Love – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty Wed, 12 Mar 2025 21:50:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cropped-headerlogo-32x32.png Love – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com 32 32 The Process of Spiritual Growth From Faith to Love https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-process-of-spiritual-growth-from-faith-to-love/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-process-of-spiritual-growth-from-faith-to-love Tue, 11 Mar 2025 15:17:06 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=32296 Study Audio Download

The Process of Spiritual Growth From Faith to Love

[Study Aired March 11, 2025]

Introduction

The spiritual journey unfolds according to a heavenly pattern that renews us from within. Rather than occurring instantly, this renewal develops gradually through interconnected phases of growth. As the Psalmist recognized, “The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live” (Psalm 119:144), showing that inner understanding precedes outward transformation. The prophet Isaiah affirmed this interior work, saying “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth” (Isaiah 55:10-11). This growth follows a deliberate design, for as Solomon observed, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Recognizing this gradual, purposeful development enables us to yield to the Lord’s formative work within our hearts and minds.

Scripture reveals that spiritual growth follows specific patterns. The apostle Peter outlines one such progression: “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (2 Peter 1:5-7). This step-by-step development shows how each spiritual quality builds upon the previous one, culminating in love.

Paul reveals a similar progression in Romans: “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:3-5). Both passages emphasize that spiritual growth follows an intentional sequence, orchestrated by God Himself.

Faith: The Foundation of Spiritual Growth

All spiritual development begins with faith. The writer of Hebrews makes this clear: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Faith serves as the essential foundation upon which all other spiritual qualities are built.

Yet we must recognize that even this foundational faith originates not from ourselves but from God. Paul explains, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). This revelation transforms our understanding of spiritual growth—even the starting point comes through God’s work, not our human effort.

Faith itself represents spiritual perception that transcends natural understanding. As Paul declares, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). This spiritual sight enables us to “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Through faith, we begin to perceive reality from God’s perspective rather than our limited human viewpoint.

This faith becomes the connecting point to all subsequent spiritual qualities. As we trust God rather than our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6) “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”, space is created for Him to develop additional spiritual fruit in our lives. Faith opens the door to God’s transformative work within us.

Virtues Developed Through Testing

The progression from faith continues as God develops various virtues through testing and challenges. James explains this developmental process: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Notice how testing produces patience—the same quality Peter and Paul include in their progressive sequences. This reveals the crucial role of trials in spiritual development. Through difficulties, God transforms theoretical faith into practical experience, building qualities that cannot emerge any other way.

Knowledge—another step in Peter’s progression—grows through this practical experience. In 2 Peter 1:5, the Greek word translated as “knowledge” is “gnōsis” (Strong’s G1108), which refers to general knowledge or understanding. However, later in the same chapter, Peter uses a more intensive term: “epignōsis” (Strong’s G1922), when he writes, “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge [epignōsis] of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8). This distinction is significant.

While “gnōsis” refers to general knowledge or awareness, “epignōsis” denotes precise, experiential knowledge—knowledge gained through personal experience rather than mere intellectual understanding. This deeper knowledge comes only through walking with God through trials. Paul prayed for believers to grow in this precise knowledge: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge [epignōsis] of him” (Ephesians 1:17).

Similarly, in John 17:3, Jesus uses the Greek word “ginōskō” (Strong’s G1097) when He says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” This word implies an intimate, experiential knowing—not intellectual understanding but relational knowledge. It’s the same word used for marital intimacy in scripture, revealing that true spiritual knowledge involves deep communion with God, not merely learning facts about Him.

As we walk through trials holding fast to faith, we gain this experiential understanding of God’s faithfulness. This knowledge transcends mere information, becoming wisdom born of spiritual experience. As Solomon wrote, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7), showing that true knowledge flows from right relationship with God.

Self-control (temperance) develops as we learn to submit our natural desires to God’s higher purposes. Paul describes this inner battle: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection” (1 Corinthians 9:27). This mastery over fleshly impulses comes not through human willpower but through yielding to God’s Spirit. As Paul teaches, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other” (Galatians 5:17). True self-control emerges as God’s Spirit prevails over our carnal nature.

The apostle Peter links experiential knowledge directly to self-control, showing that true spiritual knowing naturally transforms behavior. Scripture consistently confirms this connection. John declares, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4), using forms of “ginōskō” twice to emphasize that authentic knowledge of God manifests in obedient living. Similarly, Paul prays for believers to be “filled with the knowledge [epignōsis] of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing” (Colossians 1:9-10), establishing that true knowledge produces worthy conduct. This aligns with Jeremiah’s prophecy that under the new covenant, God would “put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts… for they shall all know me” (Jeremiah 31:33-34), connecting intimate knowledge of God with His law internalized in our hearts rather than merely understood by our minds.

Higher Spiritual Qualities

As these foundational virtues are established, God develops higher spiritual qualities that more directly reflect His nature. Godliness—reverence and devotion toward God—grows as we increasingly become aligned with His character. This conforms us to Christ’s image, fulfilling God’s eternal purpose: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29).

Brotherly kindness flows naturally from this growing conformity to Christ. As John explains, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). This love for fellow believers serves as evidence of spiritual maturity, demonstrating that God’s nature is being formed within us.

The culmination of this spiritual progression is love—not human affection but God’s supernatural agape love. This selfless, sacrificial love reflects God’s very essence, for “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Paul identifies love as the greatest spiritual quality: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity [love]” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

This progression reveals a profound truth: spiritual growth is the process of God developing His own nature within us. Each quality brings us closer to reflecting His character, fulfilling His purpose “that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).

God’s Sovereign Work in Our Growth

Throughout this developmental process, we must remember that spiritual growth comes through God’s work, not self-effort. Paul affirms this truth: “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” (Philippians 1:6). The same God who initiated our spiritual journey faithfully continues developing us according to His perfect plan.

Paul further emphasizes God’s primary role: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). This reveals the comprehensive nature of God’s work—He influences both our desires (“to will”) and our actions (“to do”). Our spiritual growth proceeds according to His good pleasure, not our personal preferences or timeline.

Our part in this process involves yielding to God’s Spirit rather than producing results through human effort. As Jesus taught using the vine metaphor: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:4). We bear spiritual fruit not by striving but by remaining connected to Christ, the source of all spiritual life.

This understanding liberates us from performance-oriented spirituality. We need not generate these qualities through self-effort but rather being given the ability to cooperate with God’s Spirit as He produces them within us. As Paul writes, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). Notice these are called fruit of the Spirit, not fruit of human effort.

The Evidence of Spiritual Growth

Genuine spiritual growth manifests in observable ways. Jesus emphasized that true development produces visible results: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit” (Matthew 7:17). This fruitfulness becomes inevitable as we abide in Christ: “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit” (John 15:5).

Peter contrasts this fruitfulness with spiritual barrenness: “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge [epignōsis] of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8). Here Peter again uses the deeper term “epignōsis” (precise, experiential knowledge), reminding us that the presence and abundance of spiritual qualities prevent stagnation, ensuring continued growth in our intimate, experiential relationship with Christ. This deliberate word choice emphasizes that mere intellectual understanding of Christ is insufficient – the spiritual qualities Peter lists cultivate the kind of deep, personal knowing that transforms our entire being. The presence and abundance of spiritual qualities prevent stagnation, ensuring continued growth in our relationship with Christ.

This growth process transforms us progressively, as King Soloman describes: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18). This beautiful imagery of increasing light illustrates how spiritual growth advances gradually toward completion, with each stage building upon and intensifying the previous one. Just as dawn begins with faint light that steadily brightens to the full day, our spiritual transformation unfolds in progressive stages of increasing glory and clarity.

Peter’s language of “adding” these qualities suggests more than mere accumulation. The Greek word used (epichorēgeō) implies generous, abundant supply—each quality multiplies rather than merely adds to our spiritual development. This multiplication principle explains why mature believers often experience accelerated growth—each quality enhances all others, creating exponential rather than linear development.

Obstacles to Spiritual Growth

Despite God’s faithful work, various obstacles can hinder our spiritual development. Pride particularly impedes growth, as it prevents us from receiving God’s grace: “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6). When we believe we’ve attained spiritual maturity through our own efforts, the very grace that produces true growth is blocked.

Neglect also stunts our development. The writer of Hebrews warns against spiritual drift: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (Hebrews 2:1). Regular immersion in Scripture and spiritual practices such as prayer, fellowship, and self-sacrifice help create the ideal conditions for spiritual growth to thrive, much like consistent sunlight and water allow plants to develop strong roots and produce abundant fruit.

Worldliness similarly hinders spiritual progress. John cautions, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Attachment to worldly values and priorities diverts our attention from spiritual realities, slowing our development. John further defines this worldliness as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), identifying the three primary channels through which worldly influence corrupts spiritual growth. These same channels of temptation appeared in Eve’s original temptation—she saw the fruit was “good for food” (lust of the flesh), “pleasant to the eyes” (lust of the eyes), and “desired to make one wise” (pride of life) in Genesis 3:6. Similarly, Satan tempted Jesus through these same avenues in the wilderness when he challenged Jesus to turn “stones be made bread” (lust of the flesh), showed Him “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them” (lust of the eyes), and urged Him to “cast thyself down” from the temple to prove His divine status (pride of life) in Matthew 4:1-11. Paul warns that friendship with the world creates spiritual enmity: “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). This divided loyalty creates a double-minded condition that James describes as unstable “in all his ways” (James 1:8). Jesus taught that we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24), emphasizing that worldly attachments compete directly with spiritual priorities. The remedy for worldliness comes through renewed thinking, as Paul instructs: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). This transformation requires God to set our affections “on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2), creating a fundamental reorientation of our values and desires.

Perhaps most serious is the obstacle of carnality. Fleshly attitudes rather than spiritual attitudes prevailing in our lives. Paul addressed this condition in the Corinthian church: “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ… For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1 Corinthians 3:1,3). Carnality keeps believers in spiritual infancy, preventing the maturation God intends.

God addresses these obstacles through loving discipline: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). This correction, though painful, serves a redemptive purpose: “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11). God’s discipline removes obstacles to growth, promoting our spiritual development.

The Ultimate Purpose: Conformity to Christ

The entire progression from faith to love serves God’s ultimate purpose: conforming us to Christ’s image. Paul states this clearly: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). Each stage in our spiritual growth brings us closer to this perfect likeness. This conformation process represents God’s primary work in believers, as Paul elsewhere describes: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The apostle’s language of “birth pangs” reveals both the intensity and importance of this transformative work.

This holy purpose explains why God orchestrates our circumstances to produce spiritual growth. As Paul teaches, “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” (Romans 8:28). The “good” mentioned here isn’t primarily our comfort or preference but our increasing Christlikeness. In fact, the very next verse defines this good as being “conformed to the image of his Son.” This reveals that every circumstance, whether pleasant or difficult, serves the Father’s purpose of developing Christ’s character within us.

The Spirit’s work transforms us as we fix our attention on Christ rather than ourselves. John reinforces this principle: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). The ultimate seeing will produce the ultimate likeness.

This conformity reaches its fullest expression in love—the quality that most completely reflects Christ’s nature. As Paul writes, “And above all these things put on charity [love], which is the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:14). Love represents spiritual maturity, binding all other virtues together in perfect harmony. This centrality of love fulfills Christ’s own teaching that love for God and others constitutes the essence of God’s law: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. “ (Matthew 22:37-40). John affirms this connection between God’s nature and love: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). As we grow in love, we more perfectly reflect God’s very essence.

Our increasing conformity to Christ’s image requires the gradual removal of all that is inconsistent with His character. Paul describes this putting off of the old nature: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts… And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22,24). Similarly, he urges believers to “mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth” (Colossians 3:5), using language that suggests a putting to death of our fleshly nature. This putting off of the old and putting on of the new constitutes a fundamental aspect of our transformation into Christ’s image.

This developmental process fulfills God’s eternal purpose in creating us. He designed us to bear His image, a purpose temporarily marred by sin but restored through Christ. As we progress from faith to love, God accomplishes His original promise: “Let us make (be making) man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). In Christ, this original design finds its perfect expression and fulfillment. As Paul states, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him” (Colossians 2:9-10). Our completeness comes not through independent development but through union with Christ, whose perfect image gradually forms within us through the Spirit’s work.

