Acts 4:23-37  The Kings and Rulers of the Earth Were Gathered Together Against the Lord and His Christ

[Study Aired January 1, 2023]

Act 4:23  And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24  And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Act 4:29  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Act 4:30  By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
Act 4:31  And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Act 4:32  And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
Act 4:33  And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Act 4:34  Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
Act 4:35  And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
Act 4:36  And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Act 4:37  Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

In our last study, the risen Lord had Peter and John use the healing of a 40-year-old man, who had been born  lame and had begged at the gate of the temple for decades, as an occasion to proclaim His resurrection. In doing so, their witness added five thousand to their numbers. The “the higher power”, the priests and the captain of the temple, arrested them and they were ordered by that “higher power”, the Jewish Sanhedrin, to stop preaching in the name of Jesus:

Act 4:14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15  But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Hearing that commandment from the Jewish Sanhedrin, the higher power over Peter and John, these apostles set us an example of when it is right and proper to defy ‘the higher power”. This was Peter’s response to a commandment from men to defy the commandment of Christ to take the gospel of the kingdom of God to the whole world:

Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Act 4:23  And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24  And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

‘The kings of the earth… Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the people of Israel… were gathered together against Christ and His anointed’. His anointed are those He has given an anointing to be His witnesses. ‘Anointing’ is the meaning of the word “unction” in these verses of scripture:

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1Jn 2:20  But ye have an unction [G5545: ‘chrisma’, same root as G5547, the Greek word ‘Christos’, Christ] from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

So ‘chrisma’ is defined as the ‘anointing’ which is upon every believer in Christ, and ‘Christos’ are those who are anointed by Christ and with Christ.

Until the coming of Christ, every physical Jew or Israelite was considered one of the Lord’s saints by virtue of being of the seed of Abraham via his son Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob. The phrase “their own company” is not intended here to distinguish the friends and families of Peter and John from the surrounding Gentiles. Rather, it now distinguishes a company within physical Israel from others within physical Israel. In this “time of reformation” the Lord is just slowly beginning to show His disciples that physical pedigree is of no value to Him:

Heb 9:7  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

This revelation of “the time of reformation” begins right here at the beginning of the book of Acts. For the first time in history there is more to being in a relationship with God than simply being physically circumcised and being of the seed of Abraham. Before Christ came, a Gentile could become a part of the nation of Israel by submitting to the ritual of circumcision and agreeing to keep the laws of Moses.  The phrase “their own company” now added another element to what is required to be in fellowship with God, and that new element was the faith of Christ being given to these Jews. “The first tabernacle was yet standing” and there was yet no thought of Gentiles becoming a part of Israel without physical circumcision and without adherence to the laws of Moses.

Nevertheless, these early Jewish disciples of Christ were all acting within the measure of faith the Lord has until this time given them, and these threats against them and their leaders served only to strengthen their resolve to be obedient to Christ and to wait for His coming kingdom, which they truly believed was eminent:

Act 4:29  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Act 4:30  By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

These Christians are all devout Jewish men and women who also had seen the beggar who had been sitting at the gate of the temple for literally decades, and the whole congregation of at least 3120 persons was greatly affected by this incredible miracle. As the healing of this man who was born lame symbolizes, the disciples of Christ are also being raised up from their own spiritual impotency to leap and run and walk with their Lord, and to testify to this world that the Lord has healed them of their impotency and that they can now walk and leap as His witnesses in His service.

Act 4:31  And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

The healing of the lame man was both a physical and a spiritual healing, and the ‘shaking of the place where they were ‘assembled together’ was also a physical and a spiritual shaking which was shaking away anything that could be shaken away, and it was revealing what things could not be shaken.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Act 4:32  And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

This is the second time we are told that in the early church ‘No one said anything was his own; but they had all things in common’:

Act 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

This communal lifestyle does not fulfill the commandment to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Instead, it is just what happened when the church of God was in its infancy and expecting the eminent establishing of a physical kingdom of Israel.

This part of our experience is foreshadowed by the Lord having told Abram to leave his father’s house and go into Canaan. However, the flesh is still strong even after our initial calling, and what actually happened, for our admonition, was that Terah, Abram’s father, led Abram out of Ur and half way to Canaan, where he stopped and began a new life on the same side of the Euphrates River:

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Gen 11:31  And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

Only after the death of ‘the old man’, Abram’s father Terah, was Abram given the faith to go on into Canaan. That is the message of the entire book of Acts. ‘While the first tabernacle still stands’ the Jewish Christians, just like Abram, could not yet spiritually go beyond their attachment to their past.

