Matthew 26:1–35 The Woman With the Alabaster Box Who Anointed Jesus

[Study Aired December 1, 2025]

Today’s study looks at the plot to kill Jesus, the woman with the alabaster box of ointment who anointed Jesus at Bethany, Jesus confirming Judas as the one to betray Him, the last supper with His disciples and Jesus’ prediction of Peter denying Him three times.

The Plot to Kill Jesus

Mat 26:1  And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, 
Mat 26:2  Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. 

Jesus finishing all the sayings in verse 1 means that all we need to know about His coming with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness and His appearing with His angels, which heralds the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of Lord and of His Christ, has been made known to us. The fact that in verse 1 it was stated that all these sayings were directed to His disciples, lets us know that it is the Lord’s elect, symbolized by the disciples, who are given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. 

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.  

The feast of the Passover commemorates the time that the Israelites were in Egypt where every male was to kill a lamb and use the blood of the lamb to smear the door post of their abode. As a result, the Lord will pass over their houses as He destroys the Egyptians. It symbolizes the beginning of our salvation as the blood of Jesus atones for our sins. 

Exo 12:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 
Exo 12:2  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 
Exo 12:3  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 
Exo 12:4  And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 
Exo 12:5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 
Exo 12:6  And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 
Exo 12:7  And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 
Exo 12:8  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 
Exo 12:9  Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 
Exo 12:10  And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 
Exo 12:11  And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.
Exo 12:12  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 
Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 

The lamb to be killed by every man is Christ. It is for our sins that Jesus came to die for us. It is therefore important to note that the plotters wanted to kill Jesus during the feast of Passover. This emphasizes the point that Jesus was indeed the lamb that was killed by the people of Israel with the blood smeared on the doorposts of their houses and the flesh roasted with fire for food.

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. 

The flesh of the lamb must be roasted with fire and eaten at night. This is to let us know that we cannot separate the judgment of the Lord (roasting with fire) from His words. As we are being given insight into the mysteries of the kingdom of God, we are being judged to conform to His image.

Mat 13:21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

Mat 26:3  Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 
Mat 26:4  And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. 
Mat 26:5  But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. 

The categories of people mentioned here in verse 3 represent the leaders of the church system in Jesus’ days. It implies that we were all involved in the death of our Lord Jesus since we were part of the church system of this world or Babylon. This does not mean that the people of this world were not part of this plot to kill Jesus. In Psalm 2, we are shown that the heathen were also involved in killing Jesus. Thus, every human being (every man) from Adam to date is guilty of the blood of Jesus.  

Psa 2:1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 
Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 
Psa 2:3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

Mat 26:6  Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 
Mat 26:7  There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.

Bethany was a village around the Mount of Olives and was about two miles from Jerusalem. Simon had probably been healed by Jesus, and the feast was held in his house. Bethany means house of dates or house of misery. The fact that Jesus was at the house of misery sums up the life of Jesus during His sojourn here on earth. He was indeed the man of sorrow acquainted with grief. 

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 
Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

As He is, so are we. Our lives here on earth cannot be described as easy going. We are to complete what remains of Christ’s sufferings with the view of doing this on behalf of His body, the church.    

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: 

The woman with the alabaster box of very precious ointment represents the church of the Lord’s elect. The pouring of the oil on Jesus’ head signifies His rulership over His elect first and later, in an age to come, this rulership will be manifested outwardly as the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. 

1Sa 10:1  Samuel took a flask of olive oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “The LORD has anointed you to be ruler of his people Israel. You will rule his people and save them from all their enemies. This will be the sign that the LORD has anointed you to be ruler of his people. 

What the woman did imply was that our resources in this life as His elect must be spent on affirming the Lord’s rulership in our lives. It is also important to note that Jesus was at this point about to offer His life for our sake and that of the world. He needed the assurance that His work here on earth had not been in vain. God therefore used the church (the woman) to assure Jesus of the reward set before Him – to rule His people. This incidence was therefore to strengthen our Lord Jesus to be able to bear the cross for the salvation of the whole world. 

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

It is also instructive to note that it was while Jesus sat at meat that He was anointed with oil. This indicates that our gathering together in His name to learn of Him is where we are assured of our reward of ruling the kingdoms of this world with our Lord Jesus Christ through what every joint supplies. 

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.  

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

Mat 26:8  But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 
Mat 26:9  For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 

It is important to note that the disciples in this case were not converted yet, and therefore they were operating with the carnal mind. As we are aware, the carnal mind or worldly wisdom is enmity against God and cannot please the Lord.  

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 

The carnal mind has a show of worldly wisdom, but is of no value when it comes to stopping the indulgence of the flesh.  

Col 2:20  If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 
Col 2:21  “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 
Col 2:22  (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 
Col 2:23  These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (ESV)

Mat 26:10  When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
Mat 26:11  For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. 

The church of the Lord’s elect, represented here by the woman, is the one that is doing good work upon the Lord in this age. Doing good work upon the Lord means giving our brothers and sisters in the Lord what it takes to become overcomers through the Lord’s words. 

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

However, it is we, the Lord’s elect, who are always facing criticism from our brothers and sisters in the church system of this world or Babylon for not impacting our societies with good works. Here in verse 11, the Lord is turning our focus from spending our resources in this life on feeding and clothing the world. The Lord saying that we do not have Him always in verse 11 is another way of saying that we have a short life span in this age to be able to please the Lord in order to become an overcomer. 

Job 14:1  Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. 
Job 14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 

Psa 39:4  LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 
Psa 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 

Mat 26:12  For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. 
Mat 26:13  Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her. 

As stated in verse 12, the work of the church of the Lord’s elect (the woman) is pouring oil on the Lord’s body for His burial. The Lord’s body is the church, and the burial here is the death of the flesh. 

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.    

We anointing the Lord’s body is the same as the Lord anointing us through what every joint supplies. This means that the role of the church is to anoint us with oil for the burial of the flesh. That is to say that it is through what every joint supplies that the Holy Spirit empowers us to understand the Lord’s words and to endure the Lord’s judgment of our old man, resulting in the death of our flesh. 

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. 

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

In verse 13, we are told that wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what the woman had done shall be told as a memorial of her. As we have indicated, the woman here is the church of the Lord’s elect. What this implies is that the gospel is preached through the church by what every joint supplies. Without the church, there is no gospel. 

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 
Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 
Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 
Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 
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.  

Judas to Betray Jesus

Mat 26:14  Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 
Mat 26:15  And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 
Mat 26:16  And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Here we see Judas, one of the disciples of Jesus, betraying Him for thirty pieces of silver. In the account of Luke, we are made aware that the reason for Judas betraying Jesus was that he was possessed by Satan. 

Luk 22:3  Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. 
Luk 22:4  And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. 
Luk 22:5  And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. 
Luk 22:6 And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.  

It is important to note that Satan’s possession does not happen all of a sudden. As we yield to sin, we are gradually setting ourselves for Satan to have a stronghold within us. In the case of Judas Iscariot, he was described as a thief who helped himself to what was put in the money bag of the disciples. This flaw of the love of money is the opportunity that the devil exploited to cause Judas to betray Jesus for a fee of thirty pieces of silver. That is why we are admonished by the Lord to refuse to give the devil any foothold. The “foothold” is a small opening that can be expanded, leading to further spiritual compromise.      

Joh 12:4  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 
Joh 12:5  “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 
Joh 12:6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 

Eph 4:26  Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 
Eph 4:27  and give no opportunity to the devil. 
Eph 4:28  Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 

The Passover with the Disciples

Mat 26:17  Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 
Mat 26:18  He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” 
Mat 26:19  And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. 
Mat 26:20  When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. 

The feast of unleavened bread is a seven-day feast where the Israelites were required to put away leaven out of their houses. 

Exo 12:15  Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Exo 12:16  And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. 
Exo 12:17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.  

As we are aware, the Lord told His disciples to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees”, which spiritually signifies the doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Lord reclining at table with His disciples for the feast of unleavened bread shows that after acknowledging our role in the death of Christ (the significance of Passover), we are to feast on the word of the Lord alone and in so doing, we let go of the doctrines of men. 

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. 

Mat 26:21  And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. 
Mat 26:22  And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? 
Mat 26:23  And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. 
Mat 26:24  The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. 
Mat 26:25  Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. 

We must remember that Judas was with the disciples even when many of the Lord’s disciples deserted Him. It is therefore not about how we begin, but how we end in this race, is the matter.   

Joh 6:66  From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 
Joh 6:67  Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.  

As Paul said, if we are to win the prize, then we must learn to forget those things that are behind us and focus on what lies ahead. Through the Lord’s enabling, we should let go both of our successes and defeats and focus on what lies ahead.

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.  

The Lord’s Supper

Mat 26:26  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 
Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

Jesus taking the bread, breaking it and giving to His disciples means that it is the Lord who open up His word for us to understand. That is the same as being given the key of David to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. This is a privilege given to only a few (the Lord’s elect).

Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 

Rev 3:7  And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 

Jesus told the disciples to eat the bread which represents His body. We are also reminded that Jesus told His disciples to eat His flesh and drink His blood. To be granted to eat the flesh or the body of Jesus means to be given the understanding of the word of the Lord.

Joh 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 
Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 
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. 

To drink of the cup of His blood means recognizing that we are guilty of the blood of Christ and all the prophets. In the case of Jesus, the shedding of His blood was for our sins. 

Rev 16:5  And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. 
Rev 16:6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 

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

Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. 
Mat 26:30  And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 

Jesus saying that He will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until that day when He will be with His disciples in His Father’s kingdom is to remind us of the marriage feast of the lamb when He will come with His elect as the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. 

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 
Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

It is instructive to note that Jesus, together with His disciples, sang a hymn. Singing a hymn is a form of worship. In spite of the ordeal He was about to go through, He worshipped God. This is to show us the way of victory, which is to worship the Lord in His holiness irrespective of the situation we find ourselves in.

Psa 100:2  Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 
Psa 100:3  Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 
Psa 100:4  Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 
Psa 100:5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. 

After singing a hymn, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, where He was remembered for his anguished prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest, and where he wept over Jerusalem. 

Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

Mat 26:31  Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 
Mat 26:32  But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 
Mat 26:33  Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 
Mat 26:34  Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 
Mat 26:35  Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same. 

We have all fallen away at a certain point of our walk with the Lord during our time in the churches of this world. As we have seen from the word of the Lord, falling away is a necessary evil we must experience before we are given to know Christ. Jesus telling Peter that he would deny Him three times is to let us know that falling away is part of the process of spiritual maturity through the Lord’s judgment of our flesh (the significance of the number three). 

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

2Th 2:8  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: 

We can see from these verses that the reason that we must fall away is that the Lord wants to reveal to us the man of sin or the flesh in our lives so that when He comes to judge us, we shall see His judgment as a necessary tool for the destruction of our old man or flesh. It is therefore through this process of His judgment that we can worship the Lord acceptably. The scripture which Jesus quoted to support the fact that His disciples will fall away is as follows:

Zec 13:7  Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. 
Zec 13:8  And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 
Zec 13:9  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

It is worth noting that after the fall away, Zechariah talked about the third part (that is, the elect) going through fire to be refined. This confirms why we must fall away at a certain point of our walk with Christ. 

Unfortunately, when we are of the flesh (the man of sin sitting in our temple), just like Peter and the rest of the disciples at that stage of their walk, we think we have what it takes to serve the Lord. It is indeed a privilege to be judged by the Lord in this age!!

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

Matthew 25:31–46 Separating the Sheep From the Goats

[Study Aired November 24, 2025]

The study today is centered on the physical appearing of the Lord as the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. This coming will result in the separation of the sheep from the goats. This study is part of the Lord’s warning about His coming so that we are not found wanting at His coming.

Separating the Sheep from the Goats

Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 

The Lord Jesus coming in His glory with His holy angels refers to the first resurrection which coincides with the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. The holy angels with Him are the Lord’s elect in every generation who will reign with Christ over the kingdoms of this world for a period symbolized by 1,000 years. 

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

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

All of the Lord’s elect who are dead will be raised as they join the Lord’s coming in glory. The Lord’s elect who are still living shall also be changed as they join the Lord at His coming. 

1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 
1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 
1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

As we are aware, this kingdom of heaven is currently within us, His elect. The Lord’s coming will usher in the outward manifestation of the kingdom of heaven as the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. 

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

During this age of the physical manifestation of the kingdom of heaven, the Lord’s elect shall reign with Christ over the kingdoms of this world. The Lord sitting upon the throne of His glory shows us His kingship status as He rules over the kingdoms of this world with His elect who shall also sit on thrones like Jesus. That is why we, His elect, are described as a royal priesthood. In this age, the royal status of the Lord’s elect has not yet been manifested. However, at His coming, the world will see us as royals.   

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

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

Mat 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 
Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 

The Lord’s elect who represent the sheep shall be separated from the goats at the Lord’s coming. The dead in Christ shall rise up to meet the Lord, and the elect who are still living shall be changed as they join the Lord at His coming. This is the first resurrection.

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

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

The goats signify our brothers and sisters in the church system of this world or Babylon. Setting the sheep on the Lord’s right hand means that the Lord’s elect represents the bride of Christ or the queen as shown in the following verse:

Psa 45:9  Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

It is also important to note that at the right hand of the Lord are pleasures forever more. That is to say that placing the Lord’s elect at the right hand means that we shall be rewarded with pleasures from the Lord. 