Conclusion: The Ongoing Journey

Spiritual growth continues throughout our earthly journey. Even Paul, despite his spiritual maturity, acknowledged his ongoing development: “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after… I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14). If an apostle recognized his need for continued growth, how much more should we maintain this humble perspective.

Our role in this growth process involves cooperation with God’s work rather than independent effort. We participate by yielding to His Spirit, studying His Word, engaging in prayer, and remaining connected to the body of Christ. As we do, God faithfully continues the work He began, developing spiritual qualities according to His perfect design.

The ultimate fulfillment of this growth process awaits Christ’s return: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). This hope motivates our present participation in the growth process, knowing that one day our transformation will be complete.

As we reflect on the spiritual journey we’ve examined, we can trace God’s intentional pattern: faith provides the essential foundation, enabling us to trust God beyond what we can see. Through testing, this faith develops virtues like patience, knowledge, and self-control. These qualities prepare us for higher spiritual attributes—godliness, brotherly kindness, and ultimately love, which represents the fullest expression of Christ’s nature within us. Each stage builds upon and enhances the previous one, creating not just linear growth but multiplication of spiritual fruit.

Though obstacles like pride, neglect, worldliness, and carnality may hinder this development, God faithfully works through every circumstance to accomplish His purpose—conforming us to Christ’s image. As we understand this progressive nature of spiritual growth, we can more patiently cooperate with God’s work in our lives. Rather than becoming discouraged by our imperfections, we trust the One who promised, “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). The journey from faith to love unfolds according to His perfect wisdom and timing, accomplishing His eternal purpose in our lives.

]]> The Book of Romans – Part 31, Rom 14:1-12 Judgment of One Another https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-romans-part-31-rom-141-12-judgment-of-one-another/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-romans-part-31-rom-141-12-judgment-of-one-another Sun, 12 May 2024 23:55:14 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=29919 The Book of Romans – Part 31, Rom 14:1-12 Judgment of One Another
[Study Aired May 7, 2024]

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. 
Rom 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 
Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 
Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. 
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

In our last study we saw that true love fulfills the law of Moses and the law of the spirit. True love is walking in truth and after the commandments. In order to do this we must pay the ultimate sacrifice and lay down our lives and die daily as Christ laid down His life for us.

2Jn 1:4-11 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Joh 10:14-18 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. 

Joh 15:8-14 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

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

This study will cover judgment of the body of Christ. What is judgment, and what is being judged in these verses?

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. 
Rom 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

Paul qualifies judgment in the above verses. He tells us that the strong in faith are to receive the weak, meaning do not despise where they are in their walk toward the kingdom of God. The weak in faith are not mature enough to begin to judge those strong in faith. The weak need time do grow under the tutelage of their elders. The strong in faith must have patience and the willingness to teach those that are weak in the faith.

1Ti 5:1-2 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. 

1Pe 5:1-7 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 

This verse emphasizes the idea that each of us ultimately will give an account to God, our master, rather than being judged of others. The phrase “another man’s servant” implies that each of us belong to God. Therefore, we are to be patient with others, especially the younger, as it will take time for them to mature because their standing before God is ultimately His prerogative. God, being all-powerful, is capable of upholding His servants and enabling them to stand firm in their faith.

Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

“The Way” of Christ is a fine line. We are not to have dominion of another’s faith. Yet we must speak the truth in all matters. Everyone is in a different part of their walk, and we all must take that into consideration. The elders are in the body to serve the younger. Our goal as a body is to serve God. This is a lifelong process, and we all are tasked with laying our lives down for each other.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 

1Jn 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 
Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

This means that our lives are connected to others. What we do or don’t do affects everyone around us. We’re not just living for ourselves; we’re part of a bigger picture. Whether we’re alive or dead, we belong to God. Our purpose is to live in a way that honors Him, no matter what happens to us. Jesus died and came back to life to be in charge of everything, including those who have died and those who are still alive. His resurrection shows His power over life and death, making Him the ultimate authority and example for us.

In simpler terms, these verses teach us that our lives are connected to others, and our main purpose is to live for God’s honor. They also remind us that Jesus is in control of everything, even life and death.

Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

These verses emphasize the importance of refraining from judgment and condemnation of others, as we are all ultimately going to give an account to God for our actions and attitudes. They highlight the universal truth that every individual will stand before God’s judgment, where all will acknowledge His sovereignty. Therefore, instead of focusing on criticizing others, we should be mindful of our own conduct and readiness to give an account to God.

Here are the questions I asked earlier: What is judgement, and what is being judged in these verses?

1Co 11:28-32 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Heb 12:5-10 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

There is a proper order for those who can pass judgment. The strong in faith are able to judge all things. The weak in faith are not able to correctly judge until they have their senses exercised. We are all being judged by God here and now if we are Christ’s. Judgment begins at the house of God.

1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 

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? 

]]> The Book of Romans – Part 30, Rom 13:8-14 Fulfilling the Law Through Love https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-romans-part-30-fulfilling-the-law-through-love/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-romans-part-30-fulfilling-the-law-through-love Wed, 24 Apr 2024 02:22:13 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=29811 Audio Download

The Book of Romans – Part 30, Fulfilling the Law Through Love

[Study Aired April 23, 2024]

Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth  another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt  not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be  any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou  shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Rom 13:11 And that, knowing the me, that now it is high me to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in riong and drunkenness, not  in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the  flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

In Romans 13: 8-14, Paul ventures into the essence of Christian living, emphasizing the centrality of love in fulfilling God’s law. He begins by urging us to love one another, asserting that love encompasses all of God’s commandments. Listing  specific directives, like avoiding adultery, killing, falsehoods and covetousness, Paul emphasizes that these are all encompassed in the overarching principle of loving our neighbors as ourselves. Love, he contends, inherently refrains from causing harm to others. Urging vigilance, Paul underscores the urgency of awakening from spiritual slumber, likening the time to the fading darkness of night and the imminent arrival of dawn. He encourages believers to cast off the works of darkness and embrace the virtues symbolized by the armor of light.

Furthermore, Paul warns against indulging in behaviors like excessive revelry, drunkenness, promiscuity and discord, advocating instead for a lifestyle characterized by integrity and a rejection of selfish desires. He exhorts believers to emulate Jesus Christ and resist the allure of gratifying sinful inclinations. These verses serve as a compelling reminder of the transformative power of love and the necessity for us to live authentically in anticipation of Christ’s return.

What is love?

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (love) envieth not; charity (love) vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; (love)  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but (love) rejoiceth in the truth; (love) Beareth all things, (love) believeth all things, (love) hopeth all things, (love) endureth all things.

1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:18-19 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. We love him, because he first loved us.

These verses emphasize the qualities and actions of love. Love is patient and kind, not envious or boastful. It doesn’t behave rudely or selfishly and isn’t easily angered or resentful. Love rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes, hopes and endures.  It’s not merely expressed in words but in actions and truthfulness. Those who don’t love don’t understand God, for God is love. Perfect love removes fear, as fear involves torment. We love because God loved us first, exemplifying the essence of  love.

God’s love toward us meets all the above standards.

Unconditional Love: God’s love is unconditional and not based on our merit or actions. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This verse highlights that God’s love extends to us even in our brokenness and sinfulness.

Everlasting Love: God’s love is everlasting and unchanging. Jeremiah 31:3 declares, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” This verse assures us that God’s love for us endures forever.

Self-Sacrificial Love: God’s love is demonstrated through sacrificial actions. John 3:16 famously states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God’s ultimate act of love was sending Jesus to die for our sins, showing the depth of His sacrificial love for humanity.

Personal Love: God’s love is personal and individualized. Psalm 139:17-18 says, “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.” God’s love is intimately concerned with each person, knowing them intimately and caring for them deeply.

Transformative Love: God’s love has the power to transform lives. 1 John 4:16 states, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” When we experience and embrace God’s love, it changes us from the inside out, enabling us to love others as He loves us.

Our goal is to continually “walk in love.” This is a daily challenge and will take a lifetime to complete. Day by day, Lord willing, we will overcome everything that is against love within us. There is only one way this can be achieved.

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

Eph 5:1-21 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness,  or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk  with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart  to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

]]> The Book of Romans – Part 3, The Wrath of God https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-romans-part-3-the-wrath-of-god/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-romans-part-3-the-wrath-of-god Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:37:02 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=27838

The Book of Romans – Part 3, The Wrath of God – Its Blessing to the Elect

[Study Aired June 27, 2023]

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 
Romans 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 
Romans 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: 
Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 
Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 
Romans 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 
Romans 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 
Romans 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 

Let’s start with the last few verses of our previous study.

Romans 1:15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Paul is ready to preach the gospel to the Romans because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. As we know, only the believers in this age are the elect of God (the Jew first). We (the Jew first) are the receivers of the gospel, and in the ages to come we will preach the gospel to the rest of mankind (also the Greek). In the very next chapter of Romans, Paul tells us what the phrase “the Jew first” means.

Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 

In Romans 1:17, Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4: “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” Our last study focused on this verse and revealed that living by faith is expressed by obedience to the Law of Christ. If we are not obedient, we will suffer the wrath of God. It is impossible for us to be obedient when we first enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, the wrath of God is upon us, and he takes us by the hand and we are lead through the fiery trials in order to mature us as a loving Father naturally does. The fiery trials have a purpose.

1Pe 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Galatians 6:1-10 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. 

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

In the following verses Paul gives us a warning and understanding how we are to search for the things of the spirit. 

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 
Romans 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 
Romans 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: 
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Paul reveals that if we have eyes to see the world itself tells us what God’s eternal power and Godhead is. Here is a second witness to this statement.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Returning to the phrase “the just shall live by faith” tells us that the things of the spirit are clearly seen and understood by those that “live by faith”.

“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, (which is the kingdom of God), against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” is within us destroying the carnal mind.

Luke 17:20-21 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: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

“The invisible things” are the things of the spirit which are shadowed by the physical world and the scriptures. It is precept upon precept, line upon line, and here a little and there a little that we can communicate spiritual ideas comparing spiritual with spiritual.

Isaiah 28:9-11 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul explains in Romans 1:21 the reason why we cannot live by faith until we receive the Spirit. It is because, despite having knowledge of God, people did not glorify Him as God nor show gratitude. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their hearts were filled with darkness due to their foolishness.

Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

When we enter this world, we fail to glorify God as He deserves and neglect to express gratitude. In our self-righteousness, we believe lies and deceive ourselves into thinking we are God, occupying His rightful place. However, this distorted perception leads to our own destruction. Before the old man is annihilated, it is subject to a “strong delusion” and will believe the lies of the synagogue of Satan.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

God’s wrath serves as the means by which we can overcome this “man of sin” and the “son of perdition.” It is through the righteous anger of God that justice will prevail.

Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 
Romans 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

In Romans 1:22-23, Paul highlights the foolishness of those who claim wisdom but have become fools. They exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for idols and representations of earthly creatures. Instead of recognizing God as the true Creator, they assign divine qualities to created things. In their misguided attempts, they fashion gods of their own making, attributing power and significance to their vain imaginations.

Here is the outcome of the strong delusion.

Romans 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 
Romans 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

These verses highlight the consequences of our rejection of God. Because of our persistent unbelief and idolatry, God causes us to follow the desires of our own hearts, leading to impurity and dishonorable behavior. Instead of embracing the truth of God, we exchange it for falsehood and turned our worship toward created things rather than the Creator Himself.

Exodus 32:1-6 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

Aaron and the Israelites were a type and a shadow of what our experience is when we first leave Egypt (the world) and are sent into the wilderness (Christianity). We accept the doctrines of the denomination of the church we are placed into as part of the strong delusion sent by God. This is an example of the “the things that are made” to teach us the things of the spirit.

Habakkuk 2:18-20 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

God’s wrath is a significant theme throughout the Bible. It refers to God’s righteous anger and judgment against sin and disobedience. The wrath of God represents His response to our rebellion and disobedience. It is the consequence of our sin and unrighteousness. God’s wrath is a just response to disobedience. God’s wrath is against those who reject Him and turn to idolatry having idols of the heart and worshiping another Jesus. The worship of creation and worship of idols are seen as an offense to God and denies truth. The presence of God’s wrath in Scripture serves as a warning to us. It urges us to turn away from our sinful ways and seek God’s mercy and forgiveness. The wrath of God is ultimately realized in the final judgment when all people will give an account for their actions and the rejection of God’s salvation.

Romans 2:3-11 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.

