The Spiritual Significance of the Color Green – Part 2

[Study Aired November 30, 2025]

Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

A brief summary

Green is the first color mentioned in scripture which is a combination of two of the three primary colors of the material realm. It is the combining of the primary color blue with the primary color yellow. We have shown that the spiritual significance of blue is its association in scripture with the things of the heavens. All that binds together Christ’s tabernacle is the blue loops at the ends of the curtains that make up the tabernacle. The robes of the priests were blue, and all of the holy things were wrapped in blue.

Yellow, on the other hand, in its negative application is associated with the deadly disease of leprosy. It is described with two different words, but both of those words are associated with the deadly disease of leprosy, and leprosy was prevented by keeping oneself clean of pollutions.

So the combining of the two primary colors of blue and yellow produce green. Green, therefore is a scriptural word which will always be a reference to the combining of these two colors with the goal of turning that which is born in a yellow and dying condition into an immortal, blue spiritual body.

Last week we saw how God in our immaturity gives us only “every green herb” for food until we are truly baptized “with the washing of water by the word.”

Gen 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

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

Only after we have begun to be crucified with Christ, have endured the waters of baptism, the Lord begins to raise us up in newness of spirit. Only then are we given “everything that moveth” as strong meat to nourish us:

This is the menu given Noah after the baptism of the flood:

Gen 9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

So “every green herb” is just another way of saying that we are not yet able to accept the “strong meat” of the word of God. The green herbs may be a little better than the milk of God’s Word, but it is no more the stage of maturity than is the ‘milk.’ Both are, in God’s Word, for those who “are weak in the faith.”

Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, [but] not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

So we saw that it is only the strong in the faith, who are able to receive “strong meat.”

Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat

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

Introduction – Green as Both Positive and Negative in Scripture

Today we will look at how the color ‘green’ is used in the New Testament, and we will again see that green, in the physical realm, is the result of the very beginning of the process of the work of the spirit, signified by the color blue, upon the dying flesh, which is signified by the color yellow. We will see that as that process is being completed, physical life, signified  in nature by green plant life, is born within us. Plant life is ‘life’, but it is not life which has been given “the breath of life”, such as living, breathing creatures possess. It is so very instructive to know that the coming together of the three primary colors  of the material realm, blue, red, and yellow, the realm in which paints are mixed to produce all the many hues and colors we all see and enjoy, when those three colors are combined produce the color black, signifying darkness and death.

God has ordained that all in Adam must “pass from death unto life.”

Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

The mind of Christ does not consider mere physical life to be life at all. Just as blue, red and yellow, the three primary colors of the material realm, produce the color black, signifying darkness and death, the mind of Christ considers this physical, material realm to be the realm of  death in need of “passing from death unto life” (Joh 5:24). Christ blatantly refers to the ‘life’ of this dying red clay vessel as death itself:

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Luk 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

Revelation 8 speaks of the blowing of the first trumpet in the beginning of our judgment:

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of [green] trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

“All green grass was burned up” is in the ongoing aorist tense. The Lord wants us to know that our judgment is a process which takes time to accomplish. We are not judged in ten seconds, rather we are being “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and we are in the process of “dying daily” (1Co 15:31).

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

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

We will also see that as “all the green grass is [being] burned up” there is another later crop of many “green things in the trees, and in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt” which had not even come up yet when “all the green grass was burned up” at the beginning of our deliverance from Egypt.

Exo 10:15 For they [the locusts which came after the hail had already destroyed “every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.”] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

This is all in different forms of the Qal stem in Hebrew. ‘Hiphil’ “expresses the causative action of Qal.  Niphal is the passive of Qal.  The Qal stem in Hebrew is the equivalent of the Aorist tense in Greek. Both can and often do denote an ongoing process. The vast majority of verbs in both languages are in this ongoing tense. The process of photosynthesis in nature which produces all the green we see in our ecosystem, signifies this ongoing process of passing from the black, dark death realm of the material realm into the life giving white light of the intellectual spiritual realm.

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

The verbs ‘loved’ and ‘gave’ are both in the ongoing aorist tense.

Understanding this Is, Was and Will Be principle in God’s Word helps to clear up many apparent contradictions in the book of Revelation and throughout God’s Word. For example…

Rev 8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

…Is followed in the very next chapter with this apparently contradictory statement:

Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them [the locusts] that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

Why only a third part of the trees in chapter eight? Why all the grass? The answer is that all of the signs and symbols used by the holy spirit have both a positive and a negative application. All the increments mentioned in the book of Revelation, “the fourth part” (Rev 6:8), “the third part” (Rev 8:12), reveal the fact that salvation is a lifelong process. It demonstrates the truth that we must all “keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 1:3 Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. [In every generation]

Why would God want to “burn up” that with which He is working? Here is why:

1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

Because the Word of God has both a positive and a negative application, “the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.”

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

Why must the “glory of man… wither and … fall away” (1Pe 1:24)? Here is why:

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

“Flesh and blood” are sinful, signifying the negative application of the non-oxygen breathing vegetative spiritual state of our old man.

Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Sinful flesh, even the flesh of Christ, “cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” The only reason the flesh of Christ did not rot into the earth is that He was resurrected from the dead and was “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

It was after Christ had been tried and condemned, after being beaten within an inch of His life, that he made this statement:

Luk 23:26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
Luk 23:27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
Luk 23:28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
Luk 23:29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
Luk 23:30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.
Luk 23:31 For if they do these things [Crucify Christ] in a green tree [when the Lord was with them and giving them His Word], what shall be done in the dry [When the Lord sends a famine of His Word, (Amos 8:11)] ?

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: [“In the dry” famine]

What is the “green tree” and what is “the dry?” Christ had “come to His own [with His “gospel of the kingdom of God”, signified by “the green tree”], and His own received Him not:”

Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

Nevertheless, multitudes were following Christ, listening to His parables, being healed of their diseases and eating of His loaves and fishes.

Mar 6:34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
Mar 6:35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time [is] far passed:
Mar 6:36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
Mar 6:37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
Mar 6:38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
Mar 6:39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
Mar 6:40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
Mar 6:41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave [them] to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
Mar 6:42 And they did all eat, and were filled.

Why did Christ tell His disciples “Give you them to eat?” Does this mean that He now expects us to perform this miracle just as He performed miracles of healing? Absolutely not! What this is telling us is that God wants His disciples to give His followers spiritual nourishment. “Give ye them to eat… their daily bread.”

Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.

Christ gives us His Word day by day, as He determines is best for fulfilling His purpose in us. This is what Christ was doing for the people. He did it daily. This was “the green tree.”

“He began to teach… much people… He commanded them to make all sit by companies upon the green grass… they did eat and were filled.” But they were still “in a green tree,” sitting on “green grass”, signifying the living vegetative state of a “carnal… babe in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4).

It was this very group of people who would soon be without His teachings. They would then be “in the dry” and calling for Christ’s crucifixion only days later:

Luk 23:31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

Here is the answer to that question:

Lam 4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Lam 4:11 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in [“the sinners in”] Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

What is “the destruction of the daughter of my people?” Do we think this signifies a physical invasion and the physical loss of national sovereignty? No, that is not what “the destruction of my people” means. Here is what really is destroying God’s own people to this day:

Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

These are not just words which “will be.” This is the state of God’s own people today. This is what is within each of us when we are “in the dry.” While we are blinded to our blindness, we are unaware that “every green herb” is being eaten by the locusts in our lives; we are literally starving to death and devouring our own flesh as we continue in our blindness and our rebellion against the Word of God:

Deu 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

Deu 28:22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

Jer 2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

Amo 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

Hag 2:17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.

“The green”, on the other hand, is that time in our lives where God’s spirit is still dealing with us, still in the process of turning the yellow we are into the blue we are all to become:

Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

The key to understanding the book of Revelation is Revelation 1:3, 22:6-7:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings [are] faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed [is] he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

What do locusts do? Locusts eat up “all the green things which the hail had not destroyed.” Green signifies a process which has an end. It is a process which, like the flesh in which it is working, must one day come to its consummation.

Exo 10:14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous [were they]; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
Exo 10:15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

Had not every herb and all the fruit trees already been destroyed by the hail?

Exo 9:23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
Exo 9:24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
Exo 9:25 And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.

The destruction of Egypt within us is a process which gets more intense as it progresses. There are many who fear God, and yet they are still “in Egypt:”

Exo 9:18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
Exo 9:19 Send therefore now, [and] gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; [for upon] every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.
Exo 9:20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:
Exo 9:21 And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.

Why did Israel live through all of this? Was it all simply an historical event? Is that why all of this was written? Was it written so we could know what happened? Here is what Paul tells us:

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 [for this reason] let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

“Happened to them and are written for our admonition?” Why? So we can be prepared for a plague of hail to be followed by a plague of locusts? No, that this is an incremental spiritual process is revealed in this very same chapter:

Exo 9:27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD [is] righteous, and I and my people [are] wicked.
Exo 9:28 Intreat the LORD (for [it is] enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.
Exo 9:29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth [is] the LORD’S.
Exo 9:30 But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God.
Exo 9:31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley [was] in the ear, and the flax [was] bolled.
Exo 9:32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they [were] not grown up.
Exo 9:33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
Exo 9:34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
Exo 9:35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.