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

Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 

Verse 34 shows us that we are blessed of God if we are part of the first resurrection. 

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

As indicated in the Book of Revelation, the requirement for being part of the first resurrection is that we become overcomers. The question is “what are we required to overcome?” The answer is that we are to overcome the wicked one. The wicked one is the devil who gives power to the beast or our flesh. That is to say that the devil works through our flesh. This implies that overcoming the flesh means overcoming the devil. 

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

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

It is important to note that overcoming the flesh is through the Lord’s judgment of our flesh. The Lord’s judgment is therefore the tool He uses to destroy our flesh, making us overcomers and therefore qualified to inherit the kingdom. Inheriting the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world means being made rulers of the kingdoms of this world during the thousand-year period after Christ’s coming. 

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

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

Mat 25:35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 

If we are to understand these verses, then we have to know that Jesus represents us, and therefore if Jesus says that He was hungry, then it means that during our lives here on earth, we were also hungry at a certain stage of our walk with Him. 

Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 
Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 

The question is, “what does it mean spiritually to be hungry?” To be spiritually hungry means to experience famine of the word of the Lord. 

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

When we were in the churches of this world or Babylon, we experienced famine of the word of the Lord until Christ came to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness. It is as we became part of the church of the firstborn that we started being fed with the truth of the word of the Lord through what every joint supplies. This supply is the meat of the word that we receive from our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

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.   

Being hungry and being fed with meat is spiritually the same as being thirsty and being given drink. This is because being thirsty means absence of the word of the Lord and receiving drink is therefore being fed with the word of the Lord by the Lord’s elect. 

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

Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Being strangers indicates that we were without Christ and were therefore strangers from the covenants of promise. However, through Christ, we who were strangers were drawn near to Christ by the blood of Christ, as we become part of the household of God. 

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.  

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 

Mat 25:36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 

Nakedness refers to our sinful state, just as Adam and Eve realized their sinful state and confessed that they were naked. 

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

To be clothed therefore means to put on the righteousness of Christ, which is achieved through the Lord’s judgment of our old man or flesh as we learn righteousness.

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

Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 

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

To be sick symbolize our sinful state but more specifically, our iniquity. This iniquity refers to trusting or having confidence in our own righteousness, which is offensive to the Lord.

Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 
Isa 1:5  Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Isa 33:24  And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

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

Visiting the Lord means the Lord coming to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness through His elect. 

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: 

To be cast into prison means experiencing the Lord’s fiery trial. It is through our fiery trials that the Lord comes to us to sit in the throne of our hearts and minds. 

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

Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 
Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 
Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 

These verses show us that each of the Lord’s elect represents Jesus and therefore any ministration to our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord is the same as ministering to Jesus. On the other hand, if we treat our brothers and sisters badly, we are basically treating the Lord in the same way. An example of this is shown in Paul’s first encounter with the Lord. 

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. 
Act 9:3  And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 
Act 9:4  And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 
Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.   

We can see here that although Saul was persecuting the disciples of the Lord, he was actually persecuting Jesus. In a similar vein, when we minister to the Lord’s elect, we are ministering to the Lord. 

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 
Mat 25:42  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 
Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 
Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 
Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 

We have already explained what it means to be hungry, thirsty, a stranger and being sick. We will therefore turn our focus on what it means to be on the left hand of the Lord in these verses. To do that, let’s take a look at the blessing of Joseph’s sons by His father Jacob. 

Gen 48:9  And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.
Gen 48:10  Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 
Gen 48:11  And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed. 
Gen 48:12  And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 
Gen 48:13  And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him. 
Gen 48:14  And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. 
Gen 48:15  And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, 
Gen 48:16  The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 
Gen 48:17  And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. 
Gen 48:18  And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. 
Gen 48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.  

From these verses, we can see that Manasseh was the first born and should have been blessed more by the laying on of Jacob’s right hand. However, by divine providence, Ephraim, the younger son, received more blessing as Jacob placed his right hand on him. We can look at Ephraim as the Lord’s elect who has received mercy at the expense of our brothers and sisters in Babylon.

As indicated in this study, it is the Lord’s elect who are placed at the right hand of the Lord. The left hand therefore symbolizes where our brothers and sisters in Babylon who shall receive mercy from us in the fullness of time in the lake-of-fire age. Just as Jacob told Joseph that the younger shall be greater than the older in Genesis 48:19, we, His elect, shall be greater in terms of the blessing of the Lord’s reward in store for us, than our brothers and sisters in Babylon.   

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

Mat 25:46  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. 

This verse is one of the verses used by our brothers and sisters in Babylon or the church system of this world to perpetuate the false doctrine of the Lord punishing people forever in the lake of fire. The Greek adjective used for everlasting is “Aionios” (αἰώνιος), which means “age-lasting.” It refers to a long, but finite, period of time, like a specific “age” or “eon.” However, the translators of the Bible erroneously used the word eternal or everlasting. As we have indicated in this parable, those on the left-hand side of the Lord who shall be judged in the lake of fire age represent our brothers and sisters in Babylon. However, the sum of the Lord’s words shows us that all the people of the world from Adam to the coming of Christ in the first resurrection, who do not know Him shall be part of the lake-of-fire age. It is also worth noting that Satan and His cohorts will also be part of the lake of fire age.  

Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 

Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. 

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 

The righteous represents the Lord’s elect who shall be rewarded at the coming of Christ. 

May His name be praised. Amen!!

The Spiritual Significance of the Holy Days, Part 5A

Trumpets

[Study Aired September 7, 2025]

Lev 23:23  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:24  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
Lev 23:25  Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

This feast has less said about it here in Leviticus 23 than any of the seven festivals. There are no instructions concerning the offerings to be offered, and no particular event is being celebrated, as with the Passover and the days of unleavened bread. There is no counting of the weeks leading up to this festival, but it is worthy of our notice that there is a rather long period of time between the feast of Pentecost and the Day of Trumpets. The only instruction found in these three verses is “Ye… shall… have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.”

It is interesting to note that trumpets being blown “for a memorial” is mentioned in one other place:

Num 10:10  Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.

Numbers 29 gives us many more instructions concerning this “memorial of blowing of trumpets”:

Num 29:1  And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.
Num 29:2  And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish:
Num 29:3  And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram,
Num 29:4  And one tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs:
Num 29:5  And one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you:
Num 29:6  Beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.

The feast of trumpets

The events which lead up to the rulership of “this world” by the elect of God are pictured within and without by the feast of trumpets on the first day of the seventh month, in the Fall.

Inwardly, this feast signifies that part of our lives when we realize that the kingdoms of this world within us have been subdued to our Lord and His Christ. At this point we realize that the sins and passions that once had free reign no longer dominate us. Christ has taken His rightful place on the throne of our heart and mind. We still have the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles and the last great day ahead of us, but the seventh trumpet assures us that we are being judged in this present time, and that places us in “earnest”, downpayment form in that blessed and holy first resurrection.

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

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Lev 23:23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
Lev 23:25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

We do no work on the holy days in acknowledgment that we are His workmanship and that Christ in us has labored to enter into His rest, and we of ourselves can do nothing:

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

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

“Which God has ordained that we should walk in them” is the same as saying “the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished [“before ordained”] from the foundation of the world.

Every holy day symbolizes a great work of God within each of us. Outwardly and dispensationally these holy days symbolize a step forward in the plan of God for all men, and yet every holy day is a sabbath because God wants us to know that He is working all things after the counsel of His own plan, purpose, and will, and not because of anything that we do:

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

Every step of God’s plan for mankind is to be taken only with “a sacrifice made with fire unto the Lord.” The fire of God’s chastening and scourging does indeed entail torment, but it is a ‘fire’ which burns up and consumes all that can be destroyed by that fire.

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [What is all of this???]
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

That which is not consumed and destroyed is purified in that tormenting fire. The torment, like the fire itself, has a purpose and an end, and that purpose and end is the cleansing and purifying of “every man.” ‘Every man… shall suffer [the] loss” of all the wood, hay and stubble, in his life, “but he himself shall [in the end] be saved, yet so as by fire.”

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Joseph is a type of Christ, our judge, and the way he dealt with his brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt, demonstrates how the fire of the Word of God works in our own lives. It demonstrates how we are judged by the Words of our own mouth and how we reap what we have sown:

Gen 42:21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Gen 42:22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
Gen 42:23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Gen 42:24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

It is an emotional thing to have to witness our own brothers and sisters being brought to true and deep repentance through the torment which their own words bring upon them. We, too, must endure this very same “godly repentance” in our own lives before we will be granted to cause our brothers and sisters to be brought to that same place and time in their lives. It takes a symbolic “Seven trumpets” of God’s judgments upon the kingdom of this world, the kingdom of our old man, to drag us to deep heartfelt repentance. Joseph could easily have said, “Hi boys, it’s me, Joseph, your little brother who you sold into slavery. Hey, don’t worry about anything. I have died for you in a sense by spending thirteen years as a slave in Egypt, and now all you have to do is to accept my generous sacrifice for all you did to me.” However, that is not what Joseph did, that is not what Christ did for you and me, and that is not what we will do for those in the lake of fire. The false doctrine of ‘substitutionary atonement’ is a lie which comes straight out of the smoke and the locusts which ascend out of the abussos, “the bottomless pit” of our carnal minds. The “smooth” words of that deceitful false doctrine (Isa 30:10) deny the need for seven trumpets to effectuate the destruction of the giants in our land (Jos 6). ‘Substitutionary atonement’ is robbing millions of any hope of being saved in this present time. It is a lie of the devil and must be revealed as such. That fire which saves us is the word of God, and this is what that word teaches us about who we are and what we will do:

Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

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

That is exactly what Joseph’s brothers thought of Him. In their own carnal mind they knew that it was just a matter of time before Joseph would seek his revenge against them, and that carnal reasoning tormented them for many long years. They really believed that when their father, Jacob, died, Joseph would get his revenge upon them all for what they had done to him:

Gen 50:15 And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

It was their own unforgiving heart that caused them to suffer in fear all those years, and so the scriptures were fulfilled which said:

Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Contrary to the smooth teaching of the false doctrine of “the substitutionary death of Christ”, Christ is not in the process of saving us with “coffee and doughnuts.” Rather we are plainly told “he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.” It is much easier to be forgiven and at the same time refuse to forgive those who have trespassed and sinned against us. It would also have been much easier for Joseph to have revealed himself to his brothers to begin with than for him to have restrained himself from doing so while he tormented them as he did. Nevertheless, these things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition upon whom these very same “ends of the world have come.” That is right, these events are the events that come upon us all in “the ends of the age”, both inwardly and outwardly and dispensationally.

As the apostle warned us, and as our Lord Himself taught us, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap [by] the tormentors… till the debt is paid.”

Mat 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mat 18:34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Mat 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

All of these lessons are learned first by those who are pictured as the firstfruits of the feast of Pentecost. The holy days build on each other. The chastening grace through faith of Pentecost is being tried:

1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

The appearing of Jesus Christ will be at “the [signified] seventh trump” for all of His elect:

1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Earlier Paul had called this “the last trump”:

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Revelation symbolically calls this the trumpet of “the seventh angel.”

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

These trials which the grace of Pentecost and the seven, sevens that bring us to Pentecost prepares us for the judgments of the seven trumpets which are what this feast signifies.

From Pentecost to the feast of trumpets is roughly 120 days, the time from the summer to the fall. It is during this extended time that we are being matured through fiery judgments which “begin at the house of God.” Those fiery words apply to us first, and we are the first to be judged out of our own mouths, according to the idols of our own hearts” (Eze 14:1-9).

Outwardly even the scholars of Babylon agree that this long period of four months signifies the entire church age, from Christ’s death and resurrection until the day of His appearing and the establishing of His kingdom over the kingdoms of this world. It is during this extended period of time that the house of God is being judged and being gathered together to become the manchild who will rule the nations with a rod of iron for a thousand years:

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

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed [the first man Adam, the beast, the man of sin within all of us], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

“That wicked… shall [be] consume[d] with the spirit of His mouth.” In other words, “that wicked” is consumed by the fiery words of Christ in the mouths of His firstfruit witnesses.

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.
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

“The feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest” is the feast of Pentecost, and “the feast of ingathering at the year’s end” is the double festival of tabernacles and the last great day. Between those two festivals is this feast of blowing of trumpets and the day of atonement.

This festival, “the blowing of trumpets” is only nine days before the day of atonement, indicating that these two festivals are closely associated with each other. We are even told that “a sin offering [of] atonement” is offered to the Lord at the feast of trumpets:

Num 29:1  And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month [the day of Trumpets], ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.

Num 29:5  And one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you:

That association signifies that our sins cannot be covered without first drinking the cup Christ drank and being baptized with the baptism He was baptized with, which are both typified by the trumpet judgments of Revelation 16 within our lives. This judgment is even now taking place within the lives of those who are “the house of God” and are acknowledged as such at the feast of trumpets:

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

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

We will pause our study at this point and finish our examination of the spiritual significance of the day of the blowing of trumpets in our next study. In that study we will see how the seven trumpets which were blown for seven days were also blown by seven priests. Those trumpets culminated in “the last trump” on the last day which brought down the walls of Jericho. That was not the end of Israel’s work to overcome the giants in the land. It was only the beginning, and there is great significance “for our admonition” in the account of the destruction of the walls of Jericho by the seven trumpets being blown by seven priests.