While the concept of God’s wrath is often emphasized, it must be understood in the context of His love and justice. God’s wrath is not an arbitrary expression, but a necessary response to the rebellion against His nature. While God’s wrath is a reality, it is not His sole characteristic. God’s wrath is a tool to emphasize God’s love, mercy, and desire for reconciliation with all men. The purpose of understanding God’s wrath is to recognize the seriousness of sin and the need for salvation, leading to repentance, reconciliation, and having a relationship with God.

Ephesians 2:1-7 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved😉 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Here are the verses for our next study.

Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 
Romans 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 
Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 
Romans 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 
Romans 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 
Romans 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 
Romans 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

]]> Song of Solomon, Part 4 – Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/song-of-solomon-part-4-solomon-and-his-bride-delight-in-each-other/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=song-of-solomon-part-4-solomon-and-his-bride-delight-in-each-other Sat, 19 Nov 2022 20:58:59 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=26598 Audio Download

Song of Solomon, Part 4 – Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

Song of Solomon 2:1-7

[Study Aired November 19, 2022]

“Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD” (Psa 150:1-6)

Chapter two of the Song of Solomon continues to express the Bride’s passion for her Lord.

Son 2:1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Son 2:2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
Son 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Son 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
Son 2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
Son 2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

In the second part of the Introduction, it was noted that Solomon, who represents Christ, speaks on behalf of his Bride as though she is speaking in the third person. The Shulamite speaks glowingly of herself and is far from being conceited and speaking above what is written, for she knows that her words are her fiancé’s ~ Christ will not be yoked to an unbeliever.

Son 2:1  I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Son 2:2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

Roses are world-renowned for their classic beauty and scent; they are deep-rooted and hardy. While Solomon depicts his Bride as “the rose of Sharon”, roses only feature twice in scripture (Song of Solomon and Isaiah). On both occasions, their location suggests a lonely plain, a savannah wilderness. Also, the following scripture speaks of Israel in the flesh and spiritual Israel as Sharon being that lonely plain. The fruits of their works do not compare to the spiritual blossoming of the rose and lily reserved in relative isolation for her Lord.

Isa 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 

Isa 33:9 The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon [H8289] is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

A rose in such lonesome places reminds me of abandoned outback homesteads with the only remains of a crumbling stone chimney and nearby, the bright beauty of a single rose gaily blooming in the neglect for almost nobody to notice. Similarly, there is the wonderment of a solitary apple tree thriving in a freakish environment. Yet, the Shulamite similarly is likened to a cheerful [H7797] lily equally remote because access is blocked by witless thorns, her sisters (“daughters”), preserving her virginity and contrasting beauty. Though dead in their works, they unconsciously serve her, the Temple.

Thorns represent the deceitfulness of riches. As we painfully were, the Shulamite’s sisters are rich in their many genuinely good works in Babylonian Christianity. They are not given to see the Bride symbolised by a lonely rose, apple tree, or access-hindered lily. They are separated by their thorny lies of false doctrines they flippantly regard as inconsequential and fall out of season to rot in the field. With a multitude of teachers, they are always seeking and never finding, whereas the Bride precisely knows what she has been given.

2Ti 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

Eze 2:6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers [H5621 – prickle] and thorns [H5544, definition H5541] be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

Thorns H5541 are a classic example of meaning for our former lightness in taking the Lord’s word in vain ~ being saved and tossing aside having to die daily, whose lying works have stings in their tails, bear thorns and are burned in a crackling fire.

Isa 33:10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. 
Isa 33:11 Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. 
Isa 33:12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. 

Heb 6:8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

Son 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

No matter where the future daughters of Israel reside, be they in the mountains of Abram, the plains of Lot or the vast reaches of Babylon, none match the magnificence of the Shulamite; she is blooming alone and hidden from the world’s sight in plain sight. Outwardly, to the blind eyes of Babylon, she has no comeliness; she is broken, suffering and dishevelled. Yet, to our Lord, she is His spiritually elegant delight. He only sees her transformed beauty that, like him in the purity of God’s spirit, nobody in the flesh can look upon and live.

Col 3:3 For ye are dead, [KJV] and you have a secret life with Christ in God. (BBE)

Continuing…

Son 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting [H3196] house, and his banner over me was love.
Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

Solomon in the flesh reflecting Christ in spirit are her shadows of sweet delight, and Christ’s word is initially bitter in her mouth. Still, it has become an unusual sweetness craved to make her “sick of [with] love” ~ intoxicated with the headiness of love. Indeed, her life in the flesh is dead, and she anticipates being lifted into the heavenly place with her Lord for the marriage feast. The entire Song expresses intoxicating love in vivid dreams for the surety of the purchased possession (Eph 1:3-14).

Interestingly, the “banqueting house” equates to the nature of festivity and permanent peace and clearly relates to Christ stating at the Passover that he wouldn’t drink of the vine again until the spiritual “supper” in his Kingdom, the marriage banquet (Mat 26:26 -29). Her final resting place is in her Lord’s bosom, in his house, the inner sanctuary of the holy of holies, her ark of pure love those without the Temple nobody else can touch, let alone see.

Of course, the Bride in her flesh has learned to be physically and spiritually sober, and the full understanding of her Lord and husband is now a reality. Her pain of walking in the fiery coals filling up from behind the same afflictions as her husband is gone; she is about to be birthed a new creation. Now in the fullness of eternal spirit with the glorious beauty of both Esther’s submissive dignity and Rachel’s bright eyes, she is festive, pretty, and a stunning delight of righteousness to her Groom. She is the apple of His eye.

Banners (H1714 – standard; to look, behold) are flags or standards signifying to what country or state the company belongs. The banner over the Shulamite proclaims the Lord’s ownership of his purchased possession, to which she gladly and wholeheartedly submits.

Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons [H809], comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

Spiritually, bread, strong meat and wine are all necessary for growth. Wine in flagons is especially used for festive occasions, as did David celebrating the return of the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem. Often flagons are associated with raisin or date cakes that are condensed by being pressed. The high fructose content in the cakes preserves them for long distant travel without deterioration and, as does honey, provides the body with instant energy and a spiritually bright mind (1Sa 14:27 – Jonathan dipped his lance or rod’s end in honey and ate).

2Sa 6:19 And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, [wheaten bread] and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon [H809] of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house.

The Bride is resting upon her Lord with the typically bright and unbridled enthusiasm of a beautiful young woman that is likewise intoxicating to the Groom ~ they are sick with love.

Christ’s first miracle was to convert water into wine (Joh 2:1-11), and the occasion was a wedding feast that in the flesh directly points to the anticipated wedding banquet in the Song of Solomon and, spiritually, the marriage of the Lamb.

Mat 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

For the Bride, the fiery wrath of God is gone, and the paradox of wine’s positive meaning merges with the festivities.

Wine (H3631 – fiery wine of God’s wrath; and effervesce – bubbly)

For the last part of verse 5, Strong’s derivative of the meaning of apples is H5301 and the Hebrew word:

The Shulamite and her Lord are in a loving embrace, and the breath of his life-giving word is breathing on her and she on him as they exchange His word with kisses that are better than wine. She says:

Son 2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

The spirit they now share was in the flesh, a type of downpayment the Lord gave Adam’s physical life and now the Bride of Christ, is one spirit in Him which He figuratively breathed into her in a consummative embrace. In that physical position of an enflamed loving embrace, her Lord breathes the spiritual breath of life that a deer (roe, hart or hind) she typifies and pants (H6165 – to long for; pant after) for the full measure of His spirit. Her panting labour pains and memories of bringing forth the good fruit of His spirit are gone, and she is about to reap what her Lord has and is now sowing; the full measure of His spirit within her. In suspense, she is “sick of love”; the memories of her travails in the flesh will be gone with cries and panting of consummative joy.

Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed [H5301] into his nostrils the breath [H5397] of life; and man became a living soul.

The primary point in the following verse is that a travailing woman pants (panteth H6165 – 1. (Qal) to long for, pant after) in the positive for the joy her labours have concluded. Her Lord’s breath in the loving embrace is synonymous with breathing (“breathed”) and panting the breath of life in Adam and now her spiritually!

Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; [H3205 – 1. to bear, bring forth, beget, gender, travail a. (Qal) 1. to bear, bring forth. 1a b. of childbirth 1a c. of distress (simile) 1a] I will destroy and devour at once. 

Psa 42:1 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth [H6165] after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

The term “breath” (H5397) of life God gave Adam relates to Him having “Breathed” (H5301), the beginnings of his travail, and relates to the “spirit” (H7307) and soul in man to bring forth the New Adam

Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, [H7307] to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Isa 57:16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls [H5397 – 1. breath, spirit a. breath (of God) b. breath (of man) c. every breathing thing d. spirit (of man)] which I have made. 

Zec 12:1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit [H7307] of man within him. 

The Bride and her Lord are one breath of the spirit of eternal life in each other’s embrace.

1Co 6:17 But he that is joined [G2853 – to glue together; join oneself to; cleave] unto the Lord is one spirit.

Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 

1Co 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 

Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Eph 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.

The final verse for this study finishes with the Shulamite’s internal soliloquy. She sternly commands her sisters of Old Jerusalem within to withstand their propensity to be like a deer, wild ass in their season or swift dromedary, that cannot resist a majestic stag or equivalent male’s rutting call. (Jer 2:23-24)

Son 2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. 

The roes of the field relate to the masculine as with the outward majestic glory of rams, stags and bucks (H6643) whose swollen (H6638) spiritually hedonistic ways match the equally libertine hind’s (H355 female; doe) lustful eyes. As with Rachel’s immense patience in waiting for Jacob, she does not allow her love to be fully aroused until her wedding day. Her elegantly and subtly expressed physique behind equally appealing dress points to her heart and not overtly to her breasts. With dreadfully deep sobriety, she internally reminds herself to focus on her Lord and not be cajoled by her sisters in Old Jerusalem to prematurely and sensually feast until her Lord pleases.

In previous Song of Solomon studies, female breasts elegantly dominate the initial arousal of feminine tenderness and the spiritual epicentre of a beautiful heart. She knows her sisters’ love in Babylon is polluted and symbolised haughtily by their exaggeratedly pushed-up (H7736 – swollen) breasts designed to catch the eye of attentive males. As the roes and bucks are likewise swollen in their self-righteous majesty, so are the hind’s hearts sensationally depicted by breasts defiantly taking centre stage and immediately awakening concupiscent love. Both parties become the waste of rotten fruit.

The accompanying verse speaks of Israel’s unfaithfulness and her heart symbolically portrayed by impudently exaggerated breasts:

Hos 2:2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts. [H7699]

There is a stark contrast between the Shulamite sisters of Old Jerusalem’s heart displayed by the spiritual scent of their arousals between their breasts, compared to the Bride’s holy heart anointed with the glorious scent of pure myrrh.

Son 1:13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. 

The Bride is not conceited for the honour her Lord has bestowed on her; the King says,

Psa 45:8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. 
Psa 45:9 Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

The Bride has left her father and mother and will devotedly cleave to her husband.

Psa 45:10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; 
Psa 45:11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.

The next verse reminds us of Babylonian Christianity, which says they are Jews but do lie and shall bow down before her.

Psa 45:12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour. 
Psa 45:13 The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. 
Psa 45:14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 
Psa 45:15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace. 
Psa 45:16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
Psa 45:17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.

In remembering the Eighth-day, with those verses indelibly written in her heart, she, with quickened breath, painfully (“sick of love”) yet gladly restrains her arousal until He pleases.

At the Lord’s hand, next week we will review Song of Solomon 2:8-17.

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Song of Solomon, Part 3 – Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

Son 1:8-17 Former Vulgarity Overshadowed by Pure Love

[Study Aired November 12, 2022]

Continuing from the previous study where the Bride confesses her love for her Bridegroom and, in all humility, internally asks her Lord why she should be chosen from among her seemingly equally outwardly beautiful sisters. We have seen that while the Shulamite is undoubtedly physically beautiful, that beauty in the natural points to the more outstanding spiritual beauty our Lord desires in his anointed Bride. The following verse classically notes what the Lord looks for in his Church, his Bride when Samuel went to Jesse’s sons with the inspired prerequisite for selecting the new King of Israel. David, a keeper of his Father’s flock, was finally selected; however, he was also blessed with manly good looks (1Sam 17:42) that reflected his inner righteousness. 

1Sa 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him [Saul]: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

1Sa 16:12 And he sent, and brought him [David] in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.

