The Fear of God: From Seed to Delight

[Study Aired June 9, 2026]

The Journey of the Fear of God

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

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

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

The Nature of God: Love as Consuming Fire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Seed Planted: From Ignorance to Knowledge

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

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

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

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

Christ the Prototype: The Fear of God Completed

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

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

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

Addressing Alternative Interpretations

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

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

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

The Fire That Perfects

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

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

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

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

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

“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility” Part 2(Pro 15:16-24)

(Aired on July 3, 2025)

Pro 15:16  Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.
Pro 15:17  Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
Pro 15:18  A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
Pro 15:19  The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.
Pro 15:20  A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.
Pro 15:21  Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walketh uprightly.
Pro 15:22  Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
>Pro 15:23  A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
Pro 15:24  The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

The bible has a lot to say about being content (Php 4:11-13), and the process of judgement that God puts us through in this life (1Ti 6:17) makes it possible for the elect to achieve that blessed place of being content (1Ti 6:6-8).

Php 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned (Tit 2:12-13), in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content (This verse 2Co 1:9 is what gives (Pro 3:5-8) its power so we can be content).
Php 4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.(Php 2:12-13)

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

When our attention is on seeking the kingdom of God first and His righteousness as we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”, forgetting what is behind us (Php 3:14), we learn that the “all things” that are accomplished by Christ (Php 4:13) is the paramount way by which we are going to go from being the rich young ruler who had great wealth, wealth that represents those who will say ‘haven’t we done many wonderful works’ in the second resurrection. That wealth also represents our former self-righteous conversation (Eph 2:1-3), as opposed to the prodigal son who sees the need now and the blessing to be judged of the Lord in this life. The impoverished actions of squandering our inheritance, is only the beginning of tribulation for this prodigal son who represents the elect of God (1Pe 4:17, Luk 15:14-15). The prodigal who squanders his inheritance is just another way of showing us how we think we are that rich young ruler in Babylon, and yet don’t understand that we are wretched (Rom 7:24), miserable (Rev 3:17), poor (Jas 2:5), and blind (Isa 42:19,  Joh 9:41) until the Lord starts to judge the manchild who is raised in heavenly places for that reason (Rev 12:5, Eph 2:6).

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Luk 15:14  And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
Luk 15:15  And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

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

Christ gives us the power to accomplish the “all things” that God’s spirit makes possible for us to fulfill in this life (1Co 13:7).

1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Our goal then as the body of Christ is to be found at Christ’s return understanding that we are wretched, miserable, poor and blind,(Luk 17:10) as we are brought to see that as a marred vessel we have a continual need for our hope of glory within us, Jesus Christ,  to work within us day by day, moment by moment, so we can die to self and become more than conquerors through Him, through the faith of Christ by which we can do “all things” (Php 3:9-11).

Luk 17:10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. (Php 2:12-13)

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ (Php 4:13), the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Heb 11:26-27)
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

God has given the body of Christ exceedingly great and precious promises that, when understood with the mind of Christ, we truly have nothing to fear, if we fear God and trust Him for all our needs, as we seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness (Pro 19:23, Mat 6:33, Col 3:23, Gen 2:15). The Lord is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him, and so our labours are not in vain in Him (Php 2:12-13), and those labours in each of the elect’s lives have been ordained from the foundation of the world (Eph 2:10).

Pro 15:16  Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.

This opening proverb says everything we need to know regarding the right relationship we should have with our Father (Luk 12:5) even as we commit our ways unto Him while pursuing paths of righteousness for His name sake, which paths include our jobs, our relationships in the world, which are all for our sakes (2Co 4:15) so that we can obtain great spiritual treasure that brings with it no burden, no trouble, no sorrow (Pro 10:22).

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

When we are seeking the kingdom of God first and His righteousness, we are being blessed with a hunger and thirst that comes from God (Mat 5:6), which drags us to the same right conclusion every time, that “Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith”.

Pro 15:17  Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

This next proverb is a reminder of how blessed we are in the body of Christ to have the true riches of God’s word in our lives, unadulterated and all profitable (2Ti 3:16) as a result of the mind of Christ that gives us the ability to see the need for the sum of God’s word (Mat 4:4), as we compare spirit with spirit using the physical (1Co 2:12-14).

2Ti 3:16  All scripture 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.

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.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Herbs represent the little that God’s elect have that is more valuable with an obedient spirit to God’s commandments (Mat 25:23), than the stalled ox in Babylon that is stalled because of the hatred that we once demonstrated toward God by not keeping his commandments, while we were saying ‘Lord, Lord’ and not doing the things that He commands us (1Jn 5:2). When we are obedient to the commandments of God we grow in our apprehension of His word and become partakers of the ox which represents the more mature discerning of God’s word that comes about as a result of the increase that He gives us (Heb 5:13-14, 1Co 3:6-7).

Mat 25:23  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
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.

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Pro 15:18  A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

That wrathful man is the first man Adam within us that we need to rule over by God’s grace and the faith of Christ (Eph 2:8-9) that gives us the power to appease situations where strife exists (Rev 11:3). Stressful situations try and test us in that regard, and we are bound to fall seven times as God’s children as we learn that it is only by God’s mercy that we can eventually bring all our thoughts into subjection unto Christ and in so doing we end up ruling over the cities that make up the nations within us where God does cause evil and conflict (Pro 16:32-33, Amo 3:6).

Pro 16:32  He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
Pro 16:33  The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Pro 15:19  The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.

Our carnal man within us does not labour in the word of God and examine ourselves whether we be in the faith or not, but if we would be blessed to judge ourselves (Rom 2:4) we will not be judged in the lake of fire (1Co 11:31, 2Co 13:5).

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

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

A slothful man is likened unto a hedge of thorns, which represents false doctrines (Gen 3:18) which blind us from seeing the path to life that Christ makes plain for His children to see “but the way of the righteous is made plain” (Joh 16:13). It is also interesting to note that ‘made plain’ is Strong number H5549 and is also translated as ‘to cast up a highway’, ‘to lift up’ (and is being used with the Qal stem in this case).

H5549 sâlal  saw-lal’  A primitive root; to mound up (especially a turnpike); figuratively to exalt; reflexively to oppose (as by a dam): – cast up, exalt (self), extol, make plain, raise up.

BDB Definition:

1. to lift up, cast up, exalt
2. (Qal)
3. to cast up a highway
4. to cast up a way
5. to lift up (of song)
6. (Pilpel) to exalt, esteem highly, prize
7. (Hithpoel) to exalt oneself

We are called to resist those thorns and briers unto the shedding of blood, symbolized by the crown of thorns that Christ had put on him. This tells us that with the mind of Christ we can resist the devil and all his fiery darts can be quenched (Heb 12:4, Eph 6:16) with the strength of Christ working all things in our heaven and earth that He has complete power over (Mat 28:18).

Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

Pro 15:20  A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.

Christ is our wisdom and until His words abide within us we are the foolish man that despises his mother who represents the church, the body of Christ (Col 1:24).

We can only be accepted through Christ who was and is and will be the wise son who makes His father glad, “A wise son maketh a glad father” (Mat 3:17).

Mat 3:17  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Pro 15:21  Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walketh uprightly.

When we are destitute of the mind of Christ we cannot help but be drawn toward the folly of this world that satisfies our yet carnal state. However, a man who is being judged of the Lord in this age is a man of understanding who now walks uprightly, coming out of the world, touching not the unclean thing, and is being received of God through Christ (Eph 1:6, 2Co 6:17-18).

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

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.

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

The holy spirit has inspired these verses that discuss the wisdom of counsel (Pro 11:14, Pro 15:22, Pro 24:6) which is a means to an end for the body of Christ as we navigate through this life via the strength that God provides through each joint that supplies in love (Eph 4:16), which is what is needed to keep the body spiritually healthy. It is with the body of Christ that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (1Pe 5:6), submitting to one another as unto Christ (Eph 5:21-22), and in doing this we will be lifted up in due season and become more than conquerors through Christ and His body.

Pro 1:25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

Pro 1:30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

Pro 8:14  Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.

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

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

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

Pro 15:23  A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

Not just any words bring us joy, but the joy of our salvation (Psa 51:12), which results in our knowing God and Christ (Joh 17:3), and having the words of eternal life in our hearts and minds (Joh 6:68). At that day (Joh 14:20) because we have been blessed to keep the words of God and continue to abide in them, we become confident and assured that the Father and the Son have made their abode in us making it possible for us to provide spiritual meat in due season (Joh 8:31-32, Mat 24:45-46). That is the good that God gives to those who He is dragging to His Son in this age (Joh 6:44). God’s elect are not just blessed to stumble unto the word of God, but are keeping the sayings of the prophecy (Rev 1:3) that crushes our old man and makes us ready to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Mat 21:44, Luk 13:4-5).

Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Luk 13:4  Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Pro 15:24  The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell^{H7585 = sheol} beneath.

The way of life is Christ (Joh 14:16) and he is our wisdom (1Co 1:30), and it is through him that we can overcome the grave as He is the power of the resurrection (Php 3:10, Joh 11:25-26). Even now as we die daily we are being raised in heavenly places (Eph 2:6) to the glory and honour of God “until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:14). All of this is promised to the body of Christ, and we are also reminded of the way by which we will obtain these promises, which is through “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility”.

Are Toys Mentioned in the Bible?

[Posted March 31, 2024]

Hi All,

Are toys mentioned in the bible? If so, what does it mean/ [and] signify?

Thanks,

D____

Hi D____,

Thank you for your inquiry ~ “Are toys mentioned in the bible? If so, what does it mean/ [and] signify?” I can’t directly find the word “toy” in scripture; however, there is plenty of evidence of man entertaining himself throughout the Bible to attain joy that results from him ‘toying’ with a host of vehicles for entertainment.