“The hail smote every green herb of the field, and brake every green tree of the field” and yet there was still much work to be done with the flesh because “the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.” Here is what this Old Testament type is telling us:

Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

“Let both grow together until the harvest” is not a once in a lifetime statement. The flax and the barley are smitten first, but the wheat and the rye have yet to be dealt with. Neither the barley and flax nor the wheat and the rye are smitten before they “are grown up”, or as Christ put it, “until the harvest:”

Exo 9:31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.
Exo 9:32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they [were] not grown up.

Christ is working with us at every step of our spiritual development.

Our sins are not judged until they have matured. Otherwise the needed lessons will not have been learned. So letting the tares grow with the wheat “until the harvest” is an inward statement of how “judgment begins at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17).

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

Here is another type and shadow of this same spiritual principle:

Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

The “giants in the land” who Israel confronted after their time in the wilderness, are nothing but a later, more mature type and shadow of the “green things” of Egypt. The natural man sees the fact that Israel was not affected by the last seven plagues and turns a type of God’s dealing with carnal babes still in Egypt into a type of His dealings with grown sons. It amounts to spiritual suicide which takes away the elect’s part in the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son [Greek: uihos – grown son] whom he receiveth.

Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

The point the spirit is making is that our judgment continues within us just as it did with Christ, until we draw our last breath in these ‘green… things’ which are still mere vessels of corruptible clay and dust.

We will break here for now. In our next study we will see how this color, and its significance as the working of the spirit in this dying vessel of clay, is applied in the book of Revelation.

Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

[The next study in this series is here.]

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

(Aired on July 3, 2025)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

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

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

Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BDB Definition:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Posted December 21, 2022]

Sir,

In one of your articles about the millennium, you share of aborted babies​ ​going into the lake of fire. Obviously, that follows them being resurrected.

My question is, “I​s there a point and time during the nine​-month stay in mommy that separates those being resurrected and those not?” I know that when one dies his spirit goes back to God. I’m looking at the spiritual significance of the numbers 3 and 4 in considering. Friends of my son are having problems during the 2^nd month (two times).

If you could help in scriptural understanding, it would be greatly appreciated.

D​____​

Hi D​____​,

Thank you for your question concerning when life begins in the womb of the mother.

We are told not to even think above what is written, so I am always careful to give scriptural answers to all questions I answer:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other. (ACV)

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other. ​(KJV)​

Here is part of “that which is written” concerning life in the womb:

Exo 21:22  If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

“He shall pay as the judges determine”. This verse alone demonstrates that God values life in the womb, but there are other verses which make clear the Lord knows us “while [we are yet] in [our] mother’s womb having done neither good nor evil”:

Jer 1:4  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Are we to believe, as my first year Bible teacher told all of us who were in his class, that “God knew a few people before they were even born”?

My teacher referenced Jacob and Esau, Pharaoh, and Jeremiah in the verses above. I really liked and respected that teacher, and I still do, but I can no longer agree with him that God knows a few people before they are born, but there is no way He could possibly know every single human who has ever been conceived. I ask you, “​Why not?​”​ After all He is God. He is not a limited man. God’s ‘hard drive’ is so powerful that He knows every star and every grain of sand on every​ beach on earth. That is not even a challenge to Him. Here is how He expresses the limitlessness of His sovereign knowledge:

Luk 12:6  Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
Luk 12:7  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Why would we believe these words of Christ and not think that He will not forget every one of the millions of aborted and miscarried babies. The Lord has given all men to Christ and He will not lose a single one of them:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  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.

All in Adam will be raised up from the dead. Every aborted and miscarried child experienced death. Whether they were conscious of it or not, they died and “the last enemy to be destroyed is death”. The destruction of death requires two elements. First the Lord will have to destroy the source of death which is “corruptible flesh”. Here is how that will be done:

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.

After the Lord destroys “the nations in the four quarters of the earth” then all He has to do is resurrect all men who have ever lived and give them an incorruptible spiritual body which is not subject to death. That is no big deal for God, and neither is the resurrection of millions of miscarried and aborted children. Your sons friends will one day meet their miscarried children and they will all endure the fiery words of God and come to know Christ and His Father which IS eternal life:

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

Does God care more for sparrows and the hairs of our head than for an unborn fetus? I think not! Your son’s friends will one day meet and become acquainted with their miscarried children, and they will all learn the ways of the Lord.

I hope this all helps you to see how precious each life is to God. The question of ‘When does life begin?’ is answered within the question itself. Life begins at the beginning. A miscarriage or an abortion at any point is the ending of a life which is “of more value than many sparrows”.

Concerning the meaning of the numbers two, three, and four, two is witness, three is the process of being judged, and four is the whole of the matter under discussion. Each have both a positive and a negative application simply because they are all part of t​he Word of God,​ and ​t​he Word o​f God is Christ​,​ and Christ is the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night which led Israel for forty years in the wilderness:

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.

We are told that Christ is both Lord and Christ:

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

This is what “the Lord” is to all who know Him:

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:
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

Christ is the Word and the Word of God is a light to the path of those the Lord loves and is working with in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). But that same light is “a cloud and darkness to [those]” with whom the Lord is not revealing “the mysteries of the kingdom of God”:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven [those given “light by by night to the camp of Israel”], but to them it is not given [“darkness to these”].

Being aware of this characteristic of The Word of God will help your spiritual vision immensely. Here are the links to the spiritual meaning of those three numbers:

Spiritual Significance of the Number Two
Numbers in Scripture – Three: the Process of Spiritual Completion Through Judgment
Spiritual Significance of the Number Four

I hope this is of some help to you, and I pray it gives comfort and consolation to your son’s friends.

YbiChrist,
Mike

H​i ​M​ike,

​W​hat is the fate of those who don​’​t have the spirit of christ? ​I’m pretty sure ​I​ don​’​t have the spirit of christ…​I​ was talking to a guy on facebook video chat, he kinda got under my skin. ​I​ hung up on him. a few days later, he told me jesus is finished with me…cause ​I​ hung up on him, same as hanging up on jesus. ​O​n our text chat, he said he WAS jesus. so, that​’​s where ​I​’m at. the bible says if a man doesn​’​t have the spirit of christ, he is none of his..​.​ first the firstfruits….then those who are christ’s at his coming (assumedly those who have the spirit of christ), and then the end…end of what? what end? so, ​I need to know, what​’​s gonna happen to me.

​S____​

Hi S​____​,

Christ knows those who are His:

2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

We can all judge a tree by its fruits, and indeed we ought to do so or we will be led astray by false prophets:

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Judging a false prophet by his fruits does not give us the right to say the Lord will never open that man’s eyes to see the error of his ways and repent. So it is best to let the Lord decide who He will strike down and call into His service as He did the blasphemous Saul of Tarsus who became the apostle Paul.

You ask:

“The bible says if a man doesn​’​t have the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.. First the firstfruits….then those who are ​Christ​’​s at his coming (assumedly those who have the spirit of christ), and then the end…end of what? what end? so, ​I​ need to know, what​’​s gonna happen to me.” (End Quote)

As I just said, I have no power to tell you what will become of you in this life, but I can tell you that all in Adam will be saved, and I can tell you what is meant by “then cometh the end”:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

We are told that “death and hell are cast into the lake of fire”:

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The lake of fire is called “a great white throne… judgment”, and this is what happens “when we are judged”:

1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

The ‘condemnation with the world’ is to be condemned to the great white throne judgment which follows the thousand​-​year reign. So that ‘condemnation​’​ is just to a later, less desireable ‘judgment’. ​T​he white throne judgment is still a judgment of the Lord​,​ and when the Lord judges this is what happens:

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.

So while I cannot tell you what will become of you in this age, I can tell you that “the end” means the great white throne judgment which follows the thousand-year reign of Christ, and I can assure you that all who are in that judgment will “learn righteousness” and be given life.

YbiC, Mike

[Study Aired October 14, 2021]

1Ki 6:13  And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.
1Ki 6:14  So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
1Ki 6:15  And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the cieling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.
1Ki 6:16  And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place.
1Ki 6:17  And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.
1Ki 6:18  And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.
1Ki 6:19  And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
1Ki 6:20  And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
1Ki 6:21  So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.
1Ki 6:22  And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

God’s faithfulness was witnessed to Israel and pronounced with this verse: “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel“.

The spiritual fulfillment of this statement for God’s elect today, who are the Israel of God (Gal 6:16), is realized through the faith of Christ which is a gift of God (Eph 2:8). It is the faithfulness of Christ within us doing the work of God both to will and to do (Php 2:12-13) that Christ’s body, which is the church (Col 1:24), comes to learn of “at that day”, as we become persuaded of His faithfulness to finish what He has started in us and that nothing can prevail against His purpose for God’s elect (Joh 14:20-22, Mat 16:18, Rom 8:38-39).

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.

1Ki 6:13  And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

Notice in John 14:21 and our first verse of 1Kings 6:13 where the same pattern arises telling us that keeping God’s commandments is the reason why God and Christ abide with us and make their abode with us, or manifest themselves to us.