The unusual disparity between a fair and ruddy complexion is that the Shulamite’s husband had bushy black hair. If Solomon had a ruddy and white complexion with bushy black hair, he would certainly have been an unusually outstanding-looking man. Since Solomon was David’s son through David’s acquired wife, Bathsheba, there is every chance that Solomon is likewise ruddy and of a fair countenance, as is spiritually reflected by a Nazarite’s spiritual countenance (not that Solomon was a Nazarite).

Nazarites were not a tribe but certain people set apart by the Lord and dedicated to keeping the laws of God supposedly more perfectly than the nation of Israel and for their example. They are a shadow of the Bride of Christ who has his spirit and, by the Lord’s hand, can keep his laws without a Nazarite-like vow that relies on the works of the flesh for righteousness.

Lam 4:7 Her [Israel’s priests expected majesty] Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in Body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: 

1Sa 17:42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

Son 5:10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. As was Joseph “chiefest” over his ten brothers.

As frequently expressed in the Body of Christ, the word of God is not always discerned by what it says, rather by what it means. That fact was highlighted in the previous studies trying to identify the Shulamite’s ethnicity. The seeming discrepancies between ethnicity and the known physical appearance of the principal figures are expressly designed to point to their spiritual applications. From those standpoints of seeming scriptural disagreements, the poetry and shadows of subjects in the SoS are more easily understood by their spiritual applications.

At the Lord’s hand, we now expect his spirit to further discern the meanings of Solomon and his Bride’s expressions of captivation in the other’s Body spiritually.

Son 1:8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.
Son 1:9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots. 
Son 1:10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. 
Son 1:11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver. 
Son 1:12 While the King sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. 
Son 1:13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
Son 1:14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi. 
Son 1:15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes. 
Son 1:16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green. 
Son 1:17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir. 

We live in a world of high contrasts. The more profound the contrast, the greater the impact on our minds for the Lord’s designed purpose. We are always reminded that he designed the natural to precede the spiritual. His creation graphically highlights black and white, night and day, ugliness and beauty, bitter and sweet, divorce and remarriage, Satan and Christ and death and life, to name a few prominent examples.

The Lord made all things ugly or beautiful for His purpose of juxtaposing the flesh to dramatically highlight the spiritual. To humanity’s, and a particular individual’s, immense hurt there is a broad consensus with what is generally considered a beautiful human specimen. Regardless of moral character, men are more instantly taken by the visual account of a woman. For the Bride of Christ, the Shulamite has been given eyes that spiritually see, her flesh that served a particular beauty and purpose in its time, that she is delighted to put behind its ugliness. That fact is written in her aroused eyes ~ she is about to move from the ugliness of flesh to the full measure of spiritual beauty.

Ecc 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 

An ugliness of flesh that shocks us to tears which is hard to see as “beautiful in his time” is the story of the sons of Belial, their abuse to death of the Levite’s concubine he considered a daughter in Judges 19. 

The universal criteria that instantly arouse a man’s interest in a particular woman’s appearance are indelibly written in the individual male’s genes. Of course, from that generic imagery, the difference between what constitutes attraction for the individual male and ethnically varies greatly ~ just as well since if there were a standard criterion of attraction, few people would marry. 

The greater the distance a male is from the Lord’s character, the more corrupt his imaginations are for what constitutes beauty for a prospective female. The similarly dissolute females are only too happy to accommodate the ‘market’ available for the mindset of her self-worth. Nonetheless, the Lord attracted men intensely to women. For the more discerning male eye, a woman’s subtle femininity is just as arousing as the bolder male taste for accentuated feminine qualities of the libertine extreme. Our sister Jezebel is a prime example of our former spiritual nature. Jezebel’s negative and outward appearance reflects her filth within, as did Queen Vashti’s self-elevation of importance. Those two women classically highlight the natural that comes before the spiritual and rule over their husbands compared to the positive submissive examples of Esther and the Shulamite.

2Ki 9:30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired [H3190 – made her entire head as alluring as possible] her head, and looked out at a window.

With Jezebel’s intimate knowledge of how men’s hearts operate, she arrogantly considered that she could use her well-practised perverted feminine wiles on any man, but not a righteous servant of the Lord as was Jehu, who knew Jezebel’s spiritually filthy heart and had her killed. In us, anytime the nature of Jezebel and Queen Vashti desecrates the word of God, we put her to death. Unlike Vashti, the Shulamite delights in honouring her Husband and his delight in her beauty that, for the moment, her God-given glory is hidden from her ten brothers in Babylon.

Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 

Ahasuerus, (H325 – Phonetic: akh-ash-vay-rosh’) King of Persia, whose name means ‘I will be silent and poor’, similar to King Solomon and all men, loved beautiful women. Ahasuerus had finally had enough of having his wife, Queen Vashti, rule over him, effectively making him “silent and poor” in leadership to her. He acquired a more beautiful wife as queen. Like Solomon’s Shulamite, his selection of Esther and her submissive beauty further highlighted her already stunning outward beauty, reflecting her inner qualities.

Est 2:12 Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to King Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;) 

For the Bride of Christ, the hastily applied outlandish beauty of Jezebel takes but a moment by her hand to apply compared to the King’s symbolically required twelve months of spiritually given beauty. The number twelve represents Christ and the foundational completion of his Bride’s spiritual and incorruptible beauty. She is chosen as fairest among her sisters and is foundational to Solomon’s and his Bride’s expression of delight in each other.

In the conclusion of the previous study, the Bride seems abashed as to why she has been selected from among the most beautiful women in Israel. The Shulamite’s self-effacing yet rhetorical question her spirit knows, yet her chaste nature remains amazed as to why she is chosen over her sisters.

Solomon answers by saying,

Son 1:8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents. 

Solomon answers the Bride as to why she is chosen and has been drafted from her sisters; all she needs to do is remember that she once followed the footsteps of Babylonian Christianity with her inward flock indistinguishable from her sister’s deceived sheep. At that time, she didn’t know that her sheep were goats (kids), depicting Babylon’s lies. While feeding her flock beside the tents, the churches of Babylon, she heard the strange voice of her sister’s shepherds in their churches, depicted as tents (temporary dwellings). Today, she remembers that she, too, is the Lord’s goat. She remembers having filled up that which is behind the afflictions of Christ in her flesh for the Body’s sake; and her sister’s sake, who are yet to be saved. She sees the stark spiritual difference between sheep and goats and is in no doubt why Solomon, who represents Christ, chose her as his Bride.

Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 

Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (see Mat 25:31-46)

Solomon goes on for the entirety of the Book expressing his delight in every feature of her body that, unwitting to them both, represents a spiritual quality of her mind. (Mat 13:16)

Son 1:9  I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots. 

A company of horses symbolises power and, specifically, our trust in the world’s wisdom and the works of the flesh magnified by them majestically drawing Pharoah’s chariots. Runners went well ahead of Pharoah’s chariot and called to the people in the streets and fields to prepare to bow to the ground to the majesty of their lord and god as he passed by. The Shulamite being compared with the Pharoah’s horses is the spiritual positive of Christ’s strength and command over all her brothers in spiritual Israel. She is second in headship under Christ.

Gen 41:39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: 
Gen 41:40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. 
Gen 41:41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
Gen 41:43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. 
Gen 41:44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

We don’t know why Solomon seems subservient to Pharaoh by using him as an equivalent majesty to himself; maybe because Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he married, and his many other wives debased his inner stateliness. Quite likely, and since he was the wisest man to have ever lived, his humility didn’t shame him into acquainting himself with Pharoah, who ironically has been a shadow of Christ even as he. The Bride’s spiritual understanding is that she is second in the Kingdom under Christ.

Son 1:10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.

The Bride of Christ is second unto Him, and he receives her comely cheeks as his portion of the sacrifice she had filled up behind the same afflictions as he in the spirit. She is her Lord’s inheritance, and he is hers.

Deu 18:1 The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance. 
Deu 18:2 Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. 
Deu 18:3 And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw [the stomach].

Every feature of the Bride’s physical body has been a perfect and comely sacrifice dedicated to her Lord for his spiritual delight.

Eastern cultural dress today, typified by Arab, Turkish and Persians, is a carry-over of ancient times and undoubtedly influenced by Solomon’s grandeur. By changeable Western standards, a bride decked with jewels on her cheeks is more often too ornate, yet, in the Song of Solomon, they depict the Lord’s “fair jewels” he has given her. Jezebel, one of the Shulamite’s archrivals of ourselves, is definitive of having pimped the Lord’s word with her harlotry in the 40,000 plus Christian denominations, having stolen the Lord’s fair jewels.

When the Shulamite fed her flock beside the shepherd’s tents, she heard the voices of the shepherds of magic arts; she recalled her rapidly disappearing former whoredoms when she once haughtily disregarded her Lord’s courtship and gifts of fine clothing and jewels and made them her righteousness’s.

Eze 16:10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. 
Eze 16:11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. 
Eze 16:12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. 
Eze 16:13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. 
Eze 16:14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 16:15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. 
Eze 16:16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, [like Jezebel] and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 
Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Eze 16:18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. 
Eze 16:19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD. 
Eze 16:20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter.

Chains of pure gold are strongly featured in the original Tabernacle of the Lord and the Priest’s garments. One chain denotes the Bride’s unity in her Lord and God. Chains bind us to the altar that is Christ and his pure instructions that the Church does not forsake. Conversely, chains in Babylon unwittingly bind its subjects in darkness.

Son 4:9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 

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. 

Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Continuing…

Son 1:11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver. 

Hag 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. 

The Lord’s borders denote the sharp contrast between good and evil; the borders of our land within we do not cross over to exchange our neighbour’s spiritual filth with the Lord’s righteousness. Neither can those who serve the Tabernacle see, let alone touch, the borders of Christ’s spiritual garment, for it is not their time to be healed. (Luke 8:44)

Exo 19:12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, [Christ] or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: 
Exo 19:13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. 

Silver’s positive application is atonement and redemption, and the root of the Hebrew word for silver is “kasaph”, meaning a very strong desire. Just as the Lord had an intense desire to eat of the Passover and drink the cup with his disciples, so, too, does Solomon and his Bride strongly desire consummation. Just as “We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver”, we have participated in pouring out his blood upon the ground and, together with him, hungrily desire to eat at his table. Luk 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire [G1939 –  desire, craving, longing], I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 

The Great Whore within has taken the Lord’s fair jewels. She twists her craving for the Lord’s silver and makes it her mammon. It becomes the love of her righteousness and, thus, the root of all evil.

Ecc 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

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

Continuing…

Son 1:12 While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. 
Son 1:13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. 
Son 1:14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.

(Engedi means – “the front of the kid and town in the wilderness of Judah on the western shore of the dead sea”. As is the custom of most shepherds, just maybe camphire was hung around an orphaned kid’s neck to confuse its particular scent with her biological kid so that she would suckle the orphan; not that the Shulamite and Solomon were in any way confused as is Babylon)

Every young man with a racing heart remembers his first experience of a pretty girl’s touch and delicate kiss. Various scents and aromas combined with any exaggerated sensory arousals indelibly etch the memory of the occasion forever. The above verses, spikenard, myrrh and camphire, have elegant scents like the hint of a beautiful perfume on an evening summer breeze that triggers one’s memory of wonderful occasions. It seems anathema to mention the negative that quite likely, Jezebel, in keeping with her ‘strange’ woman ways, we’d expect a more exaggerated scent to arouse a more lewd lust that always ends in a spiritual death. To the Babylonians, the beautiful scent is indistinguishable as it is bitter and sweet to them.

Pro 7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 

Frankincense, mentioned later in the Song of Solomon (Son 4:14) when offered with the shewbread on the table of the Lord in Old Covenant times, spiritually represents the word of the Lord and the elect. Frankincense and myrrh particularly have the most delightful scent, and the prayers of the elect are signified by the frankincense.

Myrrh from the Hebrew (H4753) is an Arabian gum from the bark of a tree, used in sacred oil and perfume. Interestingly, the origin of its name (H4843) means,

– Original: מרר
– Transliteration: Marar
– Phonetic: maw-rar’
– Definition:
to be bitter
(Qal)
to be bitter
(Piel)
to show bitterness
to make bitter
(Hiphil)
to make bitter, embitter
(Hithpalpel)
to embitter oneself
to be enraged
(TWOT) to be strong, strengthen

That sweet aroma directly associated with taste is bitter when we remember John’s vision of what was to become of Israel and all of humanity. Similarly, for the Saints having learned to walk up and down in the fiery coals (Eze 28:11-19) of dying daily, all bitterness is gone when the Shulamite is vividly aroused by the aggregate of different scents. She and her Groom luxuriate in its physical delights as we do spiritually.