Here are some thesaurus definitions for the word “toy.” From them, we can easily see the negative and positive effects of ‘toying’ with joy with various means of diversion or amplifying joy in everyday life.

Trifle, play, dally, fiddle, flirt/coquet, fool, game, amuse, sport, jest, mess with, banta, tease, wanton, frolic, contrivance, scheme, instrument, artifice, play, to name a limited few. From those terminologies springs all sorts of toyed inventions (Ecc 7:9).

While some of the apostles fished for a livelihood, others were tentmakers, builders, and many other common forms of creating a provision for their families and themselves; most people get some joy from their work. Ironically, the more money gained from any work, the greater the apparent (fleeting) ‘joy’.

Pro 23:5  Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? [things you lust for that the Lord hasn’t seen to provide] for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven [God in heaven owns all the gold]. 

Ecc 5:13  There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

Whatever one’s level of wealth, one of the most outstanding joys other than salvation is having more than enough wealth to be able to give some of it to others for their joy and for the giver to bathe in the recipient’s joy.

Ecc 5:14  But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
Ecc 5:15  As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. 
Ecc 5:16  And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?
Ecc 5:17  All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. 
Ecc 5:18  Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. 
Ecc 5:19  Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.

What is that “power to eat thereof?” It is to have the wisdom to use his relative wealth, be it little or much, to the best righteous or unrighteous advantage.

Ecc 5:20  For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. 

“He shall not much remember the days of his life” if he never receives trials resulting from his relative wealth. Trials are more often chastisements and are designed for us to remember the occasion. To an unrighteous person not casting his bread upon the water, God answers him according to the idols of his heart. He can receive much joy by building bigger barns and in this life never see much pain and suffering, but for the Elect of God, God, too, answers him for the joy of God’s pleasure and our ultimate joy from chastisement.

Mat 5:45  so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Probably the greatest instrument that keeps us from keeping our eyes singularly focused on Christ is our quest for entertainment to lust for joy. Our quest for joy is insatiable, and is why people overindulge a joy and avoid the pain of trials.

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)

No man pursued joy and playing with virtual toys more than Solomon. He kept nothing from his hand to accentuate his joy of ‘toying’ with worldly items. His conclusion of the matter was that it all was vanity and chasing the wind.

Ecc 2:10  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy [H8057]; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
Ecc 2:11  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Joy – H8057 Transliteration: Sameach
– Phonetic: saw-may’-akh
– Definition:

1. joyful, merry, glad
2. joyful, showing joy
3. you who rejoice (subst)

From H8055 – 1. joyful, merry, glad

1. joyful, showing joy
2. you who rejoice (subst)

God particularly wants us to be filled with joy from our labors and everything to which we righteously put forth our mind, body and most singularly, spirit.

Ecc 9:7  Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
Ecc 9:8  Let thy garments be always white [and for this cause, play with your ‘toys’ righteously]; and let thy head lack no ointment.
Ecc 9:9  Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
Ecc 9:10  Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no [joy from…] work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

However, Solomon, with his one thousand wives, never found lasting joy in any of them since they couldn’t match his infinite wisdom and intellect to attain and amplify unity of mind and spirit. The result was his quest to design his wife in dreaming up the Shulamite’s perfection. Unwittingly to Solomon, he represented Christ, who caused him to use his God-given physical wisdom to ‘create’ the perfect wife to represent his future Bride in her spiritual wisdom that discombobulated his mind in the blackness of understanding ~ an utter insult to his profound God-given wisdom.

Ecc 7:27  Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account [… of not being able to find a wife who could be the perfect companion and ‘help-meet’]:
Ecc 7:28  Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man [unconsciously Christ/Solomon] among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
Ecc 7:29  Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man [men who should be upright, but superseded by Christ] upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Son 6:13  Return, return, O Shulamite! Return, return, that we may look on you [to study what kind of wisdom you have (spiritual) that I don’t have!].

What will you see in the Shulamite? As it were the dance of two camps.

Solomon didn’t and couldn’t understand the spiritual, and even though he created the Shulamite in his poetic dreaming, he KNEW that something ‘black’ to his understanding other than fleshy decaying works had to come in the form of the Shulamite (Christ’s Bride in spirit and truth) that didn’t exist in his age.

Of course, while in Babylon, our ‘joy’ humiliatingly expanded most devilishly in gaining the upper hand over others to see them squirm in discomfort for our psychopathic joy seeing them put in their place having cut off their ears from hearing the Lord’s word. In that case, they were our ‘toys’ for spiritual abuse.

King Saul would have found demented joy in pinning David to the wall with a javelin; meanwhile, his disturbed spirit was calmed by David’s brilliant picking of the harp’s (“toy”) strings.

1Sa 16:23  And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

1Sa 19:9  And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.
1Sa 19:10  And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

Javelins, archery, sling shooting, racing horses, chariots and women are all instruments and figurative toys for joy as are men for women’s varied joys.

1Co 11:8  For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
1Co 11:9  Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
1Co 11:10  For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

The woman, the Church, is made for Christ and for His good pleasure and reciprocal joy and He says,

3Jn 1:4  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Jud 1:24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Rev 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

So, the mechanisms of ‘toys’ are everywhere in scripture. They are the ‘natural that comes before the spiritual’, as with every aspect of creation, and they have a spiritual correlation.

The greatest pleasure for a man is a wife who is in unity with him, as is the Bride with Christ, yet, and for now, in the flesh, even a wife and husband are to take a back seat compared to our focus on the spiritual.

1Co 7:29  But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; 
1Co 7:30  And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
1Co 7:31  And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

From that perspective, ‘toys’ in the physical world are redundant as we move to the spiritual.

Your servant in Christ,

Grant

Book of Obadiah – Oba 1:2 Thou art Greatly Despised

[Study Aired December 13, 2023]

Oba 1:2  Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised

Oba 1:2  Behold,^H2009 I have made^H5414 thee small^H6996 among the heathen:^H1471 thou^H859 art greatly^H3966 despised.^H959 

The seven Hebrew words used are:

H2009 – Hinneh, behold, lo, see, if, prolongation for a primitive particle H2005, Hen, behold, lo, if

H5414 – Nathan, (Qal) to give, put, set, bestow, grant, permit, ascribe, employ, devote, consecrate, dedicate, pay wages, sell, exchange, lend, commit, entrust, give over, deliver up, yield produce, occasion, produce, requite to, report, mention, utter, stretch out, extend, put on, put upon, appoint, assign, designate, make, constitute, a primitive root

H6996 – Qatan, young, small, insignificant, unimportant, from a primitive root 

H6962, Koot, to loathe, be grieved, feel a loathing, detest, loathe oneself

H1471 – Goy, nation, people, swarm of locusts, other animals, from the same root as 

H1465, Gevah, the back, behind, from H1460, Gev, the back, back, midst, from a primitive root H1342, Ga’ah, to rise up, grow up, be exalted in triumph, be lifted up, be raised up, be exalted

H859 – Attah, you (second pers. sing. masc.) a primitive pronoun of the second person

H3966 – Meod, Vehement, exceedingly, much, might, force, abundance, muchness, greatly, very, up to abundance, to a great degree, with muchness, from the same as H181, Ood, brand, fire brand, from an unused root meaning to rake together a poker (for turning or gathering embers) (Root word used three times in OT)

H959 – Bazah, (Qal) to despise, hold in contempt, a primitive root

Here is a literal translation of verse 2 including the root words:

Oba 1:2 Behold (you are) given to be small [to loathe yourself], [you will] be raised up, you, a firebrand, held in contempt.

The new man loathes the old man, because they are opposites (in opposition) and will hold it in contempt just as the new man is held in contempt by the flesh. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he refers to this conflict:

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind [G5426] the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

It is the carnal mind (false doctrines) which make up the old man and it is the carnal mind that is enmity (hostility) against God.

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

As we mature in Christ we begin to place much more emphasis on understanding the things of the spirit, by spending time in the Word, because we know that focusing on the flesh does not please God. 

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God

The Greek word used in Romans 8:5 for mind (for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit) is:

G5426 
phroneō [fron-eh’-o]

From G5424; to exercise the mind, that is, entertain or have a sentiment or opinion; intensively to interest oneself in (with concern or obedience): – set the affection on. From a root word G5424 “the faculty of perceiving and judging”.

As the elect we are interested in understanding the Word of God, and we are very concerned with being obedient to His Words. This is what makes us “able ministers” as shown in 2 Corinthians.

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers [G1249] of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life

The elect are “able ministers”:

G1249
diakonos

Thayer Definition:

1) one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master, a servant, attendant, minister

1a) the servant of a king

We are, and are to be, servants of Christ, our King. He is the true King of kings and Lord of lords. He chose us to be servants; we didn’t choose to be invited to be a servant in his Kingdom because it is He who appoints us to this role.

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.

Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Isa 43:10  Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me

Good servants, primarily are obedient to their King. This is how we can keep every word of Christ and at the same time apply the spiritual principle of not keeping every “letter” which has been written in the Bible, instead discerning truth from error as we start to put away the idols from out of all our land. As servants we are given the keys to the Kingdom so we may better understand the spirit behind the letter of what has been written:

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

It is our reasonable service to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. This is achieved by renewing our mind (putting away the flesh/the idols and giants out of our land).

2Ch 15:6  And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
2Ch 15:7  Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
2Ch 15:8  And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin.

Nations are destroyed within us (false doctrines) as Christ (true doctrines) increases in us. Christ is moulding us into a firebrand, a “new sharp threshing instrument having teeth” that is comfortable in fire, discerning truth from error:

Isa 41:13  For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Isa 41:14  Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:15  Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

Sharp denotes the Word and how we use it in conjunction with the Holy Spirit 

H2742 chârûts (khaw-roots’), incised or incisive; hence a trench (as dug), gold (as mined), a threshing sledge (having sharp teeth); (figuratively) determination; decision

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

God has three seasons in which he is harvesting all of mankind to himself so he may be all in all (1Co 15:28).