The Jewish disciples sold all they owned and had all things in common because they were still expecting a physical nation to be established by Christ. That does not mean communism as a lifestyle is taught by the scriptures as some preach and teach. What it emphasizes again is the great truth of:

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

Galatians 6 is as much a part of scripture as is Acts 4, and there is no contradiction when we understand that these early Christians sold their possessions and had all things in common truly believing Christ just any day would appear and put down Roman rule and make physical Israel the dominant power in the earth. That was the spirit the Lord had sent them for that time.

This is the spirit He eventually gave them and the spirit which He has given us today:

Gal 6:4  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Gal 6:5  For every man shall bear his own burden.

Nevertheless, we are all dependent babies before we become capable of carrying our own weight, and that was as true of the early church as it is of us. The disciples had not yet been given to understand what the Lord meant when He said “they that worship [God] must worship Him in spirit and in Truth”.

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

The disciples are still all Jews here in this fourth chapter of Acts, and they were nowhere near being capable of understanding what true circumcision is or what a true Jew is:

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.

They were faithful to the faith they had been given, and that is all the Lord expects of any of us:

Rom 14:19  Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
Rom 14:20  For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Rom 14:21  It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Rom 14:22  Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
Rom 14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

These earliest Jewish disciples were true and faithful to the faith they had been given and the Lord honored that faith:

Act 4:33  And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

The bride of Christ is only beginning to be assembled in the book of Acts. Christ came to His physical bride, and she had Him crucified. Since Pentecost He is in the process of revealing that He no longer has a physical bride. As He told the woman at the well:

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

Christ’s words, “and now is” lets us know what He meant when He gave His first recorded sermon in His hometown of Nazareth. In that sermon He told all His acquaintances, with whom He had been brought up, that the time was at the door when God would begin to work with Gentiles who would gladly receive Him and His doctrine:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

The Lord had been working with a physical nation for many years and that physical relationship served to demonstrate that “the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be” (Rom 8:7). The entire history and economy of Israel has been used by the Lord to demonstrate for us why “flesh and blood (even the flesh and blood of the descendants of Abraham) cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 15:50). Christ did not reveal this to His disciples while He was here on earth in a body of flesh and blood. Therefore, throughout the book of Acts, the early Jewish church is still under the impression that Christ’s Kingdom is a physical kingdom of flesh and blood, and they believe it is eminent and that it will appear on the scene at just any moment. This mindset was evident by the first question they asked the risen Lord just before He ascended into heaven:

Act 1:4  And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Act 1:5  For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Act 1:6  When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The apostles and the other disciples took the Lord’s words “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem… and unto the utmost part of the earth” to mean, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me before the Jews in Jerusalem, and the Jews in Judaea, and the Jews in Samaria, and unto the Jews in the uttermost part of the earth.” The events of Acts 21 and the uproar that ensued when Paul witnessed to the simple fact that the risen Christ had told Him that He would send him to the Gentiles, demonstrates the animosity that even the believing multitudes had toward God working with the Gentiles, and the doctrine of Christ which stated, “the flesh profits nothing” (Joh 6:63). It was the believing Jews who were selling their possessions and having all in common expecting a physical Jewish kingdom of Israel to be established on this earth.

Act 4:34  Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
Act 4:35  And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

For the second time we are told that the early church sold many of their possessions and “distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”

Act 2:42  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Act 2:43  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Act 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Act 2:46  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Act 2:47  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Act 4:36  And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Act 4:37  Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

This is the first mention of Barnabas… “the son of consolation”. It was Barnabas who we are told brought [Saul of Tarsus] to the apostles when they feared him so much that “they… believed not that he was a disciple”:

Act 9:26  And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

It is manifested in the words, “They were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple” that the Lord had not informed Peter or James or John what he had done to ‘Saul of Tarsus’ three years earlier. Now, “through the church” in this case, through Barnabas, they are about to learn that the Lord had give Saul an attitude adjustment, and he was no longer the rabid hater of Christians he once was.

Act 9:27  But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus [for three years (Gal 1:18)].