Rev 10:8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 
Rev 10:9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 
Rev 10:10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. 

With the blissful knowledge of imminently being changed from corrupted flesh to spirit, the imagined peace of having her beloved lay all night between her breasts “as a bag of myrrh” (BBE) makes more social sense since the grooms head temporarily between her breasts to both parties is a sensory pleasure, yet uncomfortably, not “all night”. As such, the focus is on her beloved being like the delightful scent of myrrh, as was Christ upon his birth and death.

Mat 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Joh 19:38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 
Joh 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 
Joh 19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 

The Shulamite is astonished yet in blissful peace for the Is, Was and Will Be of her life as her beloved in her heart is “all night betwixt my breasts” as the apple of his eye from beginning to end; from her birth to the death of her old man within and forthcoming eternal life.

Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 
Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 

Women’s breasts are deliberately designed to highlight the overall shape of delightful femininity. In keeping with the previous study’s theme that “arousal comes before desire”, breasts are a magnificent creation for many shadows of the spiritual. Breasts in humans, when compared to the other beasts of the field, are always prominent. Animals’ mammary glands only enlarge towards the end of gestation, and conception mostly happens once or maybe twice a year. Besides some human-like ape beasts, humans enjoy sexual activity regardless of a pre-programmed timeframe. Breasts are covertly enjoyably unavoidable in a hug or overtly with marital pleasures. A woman’s breasts are the external generative center of her deepest emotions and are exceedingly connected to her heart, stomach and subsequent biologically lower arousals. Men, as a shadow of Christ, love the authentic and righteous ways of his beautiful wife’s nature to frequently lead with her emotions that are directly associated with those organs ~ the collective of her femininity makes her so damned (as she was for Adam) alluring, and he (if not careful) easily ruled and she, idolised.

“Bowels of compassion” (Joh 3:17) that generate love for another are probably only human peculiarities. Culturally lounging on another male’s breast is likewise a deeply held devotion of love for another man as John had with Jesus. Only wild animals (and Babylonians) gnaw on their kin without compassion. (Gal 5:14,15)

Joh 13:23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 

Gen 43:30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. 

The bruising of breasts, particularly the areola, denotes pregnancy and our previous harlot ways depicted by Oholah and Oholibah.

Eze 23:8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her. 

Regarding Son 1:4, a cluster of camphire, though used as a pleasant odour, at least in modern times, is an effective insect repellent and could well have been used in the vineyards for that purpose, particularly the suggestion of its volume as with the term, cluster. I’m sure the different scents Solomon and the Shulamite used were apart for their individual and distinct purposes.

Son 1:15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes. 
Son 1:16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green. 
Son 1:17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir. 

If anyone has closely observed some dove’s eyes, the Lord designed them to be particularly comely, even doe-like, quite mesmerising. A young woman’s dynamics and inner beauty are in her eyes and, when authentically devoted to her man, are, for him, particularly arousing.

All young women are beautiful. Even the less classically beautiful girls have some distinctly redeeming feature that deeply attracts a particular male. Strangely, a girl’s turned foot or misaligned tooth for a particular and attentive male’s eye can be an unconscious trigger of attraction for him ~ something he wouldn’t have any other way. Like Christ, the Bride to the world is dead, stinks, and has no outward or inward comeliness, whose beauty is only seen by spiritual eyes. (Col 3:3)

In the negative, and as we noted earlier, there is no doubt Jezebel’s well-practised spell-binding deception she hoped would sway Jehu was written on her face, and particularly her eyes.

Pro 6:23  For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 
Pro 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. 
Pro 6:25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. 
Pro 6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. 

Son 1:16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green [H1266].

The Hebrew for Green is H1266 and means – to be or grow luxuriant or fresh or green adj 
luxuriant, fresh.
Green H7488 
– Original: רענן
– Transliteration: Ra`anan
– Phonetic: rah-an-awn’
– Definition: v 
(Palel) to be or grow luxuriant or fresh or green adj
luxuriant, fresh

The colour of the Shulamite’s bed, green, signifies the inevitable fruit of her womb and the righteous fruit of the Saints. The positive of green is our new man’s season and signifies our spiritual growth and flourishing in the spirit, being well-watered or nourished by the word of the living water of continual growth in the spirit until he is perfected on the symbolic 3rd day. All positive green things in the spirit are well watered by our lord and will grow even in dry places.

Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psa 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psa 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The colour green in the negative and its sickly yellowish-green signifies our carnal growing and flourishing in the strength of flesh being well-watered or nourished by the physical miracles, healings, and being filled with loaves (food that perishes). This is our old man’s season of continual growth in the strength of his flesh until he is ripe (his wickedness is great). All green (flourishing and well-nourished in the flesh) will be dried up and burned by the word because it has no root when it thinks it is rich and increased with spiritual goods when he is unwittingly eating herbs.

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 

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.

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 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 [H5515] grass was burnt up.

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 [H3418] herb for meat: and it was so. 

The Shulamite knows full well that her house is built by her Lord, the one she is about to make love to, and He is her Temple’s foundation. She imagines her delight in him resting all night betwixt her breasts; such is her utter peace in whom she is about to marry since He is her all in all. 

Son 1:17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir. 

Pro 24:27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. 

Psa 127:1 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 

The Shulamite is a living sacrifice before her Lord

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

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.

Heb 9:23 Then it was needful for the figures of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these. 

This concludes Chapter 1 of the Song of Solomon.

]]> Song of Solomon – Part 2, The Bride Confesses Her Love https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/song-of-solomon-part-2-the-bride-confesses-her-love/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=song-of-solomon-part-2-the-bride-confesses-her-love Sun, 06 Nov 2022 02:34:07 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=26555 Audio Download

Song of Solomon – Part 2, The Bride Confesses Her Love

‘Defrauding Christ’s Spiritual Conjugal Rights is Denying Him ~ Invalidating Marriage.’

[Study Aired November 5, 2022]

Song of Solomon 1:2-7

In this study, Part 2 of the Song of Solomon, we continue with the Shulamite’s implicit, inherent conviction by experience that through kisses, arousal comes before desire and is the ointment that cures spiritual dispassion.

We are reminded that the lengthy introductions and this part in the Song of Solomon are justifiable to understand the Bride’s six thousand years of spiritual preparations for marriage to understand her intimate expressions.

For the Bride, the Song of Solomon is the culmination of her daily struggles from dying to the flesh. Women in biblical times rarely had a say in who they married, for example Solomon’s 1,000 women who did not choose to marry him.

Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 
Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

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.

Likewise, the Shulamite never had a say; however, her astonished understanding of her Lord’s intentions makes her unequivocally gladly chosen by Him. Her passion for arousal and their consummation is the fruit of her learning from life-long struggles, and her joy for its finality is approaching its zenith. Upon marrying her Lord, they are perfectly “one” spirit of all understanding; the dust she was has done its job and is behind her. At her Lord’s hand, what remains is saving her brothers and sisters ~ but first, her focus in the Song of Solomon is solely on marital consummation! At this point, all chastisement for her (the Church) is done. The Song of Solomon is her grateful expression and affirmations of truth for doctrinal understanding finalised in marital consummation and not necessarily for previously unseen theological enlightenment ~ the Bride, dressed in fine white linen, is unconditionally accepted by her Lord.

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 

The Song of Solomon is the end of her fiery struggles in dying daily. In an utter joyful submission to her Lord, she is given the expression of erotic purity we see spiritually that the world breathlessly debauched for six thousand years and could never satiate. 

Before resuming the Song of Solomon, I wish to briefly share a first-hand example of arousal before desire and expected spiritual consummation.

I’m sure every one of the Lord’s teachers feels tired and a little overwhelmed after work. He (She – a joint of the Bride) struggles to excite a spiritual ‘conjugal’ desire to reactivate his passion for picking up where he left off in developing his already late bible study draft. My experience is that my ‘marital’ obligation is, as the Shulamite implicitly knew, to begin being kissed by the word of God. I find that the fine wine of truth from the Lord’s mouth arouses a Shulamite-like awakening. The Lord’s spiritual passion increasingly wells within and ravishes my heart to desire more! ~ I’m bright-eyed as His word caresses my mind in a wonderful foreplay of spiritual enlightenment. The Lord’s “good ointment” cures my naturally feminine sluggish desire by first being aroused. Arousal increases the desire to be further aroused by a cascade of exciting spiritual truth. 

The Woman’s (the Body’s) post-study discussion almost always consummates with its members exclaiming by their exciting spiritual discoveries, unwittingly, that the ‘earth moved’ for them. As with “the natural”, some studies don’t outstandingly climax, yet, the Woman contentedly drifts into a peaceful afterglow in her God-given assurance of future arousals. Never again does she withhold her body from her husband or need consent for fasting and prayer since she is at one in Him in eternity with her enemies within under her feet. Fornication and defrauding her Lord of his conjugal rights is thinking above what is written she deletes from her mind, which is significantly why she is the Bride.

Let’s continue to be aroused to desire more of the Lord’s phenomenal truth that gives eternal life and “is better than wine.”

Following are the translator’s or Solomon’s orders of books. The original manuscripts were never broken into chapters and verses in the time of scriptural writings. The seeming chaotic disorder is compliant with a fiancée’s romantic dreaming.

The Bride Confesses Her Love
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
The Bride Adores Her Beloved
The Bride’s Dream
Solomon Arrives for the Wedding
Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty
Together in the Garden of Love
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
The Bride Praises Her Beloved
Together in the Garden of Love
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
The Bride Gives Her Love
Longing for Her Beloved
Final Advice

The verses we are studying are Song of Solomon 1:3-7.

Son 1:3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. 
Son 1:4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. 
Son 1:5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 
Son 1:6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
Son 1:7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

In Song of Solomon 1:3, her Lord’s savour [H7381 ~ scent; fragrance; aroma; odour and derivative of H7306 – understanding] from his kisses of good ointments is an arousing balm compared to the torture of trying to keep the Law under the Old Covenant, especially today when we understand that nobody will be burning in a literal fiery hell forever.

The Hebrew for “ointment” is H8081.

Ointment’s most significant representation and meaning refer to oil and figures 165 times, primarily representing God’s word by the holy spirit. The more aroused we are for the holy anointing of the Lord’s word whose ways in which we are to walk, the more “oil” we have in our lamps that light the way.

Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 
Mat 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 
Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 
Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 
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. 
Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 
Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

Christ’s blood was poured forth as a drink offering and sweet savour “as an ointment poured forth”. With that understanding of the entirety of our Lord’s sacrifice and what he has planned for his Bride, the collective “virgins”, the Christs are aroused with immense desire and devotion, which is why they, “the virgins [plural] love thee”. 

In the next verse, 4, see how after we are individually aroused by the knowledge of our Lord’s word, “we” as the collective members of the Bride are past being dragged; they desire to run after Him and gladly rejoice in the Temple’s innermost sanctuary remembering that the heavenly gift of His love is better than wine. The collective Bride is the upright “we” who loves Christ.

Verses 5 and 6 seemingly continue confusing the identity of the Shulamite; however, our Lord is not interested in the world’s physical ethnicity; he is ultimately only interested in spiritual ethnicity.

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

No matter what skin tone the Shulamite has, it is of no consequence since all people on the eighth day will ultimately be one spirit in God.

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 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Continuing in the Song of Solomon:

Son 1:5 I am black, [H7838 – black]  but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 
Son 1:6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

It is well established that the Shulamite’s name and ethnicity are indistinct and not critical to our learning. Her mysterious origins and convoluted shadows of her identity are confusing. What matters is that she is the shadow of spiritual majesty among the 700 wives of royal birth depicting the completion of judgement and 300 concubines for completing that process of judgment comprising the number 10 and the completeness of the power of corruptible dying flesh. That perdition is for the entirety of Solomon’s wives representing Israel in the wilderness, including its vast mixed multitude (Exo 12:38) coming out of Egypt, and subsequently Babylonian, the world, in the Lake of Fire.

Solomon’s wives were of many ethnicities – Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites of nations the Lord commanded Israel to not take wives. The most notable wife was “Pharaoh’s daughter”. She would account for the Shulamite’s feasible colour, possibly black, since coppery-toned Egyptian skin would tan darker in the sun; still, we can’t identify her ethnicity.