The first season of harvesting is the first of the firstfruits which is Christ.

1Co 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

The second season is the harvest where the firstfruits are brought to God. The elect are a type of firstfruits.

Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth [That is Christ], that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures

The third season is the “feast of ingathering” which occurs at the end of the year and is when all in Adam will be dragged to their Creator.

Here is how it appears in Exodus:

Exo 34:22  And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

Ultimately this work of harvesting will bring both the sower and the reaper joy. We find our peace and joy in being a servant of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Joh 4:34  Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Joh 4:35  Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Joh 4:36  And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

It is also comforting to know that Christ also thinks of us as more than just servants. He calls us His friend.

Joh 15:11  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Joh 15:12  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Conclusion

Spiritual principle: We are to keep every word of scripture, but also understand the letter kills, but it is the spirit that giveth life.

Because of Christ in us, he is making us “able ministers” of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Numbers 23:1-30  Balaam’s Encounter with Balak

[Study Aired October 9, 2023]

Num 23:1  And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 
Num 23:2  And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. 
Num 23:3  And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. 
Num 23:4  And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. 
Num 23:5  And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 
Num 23:6  And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 
Num 23:7  And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 
Num 23:8  How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? 
Num 23:9  For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 
Num 23:10  Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
Num 23:11  And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. 
Num 23:12  And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth? 
Num 23:13  And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. 
Num 23:14  And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. 
Num 23:15  And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder. 
Num 23:16  And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 
Num 23:17  And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? 
Num 23:18  And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: 
Num 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 
Num 23:20  Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 
Num 23:21  He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. 
Num 23:22  God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
Num 23:23  Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 
Num 23:24  Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. 
Num 23:25  And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
Num 23:26  But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do? 
Num 23:27  And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. 
Num 23:28  And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.
Num 23:29  And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 
Num 23:30  And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. 

Introduction

This chapter looks at the first two attempts by Balaam and Balak in preparation to curse the people of Israel which involves the sacrifice of oxen and rams, the contrary instructions given by the Lord to Balaam and the blessings that Balaam was compelled to pronounce upon the people of Israel, instead of a curse. The chapter ends with a third attempt with Balaam and Balak preparing to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. 

In the previous chapter, we learned that the Lord came to Balaam and told him specifically that the people of Israel could not be cursed since they were blessed. This should have ended Balaam’s quest to enrich himself with his divination. However, he kept on working with Balak thinking that the Lord would change His mind. Even after he got the revelation that the Lord is not a man that He should repent, Balaam kept on searching for a way to receive reward from Balak. This is what Jude said about Balaam:

Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

Today’s study shows us the ways of the Lord and the Lord’s view about the church of the firstborn, which is symbolized by the people of Israel as they encamped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan opposite Jericho. 

First Attempt to Find a way to Curse Israel

Num 23:1  And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 
Num 23:2  And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. 

As indicated in the previous study, Balaam and Balak represent our brothers and sisters in Babylon. This expensive sacrifice offered by Balak and Balaam was for the purpose of changing the Lord’s mind to cause Balaam to curse the people of Israel instead of blessing them. The Lord had made His will known to Balaam that the people of Israel cannot be cursed since they were a blessed people. The offering of seven oxen and seven rams on seven altars signifies the complete offerings of our brothers and sisters in Babylon where they put more premium on sacrifice in the form of tithes, giving to the church and working for the church, instead of obedience to the Lord. The scenario here is the same as King Saul who disobeyed the Lord’s words by keeping the best of the spoils instead of destroying them. This was what characterized our walk in Babylon. We were paying more attention to sacrifice instead of obedience to the Lord.

1Sa 15:18  And the LORD sent you (Saul) on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 
1Sa 15:19  Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?” 
1Sa 15:20  And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 
1Sa 15:21  But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
1Sa 15:22  And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 
1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” (ESV)

What the Lord requires is the sacrifice of a broken heart or a repentant heart. 

Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Num 23:3  And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. 
Num 23:4  And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. 
Num 23:5  And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 

Verse 3 shows us that the Lord will not visit us while we are paying more attention to sacrifice than obedience to His words. It was when Balaam had left Balak at the burnt offering that the Lord visited him. Our sacrifices in Babylon were therefore an impediment to the Lord visiting us to drag us to Himself. It is insightful to note that in verse 4, when the Lord visited him, Balaam was boasting to the Lord about his sacrifice of seven oxen and rams. As indicated, Balaam represents our brothers and sisters in Babylon who are only interested in showing to the Lord their tithes and offerings and their good works of charity. This was what happened to us when we were in Babylon. 

Isa 1:11  To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
Isa 1:12  When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 
Isa 1:13  Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 
Isa 1:14  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 
Isa 1:15  And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Isa 1:16  Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 

In verse 5, the Lord putting a word in Balaam’s mouth is another way of saying that the preparation of the heart in man, and what comes out of our mouth, is from the Lord. 

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

Num 23:6  And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 
Num 23:7  And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 
Num 23:8  How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? 

Balaam returning to find Balak and all the princes of Moab standing by the burnt sacrifice signifies the fact that Babylon is stuck to their sacrifices and are not willing to obey the words of the Lord. That is why in the fullness of time, they will show their sacrifices to the Lord by saying to Him that they have prophesied in His name, cast out devils and done many wonderful works. To this the Lord will tell them they are workers of iniquity because they prefer sacrifices to obedience.

Mat 7:21  Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

In verse 7, the enmity of our brothers and sisters in Babylon to the Lord’s elect is evident here as Balak, the king of Moab, sought to curse the people of Israel through Balaam. This enmity is demonstrated by King Saul, who represents Babylon, trying to kill David, a type of the elect.

1Sa 19:14  And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she (Saul’s daughter) said, He is sick.
1Sa 19:15  And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.
1Sa 19:16  And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster. 
1Sa 19:17  And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?

Verse 8 assures us that whoever the Lord has blessed, no one can curse or harm. It is another way of saying that no weapon formed or fashioned against the Lord’s elect shall prosper.

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

Num 23:9  For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 
Num 23:10  Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

Verse 9 shows us that it is only in Christ, symbolized by the top of the rocks and the hills, we see who the Lord’s elect are. The people dwelling alone and not counted among the nations of the world signifies that the Lord’s elect are distinct from the people of the world and do not conform to the standards of this world.   

2Sa 7:23  And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? 
2Sa 7:24  For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever: and thou, LORD, art become their God.

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

The dust of Jacob in verse 10 is a reference to the prophecy by the Lord that the people of Israel would become as the dust of the earth. This implies that the people of Israel had become so many, which symbolizes that they had become a strong or powerful nation.

Gen 28:14  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

We, His elect, represent the dust of Jacob spiritually as we are the innumerable company of angels as shown in the following verse:

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

The fourth part of Israel in verse 10 alludes to the form of their camp, which is grouped into four teams under four standards. The number four signifies the whole of the matter under discussion. This implies that the fourth part of Israel represents the whole of the Lord’s elect. Balaam stated that he wanted to die the death of the righteous in verse 10. This death of the righteous is the dying of our old man, or the flesh, through the Lord’s judgment. It is not attained by desire as Balaam wished, as the Lord had already penciled in those who are to die to the old man before the foundation of the world.

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:

The Second Attempt to Find a Way to Curse Israel

Num 23:11  And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. 
Num 23:12  And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth? 
Num 23:13  And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. 
Num 23:14  And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. 

Balak accused Balaam of blessing the people of Israel instead of cursing them, and in response Balaam told Balak that he could only speak what the Lord had put in his mouth. As indicated earlier, this is to show us that it is the Lord who controls what we speak. Irrespective of what we may conceive in our hearts and mind, what comes out of our mouth is what the Lord has ordained. 

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

Balak thought that changing the location of the offering could influence the Lord to cause Balaam to curse the people of Israel. Balak took Balaam to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah for another expensive offering to the Lord to influence His decision. Pisgah means ‘division.’ As we are aware, it is in Babylon where we have various sects or divisions. What this means is that while we were in Babylon, we thought that if the Lord were not with us in one church, then perhaps, if we go to another church, we may find Him. This resulted in our wandering in the churches of this world trying to find God, just as Balak and Balaam thought by changing location (going to another church) they may find God to change His mind regarding the fate of the people of Israel.

Num 23:15  And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder. 
Num 23:16  And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 
Num 23:17  And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? 
Num 23:18  And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:

As indicated earlier, our sacrifices in Babylon did not result in the Lord appearing to us. It is when we ‘go yonder’ (leave Babylon) that the Lord comes to us with His brightness as He puts His words in our mouth just as He did to Balaam. Again, the fact that Balak was standing by his burnt offering together with the princes of Moab is to let us know that the only thing our brothers and sisters in Babylon can offer is sacrifice, not obedience to the words of the Lord. When Balaam went yonder and had a revelation of Christ and the church, he came to Balak and told him about it in verse 18. As we shall see later, what Balaam told Balaam fell on deaf ears. In other words, our witness of Christ to the churches of this world will fall on deaf ears. 

Isa 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 
Isa 6:9  And he said, Go, and tell this people (Babylon), Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 
Isa 6:10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 
Isa 6:11  Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 
Isa 6:12  And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 
Isa 6:13  But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. 

In Isaiah 6:11, we are given the time frame when our brothers and sisters will start to heed our witness of Christ. Their hardened hearts will continue until Babylon is destroyed, and there will be a great forsaking in the midst of the land (Isaiah 9:12). This great forsaking is when the human race gathers against the Lord and His elect, which will result in the death of all humanity and the beginning of the lake-of-fire age. 

The next verses show us the revelation given to Balaam concerning Christ and His church.