Jos 6:1  Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
Jos 6:2  And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Jos 6:3  And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Jos 6:4  And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.

[Here is a link to the next study in this series.]

Rev 11: 15-19, Part 1 – The Seventh Trumpet

[Study Aired Nov 10, 2024]

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

Introduction

There is an emphasis on this seventh trumpet which we have not seen on any of the other seals or trumpets and which will not be seen in any of the coming seven plagues. Except for this seventh trumpet, all the seals, trumpets, and vials are all introduced and then immediately described. Here are a couple examples each of both the seals and the trumpets:

Here are the first two seals:

Rev 6:1  And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
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.
Rev 6:3  And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:4  And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

Here are the first two trumpets:

Rev 8:6  And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

That is the way all the seals and the trumpets are introduced, all except this seventh trumpet. Like Joshua’s seventh trumpet, this ‘seventh trumpet’ is much more productive than all the previous six trumpets. Here is that contrast in the story of Joshua’s seven trumpets as Israel terrifies Jericho for seven days:

Jos 6:13  And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
Jos 6:14  And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
Jos 6:15  And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
Jos 6:16  And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.

This is the only part of this revelation of Jesus Christ which is first alluded to with great anticipation in chapter ten:

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Then it is introduced and announced a second time here in chapter 11, but this introduction and announcement is separated from the complete revelation of the details of this seventh trumpet by chapters 12-15. We will not see what this seventh trumpet actually is until we get to chapter 16 where the seven vials which fill up the wrath of God begin to be poured out upon the Lord’s elect. So, this grand introduction is separated from the chapter which describes its actual fulfillment by five whole chapters – chapters 11-15. Why is this seventh trumpet given such a magnificent and portentous introduction? It is because of what this trumpet portends. Look at what we are told occurs at the sounding of this trumpet:

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ;

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

As always, this is to be viewed primarily with spiritual “eyes within”. The primary meaning of this verse to those who would “read, hear and keep the things written in the words of this prophecy” has to do with the destruction of the kingdom of the beast and the kingdom of the “man of sin” who sits on the throne of God within the hearts and minds of God’s elect. While it may sound like this is an instantaneous event, the campaign of the land by Joshua and Israel, along with the fact that there are five whole chapters between “the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound” (Rev 10:7), and the description of the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God in chapter 16 demonstrates clearly that this trumpet and the things that it portends are a process of which the “begins to sound” of this seventh trumpet is merely the beginning. “The seventh angel sounded” is in the aorist tense. “There were great voices in heaven” is in the aorist tense, and “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ” is also in the aorist tense. What that tells us is that this seventh trumpet, which is the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God against our rebellious, self-righteous old man is the process of the decrease and daily death of our old “man of sin” and the birth and increase and life of our “second man Adam… Christ within us, the hope of glory”.

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

While the natural man sees the story of the fall of Jericho as a lesson in the history of Joshua’s and Israel’s conquest of the land, the mind of the spirit sees that story as the commencement of the campaign of entering into “the kingdom of God within you” through much tribulation, chastening and scourging, which will on a daily basis eventually effectuate the destruction of our old man by decreasing the giants in the land, which ‘land’ signifies our hearts and minds within our ‘vessels of clay’ earthly bodies.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The whole of Babylon recognizes that Israel’s journey out of Egypt is a type and a shadow signifying the Lord’s people coming out of this world of sin. The churches of Babylon understand the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River, signify our baptism into the death of Christ and our own dying to sin. But that is as far as they can go. They have not been given to see that the giants in the land are a type of persistent sin in our lives, with which we were not prepared to do battle when we first came out of Egypt. This is to be a long and drawn out battle, to be fought in the land of promise.

Exo 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Deu 7:22  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

“Until you be increased” means until “Christ in you…” is increased to begin to rule over all of the enemies of the Lord’s people. Here is this same spiritual statement in the New Testament:

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

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

So the sounding of these seven trumpets is our introduction to the beginning of the campaign of the land in which Christ must increase as the giants within us are decreased and destroyed “by little and by little”. These trumpets are not at the end of this campaign, they are at the beginning, right after we have come out of the wilderness of Babylon and have begun to subdue the land of promise. Notice the “seven trumpets” in each account:

Jos 6:2  And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Jos 6:3  And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Jos 6:4  And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.

Who do these “seven priests” symbolize? They symbolize the seven priests who are also called “seven angels” here in the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Where are these seven angels called priests? Here are the verses which make that clear:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him [“One of the seven angels”]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Where are these seven angels called priests? They are called priests with seven trumpets in Joshua 6:4. These seven angels tell us they signify our fellowservants, they tell us they signify our brothers and them which keep the sayings of this book, but where are they called priests? Here is where they are called priests. Here is who the seven priests with seven trumpets in Jos 6 foreshadow and symbolize.

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Only those who are given “a new name” are aware of that name, and only those who are these seven angels are aware that they are God’s seven priests with seven trumpets. It is we who are fellowservants who are keeping the things written in the book of this prophecy:

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

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

The word ‘kingdoms’ in Revelation 11:15 is the Greek word ‘basileia’. It is Strong’s number G932, and we are told in Strong’s that it comes from G935. It appears in the New Testament 164 times, and the King James Concordance has it translated in the singular 158 of those 164. I have 28 English translations on my e- sword, and of those 28 only five use the plural here in this verse. All the other 23 have this in the singular.

In Rev 18 we have both G932 and G935 in the same verse, so we will look at that verse to get a sense of how this word ‘basileia’ is to be understood.

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth [932] over the kings [935] of the earth.

Here G932 is translated ‘reigns.’ So it appears that the thought of this verse in Rev 11:15 is that the reigning or rulership this world has become the reigning and rulership of our Lord and His Christ. Adhering to Rev 1:3 telling us to “keep the things written therein”, this verse is nothing less than another way of saying what these verses tell us:

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

Col 1:26  [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Our Lord and His Christ

“Our Lord and His Christ” are right now sitting together on the throne of God because Christ has taken His proper position on His throne in the heavens in our hearts and minds. Of course it is all the work of God, but it is He who has declared that we are seated with Him on His throne, ruling the kingdoms of this world.

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

Here is Eph 2:6 in the International Standard Version:

Eph 2:6 raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly realm in Christ Jesus, (ISV)

Where is Christ seated?

Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

What a great and precious promise we are now granted, in Christ. We are, even now, in earnest, overcomers in Christ who can sit with Christ on His Father’s throne in the heavenly realm, and “the kingdoms of this world are even now, in earnest, become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”, because He is now living His life within us, “His Christ”, and He has subdued, and is now reigning over, the kingdom of this world within us.

This phrase “His Christ” refers to those who Christ has anointed and sent forth just as His Father anointed and sent Him forth. Christ’s Father sent Him to be the savior of this world, and Christ has sent us forth to do the same job.

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

Here are Christ’s own words concerning our calling.

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

Christ was with His Father even while He was on this earth, just as we are seated with Him in His Father’s throne while we are on this earth.

Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

It is while we are in these clay vessels that we possess this treasure in earnest. It is while we are in these vessels of clay that we are seated with Christ in His Father’s throne in earnest, and it is in these earthen vessels that we are given to rule this kingdom in earnest, “that the power may be of God, and not of us.”

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

Luk 22:29 And I appoint [present tense] unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed [aorist] unto me;

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [present tense, active voice], that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

This is all accomplished through Christ being in us and living His life of being rejected and persecuted within our flesh. This is the secret which has been, and is still, hidden from all the generations of mankind, except for those “His saints” in whom Christ dwells.

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

What does “Christ in you” mean? This is what that means. It is two verses earlier.

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:

Like our own Savior, we too, are called to “fall into the ground and die, to die daily, to be buried with Him in baptism, and to be raised up together with Him to be sent forth as His Father has sent Him to becomes “saviors upon Mount Zion…”

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

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

“The kingdom shall be the Lord’s”, but Christ is now “both Lord and Christ”.

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

That is a very important verse of scripture, because Christ is now “both Lord and Christ” signifies that through Christ that we too, are ‘Christed’ and are His anointed, “His Christ”. The Lord has told us that He has sent us just as His Father sent Him. Since His Father gave Him a kingdom and since His Father sent Christ to be the Savior of this world, Christ in turn has given us a kingdom and has sent us to be “Saviors upon Mount Zion”. That is why we read that “the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ”, and that is why we see the phrase “His Christ” three times in the New Testament.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

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

Rev 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.

The point that is being made is the preeminence of this seventh trumpet. If we do not live out these plagues of this trumpet in this age we will not be in the first resurrection:

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

“NOW is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ”. This inheritance is all ours even now in down payment form:

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

In our next study we will concentrate on the urgency of living out this seventh trumpet:

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, 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.

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.

Dan 5:1-31  Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting

[Study Aired March 21, 2024]

Dan 5:1  Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 
Dan 5:2  Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
Dan 5:3  Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
Dan 5:4  They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 
Dan 5:5  In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 
Dan 5:6  Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. 
Dan 5:7  The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. 
Dan 5:8  Then came in all the king’s wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. 
Dan 5:9  Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied. 
Dan 5:10  Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: 
Dan 5:11  There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; 
Dan 5:12  Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.
Dan 5:13  Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?
Dan 5:14  I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. 
Dan 5:15  And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing: 
Dan 5:16  And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. 
Dan 5:17  Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 
Dan 5:18  O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 
Dan 5:19  And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. 
Dan 5:20  But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: 
Dan 5:21  And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. 
Dan 5:22  And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 
Dan 5:23  But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: 
Dan 5:24  Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 
Dan 5:25  And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 
Dan 5:26  This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 
Dan 5:27  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 
Dan 5:28  PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 
Dan 5:29  Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 
Dan 5:30  In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 
Dan 5:31  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

Belshazzar represents our old man who is “weighed in the balances, and… found wanting.” Belshazzar, like our first man Adam, never learns and is why we must die daily and endure until the end in order to be saved in this life, which is only possible through Christ (1Co 15:31, Mat 24:13, Php 4:13). 

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

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

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

Christ must increase, and we must decrease (Joh 3:30). The statue of Daniel 2 is corrupt from the head to the foot (Isa 1:6), and the empires of mankind are waxing worse and worse, typified by the decreasing value of the metals that are used for the different parts of the statue that represent the empires of man. There’s never been a just empire, there is none righteous, no not one (Rom 3:10), only a series of empires that rise and fall revealing to us how our old man must completely fall seven times [completely] if we are going to go on to perfection on the third day (Pro 24:16, Luk 13:32). God set the prophetic stage since the garden of Eden to this present day, and right up until Gog and Magog come up against the camp of the saints, all to show mankind that we are beasts (Rev 20:8, Ecc 3:18).

Isa 1:6  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. 

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

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

If we are granted to be judged in this life (1Pe 4:17), we will be able to see that there is a tearing down of the old empires in our life, starting from the head of gold represented by Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar who is a chip off the old block [another representation of the carnal first man Adam], right down to the last empire represented by the legs and feet of the statue in Daniel 2:33. 

Dan 2:33  His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 

The transition of empires being looked at in this section of scripture (Dan 5:1-31) is from Babylon to Persia, and Daniel 7:4-5 describes these two sections of the statue in Daniel 2:32: the first empire being Babylon, “This image’s head was of fine gold”, then the torso and arms of the statue, “his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass”, representing Persia that will be ruled over by “Darius the Median” who “took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old” (Dan 5:31). The age of Darius is significant and is a witness [#2] to the truth that the beast [#6] is still on the throne of this new leader’s heart who is controlling this new empire [62 years old].

Dan 7:4  The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. 
Dan 7:5  And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 

Dan 2:32  This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

Dan 5:1   Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 

Belshazzar being the son of king Nebuchadnezzar is a parable in itself, as the son represents the doctrine, and as we will see, this section of the book of Daniel is all about the heart of mankind that corrupts the word of God as we reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-8). Making a feast with the king’s food and feeding it “to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand” shows us a couple of significant details. First, the number thousand demonstrates the fleshly state of affairs [multiples of 10 represents the unjudged flesh at this stage], with 1000 of his lords, and secondly, where Belshazzar is drinking wine before the thousand, which wine also represents false doctrines and the corrupted words of Babylon (Rev 17:4, Rev 18:6-8). God declares the end from the beginning with Belshazzar’s father Nebuchadnezzar by the “seven times pass over you” statement of Daniel 4:25 which represents the lake of fire, great white throne judgment, and Belshazzar his son, his own flesh and blood, is “weighed in the balances, and…found wanting” as a type of our own flesh and blood that cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50).

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her [Gal 6:7-8].

Dan 5:2  Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. 
Dan 5:3  Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. 
Dan 5:4  They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

It is in Babylon that we eat our own food, drink our own wine, and wear our own apparel and yet want the name of Christ, represented by “the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem” (Isa 4:1).

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

Belshazzar wants his lords of thousands to partake of his wine as a type of Babylon controlling God’s word via the idol of mankind’s heart that worships God in vain, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mar 7:7), represented by the wine of Belshazzar that further intoxicates the harlot so that other gods are worshiped rather than the true God who created all things: “They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.” It is “the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines“ who “drank in them“ as a type of the churches and the leaders of Christendom who perpetuate the lies of Babylon from generation to generation. They drink the wine and praised the gods that rule their hearts, “gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone“, telling us mankind has worshiped every type of false god, from gods of gold to gods of stone, “which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell” (Deu 4:28).