Israel’s relationship with God and their obedience or lack of obedience was for our sakes and was never meant to bring about conversion, only to be a type (1Pe 1:12) of the relationship God’s elect would now have with our Father and Christ where we worship them in spirit and in truth (Joh 17:3, Joh 4:23).

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 [possible with Christ].

1Ki 6:12  Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father [not possible without Christ]:

1Ki 6:13  And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

As we look further into these verses in the book of Kings which speak about the various parts of the temple representing the body of Christ (1Co 3:16), we will see, Lord willing, how this temple was all fitly framed, with the exact measurements and materials needed, along with the exact design, all to give us hope that we are a many-membered body of Christ. As such we are able to grow in our care and love for one another because of the workmanship we have become in His hands being fitted to do the works He has set before us “prepared unto every good work” (2Ti 2:21). We are knit together in this relationship through our Father and Christ so that “whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (1Co 12:12-26).

This relationship we share is being accomplished “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” that makes it possible for us to help each other come into the same unity of faith (Eph 4:13-16, 1Jn 5:4). That gift gives us the ability to overcome the world by bearing each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ (Eph 2:8-10, Gal 6:2-10).

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

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

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Gal 6:4  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another [Joh 21:22].
Gal 6:5  For every man shall bear his own burden [“every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love”].

With the mind of Christ which we have been given, a direct correlation can be drawn from all of the workmanship that is found in Solomon’s temple of what we are becoming through Christ as we’re given to remember that “he that is spiritual judgeth all things” (1Co 2:15-16). Judging all things means comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1Co 2:13-15) by using the physical creation, and especially the temple of God that tells us so much about Our Father and Christ and each of us who make up that temple.

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

In this study we will look further into those correlations and connections throughout the physical temple that reveals who we are in Christ (1Co 3:16), bearing in mind that it is only possible for us to know what we know because of the mercy God has extended to us by giving us eyes to see and ears to hear (Mat 13:11-13) that make it possible for us to know our first verse tonight which says “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel” and is a reminder to God’s elect that He is faithful who has begun this good work in you and will accomplish it (Php 1:10-11, Php 1:6, Rom 8:9).

Php 1:10  That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Php 1:11  Being filled with the fruits of righteousness,  which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform^G2005 [G5692 = future tense] it until the day of Jesus Christ.

perform: ep-ee-tel-eh’-o – Strong’s: From G1909 and G5055; to fulfill further (or completely) that is execute; by implication to terminate undergo: – accomplish do finish (make) (perfect) perform (X -ance).

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

1Ki 6:13  And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.
1Ki 6:14  So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

God is dwelling among us right now in this earnest relationship we have in these marred vessels of clay (Eph 1:14) in which He tells us He is going to finish a work, through our hope of glory Jesus Christ who is working within each joint that is supplying that love of God, as is shown in these verses in 1Corinthians 12:12-14. These verses explain what it means to be one body with the same spirit).

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many.

That is what we can take from this encouraging opening verse that uses the life of physical Israel to remind us what God is going to accomplish in the lives of “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16) whom He will not forsake: “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel” (Col 1:27, Heb 12:2-3, Heb 13:5, 2Ti 2:13).

Christ will remain our faithful high priest accomplishing the saving work of grace through faith (Eph 2:8) that will drag us to that altar to which we are bound in this life as the body of Christ (Psa 118:27). He cannot deny Himself in this process of bringing the elect to see that this is a true statement, and therefore, through Christ, we are told we are more than conquerors despite all the tribulations and fiery trials we are promised in this life. In fact it is those fiery trials we go through that glorify God and give witness to the fact that we are more than conquerors through Him (Joh 6:44, Rom 8:34-36).

God does dwell among His people Israel, but not all Israel believed then, and not all of those who claim to be the Israel of God believe now (Heb 4:1-2, Rev 2:9-11). So, in type and shadow, the lives of the ancient Israelites are an admonition for us to be vigilant and sober (1Co 10:2-10) as their actions, or lack of actions, in their walk in the wilderness are written for our sakes upon whom the end of the ages have come (Rom 11:25-26, 1Co 10:11-12).

Heb 4:1  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

[Where there is a lack of faith there is a lack of fear, but the faith of Christ working in the elect, along with the chastening and scourging by which we are received of God who demonstrates His love through that correction, keeps us and preserves us unto salvation (1Jn 5:4, 1Co 15:57, Heb 12:6, 1Pe 4:12, Rom 2:4)]

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know  the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ [Heb 6:1-6].
1Co 10:5  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness [Mat 22:14]
1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8  Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand [Heb 4:1].
1Co 10:9  Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents [Heb 4:1].
1Co 10:10  Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; (forgetting that God has blinded Israel’s eyes and opened our eyes and ears to His righteousness and (Php 3:9, Luk 12:19, Isa 22:13), that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

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 [“lest ye should be wise in your own conceits“].

If we are granted to truly seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness, the spirit will bear witness that we are sons and daughters of this “household of faith” (Rom 8:14-16, Gal 6:10) who are labouring to enter into His rest by dying today (1Co 15:31), and not tomorrow in the lake of fire where humanity will die to their iniquities then (Mat 6:33-34, Psa 127:1, Heb 10:25).

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching [“and will not forsake my people Israel“].

1Ki 6:15  and he builds the walls of the house within with beams of cedar, from the floor of the house unto the walls of the ceiling; he has overlaid with wood the inside, and covers the floor of the house with ribs of fir. (CLV)

The boards^H6763 of cedar that covered the stone wall  and ceiling were like a plank overlay for this area of the temple.

Boards H6763 tsêlâ‛  tsal‛âh  tsay-law’, tsal-aw’
From H6760; a rib (as curved), literally (of the body) or figuratively (of a door, that is, leaf); hence a side, literally (of a person) or figuratively (of an object or the sky, that is, quarter); architecturally a timber (especially floor or ceiling) or plank (single or collectively, that is, a flooring): – beem, board, chamber, corner, leaf, plank, rib, side (chamber).

The “planks of fir^H1265” that covered the floor along with cedar that we find in this verse was also used in the ships of Tyrus that represent our time in the churches of Babylon in (Eze 27:3-5).

The mast of the first ‘mother ship’ we are called out of as His people (2Co 6:17) has us being driven about by every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14) with a mast that is made of cedar. The cedar that covers the ceiling of the temple of God is the positive use of that material representing our new purified minds of Christ that are raised in heavenly places (Eph 2:6) and led by the spirit of God (Rom 8:14).

The floor of the ship like the floor of the temple is made of fir^H1265 telling us that in our original state of walking with the Lord we were not the salt of the earth but rather those who defiled the word of God and said, “Lord, Lord” but did not do the things which He said, being driven about by our own lusts and worshipping Him in vain (Luk 6:46,  Mar 7:7). Christ’s words were not accompanied with God’s spirit, so those words could not be salted within us and became “good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” trodden under foot in the massive ships of Tyrus which represent the false religions of Babylon out of which God blessed us to exit (Mat 5:13).

Eze 27:3  And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
Eze 27:4  Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
Eze 27:5  They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Our nobility in this life comes from knowing God and Jesus Christ, our noble King (1Co 1:26, Joh 17:3) through whom we become part of that nobility through the holy spirit that makes it possible for us to be measured or judged (1Pe 4:17, Rev 11:1, 1Pe 2:9). When we judge ourselves we will not need to be judged in the second resurrection (1Co 11:31). Our walk or our conversation or our way of life is symbolized by those fir planks that covered the floor of the temple which are fitly framed and measured as a result of Christ working in our heavens, a desire both to will and to do of our Father’s good pleasure which is to sanctify and purify us so that our walk or way of life is pleasing to Him (Php 2:12-13). We only have to look at the entries of the word “noble” to see what our Father in heaven considers to be noble. What we will find is that it is those who fight a good fight of faith, and labour in the word today who God is using to lay the floor of the temple of God with fir planks^H1265. God’s elect must be measured and fitted which is what is happening when we are given to judge ourselves now. That judgment creates the humble and contrite spirit we need to be placed in the body where it pleases God, where we will operate in the measure of faith given to us (1Co 11:31, 1Co 12:18, Rom 12:3).

Fir H1265
– Original: בu1468 רu1493 שu1473
– Transliteration: Barowsh
– Phonetic: ber-osh’
– Definition:
1. cypress, fir, juniper, pine
a. a noble tree (lit.)
b. of stateliness (fig.)
c. material for temple
– Origin: of uncertain derivation
– TWOT entry: 289a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
– Strong’s: Of uncertain derivation; a cypress tree (perhaps); hence a lance or a musical instrument (as made of that wood): – fir (tree).
Total KJV Occurrences: 20
•fir, 7
2Sa_6:5; 1Ki_5:8; 1Ki_5:10; 1Ki_6:15; 1Ki_6:34; 1Ki_9:11; 2Ch_3:5
• tree, 5
Isa_41:19; Isa_55:13; Isa_60:13; Hos_14:8; Zec_11:2
•trees, 8
2Ki_19:23; 2Ch_2:8; Psa_104:17; Isa_14:8; Isa_37:24; Eze_27:5; Eze_31:8; Nah_2:3

Noble G2104
– Original: εu965 ̓u947 εu769 νu951 ςpar 
– Transliteration: Eugenes
– Phonetic: yoog-en’-ace
– Definition:
1. well born, of a noble family
2. noble minded
– Origin: from G2095 and G1096
– TDNT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Adjective
– Strong’s: From G2095 and G1096; well born that is (literally) high in rank or (figuratively) generous: – more noble nobleman.