Paul tells us that he was at Jerusalem “fifteen days” (Gal 1:18) before he again had to flee for his life. He also tells us that the only apostles he met while there in Jerusalem were Peter and James:

Gal 1:15  But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
Gal 1:16  To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Gal 1:17  Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Gal 1:18  Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Gal 1:19  But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

Act 9:28  And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.
Act 9:29  And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.

“The Grecians” does not mean Gentile Greeks. Neither does it mean Gentile Greek proselytes. “The Grecians” means Jews who were familiar with the Greek culture and who read the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament.

Act 9:30  Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.

When Paul last went up to Jerusalem, just as he was about to perform the giving of a blood sacrifice to conclude a vow with four other men, he was attacked in the temple by “the Jews which were of Asia”. After being rescued by a Roman captain from a mob intent on killing him, Paul requested and was granted to “speak to the people”. This is where we will hear Paul’s account of why he fled Jerusalem to go back to his hometown of Tarsus when he first met Peter and James:

We must skip ahead to Acts 21 when we last see Saul of Tarsus, whose name is now changed to Paul the apostle. We will begin in verse 27:

Act 21:27  And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,
Act 21:28  Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.
Act 21:29  (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)
Act 21:30  And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.
Act 21:31  And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
Act 21:32  Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul.
Act 21:33  Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.
Act 21:34  And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle.
Act 21:35  And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people.
Act 21:36  For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him.

At this point Paul requests of the chief captain to speak to the people:

Act 21:37  And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?
Act 21:38  Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?
Act 21:39  But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
Act 21:40  And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,

Act 22:1  Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.
Act 22:2  (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
Act 22:3  I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
Act 22:4  And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
Act 22:5  As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
Act 22:6  And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
Act 22:7  And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
Act 22:9  And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
Act 22:10  And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
Act 22:11  And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
Act 22:12  And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
Act 22:13  Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
Act 22:14  And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
Act 22:15  For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
Act 22:16  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Act 22:17  And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
Act 22:18  And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
Act 22:19  And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
Act 22:20  And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
Act 22:21  And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
Act 22:22  And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
Act 22:23  And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,

The mention of God having a relationship with anyone other than the seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob was simply more than the Jews would even listen to. Christ had simply pointed out that God sent Elijah to a Gentile widow and had Elisha to heal a Gentile captain, Naaman, the Syrian, and the people He had been brought up with immediately attempted to murder Him. The point being made is that the transition from our attachment to our flesh to the understanding that “the flesh profits nothing”, takes a long time within all of our lives, and while the Lord is blessing and growing His church here in Acts 4, there are still “many things… ye cannot bear now”:

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

Let’s go back now to Acts 9 when Paul, whose name was still ‘Saul of Tarsus’, fled from Damascus and attempted to join himself to the apostles in Jerusalem for the first time:

Act 9:26  And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

The Lord had not seen fit to tell the apostles at Jerusalem what He had done with Saul of Tarsus. The Lord saw fit to have Barnabas reveal that to them (Eph 3:10)

Act 9:27  But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

As we noted earlier, the Lord waited three years before letting the apostles at Jerusalem know what He had done in the life of Saul of Tarsus. The Lord is not speaking only “by the church”, and in this case ‘the church’ by whom this was made known to the apostles at Jerusalem was Barnabas:

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph 3:12  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

It appears that Barnabas had been in Damascus at the time of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and saw and heard the changes the Lord had made in the life of Saul.

Act 9:28  And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.
Act 9:29  And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
Act 9:30  Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
Act 9:31  Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

All we are told here in chapter 9 is, “When the brethren knew [“the Grecians… went about to slay Saul of Tarsus] they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus.” In Acts 22 Paul informs us that the only way “the brethren knew” about those plans was because the Lord had revealed it to Paul while he was in a trance and praying in the temple.

We are not yet in Acts 9, and the conversion of Saul of Tarsus has not yet taken place. We are still in chapter 4 where Peter and John healed a lame man who was known by everyone in the city who went up to the temple. The man “was above forty years” upon whom this miracle was shown, and this witness to the power of the risen Christ is so powerful that when Peter and John told the people that it is the risen Christ who has healed this man, 5,000 men were added to the church that day. The unbelieving Sadducee priests, who do not even believe in a resurrection of the dead and who had slain Christ just a few weeks earlier, arrest the apostles Peter and John and the man they healed and kept them in jail overnight before threatening them and then sending them on their way with the warning that they are not to preach in the name of Jesus, and commanding them to cease and desist from doing so.

