Ezekiel 33:1–20 Ezekiel is Israel’s Watchman

[Study Aired September 30, 2024]

INTRODUCTION

Today’s study is about being a watchman for the people of Israel. Before we can understand what being a watchman to the house of Israel means, we need to know who a watchman is. The Hebrew word for watchman is ‘tsaphah’ and it means ‘to lean forward, to peer into the distance; by implication means to observe, behold, spy out, wait for, keep the watch.’ In the Old Testament period, because of the many enemies of the people of Israel, the city of Jerusalem was protected by thick walls around the entire city. As a matter of fact, most big cities in the Old Testament were protected by thick walls. Israel’s watchmen were therefore guards who would stand on the walls and in the towers to look out upon the land for messengers, unusual activity, and most importantly, any sign of an enemy or approaching army. Immediately when these watchmen see any sign of an enemy, they have to sound the alarm. A watchman therefore plays a leadership role in the protection of the people of the Lord.

As we are aware, the Bible was written for the Lord’s elect, first. We are therefore required by the Lord to be like watchmen. When we fail in this role, then we are just like the watchmen of Israel (Babylon) described in the Book of Isaiah as follows:

Isa 56:9  All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
Isa 56:10  His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 
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.
Isa 56:12  Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

As indicated in Isaiah 56:9, when we are not watchful, we become mincemeat to our old man or flesh. That is to say that we are dominated by our flesh. Here the watchmen are described as ‘blind, ignorant, dumb and greedy dogs, cannot bark, sleeping, and loving to sleep’. The watchman being blind implies that one cannot see the enemy’s devices. As indicated by Paul, we, the Lord’s elect, must know the devices of the enemy.

2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. 

Being ignorant refers to our inability to comprehend the scriptures. When we are ignorant of the scriptures, we end up establishing our own righteousness and do not understand the power of God.

Rom 10:2  For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 
Rom 10:3  For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 

Mar 12:24  And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 
Mar 12:25  For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.
Mar 12:26  And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?

As indicated in Isaiah 56:11, the Israel’s watchmen were  tagged as dumb and greedy dogs which means that they cannot rightly divide the word and are also never satisfied with what the Lord has given to them. Dumb means we cannot speak and the reason we cannot speak is because we do not know how to divide the word of truth.

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

Sleeping or lying down or loving to sleep implies that as watchmen, we do not stay alert and are not sober-minded to know that the enemy is prowling around looking for an opportunity to devour us.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 

Isaiah 56:9-12 therefore show us the role of a watchman. In the New Testament, we do not read about actual watchmen anymore. However, our leaders are given the role of spiritual watchmen, to watch over our souls and to feed us His word.

Heb 13:17  Obey them that have the rule over you, 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.

Act 20:28  Take heed 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. 

On another level, we, His elect are called to become watchmen over our bodies so that we can offer them as living sacrifice to the Lord. We are to be vigilant as we watch for any move by the adversary who is a roaring lion looking to devour us. We are also to watch our doctrine, to make sure that it aligns with the truth of the word of the Lord.

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.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Today’s study focuses on our role as watchmen as we are given more insight into how we can become effective watchmen of our temple and the body of Christ as a whole.

Eze 33:1  Again the word of the LORD came me, saying, 
Eze 33:2  Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: 

The word of the Lord coming to Ezekiel, means the Lord coming to His elect with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness, which is His judgement. The Lord bringing the sword upon our land is His judgement of our old man or flesh. What verse 2 is therefore showing us is that when we share the word of the Lord with one another, then we are playing the role of a watchman. In verse 2, the focus is on becoming aware of the Lord’s judgement in our lives. When we know that it is the Lord coming to us with His judgement through the agency of the evil one, to bring us to an expected end, then we are strengthened to withstand the devices of the enemy.  ‘A man from their coasts’ in verse 2 means one of our brethren. Therefore, the people of the land taking a man of their coasts for a watchman means our brothers among us who share the word of the Lord with us about our impending judgement are acting like watchmen of the Lord’s elect.

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 3:18  When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Eze 3:19  Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Eze 33:3  If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; 
Eze 33:4  Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 
Eze 33:5  He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

These verses show us the role of a watchman in the body of Christ. As indicated, the sword upon our land represents our fiery trials or judgement which is an evil experience the Lord takes us through to refine us. As the story of Job tells us, the devil, our enemy is the executor of this sword upon our land.

Isa 54:16  Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 
Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

As the Lord’s watchmen, we are to sound the alarm or sound the trumpet to our brothers and sisters of our impending judgement. In the Book of Revelation, the voice of the Lord is likened to the sound of the trumpet as follows:

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

Rev 1:18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Sounding the trumpet as the Lord’s watchmen therefore means speaking the word of the Lord. As we are aware, our fiery trials is the Lord’s way of destroying our old man or flesh within us to make us His sons. It is the central theme of the word of the Lord which we are to warn our brothers and sisters about it.  Even our Lord Jesus had to go through suffering or judgement during His days here on earth to perfect Him.

Heb 5:6  As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 
Heb 5:10  Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Our message as the Lord’s watchmen is to proclaim the Lord’s sword upon our land and also to indicate the Lord’s way of dealing with this enemy in our land.

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.
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.

Many of our brothers and sisters have fallen victim when the enemy came upon their land with the sword. In verse 5, the Lord is assuring us that we are exonerated from what happens to our brothers and sisters if we warn them and they do not pay heed to the warnings. In this case, their blood is upon their own heads. This is what Apostle Paul said about being a watchman which is consistent with verse 5:

Act 20:25  And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
Act 20:26  Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. 
Act 20:28  Take heed 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.

Eze 33:6  But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. 
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. 

In verse 6, the Lord is telling us that if we are negligent in sounding the alarm of the Lord’s judgement in our land, we, as the Lord’s watchmen, shall be liable for the spiritual death of our brethren.  In our lives in the churches of this world or Babylon, we were never warned of the Lord’s judgement or sword in our land. On the contrary, we were told that suffering is not our portion in this life. No wonder we were swept away by the flood of the enemy and became spiritually dead. This is what we were taught in Babylon:

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.

Verse 7 shows us that the Lord has appointed us, His elect, for the special role of being a watchman. As we are aware, Ezekiel who is referred to as the son of man, an accolade that Jesus used to refer to Himself when He was here on earth, is a symbol of the Lord’s elect. Therefore, being given the honor of being a watchman is part of our calling.

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 33:8  When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 
Eze 33:9  Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 

Being a watchman is not only to warn them of the impending judgement of our old man, but to tell them about the way of peace which leads to life and also the way of death, which brings destruction. This is what Joshua, an example of the Lord’s watchman, told the people of Israel:

Jos 24:14  Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
Jos 24:15  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Jos 24:19  And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
Jos 24:20  If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. 

Apostle Peter, in playing His role as a watchman, admonished us to leave our wicked ways which bring death. If through our admonition, a brother or sister continues to persist in his or her wicked ways, we are not guilty of his or her blood.

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 
1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 
1Pe 4:3  For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
1Pe 4:4  Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
1Pe 4:5  Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.

Eze 33:10  Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? 
Eze 33:11  Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 

During our time in Babylon (house of Israel), our sins really weighed us down and as a result, we could not understand the extent of the Lord’s mercies. It is when Christ came to us that we were given to know that our Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked and that He wants the wicked to turn from their ways and live, as shown here in verse 11. Since our Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, He therefore devises means by which His banished shall be saved.

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, that his banished be not expelled from him.  

1Ti 2:3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 
1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 

Eze 33:12  Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. 
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. 

In verse 12, we are told that the righteousness of the righteous will not save him when he rebels or sins against the Lord. In the Book of Hebrew, we are also told the same thing that if after we have tasted of the heavenly gift, we end up rebelling against the Lord, then we are basically crucifying our Lord Jesus Christ again and putting Him to open shame. In that case, it becomes difficult to come to repentance and be saved. This is not speaking about falling into sin during our walk with Christ since the Holy Spirit convicts us to repent and move on. What this verse is speaking about is becoming entrenched in our sin and therefore becoming unrepentant.

Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 
Heb 6:7  For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
Heb 6:8  But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
Heb 6:9  But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 

As the word of the Lord says, if we repent from our sins and come to Him, He is able to save us.

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

In verse 13, we are being warned that if we trust in our own righteousness and we continue to commit iniquity, we shall die in our sins. Trusting in our own righteousness is the same as leaning on our own understanding.

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 

Eze 33:14  Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 
Eze 33:15  If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 
Eze 33:16  None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. 

We, His elect, were once the wicked destined to die. However, the Lord came to us in His mercy to deliver us from our sins and to give us hope. This mercy that we have received from the Lord is the same mercy that will be shown to the world who now represent the wicked, in the fulness of time.

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. 

Eze 33:17  Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal. 
Eze 33:18  When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. 
Eze 33:19  But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. 
Eze 33:20  Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways. 

When we did not know the Lord, we behaved like the people of Israel who said that the way of the Lord is not fair. The Lord’s response to our accusation that He is unfair in His ways is given in the parable of the laborers of the vineyard who complained that He paid those who came late first instead of those who came first. This is the parable and His response:

Mat 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Mat 20:2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Mat 20:3  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Mat 20:4  And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Mat 20:5  Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
Mat 20:6  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Mat 20:7  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 
Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 
Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 
Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 
Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 
Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Our limited minds sometime make us think that we are wise. The Lord has told us that His ways are past finding out and so we cannot comprehend many things that He does.

1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 
1Co 3:20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

The judgement of the Lord is what causes us to have the mind of Christ. That is why in verse 20, we are told that when our minds are different from the mind of Christ as we think that His ways are not fair, then we must go through His judgement. However, in this age, it is only the Lord’s elect who are privileged to be judged so that they have the mind of Christ.

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

May the Lord help us to have the mind of Christ as we die to our flesh daily!! Amen!!

Numbers 34:1-29  The Borders of the Land of Canaan

[Study Aired January 1, 2024]

Introduction

Our study for today highlights the boundaries of the land of Canaan that the Lord has given to the Israelites for inheritance. The chapter also focuses on the leaders the Lord has chosen to help apportion the land to the people of Israel. This land, with its boundaries, which the Lord has given to the people of Israel as an inheritance, is where they would be free to worship the Lord as their king, rest from their labors and enjoy the produce of the land.  It signifies the kingdom of the Lord within us which shall become outside (to be seen) when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms 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.

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.

In this chapter we are reviewing, the Lord gave the boundaries, or the limitations of the land, He was going to give to the people of Israel. These boundaries are given based on the assumption that the people of Israel had defeated the occupants of the land which signifies our flesh. It is when our flesh has started its journey of death that the kingdom of the Lord becomes established within us. In other words, as our old man or flesh dies, our new man after the image of Christ gains ascendency resulting in the establishment of the kingdom of the Lord within. 

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

As we are aware, the death of our old man or flesh is made possible through the fiery trials we endure which teach us righteousness. This is exemplified by the war the Israelites waged to dispossess the people of the land. Our fiery trials symbolize the war with the flesh the Lord is waging on our behalf.

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 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

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

As we go through the study for today, we shall come to understand the limitations of the kingdom of the Lord within us and its characteristics. 

Mar 4:30  And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? 
Mar 4:31  It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: 
Mar 4:32  But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.

These verses show us what the kingdom of the Lord within and without are like. Being a grain of mustard seed, which is less than all kinds of seed, signifies the kingdom of God within us which is not visible to the world. In the fullness of time when this kingdom grows and becomes outward, that is, the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, it will be seen by all and will encompass all the people of the world – both good and evil.

In another perspective, the land of Canaan to be divided among the people of Israel represents the reward we shall receive if we overcome. In other words, it represents the joy that is set before us as we walk as strangers in this 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.

With all these in mind, let’s now take a look at the boundaries of this kingdom of God:

Num 34:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 34:2  Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:)

These verses show us how the Lord speaks those things which are not as though they were. The Israelites had not yet come to the land of Canaan to begin the conquest of the people living in the land and yet the Lord had given command to Moses regarding the boundaries of their inheritance. 

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

As indicated in the introduction session, the land is where we are to live to worship the Lord as our king and therefore represents the kingdom of the Lord. In these verses therefore, the Lord was showing us the limitations of the kingdom of the Lord which is first within us. Paul in his letter to the Romans, defines the kingdom of God. 

Rom 14:17  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
Rom 14:18  For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Rom 14:19  Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

The rendition of these verses in the Message makes it clearer.

Rom 14:17-19 God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you. So, let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. (The Message)

We can see clearly that the kingdom of God has to do with what God does with us to make us righteous. We know from His words that becoming righteous is through the judgment of our old man or the flesh. As we learn righteousness, we automatically have peace with God and man as the Holy Spirit fills us with joy. 

The Southern Boundaries

Num 34:3  Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: 
Num 34:4  And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon: 
Num 34:5  And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea.

The south is always the route to the sea of flesh. In verse 3, the southern border starts from the wilderness of Zin along the coast of Edom toward the salt sea, which is usually referred to as the dead sea. The word “Zin” means flat. Edom means red which is the color of the earth. The Edomites are the descendants of Esau, the elder brother of Jacob and therefore can be regarded as part of the flesh of the people of Israel. The salt, or the dead, sea signifies the spiritually dead state of humanity. What we are being told spiritually is that even though the kingdom of God is within us, we can easily drift (flat plain, not mountainous) towards the flesh (Edom). The end result is that we become spiritually dead (the salt sea). 

In verses 4 and 5, the eastern part of the southern border which starts at the salt sea goes up to Akrabbim (Scorpion pass), continues on to Zin and ends up at Kadesh Barnea (holy). After Kadesh, the southern border stretches to Hazar Addar (Enclosure of glory) and then to Azmon (Strong). At this point it turns to the river of Egypt and ends up at the sea.

This implies that we are given power to tread on scorpions (Akrabbim) and over the powers of the enemy to become holy (Kadesh) as the kingdom of God within us is being built. That is when we see the glory of the Lord and become stronger in Him. However, there is always the tendency to drift easily to false doctrines (river of Egypt) which gradually cause us to become like the people of the world (sea).