Total KJV Occurrences: 2
•noble, 2
Act_17:11; 1Co_1:26

Act 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

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:

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

[Rightly dividing those old false doctrines represented by the fir planks that made up the ships of Tyrus which represent our taking God’s word and wrapping it around the idol of our hearts instead of becoming teachable children, which is what brings about the nobility of Christ’s life in us that must increase as we decrease (Mat 18:3)]

1Ki 6:16  And he builds the twenty cubits on the sides of the house with ribs of cedar, from the floor unto the walls; and he builds for it within, for the oracle, for the holy of holies. (CLV)

Now we are speaking about “the sides of the house” where cedar is used “from the floor unto [or to] the walls” (CLV, YLT, LITV) or “from the floor as far as the cross-beams” (Rotherham). KJV is a poor translation using the word ‘both’ in this instance (“both the floor^{H4480 H7172} of the house, and the walls of the ceiling” of verse 15 and “both^H4480 the floor^H7172 and the walls with boards of cedar” of verse 16), contradicting verse 15 where we are specifically told that planks of fir are used for the floor.

Cedar was also used to build the mast, which is the highest part of the ship (Eze 27:5), representing our high and lofty thoughts while we are in Babylon that must be humbled by “the sides of the house“.

Eze 27:5  They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.

The idea of being humbled in the presence of God is a theme that runs throughout God’s word, and the fir flooring reminds us that God resists the proud but gives grace unto the lowly (Jas 4:6-7). When we come to the oracle, or the holy of holies, we learn of the true nature of our Father and Christ which is grounded in humility which is represented by the fir flooring (Joh 10:30-31, Isa 53:7, 1Pe 5:6, 1Jn 4:17). We are truly one with our Father and Christ when we are humbled in this life (Luk 18:19, Joh 10:30). God gives us an experience of evil in Babylon that humbles us, symbolized by the fir planks on the floor of the ships of Tyrus. The planks of fir in the oracle on the floor are the positive use of fir that represents our new conversation or walk in the Lord that has been humbled by the fiery trials of this life which represent the floors that are covered with gold. While ‘walking the planks’ in Babylon’s mother ship we really are dead men burying dead men! Pun intended!

Joh 10:30  I and my Father are one.
Joh 10:31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

Isa 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

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

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

1Ki 6:17  And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.

“And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long” describes the part of God’s temple that is before the most holy place and it is “forty cubits long“, twice as long as the most holy place which has a length and breadth of twenty cubits (1Ki 6:20).

The word “before” is Strong’s number H3942 defined as ‘before, to the face of‘ in this verse and helps us unravel what these dimensions symbolize for us. We are to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” while we are in these earthen vessels (Heb 4:16). That grace or favour is found through Jesus Christ who is “the faithful witness” and our Great high priest (Rev 1:5, Heb 4:14-15). The dimensions of the holiest place symbolize that point, twenty cubits length and breadth, pointing to the faithful witness (2) that Christ is, was and will be (2Ch 3:8, Heb 13:8).

2Ch 3:8  And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Our relationship in the flesh, and Christ’s relationship with our Father while he was in the flesh, is also a witness (Rev 11:3) of an earnest relationship (Eph 1:14) which needs to go through much tribulation, symbolized by the forty cubits, in order to go onto perfection (Act 4:26-28, Luk 13:32). The day will come when God’s elect will no longer see through a glass darkly, which is the earnest relationship we are experiencing now with the treasure of Christ’s life hidden in these earthen vessels (2Co 4:7, Col 1:27). “For now we see through a glass, darkly [40 cubits]; but then face to face [20 cubits]: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1Co 13:12).

1Ki 6:18  And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.

“No stone seen” is another way of saying we are hidden in Christ the rock upon which the temple is built (1Ki 6:7, Col 3:3, Mat 16:18).

1Ki 6:7  And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And “the cedar of the house within was carved with knops^H6497 and open flowers^H6731” tells us that within the hearts and minds of Christ’s bride a new heart is being fashioned by God (Eze 36:26) who is skillfully directing our lives according to the counsel of his will (Eph 1:11), which Will has been predetermined from the foundation of the world to bring forth fruit as God’s kind of first fruits (Jas 1:18) symbolized by these “knops^H6497” that are accompanied with “open flowers^H6731” which is a symbol of the righteousness of Christ, that has been supernaturally given to us, as was also foreshadowed with Aaron’s rod that budded making it possible by the power of God’s holy spirit typified by Aaron’s rod to see “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Num 17:8, Rom 8:28).

knops H6497 peh’-kah

From an unused root meaning to burst; only used as an architectural term of an ornament similar to H6498, a semi-globe: – knop.
open flowers H6731  tseets, tseets

From H6692; properly glistening, that is, a burnished plate; also a flower (as bright colored); a wing (as gleaming in the air): – blossom, flower, plate, wing.

Num 17:8  And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed^H6692  blossoms^H6731, and yielded almonds.

1Ki 6:19  And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. 
1Ki 6:20  And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.

The “oracle he prepared in the house within” represents that holiest place of all where Christ went so that we could be redeemed by our high priest (Joh 16:7, Joh 20:17). Redemption is a process that happens when we are judged of God and so “the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof” to symbolize that process of judgment (3) that is being accomplished through Christ (20) who is the true witness accomplishing these works within us (Rev 3:14, Php 2:12-13).

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Joh 20:17  Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

As we just read, “to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD“, the holiest place has to be prepared and Christ being our high priest is prepared now to strengthen, settle and establish us in this life (1Pe 5:10). He is preparing His bride unto every good work now having been raised as our high priest for that purpose (2Ti 2:20-21, Joh 14:12, Heb 4:14-16). The “ark of the covenant of the LORD” houses these items spoken of in (Heb 9:4) that represent His power within us, the spiritual word of God that has been purified through the trials of this life that bring “the ark of the covenant” that represents our life in Christ, to be set there in “the oracle“. Said another way “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock [“the oracle“] I will build my church [“the ark of the covenant“]; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”(Mat 16:18).

The oracle that represents the holiest place where Christ  abides was overlaid “with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar” reminding us that Christ was also delivered from His sinful flesh and identifies with His creation (Heb 4:15) as symbolized by the altar made of cedar that was ‘overlaid with pure gold’. Cedar represents the flesh of any and all men, however Cedar that has been covered “with pure gold” represents a life that has suffered and been made ready to rule (Php 2:8-9).

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

1Ki 6:21  So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.
1Ki 6:22  And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

The outward adorning of the temple is being positively reflected through stages of growth symbolized by the stone layer then a wood layer and then the gold layer that was overlaid on the wood. The gold is beaten and thinned out so much that it can be worked with in a manner where it can cover or be overlaid with this precious gold (Act 14:22). The symbolism is hard to miss seeing we know gold in the positive use of the word represents the righteousness of Christ with which God’s elect are granted to be arrayed (Rev 19:8). The process that purifies the beaten gold so it can be overlaid, or arrayed, if you will, on Christ’s bride is found in these verses (Rev 3:18-19, 2Ti 2:21).

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 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent [Heb 12:6].

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

Gold that has been purified and used to overlay the various parts of the temple of God represents Christ’s righteousness which is given to us as a gift from God. The bride, as we mentioned earlier, is adorned, and because we know the temple represents the body of Christ which represents the church which is his body and the bride of Christ (Col 1:24), we can therefore say that the adorning of the bride is the adorning of the temple. The temple is adorned with purified gold which represents the righteousness of Christ, as does the linen with which the bride of Christ is covered is the righteousness of the saints (Php 3:9, Rom 5:17, Rev 19:8).

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Rom 5:17  For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

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.

With these points in mind, we can now look at what was specifically covered with gold overlay. What we learn is that “Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold; and he overlaid it with gold” and “the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house” and “the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold“.

These were the three major areas that were covered with gold telling us that there is an ongoing process of judgment in this life that is needed in order to bring every thought into subjection to God (2Co 10:5). When we bring our thoughts “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”, those words are purified and become fitly spoken words that are as apples of gold in pictures of silver that cover the temple that we are (Pro 25:11).

This last point regarding the “partition by the chains of gold before the oracle” ties into the title taken from the first verse that reads, “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel“. God promises us that the son of God will set us free (Joh 8:36) and that no one can take us out of His hand (Joh 10:28), and that we are bound to the altar (Psa 118:27). All these powerful promises of overcoming the bonds of sin are why there is “a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold“.

The judgment that comes upon God’s people is what is represented by the first time the word “chain” is used in the bible in Ezekiel 7:23-24.