Mar 7:7  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Deu 4:28  And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

Dan 5:5  In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

Judgment is now coming upon Belshazzar as he sees a man’s hand writing “against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace.” The candlestick symbolizes the light of God’s word that is going to illuminate the minds of those who see this message written “upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace.” The king only sees “part of the hand that wrote” signifying that he does not know who the author of this event is, and it is written on “the wall of the king’s palace“, walls that signify the heart of Belshazzar that now have a message written on them which he can’t interpret. God’s word is spiritually discerned, and those who are drunk on the wine of Babylon are not going to be able to interpret the meaning of the words on the wall.

Dan 5:6  Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. 
Dan 5:7  The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. 

Belshazzar was terrified, his face changed, his thoughts troubled him, so much so that he lost bodily control and his loins were loosed. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Lord as Nebuchadnezzar learned, and now his son is experiencing this same fear and crying out as his father did for help from his own household, his own entourage: “The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers“, which Nebuchadnezzar also did at first. Again, this group represents how, while in Babylon, we search answers to our spiritual dilemmas in life by turning to the carnal wisdom of men in Babylon [astrologers Chaldeans and soothsayers – another Jesus] instead of going to Christ and the church to which we must be dragged in order to come to know Him (Joh 6:44, Joh 17:3).

These circumstances were created to the glory of God who would give the answers to Belshazzar via Daniel, a type of the elect who can interpret the writing on the wall, which typifies for God’s elect how we can in like manner interpret or discern the word of God that is hidden from the world today, even though it is in plain sight (1Co 2:14-16).

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.
1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 
1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The reward for being able to read the writing and interpret it is to “be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck” symbolizing the reward of rulership God will give to those who are blessed to have the mind of Christ in this age (1Co 2:15-16). Being “the third ruler in the kingdom” has a physical interpretation according to history (history – Why did Belshazzar, King of Babylon name Daniel as the third ruler of his kingdom? – Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange). However, the spiritual lesson is that our Father in heaven is first, the Great All in All, and Christ second, and those who rule under Christ are third in this God-ordained order. We are growing to become more and more like Christ, having His mind, and think it not robbery to be equal with Him, not in greatness (Joh 13:16, Joh 14:28) but in having the same spirit (1Co 12:8-9) that the Father gave Christ and has given to us who now believe (Php 2:6, 1Jn 4:17).

Joh 13:16  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

Joh 14:28  Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

1Co 12:8  For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:9  To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

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 [“the same spirit“].

Dan 5:8  Then came in all the king’s wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. 
Dan 5:9  Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied. 

No one could read or interpret the writing on the wall, just as no one could interpret ‘the dream that is one’ in the earlier chapters with the statue and tree. This part of the story is no different, and again we’re shown the blindness of Babylon with this first verse: “Then came in all the king’s wisemen: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.” This situation greatly troubled Belshazzar and left his lords astonished, seeing all his regular sources of wisdom come to nought in a second, representing how all the wisdom of mankind will not be able to interpret the word of God that can only be understood by the power of God. We all start off ever searching and never being able to come to the knowledge of the truth (1Co 2:5-6, 1Co 2:13, 2Ti 3:7).

1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 
1Co 2:6  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:

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.

2Ti 3:7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Dan 5:10  Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: 
Dan 5:11  There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
Dan 5:12  Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.
Dan 5:13  Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?

This queen comes on the scene and brings to Belshazzar’s attention that he should not be troubled because of the dream, seeing there is one who can interpret it, that being Daniel. She, not being able to interpret the dream herself, represents the churches of this world who don’t see the need for God’s judgment upon us in this age, and are not troubled in that regard, and so her advice to the king is ‘don’t worry about anything’, expressed this way: “O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed.“

Her description of Daniel goes back to how Nebuchadnezzar had initially described Daniel referring to “the spirits of the holy gods“, showing us that she, like Nebuchadnezzar, had no idea who the real God was who was giving Daniel the power to do all these works. She goes on to describe the history of Daniel and the excellent spirit within him, but always with a darkened sense of only knowing the outward works and not personally knowing the source of the power that was given to Daniel. The same mindset was found in the king when Daniel was brought before him as evidenced by this verse, “The king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?” His focus is on what his father Nebuchadnezzar did for him, taking him out of captivity and bringing him out of Jewry, and not on God’s power that was working all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11).

Dan 5:14  I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. 
Dan 5:15  And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing: 
Dan 5:16  And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Once again, from the same darkened heart that can only see the outward manifestation of Daniel’s gift (1Co 14:22), we hear Belshazzar go on as the queen did in regard to the gifts Daniel has, and how that if he can interpret the writing on the wall, he will be rewarded with rulership, as mentioned in the earlier verses. This is now twice mentioned, witnessing to God’s elect that this story is a type of what He is doing with the body of Christ who will be given rulership over the kingdoms of this world (Rev 11:15) as a result of God’s spirit sealing them “until the redemption of the purchased possession”, giving us the ability to discern the truth and believe: “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.“

[being sealed (Eph 1:13-14, Eph 4:30) the resultant fruit of being sealed (Joh 6:26-27, Joh 5:19-20, 1Jn 4:17, Joh 14:12)].

Joh 6:26  Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Joh 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed [1Jn 4:17].

Joh 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
Joh 5:20  For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel [1Jn 4:17, Php 2:12-13].

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 [1Jn 4:17].

Dan 5:17  Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 

This opening statement of Daniel is akin to this verse in Revelation 19:10 where the servant of God is making clear that he is not a respecter of persons and does not want a gift (Pro 17:23) or adulation for that which is completely a gift given from God (Mat 6:2). Regardless of the message he is going to interpret, good or bad, Daniel goes on to say, “Yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.“

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Pro 17:23  A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Dan 5:18  O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 
Dan 5:19  And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. 
Dan 5:20  But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: 
Dan 5:21  And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

These verses simply recap what we already know about Nebuchadnezzar and are the words to witness against his son who also should know these things, and should have acted accordingly. Of course it was not given to him to do the right thing as he is a type of our old man that, regardless of the history and facts laid out plainly before us, we still rebel and do what we want because of the law of sin in our flesh (Rom 7:14-17). If the Lord is working with us, we will contend less and less if we are His workmanship in this age, being received through His chastening grace (Tit 2:11-12, Heb 12:6).

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

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

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

Dan 5:22  And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 
Dan 5:23  But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: 

Now we have the recap of Belshazzar’s actions, and it’s not sounding good at all. There is no evidence of repentance, and Daniel reminds him that the very breath he breathes is a gift of God, typifying the words he speaks are all given by God, like the breath we breathe (Joh 3:27). Belshazzar is left this witness from Daniel of his blindness that does not acknowledge God for past works with his father that God accomplished through him or present works that have been accomplished in his life by God as well, “and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.“ Belshazzar in that regard is twofold more the child of hell (Mat 23:15) than his father was in being self-willed and not acknowledging God’s hand in his life, even with all the evidence to the contrary, past and present, “and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.“

Joh 3:27  John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

Dan 5:24  Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 
Dan 5:25  And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 
Dan 5:26  This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 
Dan 5:27  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Dan 5:28  PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

These words “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN” are interpreted for us to mean that “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it“, and this was written for our sakes upon whom the end of the ages are come (1Co 10:11). The end of our earthly kingdom that was ruled over by the powers and principalities of this life must come to an end. The king is found wanting just as our old man is found wanting, “TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting“, a kingdom divided against itself that cannot stand (Mar 3:24-26) “PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.“

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

Mar 3:24  And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Mar 3:25  And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
Mar 3:26  And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

Dan 5:29  Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 
Dan 5:30  In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 
Dan 5:31  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and the powers that be will willingly give over the kingdom to God’s elect, as symbolized with these words, “Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.“

It is in the night that our old man is killed, being cut off from the light of God’s truth that, as we continue (Joh 8:31-32), we will see the death of our old man in this life, symbolized by this verse, “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.“

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

The new king Darius has now come on the scene and he, like Belshazzar, will also be weighed in the balance and in due course be found wanting as well, all telling us that there is a process of judgment that takes our whole lifetime as all these kings are destroyed and found wanting in different and various ways within us. The ‘thou’ in this verse “TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting” is speaking about our old man, and the flesh of mankind who we don’t want to know anymore (Joh 17:15-17, 2Co 5:16). That is what is “weighed in the balances” and “found wanting” (Mar 10:18-21). 

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

Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Mar 10:19  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Mar 10:20  And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 
Mar 10:21  Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

2Ki 25:13-30  “The kingdoms of this World are Become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ”

[Study Aired May 25, 2023]

2Ki 25:13  And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. 
2Ki 25:14  And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. 
2Ki 25:15  And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. 
2Ki 25:16  The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight. 
2Ki 25:17  The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work. 
2Ki 25:18  And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door: 
2Ki 25:19  And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king’s presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city: 
2Ki 25:20  And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah: 
2Ki 25:21  And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land. 
2Ki 25:22  And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. 
2Ki 25:23  And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 
2Ki 25:24  And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you. 
2Ki 25:25  But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. 
2Ki 25:26  And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees. 
2Ki 25:27  And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; 
2Ki 25:28  And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; 
2Ki 25:29  And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life. 
2Ki 25:30  And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. 

The first twelve verses of this 25th chapter of Kings deals with the start of the process of the destruction of the man of perdition on the throne of our hearts (2Th 2:8, Mal 4:1) typified by Zedekiah whose sons were killed right before his eyes in Riblah where he was judged and then his eyes were taken out, and he was bound with fetters of brass and brought into Babylon.

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: 

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 

All these symbolic actions demonstrate how the fidelity of Christ is formed in us through the destruction of our old man whose earthly carnal eyes must be put out, and false doctrines represented by Zedekiah’s sons must be destroyed, to then have our life, go into Babylonian captivity in brass fetters that represent our being bound in our walk to the law that keeps us “under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father” (Gal 4:1-3).

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

All this judgment of Zedekiah and Judah typifies the ongoing process in our lives that will leave us “neither root nor branch” in the end, so that the new root [Jesus Christ (Isa 11:10)] can come out of that first darkened marred vessel (Jer 18:4) by the grace and faith of Christ who takes away all boasting by the law of faith working in our members, bearing witness in us (Rom 8:16) that it is God doing the work in us through Christ (Php 2:12-13).

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Isa 11:10  And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

[With Christ in us as our hope of glory we are that ensign with Christ to the people, witnesses of these things with his life within, the glorious rest that we labor to enter into (Act 5:32, Rev 11:3, Heb 4:11)]

God the Father is the one who gives us the gift of eternal life, the new root and branch, that is formed by Him through Christ in each joint that supplies in love (Eph 4:16). God’s elect are connected to the vinedresser and husbandman as the poor of the world “At that day” (Joh 14:20) as discussed last week in this verse that typifies His workmanship that  we are “But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen” – 2Ki 25:12 (Rom 11:18,  Eph 2:8-10, Pro 27:1).

Rom 11:18  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. [Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: Rom 3:27  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law (Php 3:9, Jas 4:12)]

Pro 27:1  Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. 

Zedekiah represents how we hold the truth in unrighteousness, and then “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18) as we are taken into a captivity that we will only ever be able to come out of by the life of Christ within us (Col 1:27, Joh 8:36). Zedekiah’s going into Babylonian captivity represents that stage in our life where “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Mat 11:12) and is something that we must endure through patiently in order to possess our souls (Luk 21:19) which is the message we are being shown with this verse, “dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.“

We all must go into that captivity, and the blessing that God pours out upon His children in this life is to go through that experience of evil (Ecc 3:10-13) so we can be saved out of it by our redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

[These verses in (Ecc 3:10-11) encapsulate the message of the book of Kings and the entire message of God’s word]

Ecc 3:10  I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. 
Ecc 3:11  He hath made everything beautiful in its time: [1Co 15:22-23] also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.

[And these verses (Ecc 3:12-13) are the key to how that expected end can be found in the Lord for His children today spoken of in (Jer 29:11)]

Ecc 3:12  I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live [Php 4:4].
Ecc 3:13  And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God [Mat 6:33].

2Ki 25:13  And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. 
2Ki 25:14  And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. 
2Ki 25:15  And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. 
2Ki 25:16  The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

This defiling and ransacking of the temple by “the Chaldees”  represents for us how we defile the word of God when we go into Babylon, and also how true repentance is not granted while we are in Babylon, seeing the means has been taken away to accomplish this from within the temple of God where these items ought to be “the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon“.

These first few verses are telling us in symbolic terms that without the pillars of brass, the bases, the brasen sea, in our midst within the temple of God which we are (1Co 3:16) we cannot come to any deep repentance and washing with the word, that would result in our becoming pillars and vessels of honor that can be used to help others come into the knowledge of the truth (Eph 5:26, 1Ti 4:16).