1Ki 11:1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; 

1Ki 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.

It is obvious, especially to Solomon, that young women of any ethnicity can be outstandingly beautiful; what matters to God is the beauty of their hearts, not their outward appearance.

Most notably, Moses saw the stunning beauty of Ethiopian women ~ one cannot help but think since Moses was particularly good-looking (“exceedingly fair” ~ normally not meaning fair-skinned – Act 7:20,21) and he married an Ethiopian, there was potential startling elegance in his children. It is strange for the Shulamite to say that she is black but comely, as if being ethnically black isn’t comely. Since the Shulamite was scorched by the sun, her skin tone was no doubt more “dusky” as noted for the Hebrew for ‘black’ in the KJV Pro 7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black [H380] and dark night: 

The Lord does not make a physical distinction of one ethnicity having greater superiority over another by the seeming inequality of the Shulamite being “black but comely”.

Interestingly, the word “but” doesn’t feature in the original Hebrew text, as noted in the Hebrew Interlinear Bible.

The YLT has the translation in keeping with the original Hebrew:

Son 1:5 Dark am I, and comely, daughters of Jerusalem, As tents of Kedar, as curtains of Solomon.(YLT)

The Shulamite familiarly associating herself “as” the tents of Kedar would add credence to the possibility that she is Egyptian and maybe Pharaoh’s daughter since Kedar was the habitation of the Ismaelites, Abraham’s first son born to the Egyptian, Hagar, the bondwoman. The Shulamite is both black/dusky and comely “as” the tents of Kedar and Solomon’s curtains. However, the colour of any curtains in Solomon’s Temple or his palace is not mentioned in scripture and is assumed to be black.

There are several potential connections as to why the Shulamite is, or associates herself with, “black”. The negative of black in scripture relates to sickness, disease, plague, blindness, foreboding and death (Lev 13:31).

In the previous study, we saw that the name ShulamiteH7759 means “the perfect or the peaceful” and is the derivative of H7999. Jerusalem likewise means city of peace, and since the Shulamite regards herself as “black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem”, she can be prophetically referring to the imminent famine, disease, destruction and death of the beautiful comely city of peace; its physical distinction peaked in Solomon’s time. Of course, and for us, it is the blackness and destruction of our Old Man Jerusalem below and the creation of the New Man, the Heavenly Jerusalem above clothed in pure white linen.

The Bride’s “oil”, the Lord’s spirit within, is never “hurt” since she shall soon see that she is the apple of her Lord’s eye.

Rev 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 
Rev 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. 

A positive connection with the Shulamite linking herself with “black; as the curtains of Solomon” and the name Solomon [H8010] and its definition of “peaceful” and H7965  bonds them both as one in “completeness; soundness; welfare; safety; health; prosperity; quiet; contentment and covenant with God” as does the name Jerusalem.

The Shulamite stating that she is black can be aligned with the casting off of her dead old man within, indirectly juxtaposing her spiritual comeliness. The Ishmaelites, like the Egyptians who pursued Israel out of Egypt, had their minds darkened, even pitch black as the tents of Kedar and Solomon’s curtains. 

Upon Moses lifting up his rod and parting the Red Sea to deliver the Israelites to the east bank, utter darkness shadowed by the pillar of cloud pervaded the Egyptian camp. Still, to the Israelites, a pillar of fire lit their way.

Christ is the cloud of blackness and the midday son of righteousness that has shaded her for endurance, hidden her from her enemies, lit up her way and burnt up her previously uncircumcised heart. The blackness of chastising grace resulting in her comeliness, mentioned five times in the Song of Solomon, is the symbol of the past trials of her faith that to God is as gold refined in the fire. Her Lord will not give her glory to her Babylonian sisters who claim Christ’s name.

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.

Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Job 30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 

Isa 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Isa 48:11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

The most profound positive connection and application of the Shulamite considering herself black can be coupled to the following verses and particularly the definition of “apple” and two separate Hebrew connections with the same meaning:

Psa 17:8 Keep me as the apple [H380] of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.

Zec 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple [H892] of his eye.

Apple H892
– Original: בּבה
– Transliteration: Babah
– Phonetic: baw-baw’
– Definition: 

the apple (pupil) of the eye; (hollow out)
– Origin:

Zec 2:9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me. 
Zec 2:10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. 
Zec 2:11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 
Zec 2:12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. 
Zec 2:13 Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

The Shulamite clearly is the apple, the pupil or black centre of Solomon’s eye of delight for her, and her eye for him, as is the Bride of Christ on him and he on her. The somewhat morbid connecting definition of “hollow” further substantiates the connection for the sensitivity and centrality of devotion when the eyeball (the “apple”) is set biologically in its hollow in the skull. Anything touching the eye’s pupil causes an instant reflex to protect the vital organ, and anyone touching the Bride, the Lord’s eye, touches him with deadly consequences for even seeing her holiness of Christ.

Num 4:18  Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites [descendants of Korah; figuratively the Bride’s Babylonian sisters] from among the Levites: 
Num 4:19 But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons [the Bride] shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden: 
Num 4:20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

We know that singleness of mind, depicted by “one” eye and “one” chain that in freedom bonds the Bride to Christ, compared to the chains that formally yoked her to the cooperative of Babylon.

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.

Son 4:9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

Eze 19:9  And they put him [Israel] in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

The Shulamite is figuratively Zion even with her sisters Israel and dwells with the daughter of Babylon, collectively taking on the name Babylon. She effectively is Judah, a spiritual Jew our Lord chose as the apple of his eye. She was called out by her Babylonian sisters and made into his personal new Jerusalem and habitation.

Continuing with the rest of verse 6, the Shulamite seems to plead kindness from her mother’s angry children. They depict the angry and jealous ten tribes of Leah’s children, Joseph’s brothers, who sold him into Egypt since Joseph was the favoured one of his father, Jacob.

As we know, Joseph represents the Bride of Christ who, under Christ, her husband, saves her brothers and sisters in the Lake of Fire.

Gen 37:3 Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. 
Gen 37:4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. 

Gen 45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 
Gen 45:6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 
Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 
Gen 45:9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:
Gen 45:10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 
Gen 45:11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.

The ending sentence of Song of Solomon 1:6 speaks of the Shulamite’s brothers and sisters making her keep other vineyards, possibly theirs, to the seeming detriment of her vineyard, where her painful trials produced remarkable blessings. She worked in the scorching sun of their Babylonian Christian vineyards. She was allegorically chastised black in the furnace of affliction through lack of spiritual understanding before bringing forth faith represented as fine gold.

Isa 13:11 And I will punish the world [first for the Bride] for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 
Isa 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

The Shulamite’s brothers and sisters made her attend their vineyards with the command, “… my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept”, is reminiscent of Christ reaping where he did not sow.

The Bride of Christ is well versed with her not having a say in her Lord’s choosing her as his Bride. She worked in the fiery furnace of affliction with her brothers and sisters in their vineyards while her Lord was attending to her vineyard within.

To help understand Shulamite’s statement of not keeping her vineyard in good order, we need to look at the end of the Song of Solomon. Solomon had a vineyard which he let out to keepers whom he required a return on his investment of 1,000 pieces of silver.

Son 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; [H1174 – meaning, Lord (possessor) of abundance; husband; and derivative H995 – the possessor of a multitude] he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

The number 1 is unity, and the collective of 1,000 (10x10x10) is the completeness of the flesh, the power of corruptible dying flesh, and ultimately the dying of Babylon. It affirms that the Shulamite has come out of her brothers and sisters in Babylon, their “mother’s children”, as Solomon’s “choice” wife among the 1,000 other women. Her vineyard is suggestively unpruned and in disarray, yet she knows that she is her Lord’s handiwork to complete her vineyard within.

Son 8:12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
Son 8:13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.
Son 8:14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

We shall leave examining the above verses in detail until the end of the Book of the Song of Solomon. In the meantime, the Shulamite’s vineyard, she says, is hers she compares to Solomon’s vineyards numbering 1,000. She and her Lord are one and a witness of two (two hundred) in each other since He dwells in her vineyard and harkens to His voice, which is why she is immensely spiritually aroused. Her brothers and sisters do not hear the voice of her shepherd. The completion of tending her vineyard is in her Lord’s hands; she is his workmanship and has no fear of what happens to her physical garden of her dying old man within.

Her 1,000 sisters of Babylon reap the fruit of their disobedience, and dance their whoredoms in their physical vineyard and unwittingly produce rotten fruit that they think is a fine wine, but are lies ~ Deu 28:39  Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 

Yet, the entire harem of Solomon’s 1.000 wives has lavishly indulged in the flesh of his abundance and drank from their vineyard of ‘vanities of vanities’ (Ecc 1:2-12). Remembering that Solomon was righteously betrothed to his wives, yet, in his old age, his many wives caused him to fornicate by turning his heart away from the Lord.

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

The Shulamite is given a jaw-dropping understanding of her predestination. She says ~ Son 1:7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? 

Remembering that in the previous verses, the Shulamite is passionately kissing her Lord and receiving his love that is better than wine ~ her teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up out of the wash (Son 4:2, 6:6) to feed on his righteousness and rest at noon peaceably in the fiery heat of blessed trials while retaining a breath as sweet as apples. (Son 7:8) Job’s wife, initially like he, couldn’t understand the nature of his fiery trials. 

Job 19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.

The Shulamite is likewise being entreated in her own body for her brother’s and sister’s sake yet to come out of Babylon.

While considering her sisters, who appear similarly beautiful, in all righteous humility, the Shulamite says, “… for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?” She effectively says, ‘why should I be the chosen lamb drafted aside from the other 1,000 sheep?’

The Shulamite today is given to know the answer to her humble question:

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:

Psa 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, 
Psa 17:9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. 

This concludes the study. At the Lord’s hand and next week, we will look upon the Bride’s beauty in verses 1:8–17.

]]> Exodus 20:1-26  The Ten Commandments https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/exodus-201-26-the-ten-commandments/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=exodus-201-26-the-ten-commandments Mon, 08 Aug 2022 19:42:38 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=26080 Audio Download

 

Exodus 20:1-26  The Ten Commandments

[Study Aired August 8, 2022]

Exo 20:1  And God spake all these words, saying, 
Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 
Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 
Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 
Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 
Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 
Exo 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 
Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 
Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 
Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 
Exo 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not kill. 
Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
Exo 20:15  Thou shalt not steal. 
Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 
Exo 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. 
Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 
Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 
Exo 20:20  And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 
Exo 20:21  And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
Exo 20:22  And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 
Exo 20:23  Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 
Exo 20:24  An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 
Exo 20:25  And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. 
Exo 20:26  Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

This session deals with the ten commandments given by the Lord to Moses and guidelines for building an altar to the Lord. As we have indicated in the previous study, the coming to Mount Sinai by the people of Israel was for the express purpose of meeting the Lord. Meeting the Lord means coming to know Him. In this dispensation, it is through His words that we come to know Him. The ten commandments, therefore, show us the very character and personality of God. The function of the ten commandments is the same as the purpose for which the tree of good and evil was planted in the middle of the garden of Eden – to come to know what sin is.

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

Rom 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Knowing sin is an integral part of the process of knowing Christ. Thus, the law of Moses, represented here by the ten commandments, is still applicable to us until we come to know that we are sinful. Once we come to know that we are the beast or sinful and cannot help ourselves, then the law has accomplished its work in us, and therefore we are no longer under the law as we begin to walk by faith. The law therefore become abolished for those in Christ who walk by faith. This is how Paul puts it:

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
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.

Rom 3:19  Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 
Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

In Romans 3:19, we are told that it is through the law that the world will be condemned before God. The ten commandments, which symbolize the law of Moses, is regarded as the ministration of death. This is because merely obeying the letter of the law of God does not lead to salvation. Anything that does not lead to salvation brings death.

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 
2Co 3:7  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 

Today’s study focuses on the spiritual interpretation of the ten commandments which was what our Lord Jesus was doing during the sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 when he raised the bar spiritually to bring us the law of Christ. In His role in bringing the law of Christ, Jesus Christ was a reformer.

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

The question that comes to mind is: “Did Jesus come to fulfil the law of Moses?” As we are aware, Jesus Christ intentionally broke some of the laws to show us the way to the new law of Christ which He brings. This means that He did not come to fulfill the letter of the law.  Our Lord Jesus came to fulfill the law of Christ, which is far superior to the law of Moses. His righteousness therefore is based on the law of Christ but not on the letter of the law of Moses.