Num 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 
Num 23:20  Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 
Num 23:21  He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. 
Num 23:22  God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

One of the key revelations given to Balaam is that God is not a man that He should repent (verse 19). There are several scriptures which state that God repented, and so we need to investigate the word “repent” in verse 19. The word “repent” in everyday usage means reviewing one’s actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs and taking steps to show a change for the better. However, in the verses where the Lord repented, the word “repented” actually means to pity (in a favorable way), have compassion or console, according to Strong’s Dictionary. 

In Numbers 23:19 and 1 Samuel 15:29 on the other hand, the context shows us that the Lord not repenting because He is not a man has to do with the Lord not changing His mind as we human beings do. 

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 
Gen 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 

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

Jon 3:9  Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

1Sa15:29  And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

Verse 20 shows us that it is what the Lord has purposed which shall stand. 

Pro 19:21  There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

As the Lord’s elect, the Lord does not see iniquity and perverseness in us even though in time past our ways were perverse, and there was iniquity in our hearts. This is because the Lord who has come to us is doing His work of removing iniquity and perverseness in us. The Lord is therefore looking at us from the perspective of His finished work in us. Are you worrying about some sins in your life? Have confidence that what our Lord starts, He is able to bring to completion. We are indeed blessed that the Lord does not see iniquity in us as He is gradually dealing with the source of our iniquity which is the old man.

Psa 32:2  Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

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. 

The shout of the king among them in verse 21 signifies that Christ has come into our lives riding on a white horse to grant us the victory over our flesh or old man.

Rev 6:2  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

Num 23:23  Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 

Verse 23 is another way of saying that nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. In other words, if God is for us, who can fight against us?

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 
Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Num 23:24  Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. 

This verse is another way of saying that since Christ has come into our lives, He will conquer our old man. We, His elect, are represented in this verse as a great and young lion who shall not rest until we have overcome the flesh, or our old man, who is represented here as the prey. Drinking the blood of the slain symbolizes our victory over the flesh, or our old man. 

Deu 20:4  for the LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Num 23:25  And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
Num 23:26  But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do? 

Balak was gradually getting weary of his multitude of counselors, as he wanted Balaam not to either curse or bless the people of Israel.

Isa 47:12  Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 
Isa 47:13  Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

In verse 26, Balaam continued to reiterate what the Lord had put in his mouth that which he would speak or do. This is to show us that it is the Lord’s counsel which shall stand in every circumstance.

Pro 19:21  There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

The Third Attempt to Find a way to Curse Israel

Num 23:27  And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. 
Num 23:28  And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.
Num 23:29  And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 
Num 23:30  And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. 

Balak decided to take Balaam to a third place called Peor which overlooks Jeshimon. Peor is a mountain near Mount Nebo in the land of Moab. Here the Moabites’ god Baal was worshiped, hence the name Baal-Peor. Balak believed that at this place, the sacrifice would be acceptable to the Lord and therefore change His mind since it is acceptable to his god, Baal. At Peor, they again built seven altars and sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams. The question is, why was Balaam tagging along when he knew that the Lord would not change his mind? It is because he had set his eyes on the reward of divination and therefore could not see beyond the reward.

Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

If it is in this life that we have hope, then we are the most miserable people on earth. The Lord may reward us physically in this life, but that is not the main motivating factor. It is the joy that is set before us which is the driving force for our actions here on earth.

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

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

Acts 13:28-52  It is Necessary That the Word First Be Spoken to Babylon

[Study Aired April 30, 2023]

Act 13:28  And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.
Act 13:29  And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
Act 13:30  But God raised him from the dead:
Act 13:31  And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
Act 13:32  And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
Act 13:33  God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Act 13:34  And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
Act 13:35  Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Act 13:36  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Act 13:37  But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
Act 13:38  Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
Act 13:39  And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Act 13:40  Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
Act 13:41  Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
Act 13:42  And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:43  Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Act 13:44  And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Act 13:45  But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
Act 13:46  Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Act 13:47  For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
Act 13:48  And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Act 13:49  And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
Act 13:50  But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
Act 13:51  But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.
Act 13:52  And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

In our last study, Paul and Barnabas had just arrived in Pisidian Antioch and had entered the local synagogue where they were invited to speak:

Act 13:13  Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.
Act 13:14  But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.
Act 13:15  And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

These verses demonstrate the veracity of James’ statement when he concluded that the Jews were still under the law in chapter 15:

Act 15:19  Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Act 15:20  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21  For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

The consensus of the apostles and elders was that the Gentiles were not under the law of Moses, but the Jews were still expected to keep the law of Moses which… “Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.” The apostles themselves were still very much attached to the temple in Jerusalem and were still tithing to the Levites, circumcising, and offering blood sacrifices. They were still observing all the Jewish holy days and all the laws concerning the eating of only clean meats and zealously keeping all the laws of Moses.

Act 21:20  And when they heard it [What the Lord was doing among the Gentiles through Paul’s
ministry], they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

The point being, they did not yet see the synagogue as a great harlot from whom they must separate themselves. The apostles themselves, at this point and throughout the book of Acts, considered Judaism and the law of Moses to be the same as the law of Christ. Hence “Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues ever sabbath day” was a very positive thing in the eyes of James and all the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.

The reformation had to start somewhere, and this first journey will help us to see the beginning of “the reformation”:

Heb 9:10  Which stood [the temple and all of its Mosaic rituals] only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

When we closed our last study, Paul was in the process of reviewing the history of his nation to those in the synagogue there in Antioch in Pisidia. He began his review from the time the Lord had brought Israel up out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery. He reviewed how the Lord had brought Israel through the wilderness, had displaced seven nations in the promised land, how Israel had lived for four hundred and fifty years under the judges, had then been given a king named ‘Saul’ for forty years, and then the Lord had replaced King Saul with King David, who is a physical ancestor of Christ.

This is where Paul was in our last study:

Act 13:23  Of this man’s seed [King David] hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
Act 13:24  When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
Act 13:25  And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.
Act 13:26  Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.
Act 13:27  For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

Notice that everywhere Paul and Barnabas travel, they assume that the people in the synagogues are already familiar with the story of the miraculous events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. They knew that John’s father was a priest serving in the temple, who had been struck with being dumb until John was born and named. They were familiar with the preaching of John the Baptist and the fact that John had proclaimed that Jesus was “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world”:

Joh 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Joh 1:36  And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

His life, His ministry, His miracles and the death and His resurrection had already become common knowledge among all the Jews in all the synagogues. However, it was not necessarily believed by the Jews, and the true significance of the death and resurrection of Christ was certainly not yet realized except by a very few.

Paul continues with his sermon in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch:

Act 13:28  And though they found no cause of death in him [Christ], yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.
Act 13:29  And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
Act 13:30  But God raised him from the dead:
Act 13:31  And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

Verse 31 is a confirmation of Peter’s testimony at the house of Cornelius, that Christ, after His resurrection, had not revealed Himself to the whole nation of Israel but only to faithful witnesses:

Act 10:39  And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
Act 10:40  Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
Act 10:41  Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

Both Peter and Paul and Barnabas mention Christ knowing that their audience was already familiar with what had happened in Jerusalem, resulting in the crucifixion and death of Christ, following three-and one-half years of healing multitudes of people of all their afflictions:

Mat 4:24  And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Luk 4:40  Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

Luk 6:17  And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;

Christ was the celebrity of His day because everyone had heard of Him.

Act 13:32  And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
Act 13:33  God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

Here is the section of the Psalm to which Paul refers:

Psa 2:6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
Psa 2:7  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

This is the understanding of these verses which many Jewish Rabbis have until this very day:

“Abraham ibn Ezra, [A Spanish Rabbi, 1089- 1167 A.D.] who lived in both Muslim and Christian lands, offers both a messianic and a non-messianic interpretation of the [second] psalm!

The response to Christianity is evident in Rashi’s commentary on the psalm, one of his only two explicit glosses against Christians in this commentary:” (End Quote)

Notice what this widely respected Rabbi confesses:

“Our rabbis [traditionally] interpreted the subject of the chapter as a reference to the King Messiah. However, according to its basic meaning and for a refutation of the Christians it is correct to interpret it as a reference to David himself.

“Rashi [French rabbi, 1040- 1105 A.D.] interprets the psalm’s first part^[60] by appeal to the historical context about David provided in 2 Samuel. Most later commentators living in Christian lands follow Rashi in interpreting the psalm in light of David’s biographical details, though some turn up polemical heat.

“Radak’s Screed – Among the polemicists, Radak (An acronym for Rabbi David Kimchi, 1160-1235), who lived in Narbonne in Provence during a time of increasing Christian missionizing,^[61] was especially combative. Radak first follows Rashi in interpreting Psalm 2 in relation to David’s anointing and understands 2:7 as a metaphor:

“The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son’”—and my (David’s) kingship derives from that. Therefore, no one can dispute it, for YHWH has taken me as a son….^[62]

Radak then explains his preference for this interpretation, as opposed to the Sages’ [Gamaliel] traditional messianic interpretation:

“Some explicate this in reference to Gog and Magog, and the “anointed one” is the Royal Messiah… But it makes more sense to me that David said it about himself, as we explained [above, in the verse-by-verse commentary].

In sharp departure from previous commentators, Radak concludes his gloss on Psalm 2 with a long coda or screed (approximately 400 words)^[63] against the literal reading of v. 7 as describing God having an actual son:

“The Christians interpret it [Psa 2:7] concerning Jesus, and [it is] the verse that is their main proof, and is the basis for their error—it is a stumbling block for them—is: “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son.’”

“Radak continues by attempting to refute the Christian reading by using logic:

“If they say to you that he [Jesus] was the son of God, say to them: It is inappropriate to use the term “son of God” concerning a being of flesh and blood, because a son must be of the same species as the father. Surely you cannot say that this horse is the son of Reuben! If so, anyone to whom God says, “You are my son,” has to be of his same species, and has to be a God just like him. Similarly it says: “I fathered you this day”—the one born has to be of the same species of the one who gives birth.

“Thus Radak argues that Jesus cannot have a human aspect to him since his father is divine.