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. 

Mat 16:6  Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mat 16:7  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
Mat 16:8  Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
Mat 16:9  Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Mat 16:10  Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 
Mat 16:11  How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 
Mat 16:12  Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

The Western and the Northen Boundaries

Num 34:6  And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border.
Num 34:7  And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor:
Num 34:8  From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad:
Num 34:9  And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazarenan: this shall be your north border.

The western boundary is the coast of the Great Sea. In other words, the kingdom of God within us operates within the confines of the flesh. This means that if we do not pay attention to the truth of the Lord’s words, we shall easily be influenced by the flesh. 

Heb 2:1  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 
Heb 2:2  For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 
Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Heb 2:4  God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

The northern border stretches from the great sea through Mount Hor (mountain or part of) to the entrance of Hamath which means fortress. Proceeding from there, the northern border continues to Zedad (mountain side), passes through Ziphron (fragrance) and ends up at Hazar Enan (village of fountain). This signifies that although the kingdom of God within is bounded by the flesh, it is the Lord’s fragrance or presence which keeps us like a fortress, just as the mountains surround Jerusalem. This is made possible as the Lord upholds all things through His words (village of fountain). 

Psa 125:1  A Song of degrees. They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever.
Psa 125:2  As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even forever.
Psa 125:3  For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

The Eastern Boundary

Num 34:10  And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham:
Num 34:11  And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward: 
Num 34:12  And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.

The eastern border starts from Hazer Enan (village of fountain) and goes to Shepham (Bare spot) and then to Riblah (Fertility) which was on the eastern side of Ain (spring). The implication here is that as we feed on the truth of the word of the Lord (Hazer Enan and Ain), all the fallow grounds or bare spots (Shepham) within us become fertile (Riblah) and produce a hundredfold of fruit.

Mat 13:23  As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The border continues to the shoulder of the sea of Chinnereth (Harps) on the eastern side and stretches down to the river Jordan (descender or the river that rushes down) which empties into the salt sea or the Dead Sea. This signifies that as His elect, we are the first to be chosen among the sea of flesh or humanity to worship the Lord in truth and in spirit as we play harps before the Lord. Later, in an age to come, the truth of the word of the Lord (river Jordan) shall rush down to all humanity who are spiritually dead, signified by the emptying of river Jordan into the Dead Sea. What this means is that in this age, the kingdom of God within is only given to the elect. That is the boundary of the kingdom of God in this age. 

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. 
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

The Land to be Divided as Inheritance

Num 34:13  And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe: 
Num 34:14  For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance:
Num 34:15  The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.

In verse 13, the land was to be divided among the families for an inheritance by lot. The lot here signifies that everything we do to possess our inheritance is the work of the Lord. All we have to do is to believe that He is able to drag us to the finish line!!

Pro 16:33  The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

Joh 6:28  Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

In verses 14 and 15, we are told that the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were not to be given inheritance among the people of Israel in the land of Canaan since they had received their inheritance already on the east side of the river Jordan in the land of Gilead and Bashan. As indicated in a previous study about the settlement of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh on the east side of the land of Canaan, these tribes represent our brothers and sisters in Babylon who want their reward now in this life. As a result, they have received their reward already. They are never going to share in our inheritance.

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.

Mat 6:5  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

The Names of the Leaders of the Various Tribes in Israel

Num 34:16  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 34:17  These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Num 34:18  And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance.

These verses show us that from every tribe and kindred of every nation, the Lord is picking His elect to be saviors of the world in assisting the whole humanity, represented by the people of Israel, to obtain their inheritance in Christ in the fullness of time. These leaders are the elect of every generation representing the one hundred and forty-four thousand chosen from the twelve tribes of Israel.

Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Rev 7:5  Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:6  Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 
Rev 7:7  Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 
Rev 7:8  Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. 

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

The names of the twelve leaders from every tribe show us what it takes to become His elect. The first two names of the leaders mentioned are Eleazer and Joshua. Eleazer means ‘God is helper’ and that of Joshua means ‘Jehovah saved.’ This implies that the salvation of the Lord is His work. Of our ownselves, we can do nothing. It is the Lord who is able to save us because He comes to help us obtain the standard He requires. He starts the work and finishes it. 

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Num 34:19  And the names of the men are these: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 
Num 34:20  And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 
Num 34:21  Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon.
Num 34:22  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli. 
Num 34:23  The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod.
Num 34:24  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 

The name Caleb means ‘dog’ and Shemuel means ‘His name is El’ (God). Elidad signifies ‘my God has loved’ and Bukki means ‘wasteful.’ The next two names are Hanniel (Favored of God) and Kemuel (Raised of God). We were called and chosen by the Lord’s grace and not because we had anything to offer. We were like dogs (the meaning of Caleb) just like the woman of Canaan in the sight of the Lord, but He (Shemuel) showed mercy to us. 

Mat 15:25  Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 
Mat 15:26  But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. 
Mat 15:27  And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. 

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 (dogs) 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.

Even though we were wasteful (Bukki) just like the prodigal son, the Lord loved us (Elidad). We therefore received favor in His sight (Hanniel) as He raised us up (Kemuel) to sit with Him in heavenly places.

Luk 15:11  And he said, A certain man had two sons: 
Luk 15:12  And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
Luk 15:13  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 
Luk 15:14  And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
Luk 15:15  And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
Luk 15:16  And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 
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. 
Luk 15:20  And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luk 15:21  And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 
Luk 15:22  But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 
Luk 15:23  And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 
Luk 15:24  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Num 34:25  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 
Num 34:26  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 
Num 34:27  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. 
Num 34:28  And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. 
Num 34:29  These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan. 

The final four leaders of the various tribes of the people of Israel were as follows: Elizaphan (God is treasure); Paltiel (Deliverance of God); Ahihud (Brother of Majesty) and Pedahel (Ransomed by God). These names signify that through the deliverance of the Lord (Paltiel), we are ransomed by God (Pedahel) to have God as our treasure (Elizaphan) as we become His brothers (Ahihud). 

Heb 2:10  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Heb 2:12  Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.

May the Lord continue to establish His kingdom within us as we see the day approaching. Amen!! 

Number 13:1-33  The Spies sent to Canaan and Their Report

[Study Aired July 24, 2023]

Num 13:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 13:2  Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
Num 13:3  And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. 
Num 13:4  And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 
Num 13:5  Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 
Num 13:6  Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 
Num 13:7  Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 
Num 13:8  Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. 
Num 13:9  Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 
Num 13:10  Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 
Num 13:11  Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 
Num 13:12  Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 
Num 13:13  Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 
Num 13:14  Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 
Num 13:15  Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 
Num 13:16  These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. 
Num 13:17  And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 
Num 13:18  And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 
Num 13:19  And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 
Num 13:20  And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
Num 13:21  So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 
Num 13:22  And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 
Num 13:23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 
Num 13:24  The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. 
Num 13:25  And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. 
Num 13:26  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 
Num 13:27  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 
Num 13:28  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 
Num 13:29  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 
Num 13:30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 
Num 13:31  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 
Num 13:32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 
Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Introduction

Chapter 13 deals with the Lord’s command for the people of Israel to know about the strength of the people living in the land of Canaan, the nature of the land and the fruits of the land He had promised them. This will help the people of Israel to know how to possess the land. In military operations, this is called reconnaissance operation (or simply recon) which seeks to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and core activities in an enemy’s area.

As we have indicated in the study of the Book of Numbers, the Book is principally about the raising of an army by the Lord to carry out His agenda here on earth. As commander of the Lord’s army, the Lord’s modus operandi as He enlists us in His army is to help us know the land (our bodies) which He wants us to possess. When the Lord called Abraham, his role was to just go through the land of Canaan and live there as a stranger, not a possessor of the land. During his stay on the land of Canaan, he was to know the goodness of the land and the challenges it posed, with the view of understanding what it takes to dispossess the people of the land promised to his descendants. This role was subsequently transferred to Isaac and Jacob.

In the lives of the patriarchs, they faced overwhelming challenges to bring them to the conclusion that only by faith could they overcome. In other words, it was only through the Lord that they could possess the land by faith since the people living in the land were a formidable force. As a deposit guarantee that the Lord would give the land to his descendants, Abraham, by faith, bought a portion of the land to serve as a burial ground for his family. In a similar vein, the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit as a deposit guarantee that we shall overcome the flesh!!

Gen 49:29  And he (Jacob) charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 
Gen 49:30  In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.
Gen 49:31  There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 
Gen 49:32  The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. 
Gen 49:33  And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. 

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.  

Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 
Heb 11:9  By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 
Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 
Heb 11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

The whole episode of Moses sending out the spies was for them to come to the same conclusion as the patriarchs, that it takes only faith to possess the land, which is our bodies. However, unlike the patriarchs, most of the spies were thinking of their own ability to overcome the giants of the land, but not what the Lord can do, hence giving a bad report of the land.  As we walk with the Lord, our focus should be on what the Lord can do and not what our situation dictates or what we can do. The walk of faith is based wholly on what the Lord can do!

Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 
Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 
Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 
Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Num 13:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 13:2  Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, everyone a ruler among them.

It was the Lord’s initiative for the people of Israel to know the state of the land and the people living in it. As we are aware, the land represents our bodies which we must possess. Our bodies represent the flesh, and therefore this call by the Lord is to know the nature of our flesh. However, not all the people of the world, signified here by the people of Israel, are given to know the flesh. As verse 2 indicates, this call to search the land is only given to the rulers of the people. In applying the principle of calling those things which are not as though they were, we can see that it is the elect, future rulers of the earth, who are given this mandate to understand everything about the flesh of which we must possess or overcome in this life.

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.  

Num 13:3  And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. 
Num 13:4  And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 
Num 13:5  Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 
Num 13:6  Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 
Num 13:7  Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 
Num 13:8  Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. 
Num 13:9  Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 
Num 13:10  Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 
Num 13:11  Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 
Num 13:12  Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 
Num 13:13  Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 
Num 13:14  Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 
Num 13:15  Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 
Num 13:16  These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. 

Moses sending the leaders from the twelve tribes of the people of Israel signifies the Lord Jesus Christ, requiring His elect from every tribe and every generation to understand the nature of the flesh as we go through life. Moses changing the name of Oshea to Jehoshua is to remind us that the Lord will deliver us (Oshea means deliverer) from our flesh as we go through life and in the final analysis, we shall be overcomers or saved by the Lord (Jehoshua means Jehovah saved). 

2Ti 4:18  And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Num 13:17  And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 

It is significant that the spies started their journey of assessing the land from the south before going up into the mountain. Southward signifies that we are close to the sea of flesh. Thus, starting their journey southward means that we all start to know the flesh as unbelievers when we are dominated by the flesh as we produce the deeds of the flesh. 

Eze 48:28  And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea.

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 
Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 
Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

It is imperative, as the Lord’s elect, that we begin our journey from the south to know more about the flesh with which we will deal later in our lives. This is because in the Book of Revelation, it is when we are close to the sea that we see the beast rise up out of the sea. 

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.

As Moses commanded, the spies started their survey from the south before moving to the mountains. Moving away from the south to the mountains means we have come to know Christ, but we are still carnal and therefore, the beast within us has become an insurmountable mountain to us. This is the experience of Paul and all the elect as we encounter the mountains:

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

Num 13:18  And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 
Num 13:19  And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 
Num 13:20  And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

During our walk here on earth, we start our lives by the sea of flesh before we are given to know Christ. However, although we have come to know Christ, we are still carnal. 

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Demonstrate our lives living close to the sea of flesh).

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

It is in our carnal state that we get to see what the land is and the strength of the beast living in our land. The fruit of the land refers to the fruit of the spirit that is produced from our bodies. In verse 20, we are made aware that the spies went to survey the land at the time of the first ripe grapes. This is to let us know that in this age the Lord wants us to know our flesh and the beast controlling it, as we are the first ripe grapes or the firstfruits. In other words, those who come to see in this age, the nature of the flesh, the powerful beast that controls it and the fact that it is only in Christ that we can possess the land, are the ones who become the firstfruits. 

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.

Num 13:21  So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 
Num 13:22  And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 

Searching the land beginning from the wilderness of Zin and going through Rehob and Hamath, and finally ending up in Hebron is significant. Zin means ‘prick’. To prick means to pierce. We start our journey of coming to know the flesh in Egypt when we come to trust in the system of the world (Egypt) as we focus on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. If we are called and chosen, then our trust in the flesh would rather hurt us (pierce us – meaning of Zin). We end up piercing ourselves with many sorrows as a result of our trust in worldly riches.

Isa 36:6  Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 

1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

In Isaiah 36:6, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, refers to the flesh or the beast within, whom we have come to trust.

When we start our journey in Christ, we flee from Zin and come to Rehob which means ‘the broad place’. Our lives in Babylon depict a life of the broad place as we find ourselves in the midst of many who are called but not the chosen few.

Mat 7:13  “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 
Mat 7:14  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. 

In Babylon, we get to know more of the flesh as we are dominated by the flesh since we are carnal. Through the teachings we receive in Babylon, we come to accept our carnal state as godliness. Through these false teachings, we strengthen the idols of our hearts. In other words, we build walls to shut out the truth of the words of the Lord. This means we have moved from Rehob (a broad place) to Hamoth which means walled. After Hamoth, we come to Hebron which means seat of association. The seat of association here is the same as Babylon.  It is in Hebron that the spies encountered the giants of the land. This is how we spiritually encounter the giants in our land:

Rom 7:15  For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 
Rom 7:16  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 
Rom 7:17  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 
Rom 7:18  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Rom 7:19  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 
Rom 7:20  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 
Rom 7:21  So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Rom 7:23  but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Rom 7:24  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Going through the experience of not being able to do the good we know we should do means we have come to realize the giants – Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai – in our land. It is while we are in Babylon (Hebron) that we come to know the giants. It is instructive to note in verse 22 that Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Zoan means ‘the place of departure’. What we are being told spiritually is that even before we leave the world, the Lord has prepared Hebron (Babylon) for us to go to for a complete period of our lives (seven years) immediately after our departure (Zoan) from the world (Egypt).