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 
Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 
Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Exo 20:1  And God spake all these words, saying, 
Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

The Lord always wants us to know the role He is playing in our lives. He is the one who is taking us out of bondage to sin to come and serve Him acceptably. Verse 2 affirms to us that everything is done by the Lord and that we do not contribute anything to our salvation. It is when we come to know this that we find rest in Christ.

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 
Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 
Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 
Exo 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Here we are introduced to the first three of the ten commandments which concern our relationship with God. As Jesus stated, the whole of the laws and the prophets hinge on two commandments – loving the Lord with all thy hearts, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. If we are given to love the Lord, then we shall not have other gods before him, make any graven image or take the name of the Lord in vain.

Essentially, an idol can be anything that takes the place of God as the most important focus and priority in our life. In other words, anything that engages our focus more than our allegiance to God amounts to having other gods or creating a graven image. Whatever we treasure more than God, whatever drives our thoughts and actions, becomes an idol, and these idols dull our spiritual hearing and harden our hearts to things of God.

Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 
Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 
Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

We must remember that during Jesus’ days on earth, He, together with His disciples, broke the law of the sabbath. This is what He said regarding the sabbath day:

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.
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.

These verses therefore demonstrate that Jesus did not come to keep the letter of the law. Again, Jesus raised the bar spiritually to the law of Christ, by focusing on rest in God as He ceased from His own works. This is Jesus’ experience of observing the spiritual sabbath or resting in God:

Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

We also come to rest in Christ when we cease from our own works. This means that we come to see that it is the Lord who does the work in us, and therefore, we come to believe in Him that what He has started in us, He will bring to completion. That is how we are able to work the work of God while at the same time, we are resting in Him.

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, is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

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

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.

Exo 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Spiritually, our father here is Jesus Christ, and our mother is the church of the firstborn. We cannot honor Christ by disregarding the church of the elect, since the church is His body.

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

This commandment of honoring our father and mother shows us the way to fulfill the law of Christ. To honor Christ means to give Him the regard, respect, reverence, admiration, adoration, awe, praise, submission, and obedience which are due to Him. The essence of what it means to honor God is revealed to us in what Jesus called the first and greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” Honoring our mother means loving the brethren, and loving the brethren means obeying Christ.

1Jn 4:12  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not kill.
Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
Exo 20:15  Thou shalt not steal. 
Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 
Exo 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

As Jesus stated, the law of Moses hinges on two fundamental commandments – to love the Lord with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 
Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Verses 14 to 17 relate to loving our neighbor as ourselves. They show us how we are to deal with people. If we love our neighbor as ourselves, we shall not commit murder, commit adultery with our neighbor’s wife or husband, steal, bear false witness against our neighbor and covet our neighbor’s property. Now, what is insightful about these laws is that when Jesus came as a reformer, he changed these laws under the new priesthood after the order of Melchisedek. For example, regarding the law on murder in verse 13, Jesus changed the law as follows:

Mat 5:21  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 
Mat 5:23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 
Mat 5:24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 
Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Mat 5:26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Apostle John affirmed Jesus’ changing of the law by saying the following:

1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 
1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

What this means is that we have all been guilty of murder at a certain point in our lives as we hated our brothers and sisters. However, as John said, we have passed from death to life and therefore we show love instead of hate.

Regarding committing adultery in verse 14, Jesus shows us the changing of the law from the letter to the spirit of the New Covenant as He stated that to lust after a woman is the same as committing adultery with her. In other words, lusting after a woman has been raised to the level of adultery which we had all been guilty of until faith came.

Mat 5:27  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 
Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 
Mat 5:29  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

In a similar vein, stealing, bearing false witness against a neighbor and coveting what belongs to a neighbor have all been elevated to lying and having the desire to have what belongs to another. We must understand that just having a thought spring up in your mind of having what belongs to someone is not sin. The old man within us is always bringing up perverse thoughts in our daily walk with Christ. However, sin is conceived when these thoughts linger on persistently in our hearts and minds. That is when sin is conceived and gives birth to death.

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 
Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 
Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

What distinguishes between the Lord’s elect and the people of the world, including Babylon, is that the Lord’s elect are prepared to go through the fiery trials of life to possess the kingdom of God or to see the Lord. Our brothers and sisters in Babylon and the world at large are not prepared to go through any suffering. Our call to priesthood is from the furnace of His affliction.

Isa 48:10  Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

As we have indicated in the previous study, the thundering, the lightening, the noise of the trumpet and the mountain covered with smoke all signify the judgment of the Lord which is marked out for us.  However, many do not want to suffer for Christ’s sake as they have the mentality that Christ has already suffered for us and so life must be smooth and easy. As stated in verse 19, our suffering is what qualifies us to become a royal priesthood to God. The people talking to Moses to speak to them instead of the Lord shows how we have all in our time neglected our priesthood role until God in His mercy came to us.

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 2:7  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 
1Pe 2:8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 
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:

As indicated in verse 18, the voice of the trumpet is heard in the midst of the thundering, lightening and smoke. This voice of the trumpet is the voice of the Lord. What this means is that we are able to hear Him clearly as we go through His judgment.

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

Exo 20:20  And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

Our Lord’s coming to us is to prove us. In other words, His coming to us is to make us aware that there is nothing good in us and that of ourselves, we can do nothing. It is when we come to this realization and come to take hold of His salvation by resting in Him through His judgments that we come to know the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. This is what makes us righteous as we sin not.

Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. 

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.

Exo 20:21  And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

It is insightful to note that Moses went to where the Lord is, in the thick darkness. We have all failed the Lord at certain points of our walk when we doubted His presence with us when we went through the thick darkness of our lives. The truth of the word of the Lord is that both light and darkness are alike to Him. That is, He is with us in the difficult times of our lives and also in the sunshine part of our lives. This is what Paul means when he said that the Lord’s grace is sufficient for him. Since grace is Christ coming to us, His grace being sufficient means that Christ being with us is all that we need.

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Verse 21 also means that both good and evil accomplishes His purpose.

Psa 139:11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 
Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

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: 

Exo 20:22  And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 
Exo 20:23  Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.

The Lord assuring Moses of His communication with him from heaven is to make us aware that with the elect, He speaks to us face to face. In other words, He speaks to us plainly without a parable.

Num 12:6  And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. 
Num 12:7  My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
Num 12:8  With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

Mat 13:10  Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Mat 13:11  And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 

In verse 24, we are told that we are not to make gods of silver and gold. Gold and silver signify financial resources – money. From verses 23 and 24, we can deduce that we are to make access to the Lord unhindered by money and also avoid amassing wealth in the name of the Lord.

1Pe 5:2  Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 

Exo 20:24  An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.
Exo 20:25  And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. 
Exo 20:26  Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

An altar is a raised area in the house of worship where people can honor God with offerings. It is prominent in the Bible as “God’s table”, a sacred place for sacrifices and gifts to God. The altar therefore represents our bodies which we are to offer as a sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord. The fact that in verse 24, the altar is of the earth confirms our bodies as our altar.

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.

In verse 25, we are told that offering our bodies as an altar of living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord is not the work of man as indicated by the admonition not to use any tool in its construction, so that it does not get polluted. It is the Lord alone that does the work of building our bodies as living sacrifices to God.

Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Zec 4:7  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Grace here in Zechariah 4:7 is Christ coming with His judgment to do the work of building us as a living sacrifice to the Lord.

We are instructed in verse 26 that we should not raise the altar to a level where we will have to climb by steps as our nakedness will be exposed. Spiritually, we are being admonished not to be proud or exalted as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. This is because we bring nothing to the table and therefore, we have no basis to be proud. Being naked means being sinful. Thus, pride exposes the fact that our old man is still dominating us. This means that we are still struggling with sin.

Gal 6:3  if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 

Luk 14:11  For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 

Pro 29:23  A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

May we be granted the grace to love the Lord with all our hearts, soul, and mind as we live in this earthly tent. Amen!!

]]> Generating Enthusiasm for being in the Spirit for Study https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/generating-enthusiasm-for-being-in-the-spirit-for-study/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=generating-enthusiasm-for-being-in-the-spirit-for-study Wed, 29 Jun 2022 18:01:09 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=25892 Generating Enthusiasm for being in the Spirit for Study
[Study Aired June 29, 2022]

The short answer is that nobody can generate enthusiasm for Christ’s truth without the Lord providing curiosity and longing.

There are always two key women in the scriptures – the Whore and the Bride of Christ.

Without understanding “The Keys to the Kingdom” and all in the “Essential Reading” segment on the IWWB website, we will remain firmly entrenched in Babylon.

Hopefully, this study will amplify a heightened desire through a detailed inspection of every word’s types, symbols and shadows as the Song of Solomon colourfully and secretly expresses, as does the entire Bible.

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

Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Most certainly, Babylonian Christianity (the Whore outwardly) likewise has an intense curiosity; it ebbs and flows inconsistently and is driven by ignorant unrealistic fear and rulership by their Nicolaitan slave-masters. In addition, they breathlessly share and sell spiritual intimacies within the 46,000 splinter, Christian, harlot denominations; as we once did and now daily diligently seek to eradicate remnants of harlotry.

There is no escaping the fact that interest in the word of God has a deliberate and direct correlation with our physical marriages and sexual relationships. It is akin to the Babylonian Christians feeling obligated to attend church and is the same as us possibly feeling dispassionate for spiritual intimacies and skipping studies with the apathy of a harlot for her client (for us, it can be the dull eyes of Leah, the elder daughter, whom Jacob unwittingly married by Laban’s deceit). Likewise, if our physical marriages are sexually lack-lustre, they risk being a symbol of harlotry where indifference for physical or spiritual intimacy apathetically rules.

Traditionally, harlots have no intrigue and curiosity for authentic presence for spiritual unity with their customers. For her, time is of the essence; time is money or merely validation. Similarly, that detachment caused by ‘more important’ things can blight our delight in Christ.

The entire experience that the Body of Christ has been given is pure intimacy between the Bride and her fiancé, the Christ. She is already spiritually ravished by His word. Her God-given and increasing incontinence for His spiritual truths grows daily. Hence, He says, “I come quickly” since lovers waiting too long for physical marriage risk adultery by enthusiastically participating in the fullness of each other’s ardour. Likewise, Christ comes quickly to us since our intense spiritual intimacies quickly increase knowledge and understanding through spirit-discerning spirit. While dying daily, we are flushed with the glory and downpayment of His spirit of first love and the anticipation of marriage. Yet, we must wait patiently while the intensity of expectation increases seemingly to the breaking point.

Son 2:5 Sustain ye me with raisin-cakes, Refresh me with apples; For I am sick of love. (Darby)

Psa 62:5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

Our former and dissipating whore within was equally passionate for a different Jesus. What an earthquake to discover that we had been amorously following another Jesus for all of our lives! It is like being at school for a final exam. With no time to spare, you were proud of your answer, only to review the question, and you had it utterly back-to-front. What a miserable and devastating flood of inward wailing and howling emotions!

Mic 1:7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
Mic 1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

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

Mat 23:25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! [When we were whores and harlots] for you are cleansing the outside of the cup and the plate, yet inside they are brimming with rapacity and incontinence. [going over land and sea to make one proselyte a two-fold worse child of hell than themselves.] (CLV)

1Co 7:1 Now, concerning what you write to me: It is ideal for a man not to be touching a woman.”
1Co 7:2 Yet, because of prostitutions, let each man have a wife for himself and each woman have her own husband.” Spiritually speaking, we are to have ONE husband, the Christ and not the prostitutions with another Jesus.
1Co 7:3 Let the husband render to the wife her due, yet likewise the wife also to the husband.” [by the washing of the word of truth.]
1Co 7:4 The wife has not the jurisdiction of her own body, but the husband, yet likewise the husband also has not the jurisdiction of his own body, but the wife.”
1Co 7:5 Do not deprive one another, except sometime it should be by agreement for a period, that you should gave leisure for prayer, and you may be the same again, lest Satan may be trying you because of your incontinence.

Just as husbands and wives in a well-balanced marriage have curiosity and desire and specific incontinence for the mind and body of their mate, so, too, is the Body of Christ incontinent for His spiritual truth. Leisurely time through deep presence in the Word evokes profound ruminations that arouses a spouse to engage their mate.