“Further say to them that you cannot have a father and son both as a godhead, for a godhead is indivisible, for it is not a corporeal entity that can be divided into parts. Rather God is total unity—he cannot be made larger or made smaller or divided.

“In sharp departure from previous commentators, Radak concludes his gloss on Psalm 2 with a long coda or screed (approximately 400 words)^[63] against the literal reading of v. 7 as describing God having an actual son:

“Here Radak follows the Maimonidean principal of God’s unity, one of the bases for the claim that people can only have negative knowledge of God (i.e., humans can know what God isn’t, not what God is). He continues with a related point:

“And if they say: It makes no sense to call something that is not divine the son of God, say to them: We can only speak of God, may He be blessed, through metaphorical language—after all, it says of Him: “the mouth of the LORD,” “the eyes of the LORD,” “the ears of the LORD,” etc. It is well known that these are metaphorical.

“Similarly, we should understand as metaphorical “son of God” and “sons of God.” Whoever fulfills someone’s commandments and acts as his proper emissary is called “son”—just as the son heeds what his father commands.

“And so too a person, because of the heavenly spirit within him, when he performs the command of God on account of the wise spirit that guides him, [God] calls him “son.” And that is why [the psalm] says: “You are my son, today I have given birth to you.”

“Radak then moves to the son’s apparent lack of omnipotence in the psalm:

“Further say to them: Concerning the deity—when you say the father says to son (v. 8): “Ask it of Me, and I will make the nations your domain”—why would the son ask this of his father—is he not a deity just like him, with the strength to subdue the nations to the ends of the earth as well! Moreover, [this implies that] before asking this question the nations were not yet his inheritance — does this suggest that that he was a weak deity beforehand and only later gained strength? That makes no sense of a deity!

“Feeling that he has the Christians on the defensive, Radak goes on to coach his readers on how to respond were Christians to invoke Jesus’s unique role as a deity who became enfleshed:

“And if they say to you: this is referring to the enfleshed deity—after the deity took a human form [as the earthly Jesus], and He told the one of flesh to ask Him [God the father] to give him nations as his inheritance—this cannot be, for the enfleshed one [Jesus] never had a kingdom and no authority over any of the nations.

“Finally, Radak addresses Christian faith:

“And if they say to you: We must accept this as a matter of faith—most of the nations, whether Jews or Moslems, do not accept him on faith.

“After his exhaustive argument, Radak summarizes his strategic point:

“I just instructed you what you should answer them concerning this psalm; you should add your own answers along this line. And if they ask you what the psalm means, you should choose to explicate it in one of these two ways: concerning David, or [the future] the King Messiah, as I explained to you [above]”. (End Quote, Author’s emphasis).

Cited from: Psalm 2 – Is the Messiah the Son of God?

This is the Babylonian doctrine of Paul’s day. This is the mindset Paul and Barnabas were dealing with. If John’s witness to whom Christ was, had not been so well known… if Christ’s death and resurrection had not been so well documented, and if all His miracles and all the miracles of His apostles had not been accomplished and displayed in such miraculous and undeniable ways, the gospel of Jesus Christ would never have been accepted by anyone, especially anyone in Judaism. The works of the risen Christ were done in a way that the public was made aware of the veracity of His resurrection. Losing your prisoners on two occasions after publicizing their capture is very hard to deny or hide.

The arrest and imprisonment of all the apostles was public knowledge as was their supernatural deliverance, and their brazen return to the temple to teach the people.

Act 5:18  And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.
Act 5:19  But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
Act 5:20  Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

Their most respected rabbi, Gamaliel, advised the priests and elders against doing any harm to the apostles. There was no denying or hiding what Christ was doing.

Peter’s apprehension by Herod after the slaying of the apostle James, the son of Zebedee, and then his miraculous deliverance from prison, happened during the days of unleavened bread while there were Jews in Jerusalem from all over the known world, and King Herod had made a big showing of his power to stifle this Jesus movement by killing the apostle James, and now King Herod wanted everyone to know that the apostle Peter was next, and yet Peter was not available for this very public trial before the Sanhedrin.

It was so humiliating that Herod had the guards all slain and then left town for Caesarea where he died being eaten by worms. This was all known by everyone because it all happened during the days of unleavened bread, and so many pilgrims were in Jerusalem and heard about and saw what happened. Christ was showing the whole world at that time that He was very much alive and working His own will in the kingdoms of men.

Saul of Tarsus had even had a very active part in the efforts of the chief priests and the elders in Jerusalem to destroy this new and growing movement, and now the Lord had converted the most zealous Jew on earth who had been intent on stomping out this perceived heresy.

All that zeal was now being used by the Lord to proclaim His gospel to this dark and dying world. Saul had been given the inspiration to pronounce blindness upon the false prophet Elymas in Paphos, in the presence of the governor of the island of Cyprus, and the governor had become a believer. At that time Saul’s name, meaning ‘asked of’ or ‘desired of’, reflected what Saul had done in requesting letters from the high priest at Jerusalem to go outside of Israel seeking to destroy the followers of Christ.

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

His name is then changed to Paul, which means ‘small’ or ‘little’. It may or may not reflect his physical stature, but it certainly reflected how he now thought of himself as ‘chief of sinners’:

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

The Lord has now prepared a knowledgeable soldier to do battle for Himself, so here we go:

Act 13:34  And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

The phrase “the sure mercies of David” is quoted from:

Isa 55:3  Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Act 13:35  Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

“Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” is quoted from:

Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. (ASV)

The word ‘corruption’ is translated from the Greek word, ‘shacath’ H7845, and it is defined as “a pit” and Strong’s tells us that it can refer to corruption or to the other Hebrew word, ‘sheol’ which is defined specifically as the grave, or “the world of the dead”.

H7845
שַׁחַת
shachath
shakh’-ath

From H7743; a pit (especially as a trap); figuratively destruction: – corruption, destruction, ditch, grave, pit.

The Jewish Rabbis teach that the words of Psalms 16:10 apply to King David, even though, as Peter also pointed out on the day of Pentecost:

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Act 13:36  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Act 13:37  But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

As we demonstrated earlier, nothing in the history of mankind was more affirmed and proven by the facts than was the death and resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ.

Act 13:38  Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
Act 13:39  And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

From what could not the law of Moses give us justification? From all the sins worthy of death, which were prescribed by the law of Moses, that law could not justify – sins like murder, adultery, apostasy and blasphemy.

This statement by Paul was music to the ears of many Jewish proselytes because, as Peter told all the elders at the Jerusalem conference:

Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

Paul continued his discourse in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch:

Act 13:40  Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
Act 13:41  Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

These words are quoted from:

Hab 1:5  Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

The context, as always, leads you to the conclusion that Habakkuk is prophesying about the coming Babylonian captivity:

Hab 1:6  For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

The holy spirit, through Paul, reveals that these words of Habakkuk are primarily referring to the work Christ is doing within us, giving them a far deeper meaning than being outwardly conquered by a foreign nation.

Act 13:42  And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.

The Gentile proselytes loved those words… “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard…” The Gentile proselytes loved the words “…ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (vs 39).  The Gentiles are on the verge of coming out from under the law of Moses, and the Jews want them to stay right where they are and to be circumcised “after the manner of Moses”.

Act 15:1  And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

Act 13:43  Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Act 13:44  And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Act 13:45  But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

The detractors were saying all those things we just read about how a Jew should answer a Christian. They were “contradicting and blaspheming” every word of Paul and Barnabas. We need not go back over how the Jews until this very day are blinded to the spiritual meaning of their own scriptures. It is they, and all those who are still under the law, to whom the scriptures are a stumbling block:

Rom 11:9  And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:

1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.

Act 13:46  Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Act 13:47  For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

The proclamation that Christ was “to be a light to the Gentiles” is repeated by the prophet Simeon when Christ’s parents brought Him up to Jerusalem as a baby to be dedicated to the Lord according to the law of Moses:

Luk 2:22  And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
Luk 2:23  (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
Luk 2:24  And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
Luk 2:25  And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26  And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
Luk 2:27  And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28  Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Luk 2:29  Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
Luk 2:30  For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Luk 2:31  Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Luk 2:32  A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Luk 2:33  And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

Simeon was quoting a prophecy concerning Christ in Isaiah:

Isa 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Isa 42:2  He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
Isa 42:3  A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
Isa 42:4  He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Isa 42:5  Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
Isa 42:6  I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Isa 42:8  I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
Isa 42:9  Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Act 13:48  And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Act 13:49  And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
Act 13:50  But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

Popularity for Christ and His Christ in this present time is fleeting. “The whole city” can come together all excited to hear what you have to say on one day, and the very next day they can all turn on you and expel you out of their coasts. We will see this in an even more striking way when the apostle Paul and Barnabas go to the city of Lystra in a future study.

Act 14:18  And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
Act 14:19  And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

There it is! Their own disciples wanted to worship them in verse 18, and then stoned Paul in verse 19. Christ has given us specific instructions about how to respond to being rejected:

Mat 10:14  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

Act 13:51  But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.

However, knowing the Lord had foretold them to expect such a reception, the apostles were not at all discouraged:

Act 13:52  And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

That is part of our joy until this very day:

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Gospels In Harmony – Through Much Tribulation We Enter into the Kingdom of God

John 16:1-33

[Study Aired December 14,2021

John 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
John 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
John 16:3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
John 16:4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
John 16:5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
John 16:6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
John 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
John 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
John 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
John 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
John 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
John 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
John 16:17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
John 16:18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
John 16:19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
John 16:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
John 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
John 16:22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
John 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
John 16:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
John 16:26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
John 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
John 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
John 16:29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
John 16:30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
John 16:31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
John 16:32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

In this study Christ continues to comfort the disciples and give them His warnings of how the world will seek to destroy them.

