  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Exo 33:11  And the LORD [H3068: ‘Yahweh’] spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

These are the words of our Lord Himself which reveal that He is the Yahweh of the Old Testament:

Joh 5:37  And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

Lest any of us think that John 5:37 applies only to those Jews to whom Christ was speaking, the fact is that the Lord had already made clear that “no man has seen God [the Father] at any time…”

Joh 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Clearly Christ is the ‘Yahweh’, the ‘Lord’, the ‘God’ of the Old Testament who had been seen and heard by so many in that dispensation. It is ‘Yahweh’ who gave His words to Jeremiah:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD [H3068: ‘Yahweh’] God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

It is ‘Yahweh… Christ’ who is teaching us that His ways are judgment, and that we are blessed to be judged in “this present time”:

Deu 32:3  Because I will publish the name of the LORD [H3068: ‘Yahweh’]: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Deu 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD [H3068: ‘Yahweh’]  , have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
Jer 1:2  To whom the word of the LORD [H3068: ‘Yahweh’] came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

It is only “when [the Lord’s] judgments are in [our] earth [that we] shall learn righteousness”. If we are the “blessed and holy” of the Lord (Rev 20:6), then His judgment has begun with us in this present time, and all of mankind of all time are awaiting our manifestation to this dying world:

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.

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

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

That is our study for today. Lord willing, we will finish this prophetic chapter which speaks to us to “edification, exhortation, and comfort” (1Co 14:4) next week. Here are our verses for that study:

Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
Jer 25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
Jer 25:32  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
Jer 25:33  And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Jer 25:34  Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
Jer 25:35  And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
Jer 25:36  A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.
Jer 25:37  And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jer 25:38  He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

“Love is a Consuming Fire” – Part 3

[Study Aired August 15, 2021]

As I sit writing these words, I find myself pressing the keys while pondering how it is I arrived at this moment. What I mean is that I had planned to only have a part 1 of “Love is a Consuming Fire”, but here I sit writing part 3 many more weeks later than I had planned. As with all things under the sun, there is nothing new, and this plan of mine in my head was nothing more than steps I would take if other things had fallen in place. The Lord had already worked it all out that I would indeed be typing the word, “word”, at that very moment. My next thought is, “Why?? Why plan? Why go about my day treating it as if it were going to be like all the rest of the preceding days?”

We all have today ONLY, and we aren’t even promised that the next breath will come. So, why plan?

Why do anything at all if God is in control and He is going to do whatever it is He is doing so that we can see what is being done?

Why?

I hope this study will help you to see what it is that answers this question for me, and maybe you can use the same Source for you and your “why’s”.

Our last few studies have used Psalms to illustrate various points, so I am going to keep the same form and start with Psalms 51 to help answer this simple one word question of “why”.

Psa 51:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Psa 51:2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psa 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

In these first five verses of Psalms 51, and when coupling these verses with ‘the sum of thy word is Truth’, we learn two very important universal Truths in the word of God (among other things).

We see that David admits his trespass, and he also tells us that we are shaped in iniquity. That is a big and hard pill to swallow once you actually accept it for what it is.

No matter our planning, from the first breath we take we are already formed in iniquity. That’s right brothers and sisters, you are ‘shapened in iniquity’ by DESIGN so that you WILL SIN without the Lord ALSO STEPPING IN to show you it is He Who keeps you from trespassing against Him.

How is it that we expect to escape this judgment that happened before we were ever born? We cannot escape this. Jesus Christ Himself could not escape the judgment that comes to the very thing God created; flesh that is sin and a heart that permits and justifies it to trespass against the Lord.

Why?

Well, we first must learn hard lessons in order to teach them to others, though experience is always the best teacher. What a teacher does is help someone learn how to deal with something that will come along later, depending on the object of the teaching. If I teach math, it’s because you will use that math for a math problem later.

The Lord could just create these knowledgeable creatures to KNOW good and evil from jump street, so why doesn’t He do that?

Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Psa 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psa 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Psa 51:9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psa 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

It’s a hard thing to fall into the hands of a loving Father. Good parents will teach their children the lessons which need to be learned now so that they can be applied later when the lesson is turned into real life.

Our heavenly Father is no different, except that His lessons are always perfect in purpose, perfect in will and perfect in execution, whereas we earthly parents struggle mightily.