Eze 7:23  Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
Eze 7:24  Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

All the violence in the land represents our own sinful nature that cannot be overcome except the Lord delivers us (Psa 127:1). God can always and does delivers us from the bondage of sin through Christ (1Jn 2:1, Gal 2:20), and Satan can always sift us like wheat (Luk 22:31). However, if we are God’s elect in this age, Christ has prayed for us and inspired us to pray for each other that our faith fail not, and that is how we “Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence” and overcome together as the body of Christ (Ecc 4:12, 1Co 12:18-20).

God declares the end from the beginning and speaks of things that are not as though they were (Isa 46:10, Eph 1:11, Rom 4:17), telling us that regarding His kingdom, which is within God’s elect now (Luk 17:20-21), “There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev 21:27). This “partition by the chains of gold before the oracle” represents that separation from those who know God in the spirit and those who have not been blessed to cross that threshold yet and partake of the altar, which is the cross (Heb 13:10).

God’s elect are blessed to read, hear, and keep the sayings of the prophecy (Rev 1:3), which our first man Adam could not do because of the bondage of sin and our inability to consider ourselves to be dead to sin and alive in Christ (Rom 6:11). When we are blessed to have eyes that see and ears that hear, then we can become that son who hears the instruction of our Father, and forsakes not the law of our mother, knowing “they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck” (Pro 1:8-9). Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but Christ, our hope of glory within, is writing our books to the end that we will be used to judge the rest of the books of humanity who have not yet come to know God and Jesus Christ through judgment (Joh 17:3, 1Jn 4:17, 1Pe 4:17, Oba 1:21, Rev 20:12)

Pro 1:8  My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Pro 1:9  For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

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

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.

Brother,

I’m at that part in the Job series, Ch. 3, where you talk about men wanting to die, as Job cursed his day and wished he had died in his mother’s womb. That was a pretty heavy thing to say, but I believed that in my groaning just recently I have said or thought something similar; something like, “Why was I born?” What’s the purpose of such a mediocre life? Indeed, I find myself lost and ‘not wanting to live’ anymore and hating everything in this world and not caring about people in the street and cars,and cities buildings, and all the works of this life, and nothing has meaning to me anymore. I’m wondering if this is my flesh struggling to survive in these trials because deep down it’s grasping at the things of this life which I am losing and have lost.

F____

Hi F____,

Thank you for taking to time to ask, “What’s the purpose of such a mediocre life?”

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

If we are shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin, then we cannot possibly bring forth anything other than the fruit of sin simply because that is what God Himself has placed within our members as the master Potter: 

“It is no more I… but sin that dwells in m… there is no good thing… in my flesh”. Is Paul actually saying that we have no free will? Yes, that is exactly what He is saying! In fact two chapter later, in this same book of Romans, he comes right out and says: 

“On whom He wills [He] has mercy, and [on] whom He wills He hardens”. Where is this supposed and fabled ‘free will’ in any of those words?

And just look at what James tells us next:

 

Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. 

“You rejoice in your [fabled free will]. all such rejoicing is evil”.

“He commands, and raises the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof… [our] soul is melted because of trouble. [We] reel to and fro… and are [brought to our] wits’ end”. This experience is common to all men. But then what happens after God brings us to “[our] wits’ end”?

1Ki 1:10-12  “The LORD liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress”

(Safety within the counsel of God’s kingdom)

[Study Aired May 27, 2021]

1Ki 1:10  But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not. 
1Ki 1:11  Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not? 
1Ki 1:12  Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon.

This section of 1st Kings shows God’s elect, through the type and shadow experiences within King David’s kingdom, how God ministers or redeems our souls out of all distress through the multitude of counsellors whom He causes to bring safely to His kingdom within us (Luk 17:21), which counsel preserves us unto the saving of our souls. We are those vessels God uses for each other so that the gates of hell won’t prevail against us (Mat 16:18), and each joint has a part in that preservation process to which we have been called in this age as His elect remnant (Mat 9:17, Gen 32:30, Heb 10:39, 2Co 3:18, 1Co 13:12, Eph 4:16, Rom 11:5).

Mat 9:17  Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are  preserved. [Psa 119:160 (CLV), Joh 6:68, 1Co 12:12, Rom 12:5]

Gen 32:30  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel^H6439: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same

2Co 3:18 Now we all, with uncovered face, mirroring the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into the same (CLV)

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

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

Rom 11:5  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

H6439 penû’êl  penı̂y’êl  pen-oo-ale’, pen-ee-ale’
From H6437 and H410; face of God; Penuel or Peniel, a place East of Jordan; also (as Penuel) the name of two Israelites: – Peniel, Penuel.

Interesting to note: the pineal gland and the pituitary gland are found in the middle of the brain and are very protected as such. The similarity of the word peniel and penial are not what is in view here but rather the fact that God’s elect are protected and at the center of God’s plan of the salvation of all that comes about as a result of the spiritual growth growth He grants through the church, just as in the physical realm the pineal and pituitary glands afford.

Gen 32:30  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel^H6439: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

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

The brain is comprised of two distinct hemispheres connected by fibers. The pineal gland is located in the middle of the brain, in between the two hemispheres. The pineal gland contains mainly pinealocytes, which are cells that produce the hormone melatonin; and glial cells, which are a particular type of brain cells that support neurons (the cells that transmit information to other cells). [Pineal gland calcification and Defective Sense of Direction]

Of people with impaired pineal glands found that damage to this gland is associated with declines in the sense of direction. This suggests that the pineal gland may play a largely unrecognized role in spatial navigation. [Some verses to consider: Jer 18:4, Pro 14:12, Rom 8:9, Rom 8:14-15]

The pituitary gland is a gland that protrudes from a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is linked to a wide range of hormonal functions, including growth and thyroid function.

(Taken from this medical journal: Medical News Today/articles/319882)

Spiritually, God’s elect are protected as we are being dragged or directed to Christ and face Him (Joh 6:44, Luk 22:31) face to face as we go from glory to glory so we can grow through an increase that comes from God Who abides in us through Christ (1Co 3:6, Joh 14:20, Col 1:27).

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; [pineal gland typical of this] but God gave the increase  [pituitary typical of this].

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

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: [Rom 8:9]

The pituitary gland is therefore situated where it is to teach us this lesson in the physical realm, which reveals the spiritual reality (Rom 1:20) of where growth originates and how it is we are blessed when we are facing our Judge, who is in the north, and we then mature and grow in this life (Eph 2:6, Rev 4:6, 1Pe 4:17, Eze 26:7, Jer 50:9, Isa 26:9).

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

Rev 4:6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne [in the midst like the pituitary gland], and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. [God’s elect]

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?

Eze 26:7  For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon [come out of her my people through judgment], a king of kings, from the north, [Psa 17:13] with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.

Jer 50:9  For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against  Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain [Isa 55:10-11].

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.

The safety that is found within the counsel of God’s kingdom is being formed within the body as we grow and mature as the body of Christ through that judgment which causes us to die daily and no longer be conformed to this world but rather transformed by the renewing of our minds (1Pe 4:17, 1Jn 4:17, Rom 12:1-2).

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.

That is the life-long endeavor to which we have been called, and God promises to provide all the love and support we need in order to endure unto the end as His kind of first fruits which He has purposed to mature first in this age (Jas 1:18, 1Pe 2:9).

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.

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

1Ki 1:10  But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.

When we look at the names of those with whom Adonijah would not confer, we get a sense of how he was truly being exalted in his own flesh and did not see the need to go to “Nathan^H5416 the prophet” whose name means “giver” and that word is taken from H5414 meaning “to give, to put, to set” also, “bestow, grant, permit, ascribe, employ, devote, consecrate, dedicate.” These definitions tell us who Nathan was as a man of God who was not going to allow this self-exalted would-be king Adonijah – who represents our carnal flesh – to exalt himself (Mat 23:12, Pro 11:11, Pro 28:7).

Mat 23:12  And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Pro 11:11  By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Pro 28:7  Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.

H5416nâthân naw-thawn’
From H5414; given; Nathan, the name of five Israelites: – Nathan.

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

Adonijah also did not call on “Benaiah^H1141, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not“.

Benaiah was one of David’s mighty warriors which in itself is a symbol of someone who is faith-filled and wanting to fight a good fight of faith, having no guile within him. Benaiah^H1141 means “Jehovah has built”. God has built this typical dedicated house (Psa 127:1) as opposed to Adonijah^H138 [“my lord is Jehovah”] whose name claims the name of Jehovah but denies Him in works (Isa 4:1).

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

“The mighty men, and Solomon his brother” were the two other groups that “he called not“. As mentioned, Benaiah was one of those mighty men, along with another undetermined number of mighty men who are a shadow of the safety that we find in the multitude of wise counsellors, who are only seeking the will of God (Pro 11:14, Pro 24:6).

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

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

Not seeking counsel from “Solomon^H8010 his brother” is the last straw in this breakdown and insurrection that was taking place in Israel, and rejecting the counsel of the king is a type of rejecting the counsel of Christ, Who is our wisdom (Job 12:13, 1Ki 4:29-30).

Job 12:13  With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.

1Ki 4:29  And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
1Ki 4:30  And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

1Ki 1:11  Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not?