Jer 29:8  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 
Jer 29:9  for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. 
Jer 29:10  “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 
Jer 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Num 13:23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
Num 13:24  The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

It is when we leave Babylon and come to the brook of Eshcol that we can have evidence of the fruitfulness of our bodies (land) as we produce the fruit of the spirit. A brook means a stream or river. Eschol means ‘cluster’ and cluster stands for a group of similar things or people positioned or occurring closely together. As we are aware, the brook signifies the truth of the word of the Lord. This means that it is only after we have left Babylon (Hebron) and come in the midst of the gathering of the elect (Eschol or cluster) or the church of the firstborn that we come to experience the truth of the word of the Lord. That is when we can produce the fruit of the spirit which is the evidence of the good land (our bodies) which we now possess. The fact that the fruit was borne between two people on a staff is very insightful. According to Strong, in this context, the staff represents a shaking, wavering or a bar of yoke. It is intuitive to note that the Bible sometimes uses shaking to mean judgment.

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 
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. 

As witnesses of Christ (the two carrying the bunch of fruit), it is only through judgment (the staff with fruit borne by the two spies) that we can produce evidence of the goodness of the land as we produce righteousness as the fruit of the spirit.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

In another perspective, the good grapes of the land signify the elect as shown in the following verse:

Hos 9:10  Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.

Since the spies were going to show the fruit to the people of Israel to show the goodness of the land, we, His elect, are therefore the evidence to all of humanity (the people of Israel) that it is possible to produce the fruit of the spirit in this life or age. The fruit we bear, or our good works, will cause all humanity to come and praise the Lord in the next age.

Mat 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Num 13:25  And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. 
Num 13:26  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 

The spies returned to the people of Israel to give a report after searching the land for forty days. In the Bible, the number forty refers to the period of the trial of our lives by the Lord to show what is within each one of us. This means that the number forty shows us the period of our lives where we have come to assess our flesh to know that we can of ourselves do nothing to defeat the beast within us, except the Lord intervenes.

Psa 95:7  For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, 
Psa 95:8  Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 
Psa 95:9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Num 13:27  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 
Num 13:28  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 
Num 13:29  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

In their assessment of the beast within, the spies admitted that possessing the land was good as they saw a land flowing with milk and honey. We must understand that at that time in our lives when the Lord caused us to know the flesh with which we are dealing, we were carnal, and therefore all we knew was the milk of the word of the Lord which to us tasted sweet in our mouth. Our failures as a result of being dominated by the flesh bring us to the conclusion that the flesh is a formidable force to deal with. In other words, it is impossible to possess our bodies, forgetting the fact that it is the Lord who will defeat the enemy on our behalf. This report of our flesh in Babylon is what the people of the world (represented by the people of Israel) also take as their assessment of the flesh. This is the assessment of our flesh during our time in Babylon and the people of the world:

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

In other words, the world and the world believe that nobody can defeat the flesh. 

Num 13:30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

In this case Caleb represents the elect. When we leave Babylon and come to the church of the firstborn, our eyes are opened to realize that although the flesh is impossible to subdue, through Christ we can overcome its influence. 

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

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Caleb’s stance was that in Christ we can overcome the flesh. As we shall see in the next chapter, Joshua, who is also a symbol of the elect, also held that same view of victory through Christ. All we have to do is to believe that He who has started a good work in us will drag us to the finish line of overcoming the flesh! Caleb demonstrated to us that we need to walk in faith if we are to possess the land, which is our bodies, despite the formidable strength of the flesh.

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

Heb 11:30  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 
Heb 11:31  By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. 
Heb 11:32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 
Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 
Heb 11:35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 

Num 13:31  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 
Num 13:32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 
Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

In Babylon, where we are dominated by the flesh, we cannot see how we can overcome the flesh, especially when we see ourselves being defeated over and over again by the giants of our land – the flesh.

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

May the Lord give us the grace to walk by faith and not by sight. Amen!!

The Book of Joshua – Part 16, Chapters 16–17 – Inherently: The dream of Pharaoh is one (Gen 41:25)

[Study Aired June 17, 2023]

Again, this study of Joshua chapters 16-17 identifies the geographical boundaries of the various tribes’ inheritances. In a recent study of Joshua, I mentioned that the pictorial of the tribe’s boundaries looked like the internal organs of a human body. It could be spiritually interesting for the individual to study in detail the meaning of the names of each tribe’s inheritance.

Map of Israel’s inheritance (for later reference, see Gezer): https://christiananswers.net/dictionary/images/Map_of_12_tribes_of_Israel-large.png

As an instigation for possible inspiration, and with Asher in the far north beside Naphtali, Asher means happy and to go straight and level, while Naphtali means wrestling and to twist. It could be pictorially said that those two nations represent the head of the allegorical ‘body’ of the Lord’s first wife; for us, whose spiritual desire is to go straight and level, yet our flesh is weak and wrestles both negatively and positively in labour with his word.

The Sea of Galilee could represent her mouth, where she ingested the waters of the word of God. Galilee means circuit, folding doors, cylinder & rod. Israel chewed the word of God in a circulatory motion (like chewing the cud)  through Galilee’s representation. The Lord’s word was painstakingly hand-scribed on papaya parchments, and the rod of its testaments held safe in cylinders.

The Jordan, meaning descender, to go down and sink down, flowed in from the snowy Mt. Hermon (meaning mountain) to the north of Israel, depicting the mighty mountain, our Lord above Israel, feeding her mind with His pure word.  

Without compromising too much about the individual’s spiritual discoveries for himself, I’ll jump to the two tribes of Manasseh who decidedly look like her two lungs with the esophagus running between them past the spiritual heart of Jerusalem, Ephraim and Benjamin, with Judah digesting the Lord’s word next to the bowels of waste in the Dead Sea.

Mat 15:17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly, and is cast out into the waste-bowl? [MKJV]

Somewhat tragically, where the Salt Sea dissipates into desert marshland at Zoar into Edom, is the end of her bodily elimination with Esau’s profanity in rejecting his birthright. This bodily function of Israel has her go outside the camp of the Lord to relieve herself in the easily dug wasteland of Edom.

Deu 23:12 You shall also have a place outside the camp where you shall go forth. 
Deu 23:13 And you shall have a paddle on your weapon. And it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover that which comes from you. 
Deu 23:14 For Jehovah your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, so that He may see no unclean thing in you and turn away from you.

Zoar means insignificance, and to be or grow insignificant, grow small as Israel’s dung disappears into the soil that will fertilise Esau in the Lake of Fire.

Heb 12:11 Now chastening for the present does not seem to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it. 
Heb 12:12 Because of this, straighten up the hands which hang down and the enfeebled knees. 
Heb 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. 
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord;
Heb 12:15 looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God, or lest any root of bitterness springing up disturb you, and by it many are defiled,
Heb 12:16 (lest there be any fornicator, or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he did not find any place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears).

Even though the pictorial of Ephraim and Benjamin surrounding Jerusalem is the heart of the Lord’s wife, their location isn’t biologically perfectly positioned in her body, nor is the angle of Judah, a caricature of her liver. A liver’s function is to cleanse the blood of the word and inject digestive enzymes into the stomach that nourish her body.

Liver shape and position: https://fattyliverdisease.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/FeaturedImage_Normal-Size-Liver-1.jpg

As with the previous studies regarding the boundaries of each tribe’s land, I’ll not read the outwardly bland details. Likewise, I’ll not duplicate the chapters previously studied; rather, I’ll interpret them as I go.

Chapter 16 details the allotment of lands for Ephraim and Manasseh with a distinction of single cities noted in verses 9 and 10.

The Allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh

Jos 16:1 And the lot of the sons of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, to the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goes up from Jericho through Mount Bethel, 
Jos 16:2 and goes out from Bethel to Luz, and passes along to the borders of the Archites, to Ataroth; 
Jos 16:3 and it goes down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth-horon the lower, and to Gezer. And its boundary was at the sea. 
Jos 16:4 And the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance. 
Jos 16:5 And the border of the sons of Ephraim was by their families: the border of their inheritance on the east side was Ataroth-addar, to Beth-horon the upper. 
Jos 16:6 And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side. And the border went about eastward to Taanath-shiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah. 
Jos 16:7 And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came again to Jericho, and went out at Jordan. 
Jos 16:8 The border went out from Tappuah westward to the river Kanah. And the boundary was at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim by their families.
Jos 16:9 And the separate cities for the sons of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. 
Jos 16:10 And they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer [gheh’-zer = portion]. But the Canaanites live among the Ephraimites until this day, and serve under tribute [H4522].

The Canaanites stubbornly resided amid Ephraim and Manasseh as they spiritually do in us today. In this account, they represent our Christian Babylonian brothers and sisters who labor in the heat of the day, bringing us many bible versions, commentaries and electronic studies for ease of study. “Tribute” H4522 means 1. gang or body of forced labourers, task-workers, labour band or gang, forced service, task-work, serfdom, tributary, tribute, levy, taskmasters, discomfited a. labour-band, labour-gang, slave gang b. gang-overseers c. forced service, serfdom, tribute, enforced payment. Derived from H4549, meaning 1. to dissolve, melt a. (Qal) to waste away b. (Niphal) 1. to melt, vanish, drop off, melt away 2. to faint, grow fearful (fig.) 3. wasted, worthless (participle).

Indeed, even though our Canaanite brothers and sisters have done us a mighty unpaid service, their hard work, and at the Lord’s hand, has spiritually gone over their heads. They will certainly feel worthless and jilted, as did the labourers first hired to work in the vineyard (Mat 20:1-16), and we diligently study the word of God in spiritually weak light before being dragged to his service. We were forced to pay our tithes, our “tributes” in Gentile Christianity, and upon hearing the truth, we melted away in the heat of our Lord’s word.

Luk 8:10 And He said, To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to others [our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters with whom we reside] I speak in parables, so that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand.

Jer 29:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; 
Jer 29:5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; 
Jer 29:6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. 
Jer 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 
Jer 29:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jer 29:9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. 
Jer 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

We saw in Joshua 10:33 that Joshua killed the king of Gezer; however, since the Lord decreed that not all the Canaanites would be routed from the land, much later, a Pharaoh from Egypt devastated the Gezer city and offered it to Solomon as a dowry when Solomon married his daughter.

Excavations of the 3,000-year-old Gezer ‘tel’ reveal their ritualistic child sacrifice and phallus-like stone edifices, and they remain to be seen today and are particularly relevant to Jeremiah 3:9. https://www.timesofisrael.com/discover-gezer-israels-lost-city/

Jer 3:6 Jehovah also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has fornicated there.
Jer 3:7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn to Me! But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 
Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes for which backsliding Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave a bill of divorce to her, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and whored, she also. 
Jer 3:9 And it happened, from the folly of her whoredom, she defiled the land and fornicated with stones [see link above] and stocks.
Jer 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah. 
Jer 3:11 And Jehovah said to me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Our Lord specifically caused the Canaanites to remain in our land to try us and be a continual source of spiritual food and for us to remember to not repeat what Solomon and Israel physically acted.

1Ki 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 
1Ki 3:2 Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.

What a classic act of Satan to first not allow the Israelites to be able to cleanse the land of Gezerites residing in the literal heart of Israel, and then much later have Pharaoh look like an ally by doing Israel’s job of killing the Gezerites. Pharaoh sealed the deal by giving Solomon his daughter in marriage and Gezer as a dowry.

Subsequently, Israel sacrificed in high places since there wasn’t anywhere physically to demonstrate their devotion, and defaulted to father Satan’s influence. They built or used the land’s enemy’s methods of sacrifice and mixed the Lord’s commands with their enemy’s doctrines. It is today’s classic act of Babylonian Christianity to acquiesce to the pressures of evil to love and not judge anyone’s Canaanite-like worship; it happens in Gentile Christianity and government. It is typical of us in the Body of Christ anytime we do not use the multitude of counsel, allowing false doctrine and leaven to creep in.

Lev 18:3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. 
Lev 18:4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. 
Lev 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.

Continuing with the King’s thread:

1Ki 3:3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
1Ki 3:4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

1Ki 9:15 And this is the reason of the levy [1. gang or body of forced labourers, task-workers, labour band or gang, forced service, task-work, serfdom, tributary] which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, [khaw-tsore’; = castle] and Megiddo [meg-id-done’ = place of crowds], and Gezer [gheh’-zer = portion]. 
1Ki 9:16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

Pharaoh’s actions are like Delilah’s (= feeble) with Sampson by conniving to be a fifth-columnist alliance for our ultimate destruction, yet those deceitful contrivances were our food. Pharaoh had no compassion for Canaanites, who were on par with iniquity with Egypt, only to use them to ‘melt away’ and make the source of Israel’s power, the Lord’s word, ‘worthless’ and ‘feeble’. It happens to us anytime we water down the Lord’s word with false doctrine, welcoming our “mistress”, the Great Whore to unwittingly rule over us.

1Ki 9:17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether [= lower; below Gezer],
1Ki 9:18 And Baalath [bah-al-awth’. Ironically meaning 1. mistress, female owner 2. sorceress], and Tadmor [= palm tree; erect] in the wilderness, in the land,
1Ki 9:19 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 
1Ki 9:20 And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel
1Ki 9:21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.

Note those “five kings” correlate to the other “five kings” in Joshua 10 killed very early in Joshua’s exploits, substantiating that we cannot totally destroy our enemies while we remain in sinful flesh, which remains for us as a chastisement by grace through faith for our spiritual food.

Gen 47:26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

Phallus and Ashteroth’s worship on ‘every high hill’ was common in the land and resulted from Israel being unable to utterly cleanse her land of the enemies, as the previous Gezer link showed.

Typically today, the world of modern Gezerites worship their pudenda in every depraved manner imaginable. Spiritually, they are our Gentile Christian kin working in tribute to the Lord’s Body for the honor of kings to search out the truth from their fornicating doctrines (Pro 25:2). Off-site, as with Solomon’s Temple, they are unwittingly and effectively building our temple in grace through faith in fives (Exo 26, Eze 42).