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

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

Without “the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver” which “the captain of the guard took away” there is nothing left in the temple of God to represent the means by which God washes and cleanses the body of Christ. Where these items are carried is into Babylon where we mourned but not as we mourn now in the temple of God (1Th 4:13). It is better to enter into this house of mourning with the purified words of God in our heart for one day, than to be a thousand days without in Babylon (Psa 84:10). That one day in the house represents the day of the Lord and ability God has given the church to die daily and truly mourn as we are brought to see the need for the new creation being formed within us through the “washing of water with the word” (Rom 2:4, Eph 5:26). 

1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

Psa 84:10  For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 

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? 

Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

What’s happening in this story is figurative language that represents how true repentance is taken away from us by removing “The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight” as we are dragged into Babylon, and if God is working with us in this age then we will go beyond this captivity to be blessed to come out of her my people (Rev 18:4) to become the “vinedressers and husbandmen” (2Ki 25:12)” who are being sanctified by God’s word to become mature sons of God, vessels of honor that are “meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” as a result of that sanctification process (Heb 6:1-6, 2Ti 2:21, Rom 9:21-23, Joh 17:17).

2Ki 25:17  The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work. 

In verse seventeen we read of one of the principle items in the temple that represents the work of repentance being taken away (Rev 3:12). The pillar itself is “eighteen cubits,” which is a witness of the best that we can do in our flesh regarding cleansing the outside of the cup [2×9=18]. This section of the pillar represents our stumbling onto Christ (Mat 21:44), but the chapiter that sits atop the pillar represents the crushing of the stone (Mat 21:44) which Christ becomes in our lives who takes us through a process of deep repentance typified by “the chapiter three cubits” and the “pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.” These pomegranates are symbols of the body and blood of Christ our high priest and the body of Christ used to cleanse us from all our iniquities and sins so that we “go no more out” (Rev 3:12) and go onto perfection on the third day (Mat 9:20-22, Exo 39:26, Luk 13:32).

Mat 21:24  And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

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

Exo 39:26  A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses.

2Ki 25:18  And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door: 

These men being taken out of the temple of God by “the captain of the guard” are a witness of the previous verses where we read of the vessels that were taken out of the temple. Only now we learn what and who those vessels represent, that are going to be taken by “Nebuzaradan captain of the guard” and brought before “the king of Babylon to Riblah” to be judged. Those vessels represent the body of Christ that needs to be judged (1Pe 4:17, Act 14:22).

When God judges us, He takes “Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door” – symbols of spiritual leaders who we were subject to in our lives for good or for bad (Rom 6:16-17, 1Co 11:1-3) who, like those vessels, will need to be purified in order for us to go onto maturity.

Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 

1Co 11:1  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 
1Co 11:2  Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

2Ki 25:19  And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king’s presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city: 
2Ki 25:20  And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah: 
2Ki 25:21  And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land. 

When God gives Satan power over our flesh, He does a thorough job of taking away any vestige of hope we may have had in our flesh, as represented by this verse which sees the officer that was set over the men of war being taken along with “five men of them that were in the king’s presence“, symbolic of God’s favor [5] being taken away. It gets worse as “the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city“, symbolic of the whole stay of bread and water being taken away (Isa 3:1) with the principal scribe being taken, and the threescore men of the people of the land, the number 60 representing the power of flesh being taken over and brought into captivity, and brought into judgment to be slain. “And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah: And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.“

2Ki 25:22  And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.
2Ki 25:22 and as for the people that remained in the land of (praised), whom (the earthen vessel is preserved) king of (confusion) had left, even over them he made (great by Jehovah) the son of (the brother has arisen), the son of (rock rabbit), ruler. 

GedaliahH1436
AhikamH296
ShaphanH8227 H8226

Those who “remained in the land of Judah” represent the remnant of God who would be placed in that position by “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” He made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. This ordination of Gedaliah brings into remembrance this verse of Christ that reminds us that everyone is exactly where God has ordained they be in His perfect plan of salvation (Joh 19:20-22).

Joh 19:20  This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew , and Greek, and Latin</>. 
Joh 19:21  Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 
Joh 19:22  Pilate answered, What I have written I have written [Psa 139:16 ASV, (Eph 1:11)].

Christ does not look like a savior to anyone in their flesh at this moment, and without the holy spirit revealing this to us, He does not appear to be “The King of the Jews” with death having no hold over Him (Act 2:24). What we are about to read of Gedaliah typifies the fact that Christ’s flesh could not inherit the kingdom of God but served its purpose while He was on this earth, just as Gedaliah did. Nebuchadnezzar was no more responsible for putting Gedaliah in his position of leadership, than Pilate was responsible for declaring that Christ was “The King of the Jews.” Both these stories reveal the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” and were written for our sake upon whom the end of the ages is come (1Co 10:11).

Act 2:23  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 
Act 2:24  Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

1Co 10:11  Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.

2Ki 25:23  And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 
2Ki 25:24  And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you. 

Now all these different characters come out of the woodwork  to support Gedaliah as the new Governor, “all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men” typifying how there were many that followed Christ at first, but that support was short lived after Christ died, including by His own disciples who all forsook him (Mar 4:17, Mar 14:50).

Gedaliah swore to them and to their men and said unto them, “Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.” Christ tells us fear not what men can do to your flesh, and that we are in the world and not of it (1Co 5:10, Joh 15:19) and in need of possessing our souls patiently even to the point of death, even the death of a cross (Gal 2:20). That is the message being told us here, and not one hair of our head will be hurt (Luk 21:18), meaning God will make provision for us to endure to the end and put off our flesh however that has been predetermined from the foundation of the world to unfold in each of our lives (1Co 10:13).

1Co 5:10  not at all meaning with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world: 

Joh 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Luk 21:18  And not a hair of your head shall perish.

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.

2Ki 25:25  But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
2Ki 25:26  And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees. 

Then it is in the seventh month that the beast “and ten men with him” represented by “Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal” (who is also a type of Judas) rises up against Babylon, or Sodom and Egypt where our Lord was crucified, killing Gedaliah (Rev 11:8) and “the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.” This death of Gedaliah and those who were with him is symbolic of that moment when all hope seemed to be taken away from the church at the death of Christ. The death of the Chaldees is symbolic of the end of following or believing Christ like Peter saying he ‘goes a fishing’ (Joh 21:3), and the other group of the Chaldees that remained were the ones that the people feared “And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees” instead of fearing God (Luk 12:5, Mat 27:54).

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.

Mat 27:54  Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

2Ki 25:27  And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; 
2Ki 25:28  And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; 
2Ki 25:29  And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life. 
2Ki 25:30  And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. 

These last few verses in the book of Kings point to our salvation typified by Jehoiachin, king of Judah, who was taken out of prison. That prison represents the grave which could not hold Christ or His body, the church (Act 2:23-24, Col 1:24).

Act 2:23  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 
Act 2:24  Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

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:

In order to identify what period of history this section of scripture typifies, we need to look at the initial numbers that are given to us: “the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month.” The numbers demonstrate a completion and new beginning which will be confirmed with the verses we will look at. As long as we are in our flesh, we are in a form of bondage or imprisonment as the flesh is against the spirit and cannot inherit the kingdom. That is what those 37 years of captivity Jehoiachin is about to come out of represent (3+7=10). The deliverance happens in the 12th month to demonstrate that a new foundation is about to be established, and it is on the 27th day of the month as a witness of the complete judgment against the flesh of mankind with a rod of iron that is about to unfold (2+7=9).

It is “Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign” who “did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison.” This king of Babylon who was in power represents the kings of the kingdoms of this world who will be caused to give Christ and His Christ the spoils of war (Luk 11:22 , Heb 7:4). 

Luk 11:22  But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

Heb 7:4  Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

He “spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon” is a witness to this verse (Rev 11:15). They are yet the kingdoms of this world which Christ and His body are ruling over during the symbolic period known as the thousand-year reign.

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

The imagery of Evilmerodach king of Babylon having “changed his [Jehoiachin’s] prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life” is a symbol of how Babylon or the kingdoms of this world will serve the elect during the thousand-year reign even as they unknowingly are doing this for the body of Christ today by bearing the heavy burdens of service in the court. 

The allowance being given to Jehoiachin is continual (2Ki 25:29-30) as he rules over the kings of Babylon “and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon” symbolizing the elect’s rule over the world with a rod of iron that does not convert anyone during this time as the church experiences the fruit of our labor in the earth through this period. That “allowance” given to us represents our growing inheritance God is preparing in the earth where His judgments are unfolding resulting in “a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.” This allowance of Jehoiachin was “a continual allowance given him of the king” representing how the world will offer sacrifice and service to the body of Christ until Satan is loosed for a season, and then, in what is described as a short season, a rebellion will occur resulting in the same nations we are ruling over by God’s benevolence to come up against the camp of the saints (Rev 20:8). This event is paralleled with the life of Christ who did many miracles and fed the multitudes who in turn rebelled against Him in the end (1Jn 4:17, Joh 10:32).

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.

Joh 10:32  Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

It’s absolutely amazing and perfectly fitting that God ends the book of kings showing us the end of all the kings’ of the earth influence, in type and shadow, in these last few verses (2Ki 25:27-30) that demonstrates how the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15, Oba 1:21).

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

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

2Ki 25:1-12  “But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen”

[Study Aired May 18, 2023]

2Ki 25:1  And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. 
2Ki 25:2  And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 
2Ki 25:3  And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. 
2Ki 25:4  And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.
2Ki 25:5  And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. 
2Ki 25:6  So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 
2Ki 25:7  And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
2Ki 25:8  And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:
2Ki 25:9  And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire.
2Ki 25:10  And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. 
2Ki 25:11  Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away. 
2Ki 25:12  But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

Zedekiah represents the man of perdition within us who must be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming (2Th 2:8). He also represents the kingdoms of this world which will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ who first have those kingdoms within us judged and ruled over by Christ (Rev 11:15).

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

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

Zedekiah’s rebellion against the king 0f Babylon (2Ki 24:20) was the catalyst God used to bring Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, up against Jerusalem. Burning every man’s house with fire (“the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire“) is a foreshadow of how every man’s work will be tested with fire (“If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.“) in the second resurrection (2Ki 25:9, 1Co 3:15), and it is also true that if we don’t suffer loss, it will be because God had determined from the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) that we would be those who would abide and endure until the end through Christ, who gives us the power to endure in the day of adversity so that we can attain to that blessed and holy first resurrection (1Co 3:14, Pro 24:10, Rom 8:18).

1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward (Rev 20:6). 
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Pro 24:10  If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. 
Pro 24:11  If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; 

God’s elect, who are the weak of the world (1Co 1:26) and the poor in spirit of the world (Mat 5:3), are typified in this section of Kings as those who were shown mercy during this severe attack from the King of Babylon (Rom 11:11-12), via the captain of the guard whose name was “Nebuzaradan” whose name means “Nebo has given seed.” We’re told, “But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen,” Those vinedressers and husbandman [the elect of God, the remnant that are left] understand today that God has made a way to take all this death and destruction about which we are reading and turn it into something glorious, seeing all humanity will be redeemed in time (2Sa 14:14, 1Co 15:22). The seed Nebuzaradan gives is the death of the old man that must go into captivity and in time be shown that God has made a way to redeem all of the fallen. So God’s elect are not only the vinedressers and husbandman but also those “fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude” in their appointed time (Eph 2:2) and were carried away into captivity in Babylon themselves. If God is working with us in this age, then we will be preserved by way of His judgments that will free us from Babylonian captivity in time to become skilled “vinedressers and husbandman“,  words that represent the body of Christ who are one with Christ, the true vine, and God the Father who is likened unto a husbandman (2Sa 14:14, Joh 14:20, Joh 15:1-2, Joh 17:3).

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means [Gal 3:16, Joh 12:24-25 by the one seed of Christ], that his banished be not expelled from him [the rest of the world that remains in captivity until now without Christ’s spirit within (Rom 8:9, 2Co 3:17)]. 

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. [Rom 9:13 ,  Mal 1:2-3]

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. [“vinedressers and husbandmen” (Joh 17:3)]
Joh 15:2  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. [Act 14:22]

Our flesh does not want to acknowledge the truth that we need to be tried and tested in order to bring forth fruit in this life and go unto perfection on the third day, “and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (Luk 13:32), and yet these scriptures (1Co 3:11-14, 1Co 3:15) reveal that “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” There are only two sorts of works being discussed in this verse – those who are not given to endure the fire and those who are (Joh 15:2).

In this particular study we will see a witness of how there are two groups that need to be judged, each man in his own order, and how God’s blessed remnant who are judged in this life (1Pe 4:17) are typified by those on whom God showed mercy as His workmanship who are “the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen” (Rom 11:31-32). In order to become those vinedressers and husbandmen, we must receive the counsel of God and understand who we ought to always fear, becoming like a teachable child (Rev 3:18, Luk 12:5, Rom 13:4, Mat 18:3).

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

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

In order to overcome, it must be granted us to hear the voice of the true Shepherd (Rev 3:19-21) and as a result be able to hear the voice of the true Shepherd in the body of Christ, being persuaded of our leaders whom God has ordained for our good (Heb 13:17, 2Co 1:24, 1Jn 1:3-4).

Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: [Heb 12:6] be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, [how Christ overcame (1Jn 4:17, Heb 5:8)] and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Heb 13:17  Obey^G3982 them that have the rule over you^G2233[^G71“to lead“], and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

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 [Joh 17:3, Eph 5:30].
1Jn 1:4  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Mar 14:42  Rise up, let us go^G71; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand [Rom 8:14-15, Psa 23:3-4].