Son 4:9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 

Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 

Pro 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

I expect that everyone here knows what it is like to be “sick of [with/in] love”. To become sick with love for God’s word requires diligent study of different Bible versions and related dictionaries with cross-referencing of the many instances of scriptures where a particular word or phrase has an order of frequency of use for a meaning. To a Babylonian it sounds tedious, and it is unless the Lord has given us righteous lust for his word.

There are 35 internationally recognized descriptions of wine tasting. Within each class, the vintner looks intently into each classification in his attempt to express the subtle flavours that he more often overstates in the hope of sales. It is an act of being intently present for the more exquisite and delicate flavours. Those qualities are identified, sometimes in more flowery and inspirational terms than I express, as a hint of chocolate, mild pepper, oak, rose and so forth. Unless we were inspired by the vintner to seek those flavors, we would most likely miss them. By being utterly immersed emotionally in the art, we extract a peculiar delight in the subject.

Similarly, we, too, look intently into the word of God for its underlying flavors of all truths without adding to the word of God, or diminishing His word, just as Solomon immersed himself in the delight of his Bride. That is being “present” in a thing.

[For your interest to characterise fine wine, the following link is excellent: https://www.wine-tastings-guide.com/wine-descriptions.html]

Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

For the sake of the exercise, following is a simple breakdown of that verse that most in the Body take for granted.

Continuing…

For brevity’s sake, I haven’t included the full KJV+TVM rendition for each word in Song of Solomon 2:5. Below is a more extensive example of “for I am sick”H2470. However, a detailed study of words arouses “presence”. It is like studying the label of a presumed fine wine where the careful wording is designed to intrigue and promote lust for a sale. So is Solomon’s authentic love speech, but without a harlot’s flamboyant ‘sales’ pitch with lying eyes and dress.

The Bride has a single-mindedness of eye for her fiancé since he has given her a new and virgin mind for him alone. She is, before creation, “spoken for” where the pattern of the younger ruling the elder is permanent. She is promised and declared in advance for Christ.

Son 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. [despised; condemned]  
Son 8:8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? 

What the Lord does for the cute “little sister”, to the unwitting Babylonian Christian’s sullen displeasure, is that the entire Bible is written primarily for her, His future Bride. It is a love letter to her alone. She is the little sister typified by Rachel, Jacob’s fiancée, and compared to her elder sister Leah’s “weak eyes”, Rachel was vibrant, eager, anticipatory, but most of all, devotedly being present in communications and submission, the apple of Jacob’s eye. How do we know that? For our benefit, the Lord deliberately portrayed Rachel as His spiritual Bride, and we know that the Lord will suffer nothing less than a perfect representation.

 Son 4:7 Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. 

Jn 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. [We know that she does have “spots”, but they are gone and made as white as snow when his righteousness is attributed to her, as she, with the simplicity of acknowledging her sins, they are made as white as snow.]

Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Every bride desires the perfect marriage, and vibrant marriage is built upon being equally yoked in the spirit of understanding the truth with vibrant communications in all things.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Since we are here in our forums with each other in regular and intimate communication in Christ, it is the God-given primary key to increasing spiritual intrigue.

As did five of the sleepy and foolish virgins, we must challenge our fleshy proclivity to take our ease.

Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 
Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 
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. 

Amo 6:1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

Israel came from the wilderness and the mountains of Samaria, where she committed many whoredoms with her neighbors and is a shadow of us coming out of the many harlot churches of the same people where we took our ease in the foolish belief that we are already saved without chastisement.

We all experience the weariness of the flesh and turn over on our spiritual bed of slothfulness. World time zones, health, sleeplessness and many other tribulations of the flesh contribute to genuine absence from our daily studies and private communications. Nonetheless, the Lord knows our heart, and so we should first judge ourselves within for any slothfulness.

Pro 26:14 As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. 
Pro 26:15 The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. 
Pro 26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. 

Jdg 18:9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 

Pro 12:24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute. 

Tribute is forced labor. The entire world has been under tribute since Eden. Israel experienced the first forced labor in the wilderness under the law of Moses, where physical blessings and cursings ruled. The world will participate in a second tribute, in type, for their God-given slothfulness under the rod of iron in the One Thousand-Year reign where again, and without the Lord’s spirit, everyone will see their teachers and hear God’s laws but not be converted.

So, pray diligently for the habit of daily routine and probably rising early to feed your household within. Consistent study with a mindful presence in Christ is vital whatever your timeframe.

Pro 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. [We know that Christ has found, and even made for Himself, such a woman.
Pro 31:11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil [Christ had already experienced a lack-lustre and indifferent woman, his first wife in the wilderness. He will not suffer to take her back in adultery as that would be dishonest spoil. So, too, we don’t go back to Babylonian doctrine].
Pro 31:12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life [Only because He first loved her by giving her increasing intimacy for him; she wanted him to wash her by his word].
Pro 31:13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands [She is spiritually clothed and diligent in study].
Pro 31:14 She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar [By searching the scriptural fare daily].
Pro 31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

To be sick with love, we need commonality in most likes and dislikes. We need a bright-eyed accord that makes us equally yoked in flesh and spirit with our lover.

At this point in the study, we have seen that:

  • We first must be dragged to the truth since our Babylonian brothers and sisters likewise proclaim their passion for ‘the truth’ unwittingly for a different Jesus. We must be pre-signed for the right course and in the relevant lecture room.
  • We must show up with disciplined, consistent and meditative study and do our homework. 

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 

Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not [The hard-working farmer reaps in due season].

The Third and Vital Ingredient is to have a Vibrant Presence in Christ to be “Sick of Love.”

Jacob’s fiancée, Rachel, is a classic example of a young woman trembling in anticipatory excitement for her man and him for her. Before meeting him, she knew the truth of what kind of man would magnetically snap her attention. She was a delightful girl who loved the beauty of the outdoors in nature and solitude while tending her father Laban’s sheep. As did Jacob, Rachel knew that being equally yoked in all things with her lover created a brighter path to more profound understanding of each other and for us, Christ.

Presence in each other creates vibrancy and makes us “sick of love” ~ meaning sick with love. (Song of Solomon 2:5)

Essentially, by being dragged to Christ and studying His word, we are automatically given the path to first love that makes us sick with love for its intoxicating joy of oneness of mind and burning spiritual bodily union with Christ.

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

First comes the natural, and then proceeds the spiritual. Most newlyweds believe that they are equally yoked in mind and spirit, for that is what exhilarates their sensuality to more intense delight in the other. It is a beautiful thing that, without further reason, they immerse themselves wholeheartedly in a bodily union. The spiritual correlation is that immersion in Christ is first seen in the flesh with our physical love affairs.

We all crave the ‘happy hormones’ (Oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin) and remember the newness of their effects in our youth and long to return to those heady days and recapture the deep intimacy and presence of courtship and newly marrieds. Platonic friendships can have a far more focused presence on each other, especially Christ, since sexual intimacies don’t clutter the devotion for spirit of truth, and no doubt Paul experienced and was prompted to say that it is good not to touch a woman. However, if spouses can achieve presence in and for each other and Christ, it can be an exceedingly fruitful experience of spiritual discovery.

Ecc 4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their work. 
Ecc 4:10 And if one has a fall, the other will give him a hand; but unhappy is the man who is by himself, because he has no helper. 
Ecc 4:11 So again, if two are sleeping together they are warm, but how may one be warm by himself? 

What is not stated is that a single person can have a possibly equal or greater intensity of desire and presence alone with Christ since his ache to share his deep spiritual insights escalates in solitude with the Lord. Today, I lust for that presence! With emotions too deep to relate, I have experienced that deep intimacy with Christ, especially in my single days on my farm that can only be described as a shadow of sexual intimacy with a spouse transcended by spiritual intimacy in Christ. I like to think that is what Paul experienced.

Physical love ebbs and flows and can become static or face wintery growth. Ephesus within us, the first of the seven churches of Asia, is admonished right off the bat to regain its first love.

Rev 2:1 Unto the angel [the Body of Christ] of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; 
Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 
Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Hopefully, new people in the Body of Christ are still in that state of first love when Spring is in the air. They intensely focus on every word of God for more profound spiritual meanings as the happy hormones brighten their spiritual eyes.

The fruit from our flush of first love steadily matures over many months and possibly years. Maturing members of Christ’s Body sometimes long for the heady days of ravenously devouring the word of God. Similar to youthful lust, they lust for a revitalised spirit righteously.

Ecc 7:10 Say not, Why were the days which have gone by better than these? Such a question comes not from wisdom. 

That first love is often based on the new and pure milk of the word, and it is not wise to say that the old days are better than the present. As I experienced on the farm with my profound delight in the Lord, people think the old days were better because they brightly recall the effects of the happy hormones and try to retrieve them rather than focus on the foundational truths of mature fruit which the happy hormones incite. I wanted the wine of my spiritual hit. That emotional buoyancy is as much as so-called charismatic church folk want to know with their understanding. They amplify their drunkenness by babbling in tongues and all sorts of mindless ravings for the emotional hit it evokes, and agitate deluded marvelling from peers.

There is nothing wrong with breathtaking truthful joy. As the saying goes, “Let’s have our cake and eat it too!” By eating the meat of His word, we attain a more mature buoyancy springing from detailed study. Focused study on types, symbols and shadows and the Greek and Hebrew meanings of words, bursts exponentially upwards in our minds for more exciting exploration. To the non-dragged mind, that is as boring as it sounds, but it is hidden manna to us. Almost every word in scripture has a spiritual meaning, and if we don’t seek its often multiple meanings, we will remain a mindless unconverted Babylonian.

Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

How do we recapture our first love? 

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

To stir up love and good works of being one with Christ in everything, we need to review the physical that precedes the spiritual briefly. The classic example is a husband and wife’s love-making desires for each other. Of course, we don’t have to go into the intimate details to know what actions escalate all the happy hormones for righteous incontinence. Nevertheless, Solomon’s examples in the scriptures below have inspired playwrights and poets for centuries where one’s imagination is titillated. At the Lord’s hand for the discerning Saints, our minds are seasoned with self-mastery while reading such accounts; of which single Saints are increasingly adept.

It is understood that there are endless avenues of meaning in poetry. For this purpose, we have a glimpse of stirring up passion in each other, a shadow of the spiritual for Christ, our fiancé, who is pretty amorous yet restrained in verse 6. His nearness to marriage and his courting chastity is an act of “good works” and symbolizes our ardour for intense delight in what is to come in marriage.

Solomon, the Rose of Sharon, represents Christ, and the Body of Christ is the Lily of the valley among the harlot thorns.

Our deliberate restraint of haste in love-making is for the Lily’s (Christ’s) good pleasure, where the Rose and the Lily’s presence in every minute detail of each other is paramount to becoming “sick of love”. So, too, is our study for every word in scripture, our focus, that is, our presence which ravishes our hearts for Christ! Being “present” is precisely that ~ deliberate and absorbing focus on the details as with our delight in fine wine. The result is the physical and spiritual flow of happy hormones that cause us to crave more as should happen both physically and spiritually with equally yoked spouses.

Son 2:1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. 
Son 2:2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. 
Son 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 
Son 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. 
Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. 
Son 2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me [That to me looks like highly restrained ardour, yet it can be taken both ways; for the unmarried and the married].
Son 2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please [Christ pleases Himself whom He chooses as members of His Bride whether they are called at the third hour or the eleventh hour].

The Bride Adores Her Beloved

Son 2:8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. 
Son 2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice. 
Son 2:10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 
Son 2:11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 
Son 2:12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 
Son 2:13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. 
Son 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. 
Son 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 
Son 2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. 
Son 2:17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

We know all too well our aches and pains through trials and sufferings as we are chastised and die daily to our sins as walk, rest, sleep, and we resume the race against ourselves to win the prize of our high calling. Our spiritual ardour ebbs and flows in fits and starts. That is the habit of weak flesh subject to idols of the heart. The flush of first love matures into a more intense purity in Christ, and is especially experienced at the wedding supper of the Lamb where our spiritual winter is banished forever.

Amo 3:13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, 
Amo 3:14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. 
Amo 3:15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD. 

Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Amen.

]]> “Love is a Consuming Fire” – Part 3 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/love-is-a-consuming-fire-part-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=love-is-a-consuming-fire-part-3 Mon, 16 Aug 2021 18:53:34 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=24149

“Love is a Consuming Fire” – Part 3

[Study Aired August 15, 2021]

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

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

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

Why?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let us seek the Truth to understand the answer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s a little better but still confusing.

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

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

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

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

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

To WILL something is to be FREE to DO SO.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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