John 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
John 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
John 16:3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
John 16:4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

If you are a disciple of Christ, you will be persecuted by the world. The world within and outwardly are both our persecutors. At this stage in our walk we believed that Christ was our savior, but we were unable to continue in His word. He must return to the Father so He can send the Comforter, making us able to continue in his word.

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

John 16:5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
John 16:6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
John 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
John 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
John 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

The Comforter will reprove the world, our old man, of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. We are the world.

Jer 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Of sin, because they, the unbeliever within, believe not on me;

Mark 9:23-24 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more, after the flesh;

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

Of judgment, because the prince of this world, our father the devil, is judged.

John 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.

Here is the reason why we lack the ability to continue in his word.

John 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

We are mere babes in Christ and are yet carnal even when the Comforter first comes to us.

1Co 3:1-4 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 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. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

The receiving of the Spirit of truth begins the process of overcoming the world within and without.

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
John 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
John 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

When the Spirit of truth is come we begin to understand the mysteries hidden from the world.

1 Cor 2:6-16 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 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. 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. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

We are given the mind of Christ so that we can overcome the world within.

John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
John 16:17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
John 16:18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
John 16:19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?

The disciples still do not understand what Christ is describing. He uses a parable to describe what is going to happen to the disciples once the Comforter comes.

John 16:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
John 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
John 16:22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
John 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
John 16:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.

Christ told the disciples they are the woman of this proverb and will suffer until the man child, Christ, arrives. The process of pregnancy is nine months which represents the process of judgment.  Numbers in Scripture – “Nine = The Number of God’s Judgment”

John 16:26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
John 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
John 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
John 16:29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
John 16:30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
John 16:31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
John 16:32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

There it is! We are promised tribulation while in the world and told to be of good cheer. What kind of doctrine is this? Joy from suffering? This is the doctrine of Christ.

Acts 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.

Jdg 13:15-25 We Shall Surely Die, for We Have Seen God

[Study Aired July 5, 2021]

Jdg 13:15  And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. 
Jdg 13:16  And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD. 
Jdg 13:17  And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? 
Jdg 13:18  And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? 
Jdg 13:19  So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 
Jdg 13:20  For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. 
Jdg 13:21  But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. 
Jdg 13:22  And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. 
Jdg 13:23  But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. 
Jdg 13:24  And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 
Jdg 13:25  And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. 

The first part of Judges Chapter 13 focuses on the encounter of an angel of the Lord with the wife of Manoah concerning the birth of a child who was to be born a Nazarite from birth. The angel also gave instructions about what must be done to give birth to the child. Here the woman was advised not to drink wine nor strong drink nor eat an unclean thing. Spiritually speaking, to be advised not to drink wine or strong drink is being warned to avoid taking in false doctrines which will make us unable to bring forth a son – the new man!! Unclean thing also signifies false doctrines which comes from spiritually dead children of God. It can also imply unrighteousness as follows:

Lev 20:21  And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

So if we want to give birth to the new man, then we must avoid taking in false doctrines and live righteously!!

Today’s study continues with the encounter with the angel of the Lord and the birth of a son called Sampson.

Jdg 13:15  And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. 

Usually, when we have an encounter with the Lord, we want to preserve the experience. For example, there are times that the Holy Spirit brings us inexplicable joy or we are miraculously provided for or protected.  We think we can preserve this experience of anointing by doing something for the Lord. The same thing happened to Peter when he was with our Lord Jesus Christ when He was transfigured and saw Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. This is what ensued:

Mat 17:3  And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 
Mat 17:4  Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 
Mat 17:5  While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. 

So here our Lord Jesus was telling Peter that what is most important in our walk with Christ is not what we do, but hearing His voice. In other words, when our eyes begin to see and our ears begin to hear, that is the ultimate experience we can have with our Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Jdg 13:16  And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.

When we do not know the Lord, just as Manoah did not know the angel of the Lord, we think that we can please the Lord by what we do. Here in verse 16, however, the Lord told Manoah that He will not eat of his bread, which means that He is not interested in our works when we do not know Him. We also used to think like Manoah that we must offer something to God. All over the world, people are offering praise and worship, building exotic churches, evangelizing the world, praying and fasting for forty days, etc. However, none of these things is what the Lord requires if we do not know Him intimately through His words. The Lord calls all these works we do when we do not know Him as works of iniquity.

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

What the Lord required of Manoah was a burnt offering to the Lord. The traditional burnt offering by Israel was carried out using a bull, sheep, or goat; a male with no defect. These animals were killed at the entrance to the tabernacle. The animal’s blood was drained, and the priest sprinkled blood around the altar. The animal was skinned and cut into pieces, the intestines and legs washed, and the priest burned the pieces over the altar all night. A turtledove or pigeon could also be sacrificed, although they weren’t skinned. The smoke from the sacrifice ascended to God as “a soothing aroma to the LORD”.

Lev 1:9  But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was the ultimate burnt offering for our sins. As He is, so are we here on earth. We, too, are being offered as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice means that we, too, must be without blemish. A vital ingredient in a burnt offering is the fire which consumes the flesh and causes smoke which is the sweet aroma to the Lord.  This fire is our judgment. We are first to be judged here on earth so that we will learn righteousness or become unblemished. It is this fire, or judgment, that burns down our flesh or the old man and causes us to offer a sweet aroma of smoke to the Lord. This is what the Lord requires, not what we, of ourselves, offer!!

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

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

Jdg 13:17  And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? 

This verse is to confirm to us the fact that Manoah did not know the Lord. That is why he was asking the angel of the Lord His name. He was not even sure whether what the angel was saying will come to pass. He was going to wait until what the angel said comes to pass before he honors the angel. That is not faith. Blessed are those who have not seen but yet believe!!

Joh 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

As mentioned in the previous review, if we know Him intimately, then when we hear His voice. We do not need to ask who is speaking.

Joh 21:4  But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Joh 21:5  Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
Joh 21:6  And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Joh 21:7  Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. 
Joh 21:8  And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.
Joh 21:9  As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
Joh 21:10  Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
Joh 21:11  Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
Joh 21:12  Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Jdg 13:18  And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?

This verse is the same as saying that we have a God who hides Himself from the world and reveals Himself to only a chosen few in this life!! The phrase “Seeing it is secret” means that the name is known to only those that our Lord chooses to reveal.

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

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.

Jdg 13:19  So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 

As indicated earlier, the only way we can please the Lord is to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord. That is when we see our Lord Jesus do “wondrously” in our lives. Manoah and his wife looking on means that we are not partakers of what God is doing in our lives. It is the work of God alone, not us. Our victory is standing still to see the salvation of the Lord.

Exo 14:13  And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.
Exo 14:14  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

In the next verse, we shall explain what it means by the angel doing wondrously by what took place while offering the sacrifice to the Lord. In Darby’s version of this verse, he states that an amazing thing happened while the sacrifice was going on.

Jdg 13:19  So Manoah took a young goat over to a large rock he had chosen for an altar, and he built a fire on the rock. Then he killed the goat, and offered it with some grain as a sacrifice to the LORD. But then an amazing thing happened. (Darby)

Let’s now take a look at this amazing thing that happened!!

Jdg 13:20  For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. 

The flame here is the word of God which goes into our heavens to cleanse us of every false doctrine and all that offends. As this cleansing work of the word of God is going on in our lives, that is when we see Christ rise up in our heart (the angel of the Lord ascended in the flames).

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

2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

The light that shines in dark place in 1 Peter 1:19 is the cleansing flame of the altar, which is the word of God which results in the day star (Christ) rising in our hearts. This is the wondrous work that Jesus Christ, the angel of the Lord, does in our lives as we watch this spectacle just like Manoah and his wife. The fact that Manoah and his wife were watching this display means that they have no part to play in this wondrous work of the Lord. We all can only stand and see the salvation of the Lord. We are too weak to help ourselves. All the work of salvation is of the Lord.  We play no part in it but only accept this work with grateful heart.

Psa 107:8  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:9  For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Psa 107:10  Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 
Psa 107:11  Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:
Psa 107:12  Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.
Psa 107:13  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:14  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:15  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Manoah and his wife falling on their faces as they saw this wondrous work by the angel of the Lord is the same as worshiping the Lord or showing gratitude for what God was doing.  We, too, must show exceeding gratefulness for how far God has brought us through this wondrous work of the Lord. Each one of us has a reason to praise the Lord in spite of our circumstance. For we brought nothing into this world and we cannot carry anything out of this world.

1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

“We brought nothing into this world” can spiritually be interpreted as having no part to play in this work of salvation while we live in this world. Carrying nothing out means that when we die spiritually, we leave behind everything that is of the world within us behind which is this wonderful work of the Lord we are discussing. “Having food and raiment” means being fed by the word of the Lord which produces the righteousness of Christ in us. That is what we need to be satisfied with in this life irrespective of our circumstances. Let us all, therefore, with gratefulness of heart say to the Lord like the Psalmist:

Psa 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psa 34:2  My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
Psa 34:3  O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
Psa 34:4  I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Psa 34:5  They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
Psa 34:6  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Psa 34:7  The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Psa 34:8  O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Jdg 13:21  But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.

It is surprising that it was when the angel of the Lord ceased to appear before Manoah and his wife that Manoah perceived his encounter was indeed with the angel of the Lord. When Jesus was on earth, he told his disciples that it was expedient that he went away. What our Lord Jesus was implying was that his physical presence with the disciples was even a hindrance to their growth spiritually. The benefits of Christ going away for us as his elect are spelled out in the following scriptures:

Joh 16:5  But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
Joh 16:6  But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Joh 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Joh 16:9  Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Joh 16:10  Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Joh 16:11  Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

So the angel not appearing to Manoah and his wife again was advantageous for them to know the Lord. It was in the absence of the physical presence of the angel of the Lord that Manoah perceived that they have indeed had an encounter with the Lord of Hosts. That is what it means when the Lord said to Thomas that blessed are those who have not seen but yet believe.