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

Psa 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

2Ki 25:1  And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. 
2Ki 25:2  And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 
2Ki 25:3  And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

It is in the “ninth year of his reign” that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon with all his host, came up against Jerusalem. This event signifies the judgment that comes upon the world within us that God accomplishes via the king of Babylon, who typifies Satan who is God’s sword (Psa 17:13). The city being besieged “unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah” reminds us that in order to come to that point where our foundation is upon the rock, Jesus Christ [12], we must transition through judgment from eleven [“The Ruin and Disintegration of the Perfection of the Flesh”] to twelve, the number of foundations. The eleventh year of Zedekiah’s rule coinciding with Nebuchadnezzar’s ninth year of reign signifies judgment that is against all flesh; flesh that is witnessed against by the numbers associated with the time this happened “in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month.” The city is besieged on the eleventh year and then in the “ninth day of the fourth month” the famine prevails as a type of Babylon that comes to see there is no stay of bread or water [the whole or “the fourth month“] in her (Isa 3:1). That famine is what brings us to our wits’ end so we ‘come out of her my people’ if God is working with us to that end (Luk 15:17, Joh 6:44). 

Luk 15:17  And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

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.

All of Nebuchadnezzar’s host pitched against Jerusalem and built forts against it round about, representing how our own iniquities will chasten us (Isa 59:2) and how we will be bound by our own sin which will be judged (Joh 8:36). The famine of the word prevailing in our lives is typified by there being “no bread for the people of the land” and is a form of judgment that brings us to our wits’ end as we are brought to see our wretched condition and need for spiritual nourishment, the word of God that is the true bread from heaven which quickens us (Luk 15:17-19, Joh 6:63).

Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. 

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Luk 15:17  And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Luk 15:18  I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Luk 15:19  And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

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

2Ki 25:4  And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.
2Ki 25:5  And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. 
2Ki 25:6  So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.

The city being “broken up” is symbolic of our coming into judgment as those things that need to be torn down in our lives start to unfold (Heb 12:27-29, Joh 2:19). 

Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire. 

Joh 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Adam and Eve were in the true King’s garden (Rev 2:7) when they were found guilty and driven out of Eden. When Zedekiah was driven out of Jerusalem he also left a place that symbolized where salvation could be found, Jerusalem (Jerusalem above – Gal 4:26). Adam and Eve were driven out into the wilderness, and Zedekiah fled into the plain that symbolizes the wilderness of his day where he would be pursued by “the army of the Chaldees” who would overtake him in “the plains of Jericho“^H3405. Jericho means “its moon” and represents Babylon where we initially think we have found the Sun of righteousness (Mal 4:2, Mat 21:44) when in fact we are still dealing with the lesser light of Babylon that is only a shadow of the truth, like the brightness of the moon is only a reflection of the source of light which is coming from the sun (1Co 15:41). If we are being judged in this life, we are called out of Babylon, but of course we must first go into it as Zedekiah was about to experience encountering Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah, “to the king of Babylon to Riblah^H7247; and they gave judgment upon him.” It is in Riblah that our old man is judged so severely in a place that means “fertility”, telling us that this judgment will in time bring forth the righteousness that comes when God’s judgments are in the earth (Isa 26:9).

H7247riblâh BDB Definition:
Riblah = “fertility”
1) a place on the eastern boundary of Israel
2) a town in the land of Hamath on the great road between Babylon and Palestine
Part of Speech: noun proper locative
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from an unused root meaning to be fruitful

1Co 15:41  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

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

2Ki 25:7  And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

Having your sons slain before your eyes is symbolic of having false doctrines destroyed before you in this instance, as our children represent the spiritual fruit of our life whether good or bad (Mat 13:38). Zedekiah is us, and he is being severely tried in the fire to see his physical children killed before him, and then have his own eyes put out. Having his eyes put out is again an extremely painful and debilitating event. However, it also represents our need to no longer see through our carnal eyes, which can only happen when we are judged and then acknowledge our blindness (Joh 9:41). We all must go into Babylon to come out of her, and when we go into Babylon we are bound to the law which is symbolized by “fetters of brass.” We are just as bound to that altar at first as we will be, Lord willing, to the altar that represents the cross of Christ (Psa 118:27, Heb 13:10).

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

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

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

2Ki 25:8  And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: 
2Ki 25:9  And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire. 
2Ki 25:10  And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

These verses (2Ki 25:8-10) of scripture talk about the thoroughness of God’s judgment upon all flesh, as well as the order in which that judgment unfolds (1Co 3:13-15). 

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 

It is the subject of grace through faith we are talking about, so it is “in the fifth month” and it is on the “nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon” that “Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, [came] unto Jerusalem.” The day of the Lord is expressed with the number one, and the nine represents judgment in regard to Nebuchadnezzar’s “nineteenth” year of reign. Then we learn of Nebuzaradan who is king Nebuchadnezzar’s servant or captain of the guard fulfilling the king’s purpose, which is a shadow of how God, represented by Nebuchadnezzar in this instance, commands Satan (Job 2:5-6, Eph 5:30) who is typified by Nebuzaradan to do his bidding of burning “the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire” which reminds us of this verse that we previously looked at (1Co 3:15).

Job 2:5  But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

When God sends His messenger to accomplish something to His glory, it is done according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). He has entire armies He can use (Mat 26:53) to set out to accomplish that purpose of humbling a nation, reminding us how the Lord can humble us for our good. “And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.“

Mat 26:53  Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

2Ki 25:11  Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away. 
2Ki 25:12  But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

These last two verses we’ll look at demonstrate for us the way God has ordained judgment as He separates “the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away” from “the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen” who were left of “the captain of the guard” as a type of the elect.

This seemingly innocuous verse has a very important message for God’s elect that shows us events connected to our judgment in the Lord that brings us to be in a position of being “vinedressers and husbandmen“, which is being done in our lives so that the rest who are taken away into captivity, “the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away“, can one day be shown the mercy God has shown to us so that all will be saved (Rom 11:22-33). 

Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 
Rom 11:21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 
Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Rom 11:24  For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Rom 11:28  As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom 11:29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

God’s elect are represented by both these groups, the “vinedressers and husbandmen” and “the remnant of the multitude,” as we must go into captivity. “Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away“, and by God’s gift of grace through faith (Eph 2:8) we come out of that captivity to become the “vinedressers and husbandmen” God has called us to be. God’s judgments are unsearchable and his ways are past finding out, and yet God’s elect who endure to the end will be blessed to have the purified mind of Christ that will be able to come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21, 1Co 6:3).

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

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Jer 51:33-48  The Sea is Come Upon Babylon

[Study Aired October 23, 2022]

Jer 51:33  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
Jer 51:34  Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
Jer 51:35  The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
Jer 51:36  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
Jer 51:37  And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
Jer 51:38  They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps.
Jer 51:39  In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.
Jer 51:40  I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.
Jer 51:41  How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
Jer 51:42  The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
Jer 51:43  Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
Jer 51:44  And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
Jer 51:45  My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jer 51:46  And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
Jer 51:47  Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
Jer 51:48  Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.
Jer 51:49  As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

The first verse of our study, for those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear “the things of the spirit”, demonstrates that the time of threshing and the time of harvest are both just different ways of speaking of the day of our being judged:

Jer 51:33  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

Being in Babylon is just like being in Christ. If we are in Him, then He is also within us:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

The same is true with Mystery Babylon and the adversary who is worshiped by Babylon:

Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Jer 51:34  Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
Jer 51:35  The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

It is Satan himself who tells us that God has given him to be “the god of this world”:

Luk 4:5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Luk 4:6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

‘The sum of [the Lord’s] Word’ reveals that the power Satan has is no power of his own, and he is nothing more than ‘the Lord’s hand’:

Job 1:9  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10  Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

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

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Act 4:29  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

Just because we are informed that the crucifixion of our Lord was by the “hand and… counsel” of God does not mean that this is a one-time thing where the Father stepped into the affairs of mankind and caused a major event to work according to His will. No, it was not a one-time event. These words are telling us that God works all things, after the counsel of His own will and not ours:

Satan is empowered and limited by our Lord. Satan does exactly and only what he is given to do. Therefore, even all the evil in this world is actually “the Lord ruling in the kingdoms of men” via “the god of this world… [His] hand”:

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Who are the Lord’s ‘watchers’? If we are in Christ, then we are His watchers and His watchmen:

Isa 21:6  For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

Eze 3:17  Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

Eze 33:7  So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

Christ and Paul tell us to be “watchers”:

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

Act 20:28  Take heed [watch] therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

1Co 16:13  Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

Whether we ‘watch and warn’ the Lord’s flock or we fail to do so and we become a “grievous wolf” it will be the Lord’s “predestinated… work”, working all things after the counsel of His own will:

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

Fortunately for us, the outcome of this battle in our heavens does not depend upon our strength or our fabled ‘free’ will because the Lord wants us all to know:

Php 2:13  For [G1063: ‘gar’, assigning a reason, because] it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Therefore, if we will to ‘work out our own salvation with fear and trembling’ we do so only because it is the Lord working in us “both to will and to do of His good pleasure”, and we have no right to glory in our corruptible flesh.

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Jer 51:36  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
Jer 51:37  And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
Jer 51:38  They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps.
Jer 51:39  In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

Mystery Babylon is the second beast of Revelation 13. The first beast comes up out of the sea, which symbolizes all of mankind:

Isa 60:5  Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea [mankind] shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

Jer 51:42  The sea [the nations] is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

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

Mystery Babylon is signified by another beast which comes up out of the earth:

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

Mystery Babylon is secret Babylon because she appears as a lamb, but she speaks as a dragon. ‘The earth’ out of which she is coming is religious mankind who claim to know God but who “speak as a dragon” by spreading the lies of the great red dragon with all her false, lying doctrines.

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

Mystery Babylon is a mystery because the various religions and denominations within those religions are all confused, and they are pointing at each other and calling each other Mystery, Babylon the Great. The Lord has put it into the hearts of the “ten horns” on the beast that comes up “out of the sea” to rebel against the hegemony and the dominance of religion, and to throw off that influence and dominance. That change of heart toward this spiritual whore is expressed and signified with these words:

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

The words of warning against ancient Babylon are spiritually applicable to Mystery Babylon:

Jer 51:40  I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.
Jer 51:41  How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
Jer 51:42  The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
Jer 51:43  Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

The only other place the name ‘Sheshach’ appears is in:

Jer 25:26  And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

This 25^th chapter of Jeremiah concerns the seven last plagues which are called ‘the wine cup of [the Lord’s] fury”:

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

“Sheshach” is obviously an epithet for Babylon. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about this name and its origins:

“From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

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

Jer 51:44  And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

For Jeremiah to prophesy, “the wall of Babylon shall fall” at the time he made this prophecy would be like me prophesying that all the religions of this world will be destroyed at the appearing of the Lord. At that time, it simply did not appear possible that the wall of Babylon would ever fall. The same is true for Mystery Babylon today. It appears impossible that orthodox, historical Christianity, the largest single religion on earth, and Islam, the second largest religion on earth, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and any other religions of mankind, including the religion of Atheism, will all fall before the power of “the Lord and His Christ”, and yet that is exactly what the scriptures foretell:

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

Jer 51:45  My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jer 51:46  And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

These words repeat the admonitions of verses 6-8 earlier in this same chapter:

Jer 51:6  Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
Jer 51:7  Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
Jer 51:8  Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

It is the inspired words of verses 6-8 and verses 45-46 which inspired the apostle John to give us the same admonition:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

Jer 51:47  Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

Verses 17-18 make it very clear that idols signify “falsehood[s]… the work of errors”:

Jer 51:17  Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Jer 51:18  They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

All the lying false doctrines of all the religions of this world are at this very moment being exposed and rejected by the secular societies of every nation on this earth. The Lord has put it in their hearts to do His will and to turn against all the religions of mankind and to begin their destruction.

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

The false doctrines of every religion on earth have “reigned over the kings of the earth” for thousands of years, but the Lord is preparing this world to forsake all its religions and to learn to live under the rod of iron which will be wielded by “the Lord and His Christ”:

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

“The time of their visitation“ of Jeremiah 51:18 is the same as “the time of the Lord’s vengeance” in verse 6:

Jer 51:6  Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.

Jer 51:48  Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.

This verse is telling us that the heavens and the earth and all that therein is, shall sing for the fall and the destruction of Mystery Babylon the Great.

The destruction of all the lies of the great harlot, of which I was a true believer, was the greatest ‘earthquake’ ever to take place in my life. I remember telling Sandi that I had come to realize there was no ‘stay of bread nor any stay of water’ in any doctrines of any of the churches we had ever attended.

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

‘The whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water’ both signify the Word of God (Joh 6:51 and Eph 5:26). What we are being told here is that not even one doctrine of Babylon, including the death and resurrection of our Lord, is untainted by the lying false doctrines of Mystery Babylon the Great. The fact is that Mystery Babylon doesn’t believe that Christ died on the cross. Their false doctrine teaches us that Christ possessed an immortal soul which could not die and instead went to heaven to be with His Father, or He went to paradise to be with the thief, or He went to preach to spirits in prison. So even the most basic doctrine of scripture which teaches that Christ died for our sins is perverted and denied by the lying error of the idols of the heart of the ministers of Babylon.