1Ki 9:21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.
1Ki 9:22  But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. 
1Ki 9:23 These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.
1Ki 9:24 But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.
1Ki 9:25 And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the LORD, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house.

So, the symbolic Canaanites and Gezerites live among us until this day both outwardly and diminishing inwardly. However, because Gezer wasn’t utterly destroyed and, in part, Solomon later took Pharaoh’s daughter to be a wife, it was an incredibly significant symbolism of the beginning of Jeremiah’s prophecies and all things being ours in our spiritual trials.

The following scriptures are longish and evoke an intense spiritual joy, and as such, are well worth reading and reflecting upon each verse of why God caused the Canaanites and Gezerites to remain among us to this day.

Jer 25:15  For so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to me, Take the wine cup of this wrath at My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I shall send you to drink it. 
Jer 25:16 And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be maddened, because of the sword that I will send among them. 
Jer 25:17 Then I took the cup at Jehovah’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom Jehovah had sent me. 
Jer 25:18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings of them, and their rulers, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today, 
Jer 25:19 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, and his rulers, and all his people, 
Jer 25:20 and all the mixed people, [outside the camp of Israel] and all the kings of the land of Uz [= counsel; plan {paradoxically}], and all the kings of the land of the Philistines [= land of sojourners], and Ashkelon [= fire of infamy; to weigh; pay out], and Azzah [= strong; mighty; fierce], and Ekron [= emigration or torn up by the roots], and the rest of Ashdod [= to deal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruin, destroy, spoil]; 
Jer 25:21 Edom [ = red, ruddy (of man, horse, heifer, garment, water, lentils], and Moab [ = father of an individual], and the sons of Ammon [= nation, people], 
Jer 25:22 and all the kings of Tyre [= flint, hard pebble], and all the kings of Sidon [= hunting], and the kings of the coastlands beyond the sea, 
Jer 25:23 Dedan [Eze 27:20 Dedan was your merchant in loose cloths for riding], and Tema [= desert], and Buz [= contempt; a. springing from evil b. springing from prosperity c. springing from judgment], and those who trim the edges of their beards [made to look righteous; rich men; tithing on mint, dill and cummin Mat 23:23]. 
Jer 25:24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the desert, 
Jer 25:25 and all the kings of Zimri [= my music; 1. to sing, sing praise, make music], and all the kings of Elam [= eternity; 1. a Korhite Levite in the time of David 2. a chief man of the tribe of Benjamin], and all the kings of the Medes [synomous of Gog and Magog], 
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 on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach [ = thy fine linen 1. another name for Babylon apparently taken from the Goddess ‘Shach’] shall drink after them. 
Jer 25:27 So you shall say to them, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 
Jer 25:28 And it shall be if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, So says Jehovah of Hosts, You shall certainly drink.
Jer 25:29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name [Jerusalem and particularly as we become Jerusalem above]; and should you be found entirely without guilt? You shall not be without guilt. For I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of Hosts. 
Jer 25:30 And prophesy against them all these Words, and say to them, Jehovah shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people of the earth. 
Jer 25:31 A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations; He will enter into judgment with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword, says Jehovah.
Jer 25:32 So says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be stirred up from the corners of the earth.
Jer 25:33 And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground. [how prophetically beautiful for our growth!]
Jer 25:34 Howl, shepherds, and cry; and roll, leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and of your scatterings are fulfilled; and you shall fall like a desirable vessel. 
Jer 25:35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the choice ones of the flock, to escape. 
Jer 25:36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the choice ones of the flock shall be heard; for Jehovah has spoiled their pasture.
Jer 25:37 And the peaceful pastures are cut down because of the fierce anger of Jehovah. 
Jer 25:38 Like the lion, He has left His den; for their land is wasted because of the oppressor’s pressing fury, and because of His fierce anger.

What powerful prophecy and the delight within and without those verses arouse!

Jos 17:1 There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh (for he was the first-born of Joseph); for Machir [maw-keer’], the first-born of Manasseh, the father of Gilead [ghil-awd’], because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead [ghil-awd’] and Bashan.

Manasseh, the elder brother of Ephraim, means causing to forget.

Gen 41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath [aw-se-nath’- Definition: Asenath = belonging to the Goddess Neith 1. the wife of Joseph] the daughter of Potipherah priest of On [one – Definition: On = strength or vigour 1. city in lower Egypt, bordering land of Goshen, centre of sun-worship, residence of Potipherah (priest of On and father-in-law of Joseph] bare unto him. 
Gen 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

We, too, are the firstborn, men of war against all the evil within opposing the temple of God. Initially, we forget or disregard the whole of God’s word until the day He drags us to Himself, and then and in time, we, like Joseph and a woman in travail, forget the pain, humiliation and hatred directed against us, and glorify our Lord for the new creation we are becoming.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Inclusive of Joshua 17:1 above and below, verses 2 to 18 regarding Manasseh’s inheritance, requires a little concentration on the sum total meaning of names for the summary and understanding. The collective meanings of the names are mostly positive, with the negative connotations typically balancing our journey to becoming Christs.

Jos 17:2 There was also a lot [land; a heritage] for the rest of the sons of Manasseh by their families: for the sons of Abiezer [ab-ee-ay’-zer = my father is help], and for the sons of Helek [khay’-lek = portion], and for the sons of Asriel [as-ree-ale’ = I shall be prince of God. to go straight, walk, go on, advance, make progress. god, God-like one, mighty one], and for the sons of Shechem [sheh’-kem = back or shoulder], and for the sons of Hepher [khay’-fer = a well. To be ashamed, be confounded, be abashed, feel abashed], and for the sons of Shemida [shem-ee-daw’ = wise]; these were the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, by their families. 
Jos 17:3 But Zelophehad [tsel-of-chawd = first-born] the son of Hepher [khay’-fer], the son of Gilead [ghil-awd’], the son of Machir [maw-keer’= sold], the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters. And these were the names of his daughters: Mahlah [makh-law’ = disease], and Noah [no-aw’ = motion; to quiver, totter, shake, reel, stagger, wander, move, sift, make move, wave, waver, tremble], Hoglah [khog-law’ = partridge; house of the partridge], Milcah [mil-kaw’ = queen], and Tirzah [teer-tsaw’ = favourable; to be pleased with, be favourable to, accept favourably].
Jos 17:4 And they came near before Eleazar [el-aw-zawr’ = God has helped] the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers. And according to the command of Jehovah he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. 
Jos 17:5 And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead  [ghil-awd’] and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan; 
Jos 17:6 because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons. And the rest of Manasseh’s sons had the land of Gilead[ghil-awd’].
Jos 17:7 And the border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah [mik-meth-awth’ = hiding place] before Shechem [sheh’-kem = back or shoulder]. And the border went up to the right to the inhabitants of En-tappuah [ane tap-poo’-akh = fountain of the apple-city].
Jos 17:8 Manasseh had the land of Tappuah [tap-poo’-akh], but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim. 
Jos 17:9 And the border went down to the river Kanah [kaw-naw’ = reed, stalk, bone, balances], southward of the river. These cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh. And the border of Manasseh was on the north of the river, and the boundary was at the sea. 
Jos 17:10 Southward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it was Manasseh’s. And the sea is its border. And they met together in Asher [aw-share’  = happy] on the north, and in Issachar [yis-saw-kawr’ = there is recompense] on the east.
Jos 17:11 And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Beth-shean [aw-share’ bayth she-awn’ = happy house of ease] and its towns, and Ibleam [yib-leh-awm’ = devouring the people;  to swallow down, swallow up, engulf, eat up] and its towns, and those who lived in Dor [dore = period, generation, habitation, dwelling] and its towns, and those who lived in Endor [ ane-dore’ = fountain of Dor; eye ] and its towns, and those who lived in Taanach [tah-an-awk’ = sandy] and its towns, and those who lived in Megiddo [meg-id-done’ = place of crowds] and its towns, even three regions.

Mannasseh’s perspective is characteristic of us while we are still Babylonian Christians. We are crybabies thinking that our Father should be more kind to us since we have been working hard to please Him by killing all these giants with our strength; our inheritance should be easier to attain. We have thought that the Lord should just love us as we are in our delusion that Christ did ‘it all’ on the cross in our stead.

The meanings of the various families’ names are indicative of our victories and trials:

My father is help
Portion
I shall be a prince of God. to go straight, walk, go on, advance, make progress. god, God-like one, mighty one.
A well. To be ashamed, be confounded, be abashed, feel abashed.
First-born
Wise
Disease
Motion; to quiver, totter, shake, reel, stagger, wander, move, sift, make move, wave, waver, tremble
Partridge; house of the partridge (a largish, plump quail-like ground and brush dwelling game bird)
Queen
Favourable; to be pleased with, be favourable to, accept favourably
God has helped
Hiding place
Back or shoulder
Fountain of the apple-city
Reed, stalk, bone, balances
Happy
There is recompense
Happy house of ease
Devouring the people; to swallow down, swallow up, engulf, eat up
Period, generation, habitation, dwelling
Fountain
Sandy
Place of crowds

Our Lord loves us immensely by creating us in His fiery trials and working diligently to clean our land of giants. The ten-portion inheritance falling to Manasseh substantiates it since that number signifies the turbulent and joyful completeness in destroying the power of corruptible dying flesh.

Zelophehad’s (tsel-of-chawd’s = first-born. Jos 17:3) four daughters confirm in type that number the Bride of Christ’s whole journey and tribulation in becoming Christ’s wife.

Jos 17:12 Yet the sons of Manasseh were not able to occupy these cities, but the Canaanites wanted to live in that land.

Initially, we are, in kind, the sons of Manasseh, the church of the First Born, who are up against evil spirits, petulantly challenging us that they ‘don’t want to leave our land’. This type clearly can only be routed by prayer and fasting that represents diligently searching our ‘tent’ for an Achan-like buried cloak and treasure. All the time, we are actually the second born, the younger Ephraim, whom the elder Manasseh serves.

Mar 9:28 And He entering into a house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could we not cast him out? 
Mar 9:29 And He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer and fasting.

When we become strong in the Lord’s spirit, we get paid in greater spiritual understanding with Christ as our inheritance. His spirit is a continual payment until the evil spirits literally ‘melt away’ at the First Resurrection with His full payment in Him. Of course, for the world, Satan, the chief of evil spirits, is released for a little season at the end of the One Thousand-Year reign to give the Lord His opportunity to do away with death in the death of all living.

Jos 17:13 And it happened when the sons of Israel had become strong, they put the Canaanites to tribute [1. to dissolve, melt a. (Qal) to waste away b. (Niphal) 1. to melt, vanish, drop off, melt away 2. to faint, grow fearful (fig.) 3. wasted, worthless] But they did not completely drive them out.
Jos 17:14 The sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, Why have you given me one lot and one portion to inherit, since I am a great people, because Jehovah has blessed me until now? 
Jos 17:15 And Joshua answered them, If you are a great people, and if mount Ephraim is too narrow for you, get up to the forest and cut down more for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites [per-iz-zeeites’ = belonging to a village] and of the giants.

Excitedly, that is exactly what the Body of Christ does, not out of petty whimpering that we should be given more, yet knowing that what the Lord is giving us in Christ is beyond the price of any perceived gift! We eagerly rush into battle to cut down every giant green tree of evil in our land, knowing that it will be accomplished by our Lord’s unfailing strength.

Our enemy’s false religious conveyances of iron are no match for our inner battle in the valley of Jezreel, where their blood will rise to our Lord’s horse’s bridle.

Jos 17:16 And the sons of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us. And all the Canaanites who live in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, those who are of Beth-shean [bayth she-awn’ Beth-shean or Beth-Shan = house of ease] and its towns, and those who are of the valley of Jezreel.

Rev 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the anger of God. 
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even to the bridles of the horses, for the space of a thousand, six hundred stadia. 

Israel’s physical journey is our spiritual journey to becoming Christ. Hosea was given the gloomy task of marrying Gomer, a known harlot, who typifies Israel’s and our whoredoms against our Husband. In these apparent end-times, we need to be alert that Gomer can unwittingly morph into us being tardy for our Lord’s spiritual intimacies. She and her chariots of iron and her giants will be killed by our Lord’s spirit in Meggedo, the spiritual valley of Jezreel within. That pictorial will become vastly more expansive for humanity in the Lake of Fire.

Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 

Hos 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. 
Hos 1:11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Jos 17:17 And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, You are a great people and have great power. You shall not have one lot.

Christ is our head, our “one lot” who rules with great power, the Elect “great people” who are very few.

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

Jos 17:18 But the mountain shall be yours, for it is a forest, and you shall cut it down. And the outer limits of it shall be yours. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and though they are strong. 

Dan 2:35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces together. And they became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, 

Rev 21:27 And there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles, or any making an abomination or a lie; but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 

“The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.”

[Study Aired March 1, 2021]

God is exalted in our earth [“the land“] through judgment (Jer 22:29) which is how we will learn to trust Him (Eph 1:12, 2Co 1:9) and understand that He creates light and darkness and uses them both to demonstrate “his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering” (Rom 2:4) through a process that is being worked within our heavens where He brings us through the fiery trials of this life (1Pe 4:12, Act 14:22). He does this so that “after that ye have suffered a while” God can “make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (1Pe 5:10, Psa 107:27-31). In this study we will look at what occurs in “the land” [our “earth, earth, earth“], and, Lord willing, we’ll see and continue to be convinced as we pass “through to search it” that it “is an exceeding good land” for what it can ultimately produce (Gen 3:6).

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

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

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 

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?

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: 

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

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

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, [make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you”] 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,[Rom 2:4] and for his wonderful works to the children of men! [Eph 2:10]

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 

It is after the storm has passed that we will learn how to “be still, and know that I am God”. This is the same one God who is being “exalted among the heathen” and who is being “exalted in the earth” among the gentile within us (Col 1:27). We must be brought to our wits’ end in order to learn of His faithfulness and that He is “the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus.” That is the process we are not to despise (Rom 11:22, Rom 2:4-11), and it is the only way by which we can come to learn how to patiently possess our souls which are being fashioned by God so that we can one day show the same mercy which He has shown to us to rest of His creation (Psa 46:10, Luk 21:19, Rom 11:30-31).