“Wherefore“, because of what Nathan knew Adonijah was doing, he “spake unto Bathsheba^H1339 the mother of Solomon“. Bathsheba, whose name means “daughter of an oath“, representing the body of Christ and the positive example of the oath or promise that there would be a remnant that would descend from line of David with Bathsheba and not from “Adonijah, the son of Haggith^H2294“.

Haggith – H2294 Feminine of H2291; festive; Chaggith, a wife of David: – Haggith.

H2291 From H2287; festive; Chaggi, an Israelite; also (patronymically) a Chaggite, or descendant of the same: – Haggi, Haggites.

H2287  BDB Definition: to hold a feast, hold a festival, make pilgrimage, keep a pilgrim-feast, celebrate, dance 1Sa 30:16, stagger  Psa 107:27

Bathseba – H1339 bath-shebabath-sheh’-bah
From H1323 and H7651 (in the sense of H7650); daughter of an oath; BathSheba, the mother of Solomon: – Bath-sheba.

The oath that Bathsheba’s name means is a type and shadow of the promise that there would be an elect seed which would become the true kings and priests to rule under Christ, typified by Solomon and the generations that would follow him (Rom 11:15, Mat 1:1, Mat 1:6, Mat 1:16-17).

Rom 11:5  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Mat 1:1  The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Mat 1:6  And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;^H223 [Jehovah (Yahweh) is my light (flame)]

Mat 1:16  And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Mat 1:17  So all the generations from Abraham to David  are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

(Notice the number 3 that represents the process of spiritual completion, 1+4=5 meaning grace through faith and 6+3 for judgment, explaining what happens within those spiritual generations of Christ’s body 3X14=42).

It is very instructive to note that “Nathan spake unto Bathsheba the mother of Solomon” with the intention of preserving that line towards kingship, which typifies the small remnant that is preserved through the ages to the glory of God (Mat 1:17), and it was Nathan the prophet who was also used by God to go to King David to once again preserve  in type and shadow the spiritual lineage of King David – by going to his brother and telling him his transgression between him and David alone (Mat 18:15, Gen 39:9, Mat 25:45, 2Sa 12:7, Psa 51:1). These actions are connected to that parable of the generations of Christ who are preserved through judgment.

2Sa 12:7  And Nathan said to David, Thou art  the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

Psa 51:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

We read that “Adonijah the son of Haggith^H2294 doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not?“. This statement is a parable for our learning to remind us that this spirit called “Haggith^H2294, whose name means festive”, lies at the doors of our hearts and wants to ‘eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die’ (1Co 15:31-32). Then, “David our lord knoweth it not?” is a shadow of our negligence when we neglect so great a salvation by not stirring up God’s spirit within us through prayer (Heb 2:3), prayer that would keep us as alert watchmen at the door of God’s kingdom within us (Mat 26:41). We just can’t make war with the beast unless God sends Nathan the prophet who typifies God’s holy spirit that comes to us and leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4, Joh 8:36). Like king David, “old and  stricken in years” (of verse 1 from last week), we are not as the old man aware of all the goings on about us both within and outside our kingdom. However, by grace through faith (Eph 2:8, 1Jn 5:4), we can be more than conquerors through Christ (Rom 8:37) as we awaken to the reality of our calling (Mat 25:6-7, Rom 13:11) and realize the continual need to fight a good fight of faith (1Ti 6:12).

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
1Co 15:32  If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? [right now in earnest (Eph 2:6)] let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

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;

Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Mat 25:6  And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Mat 25:7  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps [Rom 13:11].

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses [Rev 3:11, Psa 146:3].

1Ki 1:12  Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon.

This last verse of our study is at the heart of the matter regarding what it means to find safety within the counsel of God’s kingdom, “that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon“. Christ is our life (Rom 14:8,  Gal 2:20) and the knowledge and wisdom He gives us through His body is to be greatly treasured and is not to be compared to anything we could desire on this earth seeing it is the words of eternal life (Pro 1:5, Php 4:6-7, Pro 1:23-31, Php 3:8)

Pro 1:5  A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Pro 1:23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you [Joh 10:27, Luk 12:32, 1Jn 4:4-6, Mat 13:9, Mat 13:16].
Pro 1:24  Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
Pro 1:25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: [Rom 2:4]
Pro 1:26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Pro 1:27  When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Pro 1:28  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me [Mat 25:11-13]:
Pro 1:29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD [Luk 12:5]:
Pro 1:30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof [Pro 6:23].
Pro 1:31  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices [Php 3:9].

If we say, “We see” our sins will remain (Joh 9:41), but if we acknowledge that we don’t know as we should know (1Co 8:2) then we can thank God for taking the guile out of our hearts that would have us thinking we don’t continually need to have our every plan in this life committed unto our loving Father (1Pe 4:19, Php 4:6-7) Who only wants to direct us by still waters where we can grow and flourish in Christ (Psa 23:1-3).

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

1Co 8:2  And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psa 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Psa 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

If God will grant us such a humble and contrite heart as a gift from him (Isa 66:2), then we will be able to heed the admonition being given to us that says “Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon” (Joh 6:68).

We will be restored by those living waters He gives to those whom He is judging in this age and leading to repentance in order to make the bride ready (Rev 19:7, Php 2:12-13) at the expense of all who are not given the power to continue and endure until the end (typified by Adonijah and expressed in type and shadow in this parable in Matthew 25:8-10).

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the order David establishes through the wise counsel which was given him through those whom the Lord brought to him and that he received with ears to hear (1Jn 4:6).

Gospels In Harmony – By What Authority?

Mat 21:23-27, Mar 11:27-33, Luk 20:1-8

[Study Aired May 11, 2021]

Mar 11:27a And they come again to Jerusalem: Luk 20:1a And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, Mar 11:27b and as he was walking in the temple,  Luk 20:1b the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,

Mar 11:28 And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?

Mar 11:29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Mar 11:30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.

Mar 11:31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?

Luk 20:6 But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: Mar 11:32b they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.

Mar 11:33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

In today’s study we will answer the questions by what authority Christ does what he does, who else has receives this authority, and once they receive this authority what will they do with it?

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia
ex-oo-see’-ah

From G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, that is, (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence: – authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

G1832
ἔξεστι
exesti
ex’-es-tee

Third person singular present indicative of a compound of G1537 and G1510; so also ἐξόν exon; neuter present participle of the same (with or without some form of G1510 expressed); impersonally it is right (through the figurative idea of being out in public): – be lawful, let, X may (-est).

G1537
ἐκ, ἐξ
ek  ex
ek, ex

A primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence motion or action proceeds), from, out (of place, time or cause; literally or figuratively; direct or remote): – after, among, X are, at betwixt (-yond), by (the means of), exceedingly, (+ abundantly above), for (-th), from (among, forth, up), + grudgingly, + heartily, X heavenly, X hereby, + very highly, in, . . . ly, (because, by reason) of, off (from), on, out among (from, of), over, since, X thenceforth, through, X unto, X vehemently, with (-out). Often used in composition, with the same general import; often of completion.

G1510
εἰμί
eimi
i-mee’

First person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist (used only when emphatic): – am, have been, X it is I, was. See also G1488, G1498, G1511, G1527, G2258, G2071, G2070, G2075, G2076, G2771, G2468, G5600. 

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia

Total KJV Occurrences: 103

power, 61

Mat_9:6, Mat_9:8, Mat_10:1, Mat_28:18, Mar_2:10, Mar_3:15, Mar_6:7, Luk_4:6, Luk_4:32, Luk_5:24, Luk_10:19, Luk_12:5, Luk_22:53, Joh_1:12, Joh_10:18 (2), Joh_17:2, Joh_19:10-11 (3), Act_1:7, Act_5:4, Act_8:19, Act_26:18, Rom_9:21, Rom_13:1-3 (3), 1Co_7:37, 1Co_9:4-6 (3), 1Co_9:12 (2), 1Co_9:18, 1Co_11:10, 2Co_13:10, Eph_1:21, Eph_2:2, Col_1:13, Col_2:10, 2Th_3:9, Rev_2:25-26 (2), Rev_6:8, Rev_9:3 (2), Rev_9:10, Rev_9:19, Rev_11:6 (2), Rev_12:10, Rev_13:4-5 (2), Rev_13:7, Rev_13:12, Rev_14:18, Rev_16:9, Rev_17:12, Rev_18:1, Rev_20:6

authority, 28

Mat_7:29, Mat_8:9, Mat_21:23-24 (3), Mat_21:27, Mar_1:22, Mar_11:27-29 (4), Mar_13:33-34 (2), Luk_4:36, Luk_7:8, Luk_9:1, Luk_19:17, Luk_20:2 (2), Luk_20:8, Luk_20:20, Joh_5:27, Act_9:14, Act_26:10, Act_26:12, 1Co_15:24, 2Co_10:8, Rev_13:2

powers, 8

Luk_12:11, Rom_13:1 (2), Eph_3:10, Eph_6:12, Col_1:16, Col_2:15, Tit_3:1

right, 2

Heb_13:10, Rev_22:14

authorities, 1

1Pe_3:22

jurisdiction, 1

Luk_23:7

liberty, 1

1Co_8:9

strength, 1

Rev_17:13

Mat 7:28-29 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Mat 9:3-8 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

Mat 11:25-30 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Mat 10:1-4 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

Mar 13:32-37 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

Mat 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Luk 10:17-20 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 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. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Rev 2:25-27 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Christ’s power and authority is given to him by His Father. Christ then gives His apostles and disciples this power. Do you count yourselves as an apostle or disciple of Christ? If you do, what will you do with the power and authority give to you by Christ?