Coming to understand just how deceived I had been was both devastating, and at the same time it was exhilarating, because the casting out of all those lies was the beginning of Christ assuming His throne in my heart and mind, and it was the beginning of being given eyes that could see and ears that could hear the things of the spirit.

My experience is common to every one of you. We have all been dragged to where we are, and remaining faithful to the Word of God is a fiery experience which costs us the friendship of this entire world.

Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

It is the adulterous attitude of going along with the traditions of men to get along with men which turns us all into spiritual “adulterers and adulteresses”. Christ did not go along with the doctrines and traditions of men in His day to get along with the people of His day. He broke the sabbath, and He maintained that He was the Son of God, and for that Mystery Babylon said He must die:

Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

What great love the Father has bestowed upon us that we also should be called “the sons of God”:

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. [That blessed and holy first resurrection].

The resurrection of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, struck such fear in the hearts of “the great men of [Mystery] Babylon”, that they plotted to kill both Lazarus and Christ. Just imagine the fear that will strike the hearts of the men of Babylon the Great when Christ Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and all the saints of God from the days of Christ until the day of His appearing shall rise up out of their graves and meet the Lord in the sight of the whole world!!!

Joh 12:9  Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
Joh 12:10  But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;
Joh 12:11  Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

Joh 17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

This is the “even so” that Christ’s Father sent Him “into the world” to accomplish, and this is what Christ is now sending us to accomplish:

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

That is why you and I have come into this world. We have been sent by God to be Saviors upon Mount Zion:

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

Dan 11:1-24  And Now, I Will Show you the Truth

[Study Aired February 14, 2022]

Dan 11:1  “And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. 
Dan 11:2  “And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 
Dan 11:3  Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 
Dan 11:4  And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. 
Dan 11:5  “Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. 
Dan 11:6  After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times. 
Dan 11:7  “And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. 
Dan 11:8  He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. 
Dan 11:9  Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land. 
Dan 11:10  “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. 
Dan 11:11  Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. 
Dan 11:12  And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. 
Dan 11:13  For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies. 
Dan 11:14  “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. 
Dan 11:15  Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. 
Dan 11:16  But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand. 
Dan 11:17  He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. 
Dan 11:18  Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. 
Dan 11:19  Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found. 
Dan 11:20  “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. 
Dan 11:21  In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 
Dan 11:22  Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 
Dan 11:23  And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 
Dan 11:24  Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 

The introduction to the prophecy of Daniel 11 is given in the preceding chapter 10. In chapter 10, we are made to understand that what we are going to be shown in chapter 11 pertains to what will happen to the elect in the latter days. We, the elect, are the ones on whom the ends of our world are come.

Dan 10:14  Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.

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

In order to understand chapter 11, we need to bear in mind Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2) together with Daniel’s vision of the four beasts in Daniel chapter 7. In chapter 2 and 7, we are made aware that there would be four world-ruling empires followed by the kingdom of God. Spiritually, this is to inform us that before Christ comes to us to destroy the old man and establishes His kingdom within us, there would be four beasts dominating us within. These four beasts signify the whole of all that which opposes God within.

Dan 2:31  “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.
Dan 2:32  The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,
Dan 2:33  its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
Dan 2:34  As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

Chapter 11 of Daniel focuses on comparing the period of the second empire to that of the fourth empire. In other words, the period just before the Lord comes to His elect with the brightness of His coming. Further details of the outward manifestation of the last three empires are given here in chapter 11. What is shown in chapter 11 is the “was” part of the word of Christ. We, however, focus on the “is” part of the word while paying attention to the “was” and “will be” aspects of the word of Christ. We must also bear in mind that it is the spirit that gives life. The physical interpretation of the word of Christ profits nothing. Thus, as we go through this chapter, we will give the physical manifestation of the word of Christ but focus on the spiritual reality and also what will be.

Rev 1:8  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Joh 6:63  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

We must also understand that Daniel, as a symbol of the Old Testament prophets, was not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. That is why the vision explained to him pertains only to its outward manifestation. We, the elect, are those who are made to understand the mysteries of the word of Christ. In trying to understand chapter 11 therefore, we shall look at the physical and the spiritual implication of the vision given to Daniel.

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Dan 11:1  And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.

The name Darius means Lord. Thus, Darius here represents Christ. We, the elect, are represented by Daniel. The number 1 signifies union. This means that in union with Christ, we, the elect, both confirm and strengthen the Lord. Our confessions confirm that Jesus is Lord!! The question is how do we strengthen Christ? Remember that Jesus said that whatever we do for any one of the members of Christ, we are doing to Him. This is to suggest that as long as we are encouraging and strengthening our brothers and sisters, we are doing it for Christ and therefore, strengthening Him.

Mat 25:37  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
Mat 25:38  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
Mat 25:39  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
Mat 25:40  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Dan 11:2  “And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 

Christ coming to us is to show us the truth. Before this, we found ourselves in the wilderness of Babylon thinking we are getting the truth, when, indeed, we were imbibing lies upon lies and as a result, became worse off.

Jer 23:32  Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.

Outwardly, there would be three kings in Persia besides Darius in whose reign this prophecy is dated. The fourth Persian king, who became strong through his riches, was Xerxes. Being influenced by his riches, he thought he was invincible and therefore invaded Greece. The four kings represent the whole of the kingdom of Persia, which succeeded the Babylonian empire and was therefore the second world empire after Babylon. It was characterized by silver in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

Dan 2:32  The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,

The Hebrew word for silver by implication is money. In addition, the Hebrew root for the Hebrew word for silver (H3700) means desire, be greedy, long or sore. These are negative applications of the word silver. So, as we can see, silver is synonymous with greed. Our time in Babylon was characterized by our greed or desire for the riches of this world or mammon.

Isa 56:11  Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

1Ti 3:3  Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

1Ti 3:8  Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

Noting that the use of beasts, kings and horns are all related to the beast in Daniel chapter 7 and the Book of Revelation, the statement that the fourth shall be far richer than all of them is to let us know that the whole of our domination by the beast (king) within is to bring us to think that we are spiritually rich, when indeed, we are spiritually impoverished. While in Babylon, we came to think that our riches are a sign of the Lord’s blessing, while we were actually wretched, poor, blind and naked spiritually.

Rev 17:10  they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.
Rev 17:11  As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.
Rev 17:12  And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.
Rev 17:13  These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.

Rev 3:17  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Rev 3:18  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

Dan 11:3  Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 
Dan 11:4  And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. 

Outwardly, verse 3 introduces us to the next phase in world empires: the rise of Alexander the Great. After the Persian empire came the Greek empire led by Alexander the great. He was an ancient Macedonian ruler and one of history’s greatest military minds who, as King of Macedonia and Persia, established the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen. His kingdom was divided among his four generals into four smaller and weaker empires. This third kingdom was described as brass.

Dan 2:32  The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,

In the King James Version of the Bible, bronze or brass is synonymous with copper. Copper refers to our state as carnal babes in Christ. During our carnal state in Babylon, Christ’s words have no place in our hearts because we cannot hear them. We end up even trying to kill Christ in our brothers who tell us the truth about the word of God.

Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

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

Dan 11:5  Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. 
Dan 11:6  After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times.
Dan 11:7  And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. 
Dan 11:8  He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north.
Dan 11:9  Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land. 
Dan 11:10  His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. 

The “then” in verse 5 let’s us know that it is after the events listed in verses 2 to 4 that verse 5 takes place. Outwardly, it was after the death of Alexander the Great that the kingdom was divided among his four generals. The king of the south refers to the rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty headquartered in Egypt while the king of the north was that of Seleucia with Syria as its base. These two dynasties were hostile toward each other, and Israel was literally caught in the middle. The king of the South proposed a marriage alliance to unite the two kingdoms (verse 6). Princess Berenice from the South married the Seleucid king, and a child was born. However, the king died suddenly, and the wife and child were murdered in 246 BC. Instead of sealing an alliance, this started a war. Princess Berenice’s brother, the king in Egypt, carried out a successful campaign against the North in 245—241 BC. Later, the Syrian kingdom tried to retaliate—and even attempted to invade Egypt.

As the Lord’s elect, we are given to know what the spirit is saying to us of these verses. This is because it is the spirit that gives life. The letter of the word profits nothing.  We need to understand that verses 5 to 10 are all part of the third world empire before the Roman empire came. The Roman empire was the last worldly empire before the coming of the kingdom of Christ. As we are aware, all these nations and their struggles reflect the wars within us just as the Lord declared to Rebecca that two nations are within her.

Gen 25:23  And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

This war between the south and the north with Israel in between speaks of what must take place within us before the Lord comes to destroy the old man within. This is what the Lord said about what should happen to us before He comes to us as a stone cut out without human hands:

Mat 24:6  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Mat 24:8  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (ESV)

Dan 2:34  As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.
Dan 2:35  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (ESV)

In Matthew 24:8, it is said that all the wars, famine and earthquake are just the beginning of the birth pains. What this means is that what we are reading is a necessary evil that must happen to us before we are given birth and at the same time get caught up with Christ.  This situation is described in Revelation chapter 12 as follows:

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

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.

Dan 11:11  Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. 
Dan 11:12  And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. 
Dan 11:13  For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.

Outwardly, Syria was defeated by Egypt in 217 BC; the Greek-Egyptian king of the South slaughtered about 20 percent of the Syrian force, but the victory was short-lived as Syria invaded again with a bigger force and was successful.

Inwardly, our struggle against sin is like this war of the king of the north and the south. We are victors today, and we are overcome by sin tomorrow.  This struggle continues until Christ comes to establish us in victory.

Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Dan 11:14  “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. 
Dan 11:15  Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. 
Dan 11:16  But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand.

Outwardly, Israel was initially under the more tolerant rule of the Ptolemaic kings of the South. But with the Syrian victory, Israel passed under the control of the Seleucid king of the North in 200 BC. Some in Israel, thinking that they were being oppressed by the Ptolemies, supported the Seleucids against the Ptolemies. There were divisions and factions within Israel as people took different sides. Jerusalem, the “fortified city,” had Egyptian (southern) troops stationed there, and they were defeated by the king of the North.

Inwardly, during our walk in Babylon, we put our confidence in our own strength and that of men as a result of the enticing words of man’s wisdom. However, our trust in man must fail us before we can put our trust in the Lord fully. This was what happened to Jerusalem, the fortified city in verses 15 and 16 of Daniel chapter 11. The Israelites put their confidence in the southern troops stationed in Jerusalem, but Jerusalem was captured by the king of the north.

Psa 146:3  Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
Psa 146:4  His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Psa 146:5  Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
Psa 146:6  Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

Dan 11:17  He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. 
Dan 11:18  Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. 
Dan 11:19  Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found. 
Dan 11:20  “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle.

Outwardly, this is what had happened. There was another try at a marriage alliance. The daughter of the Seleucid king (of the North) married the Ptolemaic king (of the South) in 193 BC. The plan was not truly to build an alliance but to undermine the king of the South, for the daughter was to be an agent of her father. However, after marriage, she sided with her husband instead. Since the subterfuge did not work, the Seleucid king of the North attacked a number of Greek islands and part of Asia Minor. He had been warned by the Romans to stay out of Greece, but he ignored the warning, and the Romans attacked and defeated him at Thermopylae in 191 BC. He was humiliated and had to start paying tribute to Rome.

The Seleucid successor was preoccupied with getting money to keep Rome at bay. He was unsuccessful in an attempt to loot the temple in Jerusalem to get tribute money. This king had a short and inconsequential reign.

Spiritually, these evil kings from the North and the South represent the ruling false doctrines in our heavens which block our understanding of the glorious light of the gospel from Christ. Just as Israel was hemmed in by these two kings, we are constrained by the dictates of these false doctrines in our lives.

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

Dan 11:21  In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 
Dan 11:22  Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 
Dan 11:23  And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 
Dan 11:24  Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 

This contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given was Antiochus Epiphanes. He was not a legitimate heir to the throne but was able to acquire an army and take the throne by force in 187 BC. He seemed to have a special vendetta against Jerusalem. He was a thug and a madman.

As we are aware, the Lord uses evil men as His sword to bring us to our wits’ end as a necessary evil in dragging us to our safe haven.

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Inwardly, the beast within is contemptible and stops at nothing in defiling the temple of God, which is our bodies. However, as stated in verse 24, that king shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. The stronghold is Christ, and the reign of the old man or beast in our lives is limited.

Isa 51:12-17 We Have Drunk At The Hand Of The Lord The Cup Of His Fury - Discussion

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Isa 51-12-17-We Have Drunk At The Hand Of The Lord The Cup Of His Fury

Isa 51:12  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
Isa 51:13  And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
Isa 51:14  The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
Isa 51:15  But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
Isa 51:16  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
Isa 51:17  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

In our last study we learned that we are the Lord’s ‘arms’ through which he sends His word to “destroy and to build up”:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

I recall a sermon from my days in the World Wide Church Of God in which the minister pointed to this verse of Jeremiah and made the point that God had “set [Jeremiah] over the nations… to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant”.