King David tells us that we are shapened in iniquity and in sin his MOTHER conceived him. Is David’s mom being picked on in scripture? Why isn’t the dad mentioned? The dad wasn’t involved in this sinful conception?

Obviously, aside from Jesus, physical dads are involved, so why is it recorded in scripture that the MOTHER conceives in SIN?

Let us seek the Truth to understand the answer.

God desires Truth in the inward parts. We know the Truth is Jesus. What then are the inward parts? I know I want Jesus there too! Also, what is the hidden part? I have sooooo mannnyyyyy questions!

Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

The inward parts are NOT the same as the hidden part. We need to know the difference and how we use this to our spiritual benefit.

H2910 ṭûchâh
Total KJV Occurrences: 2
inward, 2 Job_38:36, Psa_51:6

The word used for “inward parts” is H2910, and it is found in only two parts of scripture, as you can see. Notice our connection to Job 38:36 and Psalms 51. Do you want answers to the question of “why”? Let the Lord start to answer us as He answers Job.

Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 38:2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 38:3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Job 38:5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Job 38:6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Job 38:8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
Job 38:9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
Job 38:10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
Job 38:11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
Job 38:12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
Job 38:13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
Job 38:14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. And the common verse connecting these chapters together:

Job 38:34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
Job 38:35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
Job 38:36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
Job 38:37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,

This line of questioning goes on for several chapters as the Lord has His own questions for Job. Several chapters later we see that the Lord gives pause for Job to attempt to answer some of the Lord’s questions, and Job gets a bit condemning sayeth the Lord:

Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Job 40:9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

After the Lord again reminds Job of his condemnation of the Lord by simply thinking He, Job, had a better way to do things, and then we finally get an honest reply out of Job:

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
Job 42:3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
Job 42:4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Oh, that spiritual insight and sight is something to contend with indeed; except, that spiritual sight did not just happen. It came when the Lord built up Job enough in life that Job thought it good and well to stay in his righteous attitude even though his life was falling apart all around him. Job had to be put through some stuff before he could be given this sight. Now that we see the connection of inward parts being connected to Job, we know it is only the Lord who controls access to the inward parts. What about the hidden part?

Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

H5640 sâtham / śâtham
Total KJV Occurrences: 14
stopped, 6 Gen_26:15, Gen_26:18, 2Ki_3:25, 2Ch_32:4, 2Ch_32:30, Neh_4:7
shut, 2 Dan_8:26, Dan_12:4 stop, 2 2Ki_3:19, 2Ch_32:3
closed, 1 Dan_12:9
hidden, 1 Psa_51:6
secret, 1 Eze_28:3
shutteth, 1 Lam_3:8

Remember when I stated the inward parts are not the HIDDEN part? There are two times that H5640 “saw-tham” is used, but most of the time the word means “stopped” or “stop”. Here are a few examples:

Gen 26:15 For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.

This is Isaac here wanting to “un-stop” the “stopped” wells that had been filled with dirt. They had been filled WITH EARTH.

Gen 26:15 For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
Gen 26:16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
Gen 26:17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
Gen 26:18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
Gen 26:19 And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

The Lord tells us that He can bring forth springs of living water, but the well from which it comes IS NOT ACTIVELY PRODUCING WATER if the Lord needs to bring forth water from it.

Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Jesus just wants back what is His. We have literally nothing to offer. What can we give to God? What sacrifice can we make? Can I sacrifice my own life for God? Can I dedicate myself to Him? I have NOTHING to offer God, yet when I meet Him at the “well of water”, He asks me FOR SOMETHING TO DRINK. He wants what comes forth from the WELL that was STOPPED but then filled with LIVING WATER as the EARTH is REMOVED. Low points are usually really good spots to dig for water. Valleys are pretty low. Isaac’s servants dug in a valley and found a well, but it wasn’t without strife.

Gen 26:20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
Gen 26:21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
Gen 26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
Gen 26:23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba.

It took a process of three tries before they dug a well they did not have to strive for afterwards. It takes a long process for the digging to happen, the earth to be removed so that the Lord can make room in our hidden heart for water to fill it. It isn’t because the Lord can’t do it instantaneously, but just like with all of the creation He tells Job about, His will is manifest BY WAY OF looking around at His creation and marveling. The problem is, our EYES ARE BLINDED and we CANNOT SEE… just like Job. Until we do.

Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psa 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

We do not have a clean heart. We must have one created in us, but we think all we do is pure when we justify our actions. What strikes me is the free spirit with which David asks to be upheld. The only time this word is used in all of the bible is right here in verse 12.

H5082 nedı̂ybâh
Total KJV Occurrences: 1
soul, 1 Job_30:15

Strong’s concordance has the English word “free” listed in the actual verse, but when you use e-Sword you see that it is listed as “soul”. Huh? What? Okay, so when I look at the word in more depth it all makes sense.

H5082 nedı̂ybâh
ned-ee-baw’
Feminine of H5081; properly nobility, that is, reputation: – soul. Total KJV occurrences: 2

That’s a little better but still confusing.

H5082 is the feminine version of H5081. H5081 nâdı̂yb
BDB Definition: 1) inclined, willing, noble, generous (adjective) 1a) incited, inclined, willing 1b) noble, princely (in rank) 1c) noble (in mind and character) 2) noble one (noun masculine) Part of Speech: see above in Definition A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H5068

This is one of those times when you know that translating from one language to another can lose a little bit of the original intent of the word or phrase. This word means noble as in prince or also it infers WILL. In other words, a servant’s will does not supersede the will of the master. The “prince’s/noble’s will” is noble in mind and character.

H5081 nâdı̂yb
Total KJV Occurrences: 28
princes, 10 1Sa_2:8, Job_12:21, Job_34:18, Psa_47:9, Psa_107:40, Psa_118:8-9 (3), Psa_146:3, Pro_17:26
liberal, 4 Isa_32:5, Isa_32:8 (3)
nobles, 4 Num_21:18, Psa_83:11, Pro_8:16, Isa_13:2
prince, 4 Job_21:28, Pro_17:7, Pro_25:6-7 (2)
willing, 3 Exo_35:5, Exo_35:22, 1Ch_28:21
free, 2 2Ch_29:31, Psa_51:12
prince’s, 1 Son_7:1

The root of the feminine and masculine of these words is H5068: H5068 nâdab naw-dab’ A primitive root; to impel; hence to volunteer (as a soldier), to present spontaneously: – offer freely, be (give, make, offer self) willing (-ly). Total KJV occurrences: 17

H5068 nâdab Total KJV Occurrences: 17
willingly, 13 Jdg_5:2 (2), Jdg_5:9, 1Ch_29:6, 1Ch_29:9 (2), 1Ch_29:14, 1Ch_29:17 (2), 2Ch_17:16, Ezr_1:6, Ezr_3:5, Ezr_7:16
willing, 3 Exo_35:21, Exo_35:29, 1Ch_29:5
offered, 1 Ezr_3:5 (2)

Therefore, the root of this word is “WILLING” and that is probably why the translators chose “free”.

To WILL something is to be FREE to DO SO.

That is why we always say, “Lord willing” or the “Lord’s WILL BE DONE”.

The answer to the questions of “why” are all the same. The Lord willed it. His will is ultimate and all knowing, whereas our collective human wills are ALL CONTROLLED. I understand how grating that is to our flesh. I know how it rubs like sand on the skin. Until the Lord re-digs the wells that were once open and filled with water, then the hidden part cannot be filled with water. What is the purpose of it all then? Well, since you have asked for drink, I will give you sup. When you have water, you can help others, for that is why they are at the well, too. Except, the well is LIFE and they HAVE NONE. They, and we alike, are DEAD MEN WALKING. I don’t care what you do with your life, your time, your wants and desires. Vanity of vanities, it is all vanity!

Ask anyone on their LITERAL death bed. They will tell you what’s up. That’s a funny thought considering we are the ones supposedly dying daily; therefore, we should have the “what’s up” to give to others like the person on their physical death bed.

Psa 51:13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Psa 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Psa 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
Psa 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Psa 51:18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Psa 51:19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

Lips of thanksgiving. The sacrifice of thanksgiving. When you are found, as a lost sheep, and keep wandering away from the flock becoming lost, your Shepherd will find you. There will be a time when your salvation will be to break your legs to keep you from becoming lost again. You will ask why. The Lord will answer.

Psa 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Next study, we will be doing Part 4 of this series, which I believe will be the last part of this series. It will be a summation of the things mentioned in the first three parts, coupled with knowing what it is to TEACH the WAY to all who come to the well as the noble princes we are all being raised up to be spiritually. Give unto us a princely heart, oh Lord!