Rev 11:3-6 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

There is someone else given this power, and it will be used against the saints. The dragon has been given this power and gives it unto the beast.

Rev 13:3-18 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. 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? 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. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Rev 17:11-14 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 

The power given to the saints of Christ will overcome the power given to the dragon and his angels, and this is how it is accomplished.

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

In closing, here is what accomplished by the power given to the saints and what they will do.

Heb 13:1-19 Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 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. Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

1Pe 3:8-22 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

Christ’s body has been called to labor to enter into that rest which is represented by our sabbath, Jesus Christ, typified in this story found in Matthew 12.

Mat 12:1  At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.

[This parable demonstrates the mercy of God who has given us a hunger and thirst for His righteousness that is satisfied through God’s word represented by the corn (Mat 5:6)]

Mat 12:2  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3  But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4  How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6  But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Initially we all labor under the law which is likened unto a schoolmaster who brings us to understand that the mature son is the one God matures so we are no longer servants but friends of our Lord, and with that friendship comes a liberty that takes us from being under the law.

Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Joh 15:17  These things I command you, that ye love one another.

2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This section of Hebrews we are looking at tonight is very much focused on how we go from being a law unto ourselves in our gentile flesh (Rom 2:14) to, God willing, becoming mature sons who are acknowledging the commandments of God reflected in all that we say and do; in other words, in all we eat and drink spiritually.

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

1Co 14:37  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
1Co 14:38  But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
1Co 14:39  Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
1Co 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

[Spiritually eating and drinking of our communion in Christ “decently and in order”]

We are found with our own righteousness when we are under tutors and governors, (Luk 18:10-12) and by the grace and faith God gives to very few in this life we can go on to labor for the strong meat which does not perish through Jesus Christ.

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

This section of Hebrews is all about that contrast of labor, one spiritual labor accomplished through Christ which brings forth spiritual fruit, as opposed to the labors we accomplished in our flesh that are not in accord with God’s will. The temptation Christ was telling His disciples to pray they not enter was to go back into the world of doing what they want in their flesh as opposed to obeying God as Christ did right to the last breath of His life. Christ was provided the strength through an angel to be strengthened, typifying what we do for each other as we bear each other’s burdens through this life. This is the promise that gives us hope and purpose as we “press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.

Luk 22:40  And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
Luk 22:41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

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

In this section of Hebrews there are two types of labor and rest being contrasted with each other; one that is accomplished in a heart of unbelief, contrasted with the work God is doing in the body of Christ which makes it possible for us to believe and go on to perfection on the third day.

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

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

We are God’s ordained workmanship (Eph 2:10), and our sovereign Father is working in us through Christ both to will and to do of His good pleasure, which is to give us the kingdom in earnest (Eph 1:14) in this age as a kind of first fruits (Php 2:13, Gal 2:20, Luk 12:32). The unbelief of Israel spoken of in Hebrews 4:11 typifies the unconverted masses who are not, at this present time, able to eat at the table of the Lord (Heb 13:10) where God’s people labor with hearts and minds believing Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, to whom we are being dragged (Php 1:6, Joh 6:44) so we can maintain good works that are profitable “until the day of Jesus Christ” (Tit 3:8).

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

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

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

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:

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

Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

In this study we will look more closely at what those good works are with which we are laboring and how God is orchestrating all of these works after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11, Rom 8:28) as He ascends and descends in the hearts and minds of His people through the ministries and administrations He has established to accomplish this task of maturing us all in the Lord.

(We are no longer servants but friends as we begin to see this process more and more clearly going from glory to glory through Christ who administers that grace and faith through the church: Joh 1:51, Eph 4:9-13, 2Co 3:18, Eph 3:10).

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.

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.

Joh 1:51  And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

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; [“The angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (Act 9:4, Mat 25:40)]
Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

In this key verse we are being told under the inspiration of the holy spirit that there is a typical rest revealed with this statement: “For if Jesus had given them rest.” Israel of old, that represents the world, labours to enter into this rest, but it is not the spiritual rest we are blessed to labour into through Christ, even as “he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh” or even as the manna of old was not the true bread from heaven that Israel did physically labour to pick up (Exo 16:23-24). We labor now for the true bread of life Jesus Christ (Joh 6:27) and in doing so we are an offence to those who are yet under the law as we read in (Mat 12:2).

So Christ did not give them that “rest” which we see that comes from partaking of the life of Christ, and clarifies this point for our sakes by saying “then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.” The “another day” is speaking of the day of the Lord that God’s children are the first to experience as we endure the bread of affliction, persecutions, and much tribulation in order to enter into the kingdom of God (1Co 5:8, 2Ti 3:12, Act 14:22). God’s kingdom is promised unto those who were ordained to be those first fruits who first trusted in and can identify where Christ resides today in His temple which we are (Eph 1:12, Col 1:27).

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

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:

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 

The following section from the book of Timothy wonderfully explains for us how to enter into this rest that remains “to the people of God“, and you will notice that our rest in the Lord is a very active rest that requires us to cease from our own works as we cry out to God with strong tears in that we fear Him and want only to do what His will is. In our life His will can only be accomplished through Christ through whom we can endure all things (2Ti 2:1-10, Heb 5:7, Php 4:13).

2Ti 2:1  Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2Ti 2:5  And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
2Ti 2:6  The husbandman^G1092 that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

G1092 geōrgos gheh-ore-gos’
From G1093 and the base of G2041; a land worker, that is, farmer: – husbandman.

[God the Father is the husbandman (Joh 15:1) who works within us both to will and to do of His good pleasure through Christ the vine (Php 2:13, Col 1:27), who reconciles us to our Father who “must be first partaker of the fruits”; those fruits being the first fruit elect of God who are in the hand of Christ and our Father (Jas 1:18, Jas 5:7, Joh 10:28-29]

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman^G1092.

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

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:

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.

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman^G1092 waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

2Ti 2:7  Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
2Ti 2:8  Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
2Ti 2:9  Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
2Ti 2:10  Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

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

This point of resting in the Lord is so huge and important to always remember that it is intimately connected to the story of creation itself, where in type and shadow we learn that God rested “as God did from his” on the seventh day, the day that symbolizes the new creation which is formed through Christ and not by our might or power (Zec 4:6, Rom 1:20). Of course God never rests as we understand ‘rest’ in our flesh. Christ is always laboring and giving us the power to do the same thing as we are caused to walk in those works which were preordained from the foundation of the world through Him (Joh 5:17, Eph 2:10).

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

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

The fruit of our life that comes about as a result of presenting ourselves a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1) can only be manifested as a result of having the gift of ears that hear and eyes that see the word of God in a good and honest heart (Mat 13:16, Luk 11:28) resulting in our bringing forth fruit as God gives that increase in His appointed time (1Co 3:6, Luk 8:15).

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Luk 11:28  But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

“Unbelief” is connected to not laboring in Christ and not being given to present ourselves a living sacrifice in this life (Mat 16:25). Anyone of us can fall “after the same example of unbelief“, and so we are to encourage one another and provoke one another unto love and good works (Heb 10:24).

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

God has already determined who it is that will be saved as those kind of first fruits, and He has made us to exist in these weak, corruptible, earthen vessels that must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as if it did depend on us, all the while knowing it is Christ who is giving us the power to overcome in this age (Php 2:12-13).

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

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at this last section of Hebrews chapter 4 which encourages us to understand the weakness of our flesh which is contrasted with the power of God’s holy spirit, His word that is “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit” for our sakes so that our first-man Adam can be destroyed. In the process of that destruction, we can become mature sons who as a result of the judgment upon us can now be used of God to judge the nations, having received the strong meat of His word which will equip us for that very high calling we have been given in our Lord (Heb 5:14).

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Psa 149:1  Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 
Psa 149:2  Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 
Psa 149:3  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. 
Psa 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 

The title of our study is found in the last verse of this Psalm 149 where God describes the honor that will be given to the saints who will be used to show mercy to all of God’s people, a mercy that will unfold through judgement that must first come upon the household of God, and culminates in the lake of fire with “the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God”. God’s elect are being prepared today “to execute upon them the judgment written“.

Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 

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? 

God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all, and those who obey not the gospel of God in this age are those who are not being shown that mercy. God’s mercy is God’s goodness that leads us unto repentance and is described as “the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering” that we are not to despise. It is for our sakes that the world is blinded and not given to see the relationship that we have with the cross of Christ, which is the altar that we continue to eat at and that the world has been blinded to being able to see by the god of this world.

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? 

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

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. 

We praise God today because we can “commit the keeping of their [our] souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” and know that we are suffering “according to the will of God”. It is God’s will that we suffer and fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake, which is the church so that we can go unto maturity and rule and reign under Jesus Christ (Col_1:24 , 2Ti_2:12). 