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory [Rom 2:4] of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue [Act 14:22] in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God [2Co 12:9].

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

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? 
Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 
Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 
Rom 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 
Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 
Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God. 

Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 

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

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God [equals “Tribulation and anguish” and God’s wrath abiding on us (Joh 3:36)], yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 

Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy [obtained by the “glory, honour, and peace” that is given as a gift from God] they also may obtain mercy.

The initial making known of this mystery that is among the gentile world is within me (Col 1:27, 1Jn 2:16), and that world is being destroyed daily and overcome by the brightness of His coming (2Th 2:8) to the end that, through the destruction that comes about by chastening and scourging or judgment in a life that has been admonished to be armed with the mind of Christ (Heb 12:6-7, 1Pe 4:1), I can learn to discern good and evil and come to be able to rightly divide the strong meat which will continue to nourish us (Heb 5:14) on our journey through the wilderness where the LORD goes before us and fights for us. He divides the Red Sea (Exo 14:14-19) and overcomes all the enemies within us which He has set there to be bread for us which will strengthen our hearts to do battle (Eph 6:12). 

[“The Red Sea represents the world within and without, the powers and principalities that we war against and overcome through Christ”]

Exo 14:14  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. 
Exo 14:15  And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:[Php 3:14] 
Exo 14:16  But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: [Heb 5:14] and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. 
Exo 14:17  And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 

[This hardening of our hearts causes anguish that our old man must endure, represented by Pharaoh, and it leads to “glory, honour, and peace” within once the Lord overcomes those powers and principalities we wrestle against within (Rom 2:9-10)]

Exo 14:18  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen [Rom 9:17] .
Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them [Isa 45:7]:

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?

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

Receiving Bread is critical to the overcoming process, and is the reason we are told not to despise this process of judging the giants in our land that God put there for our benefit. We despise God’s goodness by saying we can’t overcome those giants (Num 13:33), when in fact it is those very  struggles and battles which will produce the bread we need to continue to strengthen our hearts (Psa 104:14-15) so that His love will not fail or wax cold. It will in many when the iniquity of the world abounds more and more and people begin to rebel against the Lord in unbelief, not recognizing His sovereignty over all the conditions of the earth that He is working according to the counsel of His own will (Rom 2:4, Heb 13:10, Mat 24:12-13, Num 14:6-9, Eph 1:11-12).

Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight [2Co 4:18].

2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: [Joh 20:29] for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

Psa 104:14  He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; 
Psa 104:15  And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.

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? 

[This is akin to saying we despise the “bread whichstrengtheneth man’s heart“, the giants that we must acknowledge our in our land, and then confidently declare that we can overcome through Christ so they can be bread for us (2Co 7:11)]

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle [The bread God freely gives to those who have been given eyes to see (Rev 1:3)].

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold [Num 14:10].
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Num 14:6  And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 
Num 14:7  And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 
Num 14:8  If the LORD delight in us [If we are bound to the altar where we receive the bread of life (Psa 118:27)], then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 
Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not [Rom 2:4). 
Num 14:10  But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel [‘just as in this rebellion with Korah and all the congregation’ (Num 16:2, Num 16:19)] 

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.

Being the first to trust in Christ is a tremendous honour that comes at a great cost that we are told to count (Luk 14:27-28), meaning we must know that it involves our fulfilling His will throughout our life (Mat 12:50) which is our reasonable service (Rom 12:1-2), being made possible through Christ through whom we can endure all things even until the end (Mat 19:27-29, Mat 24:13). If we are bound to the altar nothing can separate us from this process that requires that we go through so much training that is often administered through afflictions, or persecutions or tribulations. All of those things — the afflictions, persecutions and much tribulation — bear witness and make it evident to us in our heavens that we are being worked with as a bride of Christ being prepared to rule under Him (Rev 19:7-9). That preparation is being accomplished by continually bearing about in our bodies the scars of Christ that show that we belong to Him (Gal 6:17).

Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 
Luk 14:28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 

Mat 12:50  For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

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

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

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.

Gal 6:17  From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

The land which the Israelites of old were passing through to obtain was “an exceeding good land” that Joshua, who represents Christ, told the people they could inherit (Num 14:7). Christ has called and chosen us to be faithful until the end of this life and given us “exceeding great and precious promises” (2Pe 1:1-4), which confirms that, through our Lord, overcoming is exactly what is going to happen (Joh 8:36, Rom 8:35-37).

Num 14:7  And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 
2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 
2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

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

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword [2Sa 12:10]?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things [2Pe 1:3]we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

[Study Posted January 19, 2021]

Jdg 1:16  And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. 
Jdg 1:17  And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. 
Jdg 1:18  Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof. 
Jdg 1:19  And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 
Jdg 1:20  And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. 
Jdg 1:21  And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. 
Jdg 1:22  And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them. 
Jdg 1:23  And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) 
Jdg 1:24  And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. 
Jdg 1:25  And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family. 
Jdg 1:26  And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day. 
Jdg 1:27  Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 
Jdg 1:28  And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. 
Jdg 1:29  Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 
Jdg 1:30  Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. 
Jdg 1:31  Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: 
Jdg 1:32  But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. 
Jdg 1:33  Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them. 
Jdg 1:34  And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: 
Jdg 1:35  But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. 
Jdg 1:36  And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward. 

In the last study, we looked at how the tribe of Judah fought against Jerusalem, took it and set the city on fire. This speaks of our deliverance from the Jerusalem within us, which represents Jerusalem which now is (the false doctrines which we have imbibed during our time in Babylon under the leadership of this mystery woman) and is in bondage with her children.

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

We also reviewed how Caleb gave his daughter as a wife to Othniel (a type of the elect) for defeating Kirjathsepher and through the wife Othniel was given upper and the nether springs. This shows how when we get into the right fellowship (Jerusalem which is above), our understanding of the scriptures is deepened through God giving gifts to men.

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8  Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Eph 4:9  (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
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:

In spite of our progress so far, there are wars to be won in order for us to possess our land – offering our body as a living sacrifice to God.

Jdg 1:16  And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. 

The Kenites, the tribe of Moses’ father-in-law, were a nomadic tribe which dwelt in Canaan during the time of Abraham (Gen 15:19). This tribe became integrated with the children of Israel as they journeyed from Egypt.  In Numbers 10:29-32 Moses wanted to rely on the insight of Hobab (Moses’ brother-in-law), since he knew the terrain, but God did not want the Israelites to depend on the arm of the flesh. It is surprising that the Kenites would leave the city of Palm trees and go into the wilderness of Arad with Judah.

In the scriptures, palm trees are likened to the elect or Christ, and Arad means wild ass. Thus, the Kenites left Christ to become a wild ass roaming in the wilderness.  This speaks of us at a certain point in our walk when we do not want to pay heed to sound doctrine (Christ) but rather follow after the dictates of the flesh as the man of sin is sitting in the temple of God and calling himself God (the abomination of desolation).

Psa 92:12  The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

2Ti 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

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.

Jdg 1:17  And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. 
Jdg 1:18  Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof. 

As we continue to offer our true worship to the Lord by offering our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2), which represents Judah, our praise, the Lord will continue to defeat the enemy within on our behalf. The city of Zephath (formerly called Hormah meaning destruction) is near the border of Edom which speaks of our flesh.

The defeat of the flesh is in stages. As indicated earlier, God picks the low-hanging fruits for us before we are finally ushered into serious battles. After the defeat of Zephath, Judah went ahead and defeated three of the principal cities of the Philistines which represents a more challenging enemy. Gaza means stronghold, so here we are dealing with sin that easily besets us and the false doctrines which have become our idols. Judah took over these Philistine cities for a brief period, but later these cities reverted to the control of the Philistines. This struggle against the flesh is for a lifetime. But one day, we will have the ultimate victory as the dragon will prevail not, neither will his place be found in our heavens.

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.

Jdg 1:19  And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 
Jdg 1:20  And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. 
Jdg 1:21  And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. 

Although Judah had been successful in defeating the inhabitants of the mountain, they could not defeat those in the valley because they had chariots of iron. In the Book of Revelation, out of the bottomless pit of our flesh came the locusts whose breastplates were made of iron and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to battle. So the inhabitants of Canaan with chariots of iron represents the doctrines that we have imbibed which were propagated by the Babylonian messengers (the scorpions) which dominate our mind and have become strong barriers that prevent the word of God to easily break through to renew our minds.  This is because these doctrines are like “iron chariots”.

Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.

God knows our frame, and therefore He leads us to war from one level to another such that with every temptation He makes a way for us. At the right time we will be able to defeat the enemy with chariots of iron as God demonstrated later when the people of Israel defeated Sisera with nine-hundred chariots of iron. We need patience in this walk, and patience here is just obeying God and having faith that He who has started this good work (the defeat of the enemy within) will bring it to completion!!

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.

Jdg 4:13  And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.
Jdg 4:14  And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
Jdg 4:15  And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

One problem with our walk is that sometimes we become too comfortable with the flesh as Abraham didn’t want Ishmael to go. Our victory is in relentless pursuit – that is, our desire to have our heavens cleansed and to be separated completely from Babylonian influences. The children of Benjamin were comfortable living with the Jebusites in Jerusalem however, and this became a snare to them. In spite of our desire to have our heavens cleansed, there are certain aspects of our lives that we find it difficult to let go just like the Israelies being comfortable living with the Jebusites. This is the picture of Jerusalem today. No wonder it is in bondage with her children.

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.

2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
2Co 6:15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

At this point in time of our study, Judah is now waging war against much stronger opposition – enemies on the hills, giants from the descendants of Anak, etc. The cleansing of our heavens is a long drawn-out war which proceeds in stages, but our confidence is in the fact that He who has started this good work will see to its completion.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Jdg 1:22  And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them. 

The meaning of Joseph is “may he add”, and Bethel means the house of God. According to Genesis 28:17, the house of God is also the gate of heaven. So what the verse means is that we need to add to our conquest the gate of heaven, which is the house of God.

Gen 28:17  And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

“Gate” represents an entrance so the gate of heaven is the entrance to our heart and mind. This war being waged by the house of Joseph to defeat Bethel is our war to add to our possession the gate of our heaven, which will help us to screen everything that enters our heart and mind. Possessing the gate of our heart and mind will help us focus on whatsoever is lovely, of good report, etc., and not allow evil thoughts to permeate our heavens!

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

From another perspective, this gate of heaven can be looked at as the entrance to the Word which is Christ.

Psa 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Thus, our war against Bethel is a war against the stumbling block of our iniquities which prevent us from understanding the word of God. This is demonstrated in the Book of Ezekiel.

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

Jdg 1:23  And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) 
Jdg 1:24  And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. 

This war is so important that the house of Joseph sent spies to have a feel of what they are up against, and they could not locate the entrance to the city until they got help. The entrance to the word that brings understanding is not by human effort. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Our understanding of the word of God is only through the mercies of God. It is not through our wisdom to discern or anything else. If we are called and chosen, then at the set time, God will open our eyes to see and our ears to hear.

Psa 136:1  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psa 136:2  O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psa 136:3  O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psa 136:4  To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

God in His mercy will send us the men – the elect, just as the spies saw a man who showed the house of Joseph the gate of the city which signifies the entrance to His words which brings illumination. During the time of the apostles, God took a man (Philip) to the desert to explain the scriptures to an Ethiopian Eunuch.  Peter was sent to Cornelius, and Ananias was sent to Paul to open his eyes to see!! Today God, through His Christs, is showing us the entrance to His Words!!

Jdg 1:25  And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family. 
Jdg 1:26  And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day. 

Getting to understand the Word and putting it in practice liberates us from the shackles of false idols, doctrines, etc. It gives us victory gradually over the flesh!! It must be noted that the man and his family were protected and set free during the war against Bethel. God preserves us in the midst of the raging storms in our lives. God’s modus operandi is not to whisk us away from trouble (as those in Babylon who believe in rapture states) but to keep us in the midst of trouble.

The inability of the Israelites to drive the enemies from the land

Jdg 1:27  Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 
Jdg 1:28  And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. 
Jdg 1:29  Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 
Jdg 1:30  Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. 
Jdg 1:31  Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: 
Jdg 1:32  But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. 
Jdg 1:33  Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them. 
Jdg 1:34  And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: 
Jdg 1:35  But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. 
Jdg 1:36  And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward. 

This part of the Chapter relates to the inability of the Israelites to drive out the enemies from the Promised Land. A look at the commentary by F.B. Meyer in e-sword summarizes the whole study for today as follows:

“The conquest of Canaan was very partial. Israel dwelled among the ancient inhabitants of the land, much as the Normans did among the Anglo-Saxons, whom they found in England, and the mixture of the two peoples was the beginning of moral degeneracy and decline in the chosen race. Wherever there was the old-time faith in God, as in the case of Caleb, the land was cleared of the Canaanite; but where God was out, the Canaanite was in.

So it is in the life of the soul. It is intended that the whole should be yielded to Christ, that no evil passion should reign, that no besetting sin should enthrall. But how often Christian people give up the fight! They say that the old Adam is too strong for them, and settle down to a joint-occupation. Let us not yield to reasoning like this! The Lion of Judah can break every chain. By faith in Him we can be more than conquerors! The Holy Spirit strives with the flesh, so that we may not do as otherwise we would. Only give Him the right of way! Sin shall not reign in your mortal body!” [End of quote]

In many ways, Meyer’s commentary really hit the nail on the head. However, it makes it look like we call the shots! We must understand that the Israelites inability to rid the land of their enemies is caused by the Lord who was seeking an occasion to judge them so that at the end, sin will not reign in the land. The conquest of the land is a long process!! It is not a one-time conquest. It is for a lifetime.

Spiritually, the Promised Land, Canaan, represents the Kingdom of God within. Since John the Baptist, this kingdom of God has suffered much violence but with Christ, we will be the violent that takes this kingdom by force. In Genesis the land promised is described as including the territories occupied by ten nations.