At that time I had not been given eyes to see that the person speaking to Jeremiah was Christ Himself, and that Christ Himself taught us that “man [Greek, ‘anthropos’, mankind, all of mankind, and not just Jeremiah, must] live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This study will reveal just how integral the Lord has ordained that His elect are in carrying out His plan for the salvation of all of mankind (1Co 15:22):

Luk_22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

Joh_20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

My own blinded eyes read over these words without considering what Christ’s Father sent Him to accomplish through the kingdom He has appointed to us. So what has the Lord sent us to accomplish?:

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

Will Christ, really, through us “save… the world”? Oh yes, He will not fail:

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The Lord’s will to have all men to be saved is not just some idle desire of His, dependent upon mankind’s fabled ‘free will’, but this is The Truth:

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

The believers of ‘this present time’ (Rom 8:18) are the Lord’s special firstfruits , but the very fact they are referred to as ‘firstfruits’ necessitates that there is a later harvest which will encompass “all men”:

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

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

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.

Just as it requires fiery trials in this present time to drag us to Christ, it will take the same fiery trials in the great white throne judgment to drag those in the second death to repentance. But the Lord has ordained that we are the saviors of Obadiah 21, and through us not one will be lost:

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

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 

That is why we are called the Lord’s arms:

Isa 51:5  My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

Here is the Lord’s “arms [which] shall judge the people”:

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

If these words proceed out of the mouth of God concerning those who live and reign with Christ for a thousand years, then I am obliged to say, Amen! to these words:

Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

‘Living by every word… of God’ includes living by the limitations and the order which proceeds out of His mouth, as we have all become painfully aware. We simply must not attempt to make those words read… ‘Blessed and holy is he on whom the second death has part’.

In other words, if Christ tells me that He is my head, and the Father is His head (1Co 11:3), and that He, Christ, is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev 3:14), I cannot just presumptuously claim that the words “The Beginning of the Creation of God” applies to me, or that I am the head of Christ. I may well be of a group whom He says are “the first to believe on [Him]…the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Eph 1:12 and Rev 14:4), but that is only because those words came out of His mouth and He “is working all things after the counsel of His own will”, and not after the counsel of my twisting of His Words.

Just because the words, “the head of Christ is God” have proceeded out of the mouth of God, does not mean that ‘the head of Christ is mankind’. What utter foolishness, what utter presumptuousness it is to so twist and distort the words of God so as to nullify His own function and place, and the position in which He has placed us in relation to His Father, to Himself, and to our fellow man. What utter foolishness and presumptuousness it is to deny  the order of the events with which He, “after the counsel of His own will”, is working with mankind!!! If we believe that “man shall… live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, then it behooves us to “tremble at His words”, the very words which give us the knowledge of the order and the means through which every man will be “made alive” (1Co 15:23), as well as the rewards given to those  “who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12).

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. [That is “the place of His rest”]
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your  joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Isa 66:6  A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

Not only are we “the arms of the Lord” but we are also “the place of [His] rest.” As His arms He will use us to drag all men to Himself:

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 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Will we dare to say ‘they that are Christ’s will be made alive as firstfruits and then after us Christ’??? Will we presumptuously say that the first resurrection is actually after the thousand years, and the great white throne judgment is prior to the thousand year reign??? Will we dare to say that death is not the last enemy to be destroyed??? Or will we be seduced by the forked tongue of the great red dragon to believe that “if you see anything as ordinal then you can and you will miss the spiritual message”???

No, if the Lord wills we will humbly pay very close attention to the revealed order in which He is in the process of making every man alive in Christ. We will rather acknowledge and agree with the scriptures that Christ is the firstfruits of them that slept, and afterwards they that are Christ’s in “this present time”. And then only after that, after the “little season” of rebellion which follows the thousand year reign of those who are ordained to be the first to be “made alive in Christ [1Co 15:23, in] this present time” (Rom 8:18), will all the rest of mankind be “made alive in Christ” through the same purifying fire, but then the Lord’s words will be known as “the lake of fire”, the same fire which tries every man’s works, but which under that name is ordained for a later time with a different reward (Rev 20:7-15). But we will not be so presumptuous as to assume that just because the fire which is now trying our works is the same fire, the very Word of God which will try those who will be cast into the lake of fire that therefore there is no significance to the words “every man in his own order”. Rather we will humbly acknowledge that anyone counted as ‘firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, are “blessed and holy” above all men of all time, and that the last harvest is never called “the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb”. No one else is given our honor nor our “crown of life” (Rev 14:4).

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.

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.

The ‘fire’ which is trying our works is doing so now, in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), so that we will “not be hurt of the second death [which is] the lake of fire” (Rev 20:14). And we will give great “respect unto the recompence of [our] reward, [which is our] crown of life”, and the promise of the spirit that ‘the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb’ will not be hurt of the fires of the lake of fire which is the second death (Heb 11:26; Rev 2:11 and Rev 20:6).

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ [fidelity to His Words] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Lest we lose or despise our promised “crown of life”, let us all pray with King David:

Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

So while we want to avoid presumptuous sins, we must acknowledge that anything which does not accord with the word of God is the very definition of ‘presumptuous sins’. We must accept all the Lord has given us to do or we are just as presumptuous as those who have no ‘respect unto unto the recompence of the reward’ (Heb 11:26).

While I was totally unaware of what the Lord has prepared for those that love Him, I have since been granted to see that the Lord has revealed them unto us by the words of His spirit:

1Co 2:9  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.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

In this study the spirit of the Lord’s words will reveal some of the deep things of God to us, and we will see just how integral we are to His work which work from the Father’s perspective was completed in Christ, through His Christ “from the foundation of this world… before the world began”: 

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

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 

We have shown that God wants and will have all men to be saved, but we now see that He has predestined” some few to be those who will “first believe in [Christ]”, and to rule with Him over the nations of this world for a thousand years:

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 

If we “tremble at [the Lord’s] words we dare not make these words read ‘All men of all time will be to the praise of His glory regardless of when they trusted in Christ’. Yet there are millions of Christians who know nothing whatever about any later fruits. The masses of Christianity actually believe that if you are not converted in this age then you will never have access to the redemptive blood of Christ. To believe that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”, will in fact cause you to be expelled from most Christian congregations anywhere on earth.

This brings us to the first verses of our study today:

Isa 51:12  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
Isa 51:13  And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

The loss of the friendship of this world is a real threat to the kingdom of our old man. The family of the man Christ healed of being born blind feared being cast out of the synagogue if they said anything favorable about the Lord  who had just healed their son of His life long blindness:

Joh 9:20  His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
Joh 9:21  But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
Joh 9:22  These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Christ knows we are spirits in prison longing to be free. But He also knows that we of ourselves are incapable of delivering ourselves from our spiritual prison or of feeding ourselves:

Isa 51:14  The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

Christ knows we simply cannot just naturally accept the fact that He is still quite capable of leading us through the Red Sea, the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, and through the death of the cross. So He has given us the promise of His Word which He tells us “cannot be broken” (Joh 10:35):

Isa 49:25  But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 

“The scriptures cannot be broken”, and the Lord promises to “contend with those who contend with you” and He reminds us why men are never to be feared:

Isa 51:15  But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. 

Then He also tells us of the calling we have been given, and the work He is doing through us as His Christ, His inheritance… His anointed. We are His instrument through whom  He is bringing all men and all powers and principalities, in heaven and in earth to Himself: 

Isa 51:16  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. 

“I have covered you in the shadow of mine hand that I might plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth”. This verse is giving us  the same message the Lord gave Jeremiah which I referenced at the beginning of this study:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

We know this must be done in the kingdom of God within us first (Luk 17:20-21). But when that is accomplished by Christ within us then, and only then, will Christ use us as His instrument to accomplish everything His Father sent Him to accomplish, and that involves being placed over the literal, physical, carnal nations of this world, to root out all evil and rebellion, to pull down all that rise up against the Lord and His Christ, His anointed, to throw them all down and to build and to plant the seeds of His kingdom.

It all begins at the “seventh trump”, which inwardly is the establishing of the kingdom of God within, and outwardly and dispensationally it is at the appearing of Christ and at the beginning of the thousand year reign of Christ:

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

The Lord has come into our lives to dismantled and utterly destroy the kingdom of our old man, and in doing so He causes us “at His hand” to partake of the seven plagues of the seven angels, which brings us to our last verse in this chapter of Isaiah for today:

Isa 51:17  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

The message of this verse is repeated in Revelation 14 and 15:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [What is all this torment in “the wrath of God”?]
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

“Here is the patience of the saints: Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”. The fact is that no man can enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled in that man’s life:

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

The Lord’s elect will fulfull the seven plagues of the seven angels, and at the seventh trump, the Lord will send us to do what His Father sent Him to do, and we will then become every instrument He needs to rule the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years, and then we will continue to “judge angels” in the lake of fire.

Look at just how versatile in His hands we are right now in spirit, and just how versatile we will be during the thousand years and also in the lake of fire:

Jer 51:20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

Inwardly we must “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” acknowledging that “it is Christ which works in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure”:

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

These words demonstrate that while we must acknowledge that “it is God which works in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure”, acknowledging His work within us in no way denies that we must still “work out our own salvation [and] do the things that [Christ] says”:

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

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

Since we must “work out [our] own salvation (Php 2:12-13), [and] do the things [Christ tells us to do]” (Luk 6:46), in that sense we are His inward “battle axe and weapons of war”. We are waging war inwardly every day, breaking in pieces the nations, destroying kingdoms; breaking in pieces the horse and his rider;   breaking in pieces the chariot and his rider; breaking in pieces man and woman [who deny the doctrines of Christ]; breaking in pieces old and young [who withstand an oppose the Lord and His doctrines]; and within us we are breaking in pieces the young man and the maid, who will not submit to Christ within us; We are also breaking in pieces within us the shepherd and his flock; the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and  captains and rulers.

This is the “war in heaven” which is the “fiery trials” and sufferings which must “try every man’s works”, inwardly in “this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Eph 2:6 and Heb 9:23 demonstrate that ‘heaven’ is within our hearts and minds, just as it was with Christ who was also “seated… in the heavens even as He walked on this earth:

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

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

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [that would be us] with better sacrifices than these. 

But when “the sufferings of this present time” are “endured to the end”, then as “overcomers” we are given to reign with Christ for a thousand years over the kingdoms of this world:

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

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

And this is what is meant by “reign[ing] with Christ a thousand years”:

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

Ruling with a rod of iron is the same as being the Lord’s “battle axe and His weapons of war”, with which the Lord will put down every religion and ever nation which will refuse to submit to the hegemony of “the Lord and His Christ”:

The Lord has added the words in Jeremiah 51 to His words in Isaiah 51:

Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

A “battle axe” is designed for delivering a death blow to the head of the enemy. It is indeed a “weapon of war”, designed spiritually to decapitate our old man with all of his rebellious doctrines, which are armies of the nations and kingdoms within us.

Those ‘nations and kingdoms’ we are sent to “break in pieces”, have only the power given them by the Lord to serve as our dying old man (Joh 19:11). “The horse and his rider… the chariot and his rider”, are nothing more than the powerful rebellious, lying, false, doctrines like the false doctrines of an immortal soul which can be tormented for all eternity, and which directly contradict and nullify the doctrines of Christ which are foolishness to the “horse and his rider” within us (1Co 2:13-15). “The man and the woman” within us are “[our] father the devil… the great red dragon”, and his wife, the great harlot who sits upon us and rules us with her horrendous burdens of eternal torment, tithing, and the observing of days, months times and years, and the oppressively heavy burden of the false doctrine of free moral agency, which places the responsibility of our salvation upon our own shoulders. Having the knowledge of The Truth, we are sent to break that ‘man and woman’, and all of their false doctrines to pieces.

“The shepherd and his flock… the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; [and the] captains and rulers” we are sent to break in pieces and destroy are the Nicolaitan “captain and their rulers”, those Babylonian ministers who lay such heavy burdens upon us that we cannot begin to bear them.

All of these things are within us and restrain us from seeing the plain Truth which is “that which is written” right there before our eyes in His written word. These all are parts of the kingdom of our old man who must be destroyed and who can only be destroyed by “the brightness of [Christ’s] coming” (2th 2:8) to delivers us from our dark prison:

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.

As we saw earlier in this 51^st chapter of Isaiah we are not just the weapons of war, we will also judge and bring salvation to all of mankind as  His arms:

Isa 51:5  My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

Isa 53:1  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

As is always the case, these words are primarily fulfilled in Christ. But it is few indeed “to whom… [we as] the arm of the Lord [are] revealed”. Many may acknowledge that Christ is the arm of His Father, but who is Christ’s arms through whom He will judge the nations? The answer according to Christ Himself is that we are His body whom He has sent us into this world to do the exact same thing His Father sent Him to accomplish:

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

Christ’s Father sent Him as His arms to save this world and because He has sent us as His Father sent Him we are His ‘arms’ and we are even called “saviors”:

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

We are these ‘saviors’ who will judge ‘Esau’ a type of this world during the thousand years and then we will judge the spirits of all men and angels in the lake of fire:

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

Here are the “judges” of Esau… the world… and… angels”:

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

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study of the exhortation and comfort of the words of this prophet, Isaiah:

Isa 51:18  There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
Isa 51:19  These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
Isa 51:20  Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
Isa 51:21  Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Isa 51:22  Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
Isa 51:23  But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.