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: 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

This Psalm is filled with words that describe the praise of God’s saints for the judgement that has come upon us in this age, and the “high praise” to God that we offer to Him for the honour of being sanctified and made to be His workmanship or vessels of honour who are “meet for the master’s use”. God’s purpose for us is to train us up through the chastening grace and faith that we receive as His sons (Heb 12:6, 1Jn 3:1) so that we can “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance”, another way of saying spiritual works in this age that we must be careful to maintain, and God willing we will! (Tit 3:8). 

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 

2Ti 2:22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

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

Mat 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

Initially we bring forth those fruits within ourselves as the body of Christ and first fruits of God, but the end result of our growth is to be used to help “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” in the lives of everyone else who will come up in the second resurrection, to enter into the kingdom of God through the elect who are represented by the pillars in the temple. God will use His “priests of God and of Christ” to bring humanity into the intimate and loving and eternal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ and His body.

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

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

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

Without judgment in the earth, mankind will not learn righteousness, and even still learning of God’s righteousness does not preclude that someone will continue in it (Joh 8:31-32). That will be very clearly evidenced with anyone who only knows Christ after the flesh or with a fleshly relationship, not yet having God’s holy spirit within them which will be the case during the thousand year reign (Isa 26:9,  Rom 8:9).

Judgment, or the learning of righteousness for the world, will begin with a rulership that will not deviate from God’s word in the least (Mat 5:19). That strict adherence to the law of Christ will set the stage for the destruction of all flesh at the end of the thousand year reign when Satan is loosed for a season and all of the law-keeping of mankind is revealed to have not been accomplished through the righteousness of Christ but via their own wisdom and power (Php 3:9). 

With Christ’s spirit in us today, the least is greater than John the baptist (Luk 7:28), and the earnest relationship (Eph 1:14) we have with Christ now will lead to our entering into the fullness of that relationship in Christ at the first resurrection (Rom 3:10, Joh 17:21). God’s elect are the only ones during the thousand-year reign who can be said to be called “great in the kingdom of heaven” simply because true greatness to God is being able to obey all the commandments of God. That can only be accomplished perfectly through those who have gone on to perfection in the first resurrection (1Jn 1:8, Herod Luk 13:32 , John Luk 7:22, Rev 22:14).

The thousand-year reign of the saints under Christ is a baptism by water given by the saints, and typified by John the baptist’s baptism in his day, but it is the baptism of fire that will change the hearts and minds of mankind (Mat 10:28) so that humanity can bring forth “fruits meet for repentance” being now able to reflect the mind of Christ in all they say and do after they have “suffered a while” as God uses the elect to judge the great unwashed masses to “make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle” you. That is the purpose of the great white throne judgement (1Pe 5:10, Rev 20:11-15).

This Psalm 149 reminds us that we have great reason to rejoice, and again I say rejoice, because the true witness, Jesus Christ, has made His bride ready so that she can “give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Rev 19:7). This honor of being made ready “have all his saints“, and is the reason the idea of praising the Lord is mentioned so often in this Psalm and many other sections of scripture.

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.

Psa 149:1  Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 

It is within “the congregation of saints” (Luk 17:19-21) that the LORD within us is going to hear “a new song” (2Co 5:17, Mat 13:16, Col 1:27), and that song is one of praise (or boasting)H1984 [H8761] for the sanctification process He is accomplishing through each member of Christ’s body that helps keep the whole body healthy (Eph 4:16). Just prior to being demanded of the Pharisees where the kingdom of God is, Christ said these words in regard to the wholeness that is found within the body of Christ where the kingdom resides in earnest today (Luk 17:19-21).

Luk 17:19  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. [What makes us whole is our faith which is manifested through the many members that make us whole or one body, Christ’s body (Luk 17:5-10, Rom 12:1-10, Col 1:24].

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. [“as he will” – 1Co 12:11]
Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 
Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 
Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 
Rom 12:6  Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; [Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.] 
Rom 12:7  Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 
Rom 12:8  Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. 
Rom 12:9  Let love be without dissimulation[^G505]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 
Rom 12:10  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; [Php 2:3]

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: [Eph 5:26-30]

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. 

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Psa 149:2  Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 

It is the “Israel” of God who is rejoicing “in him that made him” (Eph 2:10) and the “children of Zion” who are “joyful in their King” (Rev 15:3). 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Israel and Zion are the symbols that represent God’s elect who are joyful to know that the mind of Christ our King is abiding in us via the holy spirit of God (Col 1:27).

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

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

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Revelation 4:8-11 witnesses to the truth that one day all of mankind will know God can do what He wants with that which is His own starting with the “four beasts” that each has “six wings” (24 wings), and that He makes His strength perfect first through the elect who are those kings and priest who “cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power” (Eph 1:11, Rom 9:21). 

Rev 4:8  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: [“But blessed are your eyes“] and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Rev 4:9  And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, 
Rev 4:10  The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 
Rev 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created 

Psa 149:3  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. 

Praising God “in the dance“ and singing praise unto him with “timbrel and harp” are statements that signify that our relationship with Christ will produce harmony in the body of Christ as we are led by the holy spirit and grow in our understanding of this dance of tried faith which God has called the elect to be the first to learn.  We lay down our life trusting in His faithfulness and in His will to be accomplished in our life by His power, learning to say with Christ “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luk 22:42). The reverberation of a “timbrel and harp” are symbols of this beautiful witness that sounds forth from the body of Christ. 

Jer 31:4  Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

Jer 31:13  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 

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

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

Isa 52:7  How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 

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

Psa 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify^{H6286 [H8762]} the meek with salvation.

God is beautifying “the meek with salvation” first, and “the LORD taketh pleasure in his people” through that process of bruising us (1Jn 4:17) knowing that He can and will bring us to ultimately rejoice for the suffering which we endure for His body’s sake, words that were uttered in type and shadow via Moses found in Hebrews 11:26-27. 

Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 

Deu 24:20  When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs^{H6286 [H8762]} again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. [(Gal 6:10) there is the inward stranger, fatherless and widow in our midst, and the outward as well, and we do good unto all men knowing we are doing this unto Christ, unto those who are beloved for the gospels sake (Rom 11:28).

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: 

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 
Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 

Moses’ meekness typifies who the bride of Christ will become (Num 12:3, 1Pe 3:4, Zep 2:3, Mat 5:5, Gal 6:1, Col 3:12, Jas 3:13, 1Pe 3:15) and can only come about as a result of the trials that the LORD enables us to endure as Moses did for our sakes to show us that pattern (2Co_4:15). His death at 120 years (Deu 34:7) signifies that progression of trials [tribulation 40, times three 40+40+40] that are needed in our life as we learn that the LORD’S spirit “shall not always strive with man” but will for the symbolic 120 (Gen 6:3). In the morning, or as we die daily, the Lord’s strength will be made perfect through our weakness so we can endure until the end and be saved by putting off our flesh, which is a lifelong process and why 40 is mentioned three times (Mat 23:12).

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Deu 34:7  And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. 

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 

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

In order for God’s elect “To execute upon them the judgment written“, we are going to need to grow in the fruit of the spirit called “meekness” (Gal 5:22-23), knowing that the judgment upon us in this age is for that very reason so that we can be always ready “to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear“. All the fruits of God’s holy spirit are matured through Christ who gives that increase that can only manifest or be made perfect through God’s judgments unfolding in our lives.

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

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

Meekness is not weakness, but is rather another critical part of the foundation God is forming within the bride of Christ through His spirit, so we can boldly proclaim the true gospel at any moment to anyone who asks “you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (Eph 6:19). The word fear in the statement “meekness and fear” reminds us through this section of scriptures who it is we are to fear and who it is we are not to fear.

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

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 
Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 
Heb 11:28  Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

The rest of that chapter in Hebrews 11 discusses the acts of faith that typify the certainty of our deliverance through Christ who reconciled us to God by His death and is saving us with His life within us which gives us the power to overcome any and all fear of what men can do to our flesh. 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

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

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the last five verses of Psalm 149 that speak of the great joy that will be ours as a result of the Lord judging us in this age, which judgement is typified by Jacob wrestling with a man through the night (Gen 32:24). 

There will be joy in the morning (Psa 30:5) and “high praises” for the workmanship of God that will prepare His bride “To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people“. It is because of that judgment being accomplished in our life today, and promised to come to an end (1Pe 4:17, Rev 15:8, Php 1:6), that the saints can “be joyful in glory“. 

The glory in which we have joy is being given the ability to obey God and overcome in this life and glorify Him with that obedience just as Christ did (Heb 5:8, 1Jn 4:17). That overcoming process we’ve been looking at in this study is brought about by the judgment God is bringing upon the church today, and we “give honour to him” (Rev 19:7) because we know that it is the Lord who is working this great work within us today both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13) which is to bruise us for a very glorious purpose of then exalting us into positions of honor in the first resurrection because of the suffering we endured through Christ until the end of our life (1Pe 4:17, etc).

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

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

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

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

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

Next week’s verses:

Psa 149:5  Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 
Psa 149:6  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; 
Psa 149:7  To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 
Psa 149:8  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 
Psa 149:9  To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.