Gen 15:18  In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Gen 15:19  The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
Gen 15:20  And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
Gen 15:21  And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

The number of tribes listed is ten, which represents our flesh and their false doctrines. So what occupies this land and prevents the growth of the kingdom of God within us is our own flesh. Salvation therefore is being delivered from our flesh which is our old man and it is through this process that we have victory over sin.

The common reason for the Israelites’ inability to drive out the land is stated in this verse:

Jdg 1:28  And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. 

The Israelites had the resources to drive them out of the land but they chose to live with them and put them to forced labor. In other words, they profited from the Canaanites. That is always the mentality of the carnal mind just as the Israelites were put under forced labor by the Egyptians representing the world. So this is a worldly mentality.

Jdg 1:30  Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. 

Jdg 1:33  Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them. 
Jdg 1:34  And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: 
Jdg 1:35  But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. 

The verses here are to show us that it was not only one tribe that failed to drive out the Canaanites but the whole tribe of Israel. Almost all of them put the Canaanites to forced labor as shown in the verses above. As a result of this co-habitation, the Israelites became ensnared by another Jesus which the Canaanites worshipped. As a result, their mind became darkened, and so the Lord took away from Israel (Babylon) the whole stay of bread which is the word of God. By putting them to forced labor, the Israelites were enjoying the pleasures of sin, and therefore they did not want the Canaanites to go. In our quest to cleanse our temple of all that offends, we have to be ruthless in making sure that no stone is left unturned. All that offends must be put to death!! We must have no room for the pleasures of sin as demonstrated by Moses who chose to suffer instead.

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

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,

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

When we look at our current situation, we are all in different stages of this battle against the flesh. We have at certain times of our lives enjoyed the pleasures of sin, and as a result, the enemies within had held us in bondage. This is the picture of the people of God that runs through the Book of Judges. However, God in His mercy will not leave us in that state.  He raised up judges to deliver His people from the enemies during the time of the judges and will do the same for us. These judges are a type of our Lord’s elect who motivate us to win this war against the flesh by speaking the fiery word which is able to save us from our enemies.

Jdg 2:16  Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

According to Strong’s definition of judges, it means to pronounce a sentence for or against.

shâphaṭ
shaw-fat’
A primitive root; to judge, that is, pronounce sentence (for or against); by implication to vindicate or punish; by extension to govern; passively to litigate (literally or figuratively): – + avenge, X that condemn, contend, defend, execute (judgment), (be a) judge (-ment), X needs, plead, reason, rule.

So at God’s appointed time, He will pronounce sentence against our foes within. In other words, He will send his word to heal us and deliver us from being destroyed by our coexistence with the strong enemies within. We should not therefore be frustrated when we fall. God will use these failures to judge us and bring us to an expected end. Victory is coming!!

Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Let us therefore come with supplication before our Lord to ask Him to help us in this war to overcome the enemies within. For we of ourselves cannot win this war!! But our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. For He that keepeth us shall not slumber nor sleep!! He will come in at the right time with the brightness of His coming to defeat on our behalf the giants on our land with the spirit of his mouth!!

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:

Psa 124:8  Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Psa 121:1  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
Psa 121:3  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Psa 121:4  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Psa 121:5  The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
Psa 121:6  The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
Psa 121:7  The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
Psa 121:8  The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

[Next study in this series is here.

Isa 24:19-23 The Lord Shall Punish the Host of the High Ones On High - Discussion

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Isa 24:19-23  The Lord Shall Punish the Host of the High Ones On High and the Kings of The Earth Upon the Earth

Isa 24:19  The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
Isa 24:20  The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
Isa 24:21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Isa 24:23  Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

These last five verses of this 24th chapter of Isaiah have a more universal, all-inclusive tone than do the preceding verses of this chapter. Being all-inclusive means that while these verses have a primarily personal application, these verses also include all "the host of the high ones on high".

The end of this chapter and the next two chapters concern themselves with the resurrection of the dead, which has not been the focus of this 24th chapter up to this point. Notice how prominent to this point is "the earth" in this 24th chapter of Isaiah. "The earth" or "the land" are mentioned in:

Isa 24:1  Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

"The land" is the subject of verse 3, and "the earth" is the subject of the next three verses:

Isa 24:3  The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
Isa 24:4  The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
Isa 24:5  The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Isa 24:6  Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

That is the subject and the tone of this entire chapter including the first two verses of today's study:

Isa 24:19  The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
Isa 24:20  The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

Now we go beyond the fact that the kingdom of our old man "shall fall, and not rise again".

Notice how Peter refers to this time:

2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Judgment begins at the house of God, but it builds to a consummation, as it did with Job, with King David, and with our Lord and His Christ. The flesh of all men is doomed because it was tailor "made... for the of evil" in every one of us:

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

This is not some one else who is being called "the wicked". We are all "the wicked... man of sin" as the apostle Paul tells us:

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.

That is "the wicked... made [by] the Lord... for Himself... for the day of evil".

King David knew this and told us exactly who this man of sin is from our birth:

Psa 51:4  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

We were shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin for this express purpose.... "that Thous might be justified when you speak and be clear when you judge [us]".

David goes on to explain:

Psa 75:7  But God is the judge: he putteth down one [our "old man"], and setteth up another ["the new man, the last Adam"].
Psa 75:8  For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.

And exactly who is "the wicked of the earth" who must drink of the cup of the Lord's wrath? This is not a guessing game, the answer is made super clear:

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

Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

We must acknowledge our spiritually dead composition before the process of the Lord's judgment can begin in our lives:

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Does not this verse tell us that Christ's body of flesh was itself, as sin offering which could not inherit the kingdom of God and had to be relinguished as an offering for our sins? Are we not also being told that when Christ comes into our lives He is right at that time "appear[ing] the second time without sin unto salvation"? Yes, that is what we are being told if we are given eyes that see and ears that hear "the things of the spirit" (1Co 2:14). It is at that time that He enters into His own temple, and we begin to enter into His temple "which temple [we] are" (1Co 3:16). None of this can take place until the seven plagues of the seven angels have been fulfilled withing our lives:

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 ["which temple we are"], till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [within our lives]"

​We begin to see the inward, heavenly application of all these words, when we are informed:

Isa 24:21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

This is the verse which demonstrates that the spirit realm is raised up to be judged along with those who were before in the natural realm because this verse states clearly "...in that day, the Lord will punish the host of the high ones on high AND the kings of the earth upon the earth". These words accord with:

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.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Clearly the spirit realm, "the high ones on high", is there "together with the kings of the earth upon the earth." They are not raised up at different times to be judged.

Making this very point, earlier in this same prophecy we are told:

Isa 13:11  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

It is the Lord's anger with which He punishes us and "the high ones on high" for our evil and our iniquity:

Deu 32:22  For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

'The invisible things of God are understood by the things that are made' (Rom 1:20), so the principle of punishing evil is just as true in the heavens as it is on the earth:

Job 15:15  Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

The New Testament makes this same assertion:

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

It is in "the heaven itself" that the ultimate struggle for our hearts and minds takes place:

Eph 6:12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. (NET)

That is "the heavens" where the Lord dwells:

Psa 11:4  The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

What do 'the eyes of the Lord trying the children of men' have to do with the Lord being in His temple in heaven? It has everything to do with His temple because, Stephen, the first martyr after Christ's death and resurrection, tells us that Isaiah's words...

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?

...are informing us that "the Most High does not even dwell in temples made with hands":

Act 7:47  But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48  Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49  Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me?

If "the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands", and yet "the Lord is in His holy temple... in heaven", where, then, is His true 'temple", and exactly where is 'heaven'?

Here is the Biblical answer to both of those questions:

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

The physical temple was never the temple of God. It was merely a type and shadow of the true temple, which is within us. Likewise, the physical heavens are not the true heavens. The physical heavens and the limitless nature of those heavens are just a type and shadow of the endlessness of the kingdom of God within the spiritual realm of the heavens within us.

This incredible revelation is repeated in second Corinthians:

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

King David informed us:

Psa 11:4  The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

"The Lord is... purifying... the heavens themselves [by] trying the children of men... in the temple of God... [where we] as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing [our]self that [we are] God".

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.

It is as we saw earlier in the book of Job:

Job 15:15  Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

These are the defiled heavens in which we live before the Lord appears to us to begin to devour our old man "with the brightness of His coming" with the light of His Truth. This is the realm of the confounded 'sun' and the "dark[ened] moon" which will be "dissolved" and will no longer exist.

Jeremiah is speaking to us about this very process of the Lord cleansing His temple when he warns us:

Jer 7:8  Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. [The trinity, the immortality of the soul, eternal hell fire, substitutionary atonement, free will, etc.]
Jer 7:9  Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Jer 7:10  And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

Our flesh proclaims that it does not murder others, does not commit adultery, does not tell lies or swear falsely, does not burn incense to Baal and does not walk after other gods. But who among us has not hated another person, has not believed the lies of Babylon and has never taught those lies to others? Who among us has never prayed to another God thinking we were praying to the true God of heaven, all the while living by the doctrine of "another Jesus"? We have all done all of those things in various ways and at different times, and therefore we are all guilty of murder, adultery, falsely swearing, burning incense to another Jesus and living out the false doctrines of that false Messiah.

All these lying false doctrines we have all believed, and by which we have lived and conducted our lives, are "the high ones on high", the "spiritual wickedness in the heavens", which are even now being judged and punished in the work of the Lord's wrath as He pours out His judgments upon His own house, which is within us in our own lives.

Eph 6:12  For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. (NWT)

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?

"Not against flesh and blood" means that our ultimate battle is not really in this physical realm. It appears to be that way, but the Truth is that we are warring against a spiritual realm which directs and guides every event taking place in this physical realm, as the apostle Paul makes so very clear:

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

The Hebrew word translated as 'delivered' in the phrase, "we are delivered to do all these abominations" is the same Hebrew word translated as 'saved' in:

2Sa 19:9  And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved [H5337 natsal] us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom.

"Delivered" is a perfectly good translation, but 'saved' is also an acceptable translation of the Hebrew word 'natsal'. In other words, we are all guilty in our own time of believing that we are saved so we can continue on in our sins. We actually convince ourselves "we are delivered to do these abominations" (Jer 7:10). However, the Lord is not mocked, and we do reap what we sow, as Jeremiah warns in this same seventh chapter:

Jer 7:20  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Jer 15:14  And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.

The anger and fury of the Lord is poured out upon "this place", and "this place" means His own house, His own temple, meaning His own people:

Jer 7:9  Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Jer 7:10  And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

Once the Lord's "fire is kindled... upon [us]", and once it is in the process of burning up all the wood, hay and stubble within us, then the Lord Himself begins to take up His abode within us.

Isa 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

"The high and holy place" the Lord dwells in is "with him... that is of a contrite and humble spirit". That is where the Lord dwells:

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 [as a house and a place of rest], even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

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

"The spirit of God dwells in you... in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit".

Our old man has his own 'moon' and his own 'sun', and everything he considers to be his 'light' is really nothing more or less than a minister of Satan", masquerading "as an angel of light", and this is what we are told of him and His 'light':

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

We are told "the kingdom of God [with its temple and its cities] is within you":

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.

"The kingdom of God is within [us]" but only in "earnest", only in down-payment form at this time. That is the form in which we are now the sons of God, and that is the way it will remain "until the inheritance of the purchased possession", meaning 'until the first resurrection' when the actual physical "kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ":

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

This is "the redemption of the purchased possession":

Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. [Rise up from the dead]
Rev 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Rev 11:15  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.

The death of our flesh must take place before we can know resurrected life. Death is a prison for all flesh, and without a resurrection even the dead in Christ are perished in that prison (1Co 15:18), as our final verses in this chapter tell us:

Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

As we saw in last week's study, the shaking of the olive tree and the fig tree are one and the same, and they are ours to live and to experience in our own way, as are "all things" for all men:

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

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; [Ecc 9:2]

"All things" includes being "shut up in the prison" which we all experience inwardly as being dead in our sins until Christ comes and delivers us out of our prison of spiritual death:

Psa 146:7  Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:

Isa 42:6  I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Isa 49:8  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
Isa 49:9  That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

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;
Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

That all of this refers to Christ and His Christ is made clear in the gospel of Luke:

Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him [Christ] the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Christ said this of Himself: "he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord". It is given to very few to realize the depth of the truth of these words:

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

The Old Testament reads "Bring out the prisoners from the prison", and when Christ reads these words in the synagogue in Nazareth, He tells us "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears", because He Himself has come to bring us forth out of the prison of sin which is in our members making us do the things we don't even want to do, but we are prisoners to "the law of sin which is in our members" (Rom 7:17-25).

Job tells us that there is also a dispensational application to these words. In his longing to die and be relieved of his misery, he speaks of the rest to be had in the grave in these words:

Job 3:18  There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

Here in our study we are told that the dead are held in this prison "together":

Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

The implication here is that the dead are gathered together in the grave and are all visited together "after many days", meaning "in the end of days", at the great white throne judgment which follows the short season of rebellion against the "rod of iron", the rulership of the saints of God during the millennium.

At that time the sea will give up its dead, and death and the grave will give up the dead in them, and they will all be judged according to their works. In Revelation 20 we are given the time line of events leading up to the destruction of death, "the last enemy to be destroyed" (1Co 15:22-28):

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

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

"Death and [Greek: hades, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death". In other words, "the second death" is the destruction of death. As we are told earlier in 1Co 15:

Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

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.

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

All bodies of flesh and blood must be destroyed to be replaced with resurrected spiritual 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 body.

A million sermons to the contrary will not change the truth that all resurrected bodies are "raised a spiritual body... a quickening [Greek: life giving] body", no longer subject to death.