Joh 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

We, too, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are being ushered into all truth to know who the angel of the Lord is (Jesus Christ). We do not need any apparition to authenticate the presence of the Lord in our lives. As long as our eyes are seeing and our ears are hearing who the angel of the Lord (Jesus Christ) is, we have fellowship with our Lord Jesus and our Father and we are most blessed!!

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

1Jn 1:3  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Jdg 13:22  And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

This verse means that we must go through the dying process of the old man or the flesh before we can see God or get to know the Lord Jesus Christ.  For whosoever has seen God or claims to know God must have been died, or in the process of dying to the flesh. 

Exo 33:20  And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

This death is through the process of judgment. The story of the raising up of Lazarus from death is to give us insight into why we should die before we can see the Lord. When we do not know the Lord, we are spiritually dead like the death of Lazarus. Being spiritually dead means being under the dominion of the flesh. It is just like being bound hand and foot with our face covered by a napkin and a stone covering our tomb. The stone covering our tomb prevents light from reaching us.  So also is the covering of napkin which prevents us from seeing Christ. It is only when we die to the flesh and are resurrected by our Lord Jesus Christ that all that bids us, including the stone and the napkin that covers our face, are set loose or removed.  It is then that we can see the Lord Jesus clearly. So without dying, there is no way that we can see Christ.

Joh 11:14  Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
Joh 11:15  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. 
Joh 11:16  Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Joh 11:41  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

Joh 11:43  And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
Joh 11:44  And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Jdg 13:23  But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.

This verse is assuring us that we haven’t come this far in our walk with Christ for Him to abort or kill our dream of knowing Him. No!! He Who has started with us is able to bring us to completion. Here the verse mentioned two things that should assure us that our Lord will fulfill that which He has started.

The first thing mentioned is that of the receipt of the burnt and meat offering by the Lord. This means that we should focus on offering our bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God. Offering our bodies this way means we are not conforming to this world, but rather we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind by the word of God. That is the only way we can know the will of God.

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

The second thing that was said in verse 23 is that if the Lord wanted to kill them (Manoah and his wife), He would not have shown them things concerning the birth of their son and how to raise him. What we are being told here is that as long as we are seeing and hearing the word of the Lord concerning the birth of the new man in our lives, we should be rest assured that God will finish His work in us.

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

Jdg 13:24  And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

The son born to Manoah and his wife is the new man after the image of Christ. This new man comes only when we start the dying process. According to Strong, “Sampson” means sunlight. The coming of this new man is when the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shines on us.

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

As the old man continues to die, the new man continues to grow, and we are therefore blessed.

Jdg 13:25  And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Before we can understand what the spirit is saying in this verse, we need to know the meaning of the two places mentioned in this verse – Zorah and Eshtaol. According to Strong, “Zorah” means a type of wasp called a hornet. In the scriptures, there are only two places that the word “hornet” are used, and it was in relation to the defeat of the enemies of Israel as follows:

Deu 7:20  Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

Jos 24:12  And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

The name “Eshtaol” means to enquire, pray or request. The camp of Dan here refers to the assembly of the elect. So what we are being told in verse 25 is that while we are in the church of the elect (the camp of Dan), the word of God (the Spirit of the Lord) causes us to defeat our enemies within and to pray.

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. 

Joh 16:23  And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 
Joh 16:24  Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-kings-1ki-131-40-let-my-lord-king-david-live-for-ever/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-kings-1ki-131-40-let-my-lord-king-david-live-for-ever Thu, 24 Jun 2021 18:37:28 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=23785 1Ki 1:31-40 “Let my Lord King David live for Ever”

[Study Aired June 24, 2021]

1Ki 1:31  Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.
1Ki 1:32  And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.
1Ki 1:33  The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: 
1Ki 1:34  And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.
1Ki 1:35  Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.
1Ki 1:36  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the LORD God of my lord the king say so too.
1Ki 1:37  As the LORD hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.
1Ki 1:38  So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.
1Ki 1:39  And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.
1Ki 1:40  And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

“Let my lord king David live for ever”  heralds the conclusion of the matter from Bathsheba’s mouth whose words and works typify for God’s elect what should be in our hearts every moment, and that is to let brotherly love continue (Heb 13:1) through Christ who is symbolized by king David.

Heb 13:1  Let brotherly love continue.

In this story of the lineage of king David being preserved, God is the one who is making a way where there seems to be none, and He does so today in our lives by having Christ rule and reign in the hearts of those who have God’s spirit within them (Rom 3:10, Isa 43:16, Rom 8:9), spoken this way in the old covenant: “Let my lord king David live for ever“. These events symbolize for us the promise of eternal life which is given to us through Christ (Joh 6:55-57).

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Isa 43:16  Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;

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

Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57  As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

Bathsheba and Nathan symbolize the witness of the church and the holy spirit that God uses to teach us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lust in this age (Tit 2:12-13). God’s spirit is leading us into all truth, convicting us of unrighteousness just as Nathan was used regarding David’s adultery and now in giving Bathsheba the direction needed to preserve the lineage of King David (Joh 16:13, Rom 8:16).

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

It is God’s spirit that gives us power to overcome through a process of repentance and forsaking worldly lust (Rev 11:3, Rom 2:4), and as we discussed last week, our flesh has to continually be humbled, “clothed in sackcloth”, dying daily (Ecc 7:1-2, 1Co 15:31), in order to fear God and work righteousness (Pro 9:10, Act 10:35, Psa 115:13, Ecc 12:13-14). This process is all tied into the faith God gives His elect who He intends to purify through the fiery trials of this life (1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 1:7).

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

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

Ecc 7:1  A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
Ecc 7:2  It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

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

Pro 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

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

Bathsheba with her “face to the earth” symbolizes the understanding that the body of Christ has been granted today to be shown how we ought to “tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1Ti 3:15, Mic 6:8), which can only be accomplished “by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zec 4:6). That tarrying long is the long-suffering process to which God has called the elect so we can be washed by the word of God and be made ready to be the bride of Christ (Eph 5:26, Rev 19:7).

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Pro 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Act 10:35  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

Psa 115:13  He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

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

Mic 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Let us give great thanks to God for His mercy which never fails as we let brotherly love continue in His holy temple, the church, where we worship our Father in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:23-24), which is how we are given to “Let my lord king David live for ever“.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

1Ki 1:31  Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.

It’s when we bow our face “to the earth” and humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand (1Ki 1:16, 1Pe 5:6) that we begin to see how Christ, who is typified by King David, will preserve the church (Psa 121:7-8, Mat 16:18). This preservation comes as a result of His righteous judgments in our earth (Luk 21:4-5, Isa 26:9, 1Th 3:12, 2Pe 2:9) and with our faces introspectively looking “to the earth” we go through a process of judgment now (Jer 22:29) so we can be among those who will be blessed and holy to have their part in the first resurrection: “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” (Rev 20:6, 1Co 11:31).

Psa 121:7  The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil (1Co 10:13): he shall preserve thy soul.
Psa 121:8  The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore (Pro 3:5-8).

Luk 12:4  And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do [in this life or the next (1Co 6:3, Luk 10:20)].
Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

[have reverence and fear toward the judge, toward the king as Nathan and Bathsheba did which actions typify the right spirit of fearing him, “which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”]

1Th 3:12  And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
1Th 3:13  To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

[the saints are preserved and the rest of God’s creation is reserved “unto the day of judgment to be punished”. Our time of enduring God’s wrath and punishment on our first man Adam is now (1Pe 4:17, Rev 14:12)]

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Nathan and Bathsheba were stedfastly going about to preserve the line of David, which line is a type and shadow of the body of Christ, the remnant that God promised would endure until the end “according to the election of grace” (Rom 11:5). Again Christ’s answer to the world that is yet to be judged is expressed in these verses where David says, “Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them” just as Adonijah who typifies our first man Adam who must experience this stumbling first, a blinding to the word of God that is spoken in parables for that very reason (Luk 8:10). It is only when we are crushed by the stone that was rejected by the builders that we can then see the truth that if we are granted to continue in will set us free (Isa 28:13, Mat 21:42-44, Joh 8:32). These verses in Romans 11:8-16 remind us of that same point that “(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them”, which is where we all start until we begin to be judged of God (1Pe 4:17).

Isa 28:13  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Mat 21:42  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43  Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken [Isa 28:13]: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

1Ki 1:32  And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.

Keeping in mind that king David is a type of Christ we can now look at this very decisive moment when Solomon is going to be anointed and see the correlation being drawn for God’s elect who likewise see the spiritual equivalent of these things happening in their life.

[…as others by God’s design try to usurp the rulership that God had determined to give us from the foundation of the world as Adonijah attempted (Joh 15:16-17, Rev 3:11)

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.
Joh 15:17  These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown]

The anointing of Solomon is symbolic language referring to the return of Christ in our life in earnest as we are anointed and given this unction that is accompanied with many struggles at the onset and much tribulation throughout our lives that culminates in great tribulation at the end (1Jn 2:20, Heb 10:32-33, Mat 24:21).

1Jn 2:20  But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

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.

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

It is through that lifetime of much tribulation that God’s people will be prepared and learn how He can “preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore”, and it will be by God’s anointing found within the church the body of Christ that this power to overcome will be accomplished, symbolized for God’s people with Nathan, a type of the comforter that brings the sure word of prophesy into the church, typified by Bathsheba, so that we can have light in this dark world in which we live both inwardly and without ourselves (Mat 24:33-36, Psa 121:7-8, 2Pe 1:19).

Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, 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 shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Psa 121:7  The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
Psa 121:8  The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

Who David calls to take action is symbolic of what the Lord will do in our heavens to make the bride ready to be in the first resurrection (Rev 19:7). Here are the meanings of those names of people that the king called upon to bring about this coronation, keeping in mind that these were the ones that Adonijah, who represents our flesh, would have never called upon to help him with his schemes, telling us that it is only the Lord who can build the house and that boasting is excluded by the law of faith (Psa 127:1, Rom 3:27).

These all “came before the king” for our sakes (2Co 4:15). In short it is those who are being cleansed and washed by the blood of lamb who are overcoming by the power of God represented by the name Zadok (Rev 12:10-11).

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Zadok the priest H6659 צדוק tsâdôq tsaw-doke’
From H6663; just; Tsadok, the name of eight or nine Israelites: – Zadok.
H6663 צדק tsâdaq tsaw-dak’
A primitive root; to be (causatively make) right (in a moral or forensic sense): – cleanse, clear self, (be, do) just (-ice, -ify, -ify self), (be, turn to) righteous (-ness).

Nathan’s name tells us that it is God who has recompensed us unto himself by reconciling us unto our Father (Rom 11:35-36, Rom 5:10).

Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Nathan the prophet H5416 nâthân naw-thawn’
From H5414; given; Nathan, the name of five Israelites: – Nathan.

H5414 nâthan  naw-than’
A primitive root; to give, used with great latitude of application (put, make, etc.): – add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, X avenge, X be ([healed]), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit consider, count, + cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute do, X doubtless, X without fail, fasten, frame, X get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), X have, X indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), +lie, lift up, make, + O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, X pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up). + sing, + slander, strike, [sub-] mit, suffer, X surely, X take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, + weep, X willingly, + withdraw, + would (to) God, yield.

Again we are reassured by the name Benaiah that the Lord will build his temple, the church, Christ’s body (Col 1:24) and the gates of hell won’t prevail against it (Mat 16:18).

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

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.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada H1141 benâyâh  benâyâhû ben-aw-yaw’, ben-aw-yaw’-hoo   From H1129 and H3050; Jah has built; Benajah, the name of twelve Israelites: – Benaiah.

H1129 bânâh  baw-naw’
A primitive root; to build (literally and figuratively): – (begin to) build (-er), obtain children, make, repair, set (up), X surely.

1Ki 1:33  The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon:
1Ki 1:34  And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.

There is more instruction given from king David in order to turn the tide of Adonijah who represents the man of perdition who wants to remain the ruler of our land, our bodies, but God has other plans and those plans in type and shadow are being revealed for us through what king David who is a type of Christ is going to institute (2Th 2:8-10).

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Notice the orders that are given to Zadok, Nathan and Benaiah: “The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon“. They are told to take “the servants of your lord” which servants represent any and all who are being led of God’s spirit and see themselves as servants who have been humbled in the kings service (2Co 4:5, Rom 8:14).

2Co 4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

We have no dominion over each other’s faith (2Co 1:24) that God is giving to each member of the body of Christ, and because of that relationship, or discipleship that we have in Christ, we obediently go where the Lord would have us go when his servant is sent our way (Mat 4:22, Joh 13:35). In this type and shadow instance, the servants are commanded “and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon” to teach us that we are entering into Jerusalem above upon “mine own mule“, a beast of burden that represent Christ’s flesh that we are (Col 1:24, Eph 5:30). It is upon that beast that we are caused to enter into heavenly places being  bound to the altar (Psa 118:27) and those heavenly places are represented by “Gihon” where we are drawn to Christ (Joh 6:44).

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

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

H1521 gı̂ychôn  gichôn  ghee-khone’, ghee-khone’
From H1518; stream; Gichon, a river of Paradise; also a valley (or pool) near Jerusalem: – Gihon.

H1518gı̂yach  gôach ghee’-akh, go’-akh
A primitive root; to gush forth (as water), generally to issue: – break forth, labor to bring forth, come forth, draw up, take out.

It is with the mind of Christ that is working within the body of Christ that we come together to anoint each other as “Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel“. We are anointed through Christ as we wash each other with the word (Eph 5:26), which is happening at the altar that God has drawn us to, represented by “Gihon“(Heb 13:10).

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

We are called to “blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon” meaning we herald the truth while in these earthen vessels that we are more than conquerors through Christ and can overcome. God can “save king Solomon” (Rom 8:37).

Salvation comes to us through judgment and so these verses show us how it is through those judgments represented by the blowing of the trumpet that God will save the king who will rule over “Israel” that represents the world and all the sin that is in our world that needs to be ruled over through Christ (Zec 9:14, Amo 3:6, Joe 2:15, Joe 2:1, 1Jn 2:16-17).

Zec 9:14  And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? [Luk 12:5] shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Joe 2:15  Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; [1Pe 4:17]

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

1Ki 1:35  Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.

Verse 35 is a prophesy telling God’s elect we will be saved first, and once again we are shown in this story the order of salvation with the statement, “Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” We are appointed to be the first who will rule over sin in our members represented by Israel and Judah, Ohola and Oholabah who are also represented by “thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate” of Ezekiel 16:55. It is God’s elect today who have Christ sitting on the throne of our hearts because we have been anointed, and so we are told that we are ambassadors for Christ, represented by the phrase “he shall be king in my stead” (2Co 5:20). Christ’s anointing makes it possible for us to be judged and to endure that judgment through Christ (Php 4:13).

Eze 16:55  When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

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

1Ki 1:36  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the LORD God of my lord the king say so too.
1Ki 1:37  As the LORD hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.

“Benaiah the son of Johaiada answered the king, and said, Amen” because he was of the same mind as the king and saw the blessing that was upon David that was coming from above, from “the LORD God of my lord the king“, just like John the Baptist recognized Christ as being anointed (Joh 1:29). Benaiah goes on to say: “As the LORD hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David“, which typifies Christ’s words to God’s elect found in John 14:12-13.

Joh 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Joh 14:13  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

1Ki 1:38  So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.
1Ki 1:39  And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.
1Ki 1:40  And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

The earth will be rent^H1234 with the sound of God’s government when it is established, and these closing verses of our study witness to the fact it will be accomplished not by might or power but by God’s holy spirit (Zec 4:6): “And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.”

The order of God’s government is witnessed to us again in 1Kings 1:38, and the end result of Christ ruling and reigning through His body, which is the church, is that all mankind will be saved, typified in this last verse of our study: “And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent^H1234 with the sound of them.” The earth represents our flesh that needs to be judged, and when God’s judgments are in the earth men will learn righteousness (Isa 26:9), and the end result, or the fruit of that judgment, is expressed with these words which tell us “And all the people came up after him [1Co 15:22-24, 1Co 15:28], and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them“.

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.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

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

H1234 bâqa‛ baw-kah’
A primitive root; to cleave; generally to rend, break, rip or open: – make a breach, break forth (into, out, in pieces, through, up), be ready to burst, cleave (asunder), cut out, divide, hatch, rend (asunder), rip up, tear, win.

We started this study off by seeing how Bathsheba bowed her face to the earth, which was a symbol of the humility of Christ within the church who are being judged now so that one day we will rule under Christ to see the veil of all men’s hearts rent, which will bring about everlasting peace (Isa 9:7). This is all symbolically expressed with the words “Let my lord king David live for ever”.

Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/gospels-in-harmony-children-come-to-me/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gospels-in-harmony-children-come-to-me Tue, 05 Jan 2021 14:53:03 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=21925 Gospels in Harmony – Children Come to Me – Mat 19:13-15, Mar 10:13-16, Luk 18:15-17

[Study Aired January 5, 2021]

Mar 10:13-15 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, (and ye be converted (Mat 18:3)), he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them and departed thence. 

There are two types of children in the scriptures. The child of the devil and the child of the God.

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. 

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you (the new man), than he that is in the world (the old man).

In this study we will see who these children are and their differences and what must take place to enter the kingdom of God. We all begin as a child of the devil, but in the end we all end as a child of God. Lord willing, we are striving daily to enter the kingdom of heaven. In order to enter the kingdom of heaven we must be converted and be given the ability to become as little children.

Mat 18:1-3 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 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. 

Who is your father?

1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 

Have you sinned?

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Again, who is your 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.

Have you lusted?

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world (within everyone, their old man), the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world [the father the devil].

“He was a murderer from the beginning”.  Are you a murderer?

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life [i.e. you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven] abiding in him.

The above verses show us that everyone is first of their father, the devil. We follow him completely, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

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 [your father the devil], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 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. 

How can you know if you are a child of God?

1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Psa 82:6  I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

We are all sinners, yet we are told we are children of God. How do we go from being a child of the devil to being a child of God? Here is our answer.

Joh 3:1-7 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old [the old man]? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh [first man Adam]; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit [second man Christ]. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Paul tells us the same thing in the following verses.

1Co 15:44-49 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy [born as the first man Adam a sinner], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly [born again as the second man Christ].

This process is all in earnest in this age, but we are given the faith that our Lord will finish the work that has begun.

Eph 1:3-14 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 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:  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 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: 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: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 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, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. 

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. 

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 

(ESV)  for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

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

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

What is the process of being born^G1080 again^G509? Here is the Strong’s definition of being born again. This is in the aorist tense.

Born G1080
γεννάω
gennaō
ghen-nah’-o
From a variation of G1085; to procreate (properly of the father, but by extension of the mother); figuratively to regenerate: – bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of, gender, make, spring.

Again G509
ἄνωθεν
anōthen
an’-o-then
From G507; from above; by analogy from the first; by implication anew: – from above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top.

Born again means “of the Father from the first”. Can this be confirmed by the scriptures?

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

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

Mat 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 

Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Joh 5:36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 

Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

Everything is of the Father and by Christ. First, we are of the father the devil, then we are converted, born again of the Father through Christ.

Hos 10:1-3 Israel [being of their father the devil] is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images. For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us? 

Joh 15:1-17 I [Christ] am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me (the children of the devil), he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 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. These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Now that you are born again of the Father by Christ and no longer a son of the devil you are no longer of the world. Your mind is being renewed and a new path has been chosen for you.

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

Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

]]>