When all of this becomes known to us:

Isa 24:23  Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

These are the moon and the sun of the old heavens which are being replaced  [because] the first heaven and the first earth were passed away". The new heavens and the new earth will not need a sun and moon.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Rev 21:5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

The new heavens with the new Sun and the new moon will never be confounded or ashamed. The old 'sun' and the old 'moon' will no longer even be needed. There is no more sea, the symbol of all flesh (Rev 13:1), and "the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed" because neither will there be any more sun or moon:

Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

In our next study, if the Lord wills, we will rejoice in the fact that death is swallowed up in victory:

Isa 25:1  O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Isa 25:2  For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
Isa 25:3  Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
Isa 25:4  For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
Isa 25:5  Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
Isa 25:6  And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
Isa 25:7  And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
Isa 25:8  He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
Isa 25:9  And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Isa 25:10  For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
Isa 25:11  And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
Isa 25:12  And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things it says in Jer 17:9, even to the point where it thinks that we can ascend above the clouds and be like the most high as these scriptures remind us.

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

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Eze 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

Num 16:3  And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

Putting ourselves above God would be the ultimate expression of deceit and a desperately wicked heart, and yet God tells us that the world, and especially the religious world around us, is in this untethered state (our former conversation) as those who are being controlled by a harlot system of which we are commanded to come out and acknowledge that it is God who has set in motion the false Christs and false prophets who are showing great signs and wonders which He has given them the ability to do according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11), so that they shall deceive the very elect or untether us from the body “if it were possible”.

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

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.

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

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

The Lord searches our hearts and tries the reins through the strong delusion that is in the earth (physical healings for example) and in the heavens (bringing fire down from heaven, which is the false doctrines that deceive) or the leaven of the Pharisees that Christ warns us against. All these weapons of the devil mentioned will not destroy the elect but will make us stronger if we are granted the ability to tear down the lies of the devil and see through an entire religious system or the world (Babylon) that has been deceived by the devil.

Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

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

Mat 16:6  Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

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

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

2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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.

1Jn 5:19  And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Going back to these two verses (Isa 14:14, Eze 28:2) that are typically thought of as referring to Satan by the churches of Babylon, we are reminded that when the world within us puts these verses on someone else (like Satan for instance) and we don’t see their inward application, we are in effect not recognizing our own man of sin who, except for the grace and faith of Christ, would want us to speak from our own hearts and ascend and go into the heavens of our brothers and sisters in Christ with our own voice as we reason from our own minds not judging righteous judgment with the mind of Christ but rather by the wisdom of men.

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Eze 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

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

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

Pro 14:12  There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Joh 7:24  Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

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

It will and does take an ongoing miracle for us to be still and possess our souls with the fruit of longsuffering (patience) that God gives us so we can hear the word in a good and honest heart, which then enables us to bring forth fruit unto maturity that reflects Christ’s words which are no longer wrapped around the idols of our heart and are being provided for each other in due season, in the order and measure of faith that God would have us deliberate those good and perfect gifts that He gives from above.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Luk 8:15  And that in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience.

Luk 21:19  In your patience ye shall win your souls.

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith.

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

The Lord is in the process of destroying that man of sin within us who is typified in these verses (Isa 14:14, Eze 28:2) and is tearing down and demolishing all those conversations within ourselves that would just naturally exalt themselves above the congregation (Eph 6:12, 2Co 13:5). There is a negative and positive way to approach being raised above in heavenly places, and the man of sin who is at door of our heart (Gen 4:7) always wants to express his voice within our heavens or force his or her way into the kingdom of God some other way as opposed to the entreatable mind of Christ that is like a child in its ability to listen and be corrected and prove all things holding fast to that which is right. The fruit of Christ’s life in us is borne through patience and abasing ourselves over and over (dying daily) so the Lord can then be exalted in our heavens in all that we say and do, doing it all to His glory (Ecc 5:1, Mat 23:12, 1Co 10:31).

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Eze 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

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

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.

Jas 3:17  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

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

1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

This study focuses on the process of growing in grace and knowledge through the miracle of having God try the reins of our hearts, which heart He knows perfectly, to the end that we may become more than conquerors through Christ as we witness to the world (within and without) of His righteousness which is being formed solely within the body of Christ today.

Pro 21:2  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

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

1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

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

Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Psa 93:1  The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
Psa 93:2  Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.
Psa 93:3  The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
Psa 93:4  The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
Psa 93:5  Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.

Psa 93:1  The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.</>

Clothing is connected to God’s majesty and his strength with which he girds himself, but not only does he gird himself, but he also establishes His righteousness in the earth through judgment that is in the earth, so that eventually “it cannot be moved”.

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

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.

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.

God is clothed with light, and yet from our vantage point in the flesh, God is invisible. He should not be invisble however to the life of Christ within us.

Psa 104:1  Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Psa 104:2  Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

1Ti 6:16  Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

Exo 13:21  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

Joh 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Joh 14:11  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

With these few verses in mind, let’s consider the next two verses after Isa 45:5. It takes the entire process for us to come to know God, from the rising of the son of righteousness destroying the darkness within us unto the west, an experience of evil for our flesh that God gives us so that we come to see and give an accounting that He “form[s] the light, and create[s] darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. “

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

Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Psa 93:2  Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

God’s throne is being established on our hearts today, and His plans and conception of what He has in store for those who love him and for all the world one day are and were “established of old”.

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Rev 19:4  And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen (Heb_11:27), nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

This expected end comes about through a process of redemption which God had “established of old” as well.

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.

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, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Psa 93:3  The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.

The floods that lift up are a witness to show us that we must be lifted up or puffed up at first for a symbolic “forty and two months” treading under foot the gentiles as we lift up our voices, as a foaming wave of the sea “foaming out their [our] own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”

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

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

That “blackness of darkness for ever” is the condition that all men are in until the brightness of His coming destroys that man of sin who sits on the throne of our heart proclaiming that He is God and that no one can make war with the beast, which is the lie that the devil wants us to hold onto.

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

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:

Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Psa 93:4  The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.

The previous verses we read that talk about “The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves” all represent that first proud beast we are in our former conversation, the old man, who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Eph 4:22) and “The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of [those] many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea”.

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

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

Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

These following  verses in Rev 13:1-5 describe the beast that God tells us is mankind (Ecc 3:18, Rev 13:18) and reveal the same beast spoken of in Dan 7:2-8 only with different details and connected to the same gentile spirit that is in all men in the court where we are not being measured or judged (Rev 11:2). The court represents the law for the lawless or the gentile mind which is a law or island unto itself (1Ti 1:9, Rom 2:14).

My purpose in showing these verses below is to point out the correlation with the man of sin who rises out of the sea, with a mouth as a lion (that is man’s heart subject to Satan who devours us by controlling our thoughts Mat 16:23), and how this beast is connected to the man of sin or gentile spirit which is controlled in each of us at first by our father the devil for those symbolic forty and two months. This symbolic language used in Revelation and Daniel which talks about all these beasts that thrash about in the sea of humanity are the floods that God has allowed to lift up so that He can show His power in all the earth and all the sea because “The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.”

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Dan 7:2  Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
Dan 7:3  And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
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 7:6  After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Dan 7:7  After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Dan 7:8  I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Psa 93:5  Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.

God’s testimony is “very sure” because it is Christ who is working out all the details by His power within us both to will and to do of our Father’s good pleasure and purpose, which is so vast, and yet it is a plan that we know is working all things together “for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”.

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

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:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

His pleasure or joy is to seek out a people who will worship him in spirit and in truth in the temple of God which we are.

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

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

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

One day the world will understand the correlation with the miraculous judgment of God, which is His goodness working in the hearts of very few today (Mal 3:18, Rom 2:4, Mat 24:14) as opposed to the judgment of the law for the lawless which only cleans the outside of the cup (Mat 23:26) and does not change the inner man the way Christ is doing within His bride today as He “make[s] known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Rev 11:1, Col 1:27, Rev 19:7).

God’s children have that privilege to have their names written in heaven today (Luk 10:20) so that Christ in them who is our new name, can give us the power to tear down the powers and principalities that we must overcome through Christ in order to go unto maturity in Him.

We rejoice tremendously to know that “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins”, because we know that through that searching of our hearts and trying of our reins all things will become new as God goes about creating a new heart within us, who are “thy testimonies” and “thy house” that  “is becoming holiness” by and through the author and finisher of our faith whom we confidently and stedfastly look to (Eze 36:26, Php 1:6, Heb 12:2).

Psa 93:5 Your testimonies are very faithful; Holiness befits Your House, For length of days, O Yahweh.” (CLV)

Psa 93:5   Thy testimonies, are strongly confirmed, To thy house, befitting is holiness, O Yahweh—to length of days. (Rotherham)

Psa 93:5 Your testimonies are very sure; holiness becomes Your house to length of days, O Jehovah.  (LITV)

Psa 93:5   Thy testimonies have been very stedfast, To Thy house comely is holiness, O Jehovah, for length of days! (YLT)

Psa 93:5  ^G3588 Your testimonies^{G3142 G1473} are trustworthy —^G4104 exceedingly.^G4970 [3 to ^G3588 4your house^{G3624 G1473 2}is becoming^{G4241 1}Sanctification],^G37.1 O lord,^G2962 for^G1519 the duration^G3117.1 of days.^G2250 (ABP+)

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Awesome Hands - part 122 Discussion

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Awesome Hands – Part 122

”The land belongs to the Lord”

September 29, 2017

Previously, we looked at the commandments of the Lord pertaining to “not offering sacrifices from a strangers hand”. Obviously, the sacrifices were holy to the Lord and filled different purposes for service and redemption unto the Lord.

For this study, we are going to examine the next iteration of the word 'hand' in Hebrew and how it relates to the year of the jubilee.

The Year of Jubilee

The year of the jubilee contains a lot of details about the plan of God for Israel and also for those who are Jews inwardly. For this study, we are only going to cover a few details about the jubilee as it pertains to the Awesome Hands series.

Lev 25:8  “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years.
Lev 25:9  Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.
Lev 25:10  And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.

The jubilee would indeed have been a wonderful thing for the people of Israel if they had followed it as the Lord had prescribed. I am confident that the nation, as a whole, did do so from time to time.

However, just like with all things related to humanity, the carnal mind has a way of stepping in and justifying NOT doing exactly what it is told.

The first set of verses for consideration today containing the word hand are found in Leviticus 25.

Lev 25:12  For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.
Lev 25:13  “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.
Lev 25:14  And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.
Lev 25:15  You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops.
Lev 25:16  If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you.

An easier way to understand this is:

(ERV)  If you want to buy your neighbor's land, count the number of years since the last Jubilee, and use that number to decide the right price. You are only buying the rights for harvesting crops until the next Jubilee.

What does this mean for us today, since we are not under the old testament but are rather under a spiritual law?

The first clue we are given is that the jubilee equals freedom. Freedom is given to those that had debt and to those who may themselves be “servants” to their brothers in Israel. Also, if land had been sold, it was returned to the rightful owners.

Applying these concepts today, we must first understand what is spiritually applicable for the jubilee.

So, what does the jubilee represent spiritually?

H3104
yôbêl    yôbêl
yo-bale', yo-bale'
Apparently from H2986; the blast of a horn (from its continuous sound); specifically the signal of the silver trumpets; hence the instrument itself and the festival thus introduced: - jubile, ram’s horn, trumpet.
Total KJV occurrences: 27

H3104
yôbêl
BDB Definition:
1) ram, ram’s horn, trumpet, cornet
1a) ram (only in combination)
1a1) ram’s horn, trumpet
1b) jubilee year (marked by the blowing of cornets) (metonymy)
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: apparently from H2986

That gives us some clues, but is there more to glean from this Hebrew word?

H2986
yâbal
yaw-bal'
A primitive root; properly to flow; causatively to bring (especially with pomp): - bring (forth), carry, lead (forth).
Total KJV occurrences: 18

H2986
yâbal
BDB Definition:
1) to bring, lead, carry, conduct, bear along
1a) (Hiphil)
1a1) to bear along, bring
1a2) to carry away, lead away
1a3) to lead, conduct
1b) (Hophal)
1b1) to be borne along
1b2) to be borne (to the grave)
1b3) to be brought, be led, be conducted
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root

It seems like we are getting closer, but what else can we learn? A few of the verses for the root of jubilee are found in:

Job 21:28  For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
Job 21:29  Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
Job 21:30  That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth^H2986 to the day of wrath.
Job 21:31  Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
Job 21:32  Yet shall he be brought^H2986 to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
Job 21:33  The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
Job 21:34  How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

These verses are, of course, Job complaining that the wicked prosper, and where’s the justice for that? His friends go on to tell him how horrible he is or that he must have done something horrible to incur the Lord’s wrath, and Job continually defends himself here.

Another example is found in Psalms 45:

Psa 45:13  The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
Psa 45:14  She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.

Isaiah 53 is a familiar passage saying:

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.
Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought^H2986 as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

These few verses show us that the main association to be made here is that the root word for jubilee represents something that is being brought forth or carried forth to the subject matter contained in the verses. However, another point to be made is that a lot of these verses, within the 19 times it is used in the old testament, do not bold well for the subject of those verses.

The spiritual application to take away from this is that the jubilee is BAD for the FLESH, but great for the new man.

You might be thinking that the jubilee is something great for the Israelites, and it was. They received their freedom in some cases, got their land back, were forgiven debt, and so forth.  However, what do you think their flesh did with these wonderful blessings? They did the same thing you and I do when we are forgiven our debts. We have a clean plate on which to pile up more debt!

That isn’t to say that some people learned their lessons, but the point of the jubilee is that every 50 years freedom would have to be given back, debt would be forgiven and land would be returned. These things couldn’t/wouldn’t be granted unless they were happening, so that is what I mean by more things being piled back on the clean plate.

Here is an example, and it is the next mentioning of the word 'hand' which is found in this same chapter.

Lev 25:23  “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
Lev 25:24  And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.
Lev 25:25  “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold.
Lev 25:26  If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,
Lev 25:27  let him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property.
Lev 25:28  But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

One of the most profound points of how the concept of the jubilee applies to us today spiritually is found in Leviticus 25:23 and 24. The “land” will “not be sold in perpetuity” because we are STRANGERS and SOJOURNERS with the Lord. Very interesting!

1Ch 29:13  Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
1Ch 29:14  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
1Ch 29:15  For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
1Ch 29:16  O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.
1Ch 29:17  I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Heb 11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
1Pe 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
1Pe 2:12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Spiritually speaking, we are sold to the land into which we were born. Physically speaking, this is NO DIFFERENT. When we are born we have no choice in the matter. We can’t choose our parents, our color, our gender, our genetics, the country in which we are born, etc. Why then do we think there is a choice to OBEY the MASTER of our flesh and the law that is placed in it?

That is why we should rejoice! The “land” will not be sold forever, and there is a jubilee coming to all of mankind.

The main thrust of these verses is to give us a way to know that redemption, hope and reconciliation are coming. The Lord has instituted methods for the children of Israel to be returned to what He alone has appointed to be their share of His nation and His kingdom.

Another point to be made is that when our brother who has become poor comes to us, we help them out of their situation by purchasing their land. Another way of thinking about this is that the land is not to be sold to foreigners. It is to always remain with Israel.

As a result, we too, can partake of the fruit of that land until our brother becomes able to redeem the land. What we really are talking about is benefitting from the fruit that the land can produce.

Deu 1:25  And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.

Mic 7:13  Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

What we do with our “land” and “the fruit of our doings” is directly connected. When we know what the land represents, and can connect the land to selling or gaining land, then we can know how it is that “the fruit of our doings” are either going to be positive or negative. Our desire is for the old man to decrease and the land he owns, versus the new man increasing and taking back the land the Lord has preordained WILL BE HIS and for HIS CHILDREN.

Deu 1:8  Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.

Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

Deu 12:1  These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.
Deu 12:2  Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
Deu 12:3  And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
Deu 12:4  Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.
Deu 12:5  But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

The jubilee is truly a time for us to take joy. It is the time that the Lord will redeem His people and place them in the land which they truly have been promised. For the sons of God now, we are pilgrims who await the jubilee trumpets.

Psa 85:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Psa 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
Psa 85:3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
Psa 85:4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
Psa 85:5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
Psa 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
Psa 85:7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.
Psa 85:8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Psa 85:9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
Psa 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psa 85:11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Psa 85:12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
Psa 85:13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

Psalms 85 is about the process of redemption and forgiveness which come about by grace through faith (Eph 2:8).

The first indicator of this process is with the word Korah which has the symbolic numbers ‘three’ and ‘two’ that add up to five; and ‘five’ refers to grace and faith, which is the means by which all the world, all of Israel who represents the world in some instances in God’s word, will be saved. It is a witness of our flesh (of which Edom is a type) that will be destroyed by the combination of the names: ‘three Israelites'(the process), and ‘two Edomites’ which equals five (5), which number symbolizes grace and faith.

Korah^H7141: From H7139; ice; Korach, the name of two Edomites and three Israelites: – Korah.

The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the firstborn son of Isaac and the twin brother of Jacob. The struggle that they had in the womb is important for us to remember because it is the life-long struggle to which we are called as we die daily and spiritually war against our flesh and the powers and principalities in our heavens through Christ within the church, which is his body and the spiritual womb that we are in today who are promised to go unto perfection on the symbolic third day or first resurrection (Jerusalem above, the mother of us all) (Gen 25:23, Gen 25:34, Heb 12:16-17, Col 1:24, Gal 4:26, Luk 13:32).

The world’s population and borders have always been shaped by God through the decisions that He causes in the lives of humanity and through all the events of this life over which He is sovereign. The life of Esau, who sold his birthright unto Jacob and as such was denied the blessing that his father then bestowed upon Jacob who obtained that birthright through misleading means initiated by his mother Rebekah, is a profound snapshot of one such moment in history that would dramatically affect all nations after it (Gen 27:5-29, Gen 27:30-42). God gives us these types and shadows to remind us that when a nation is born in a day, the same effect will be had on all the nations of the world in time (Isa 66:8, Gen 22:17).

These two brothers (Jacob and Esau) truly demonstrate the severity and the goodness of God for all the world to see (Rom 11:22, Rom 9:13) and their story was written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages is come (1Co 10:11). God let this blessing come upon Jacob in such an underhanded way to remind us that we’re not better in any way shape or form than Esau – that Esau simply represents our flesh over which God either gives us victory or does not. This again demonstrates the severity and goodness of God, and as we will see tonight, God willing, it is God’s goodness which is connected to the repentance (Rom 2:4) which leads us unto redemption and was the reason why the meal prepared for Jacob’s father was very typical of the passover (Gen 27:9).

This theme of the redemption of all of humanity (1Co 15:22), and the means by which it is achieved, becomes louder and clearer for us as we look at the sum of God’s word and understand that these ancient stories are speaking about the very present reality which we are experiencing together as the body of Christ (1Co 10:11, 1Pe 1:12).

In last week’s study, Gale showed me the verses that connect the two swallows of Matthew 10:28 to the Leviticus offerings of two birds in Leviticus 14:48-53, and the Lord used that revelation to remind me that these two goats offered to Jacob’s father in Genesis 27:9, who is a type of God in this case, is symbolic of the two goats being offered in Leviticus 16:8.

Again, we must see ourselves as both goats, the one that is sacrificed on the altar through Christ and the one that must be in the world, but not of it, where we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ through the evil experience He allows us to go through for the benefit of all the world (Joh 17:15, Ecc 1:13). We live by every word of God (Mat 4:4), and so we are the goat that is sacrificed (Gal 2:20), and we are the goat that is set free into the wilderness as Christ was, to be tempted in all diverse manner (Mat 4:1, Heb 4:15). We are called to bear each others’ burdens in this wilderness, and Christ’s cross becomes our reason for rejoicing once we mature and start to see that this cross, this affliction, is what fills up what is behind of His sacrifice and makes it possible for us to be sealed “with that Spirit of promise” (Mat 16:24, Luk 13:32).

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:

Rebekah, the mother of Jacob, represents the called-out elect church who has to be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove against an enemy who wants to take our crown (Esau wants the crown some other way – Joh 10:1, Mat 10:16, Rev 3:11), so she tells Jacob to hold fast to the commandments that she is going to give him, as our Lord does of us (Gen 27:8, Rev 3:11, Joh 14:15), to set the stage for her son Jacob so that he can receive this birthright.

On the other hand, Hagar, who despised Sarah (Gen 16:4), is very much alone as a type of the spiritual Gentile church we are at first, as we try to defend our birthright in the flesh (Gen 21:14-18, Joh 8:33). She is cast out and rejected and goes into the wilderness, which is where we all must first go before we can become the type of the church of which Sarah is a type (Gal 4:30). Again, Jacob is assisted by his mother Rebekah through and through, and she is a type and shadow, as is Sarah, of how the church, the mother of us all, along with each joint that makes up our spiritual mother (Jerusalem above – Gal 4:26), supplies our needs so that we can endure until the end and receive this birthright (Eph 3:10, Eph 4:16).

The introduction of the study this week starts with these stories with which we are all very familiar, and I noticed the great significance of God inspiring 1 Corinthians 10:12, which tells us to “take heed” right after He tells us that all these stories we just looked at were written for our admonition. So by heeding the stories, we can, through Christ, do all and stand (Eph 6:13).

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.

We are sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, as it is called, and have been blessed to come to know that it will be through a lifetime of coming out of Babylon and having the seals, trumpets, and vials poured out upon our first man Adam (Rev 6:1-17, Rev 8:1-13, Rev 16:1-21) that God is sealing us with the promise of becoming a new creation through a process that we, as God’s kind of first-fruits, first witness to all the world (Jas 1:18, Rev 11:3).

Psa 14:7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Psa 53:6 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Jer 30:18 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.

Jer 33:26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.

Eze 39:25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;

It is through this blessed life of much tribulation (Act 14:22) that God destroys the first foundation of the elect and demonstrates to the world the incredible spiritual and physical energies (a peculiar people, zealous of good works – Tit 2:14) that this Spirit of promise will accomplish through the church as Christ works in us both to will and to do just that (Rev 19:7, Mat 20:23, Php 2:13).

Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

The following verses in Ephesians are very connected to this week’s study, and it is where we find tonight’s study title: “in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise“.

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.
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,

Psa 85:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LORD, thou hast been favourable^H7521 unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

It is God’s land to do what he wills, and He wills to be favourable unto His people, His land, that will be worked with first as the weak of the world, to demonstrate all glory and honour our His to do what He determined from the foundation of the world to do (Eph 1:11).

This brings us back to our types and shadows of the old covenant, and in Romans 9 we see that God’s plan must unfold in a decent and orderly way as per the mind of Christ, to reveal His true nature and the purpose He has purposed for all of humanity (1Co 14:40, Rom 9:1-21).

That is why it is favourable^H7521: because it is God’s hand that is accomplishing it all to a perfect and glorious salvational end for all of His children (1Ti 4:10).

H7521 râtsâh raw-tsaw’
A primitive root; to be pleased with; specifically to satisfy a debt: – (be) accept (-able), accomplish, set affection, approve, consent with, delight (self), enjoy, (be, have a) favour (-able), like, observe, pardon, (be, have, take) please (-ure), reconcile self.

He brings us back from the “captivity of Jacob” which symbolizes the bondage of sin that only Christ can set us free from (Rev 13:4, Joh 8:36).

Psa 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

God speaks of things that are not as though they were (Rom 4:17) and such is the case in this verse. It takes the sum of God’s word, line upon line, percept upon precept, to see and be reminded that we are being saved, and that the blood of Christ, is was and will be, applied unto our lives that are being saved.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Again we see the connection in (1Co 6:11) that it is “by the Spirit of our God” that “you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” of (Eph 1:13).

There is a great pause (“Selah”) here before the verses that follow, and this reminds us to reflect on where we have come from and how it is that God uses His “wrath” and “the fierceness of thine anger” to set us free from the bondage of sin.

Psa 85:3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
Psa 85:4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

Ultimately, God will take “away all thy wrath” and turn away “the fierceness of thine anger” which will lead to our salvation in this age.

God is blessing His people to be able to endure until the end (Mat 24:13) through the fiery trials of this life that we will eventually no longer think of as being strange (1Pe 4:12), but rather, we will understand that they are needful and necessary for “thine anger toward us to cease”; and the means to the end that God is accomplishing with those few jewels of His that he is perfecting ‘today’ for the rest of the world.

Zec 9:16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land (Psa 85:1).
Zec 9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Isa 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Isa 13:13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger (Heb 12:26-27, Eph 6:13).

Psa 85:5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
Psa 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?

These rhetorical questions do away with the false doctrine of eternal torment: “will thou be angry with us for ever”, for this age or any lasting period of time, and remind us that there is perfect and just weight, and perfect and just measure with our Father who will draw out his anger to all generations, but that anger will cease, and He will “revive us again”, and His people will “rejoice in thee” again.

Pro 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

Deu 25:15 But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land (Psa 85:1) which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Isa 55:12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Psa 126:5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Psa 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Psa 85:7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

No greater act of mercy can be shown on this earth today than the one that God is showing to His people by not only showing mercy by giving us eyes to see and ears to hear the true gospel, but by also letting us be part of that mercyful process of redemption or reconciliation that an unbelieving world will come to believe in through the church.

Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

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!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

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,

These two literal translations below of this verse 7 show what is hidden in the ‘mood’ of the KJV, proving again the process toward that end result that God promises to all. It is by what we can bear to be shown (“show us O Lord your mercy/kindness/lovingkindness”) that we understand what is being granted or given to us:

Psa 85:7 Show us, O Jehovah, thy kindness, And Thy salvation Thou dost give to us. [YLT]

Psa 85:7 Show us, O Yahweh, thy lovingkindness, And, thy salvation, wilt thou grant us. [Rotherham]

Psa 85:7 Shew^{H7200 [HGH8685]} us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant^{H5414 [HGH8799} = Mood -Imperfect H8811 which expresses an action, process or condition which is incomplete… These relate not so much as to one occasion, as to a continued condition..The kind of progression or imperfection and unfinished condition of the action may consist in its frequent repetition…] us thy salvation. [KJV]

Psa 85:8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

There is no greater folly than the sin of conceit, to think that we have gotten where we’ve gotten by our own accord, or to look down on a sinful world in bondage and not identify with every sin of this world, and so we are warned in this verse to “not turn again to folly”.

This section of Romans (Rom 11:16-20) demonstrates our proclivity to forget how we have become who we are and where we have come from, and so we pray that we can continue to be a people humbled under His mighty hand who “will hear what God the LORD will speak” for as it goes on to say “he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints”.

Rom 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

Psa 85:9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

When we do see that God’s salvation is near, and we have a proper fear of him, then His glory will dwell in our land/earth (Rom 11:20).

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Psa 85:9 Moreover^G4133 [² is near^{G1451 3}the ones^{G3588 4}fearing^{G5399 5}him^{G1473 G3588 1}his deliverance];^{G4992 G1473} so that^G3588 [²may encamp^{G2681 1}his glory]^G1391 in^{G1722 G3588} our land.^{G1093 G1473}

Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth^G1093 [“land” in ABP+], as it is in heaven.

Conversely, if we lose our respect for the commandments of God and don’t see each other as Jesus Christ and become “highminded” thinking that we can strike out on our own and don’t have need of the many membered body of Christ that we are, then that too will be of the Lord and His glory will no longer dwell in that land.

2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Psa 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psa 85:11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Psa 85:12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.

Mercy and truth meet together in Romans 11, and it is only by God’s righteousness through Christ that we can truly have peace with our King of peace ruling and reigning in our hearts.

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:

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Truth in the inward parts is what God is forming within the body of Christ, and that truth is the good and perfect gift that comes from above.

Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Psa 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psa 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Pro 20:30 The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
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.

The LORD will give good, and He alone can give the increase as we are caused to decrease.

Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
Joh 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all [Jas 1:17-18].

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

Psa 85:13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

These last few verses show us where true righteousness comes from, and that it is what God uses to “set us in the way of his steps”; and it will be through a lifetime of believing in, growing into, and enduring this relationship until the end, that we will finally experience the fullness of this verse in Ephesians which we are living out today “in the way of his steps”.

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.