Act 4:16  Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17  But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John knew that these were the very same people who had orchestrated the crucifixion of Christ, and they no doubt thought that might be their own fate. However, this time they did not run away for their lives. Now their physical lives no longer mattered because they now “had respect unto the recompense of the reward”, and that “respect unto the recompense of the reward” meant more to them than their earthly life:

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

In our next study, we will see how the Lord continues to build and establish His church by performing many miracles, including the death of Ananias and Saphira his wife for lying to the holy spirit. We will also see how the Lord’s blessing of the church in this “time of reformation” was perceived as a threat to the “church in the wilderness”, the established church of that day, and how the Lord, by releasing the apostles from their jail, once again rubs the noses of the murderous Sanhedrin in the undeniable Truth that He is now risen and is alive and is doing His own will among the nations of this world, including the physical nation of Israel with their ruling Sanhedrin.

This Psalm is an exposé of the reverence which we are to have toward God as expressed in the first verse “The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.”

One way in which fear or reverence of God is formed which can move the earth (Rom 8:14) is when He reveals the order that he has put in the body of Christ, and gives us to understand that “he sitteth between the cherubims” and ordained from the foundation of the world the “gifts” (Eph 4:8) which bless us and enable us to dwell in peace and harmony as we learn of His greatness within His house/temple which we are (Ezr 1:5, Psa 127:1, 1Co 3:16).

The physical creation in the micro and the macro declares that glory and order of God and leaves us in awe and wonder when we consider the physical work of His hands which reflects the greater spiritual work being formed within our heavens (Psa 19:1, Rom 1:20). The body of Christ is raised in heavenly places for the purpose of going unto perfection (Eph 2:6), and like the physical heavens, all is unfolding decently and in order and according to the counsel of His will Who has laid the foundations and declared the end from the beginning (1Co 14:40, Eph 1:11, Psa 102:25, Ezr 3:11-12, 1Pe 1:9, 1Pe 1:13).

I want to look at the word “gifts”, the word “conscience”, the verses in “Eph 5:19-33”, and the phrases “from the beginning” and “the beginning” to hopefully help bring to life this title verse in our study, as we consider how God is laying a foundation through the lives of His people, “the cherubims” (of verse 1), who are those lively stones that are being moved and assembled by our loving Father who is the author and finisher of our faith through Christ (1Pe 2:5, Heb 12:2, Eph 2:10, Php 1:6).

Starting with the word “gifts”:

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 [type of the gifts bestowed upon Christ’s body], they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. [The three separate gifts show the process of growing in these gifts which God says we ought to covet to share with the body of Christ which is formed through judgment].

Christ’s life is formed in us through the death of the first man Adam, and the process of this death through judgment is symbolized in these three gifts which were brought to Jesus as a baby.

Mat 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? [1Co 12:31]

1Co 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

1Co 14:1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. [1Co 14:3]
1Co 14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

Rom 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

1Co 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
1Co 12:2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
1Co 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: [Christ is not against Christ; we are not a house divided (Mar 3:24, 1Co 1:13)] and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. [Luk 6:46, Luk 10:20]
1Co 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

1Co 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

1Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Heb 2:4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? [Joh 5:30, Joh 15:5]
Heb 2:5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. [Rev 11:15, 2Co 1:24]
Heb 2:6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Heb 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:

Heb 8:3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
Heb 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: [1Jn 4:17, Heb 4:16]

Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh [Type and shadow for us today to remind us that our offering is acceptable to God through Christ because we are dead to sin and alive in Christ as His two witnesses-our gift of being a living sacrifice is accepted through Christ whereas the gifts exchanged by the flesh are rejected of God (Rev 11:10)].

Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

The gifts God has given us are for the perfecting of the saints’ “conscience”.

Heb 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

1Co 8:11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
1Co 8:12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
1Co 8:13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

Act 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

1Ti 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
1Ti 1:20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

1Ti 3:9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

These verses in Eph 5:19-33 that we’ll look at now help explain how the spiritual foundation is laid in the church that, when heard and followed (Rom 10:17), settles us in Christ by holding faith and a good conscience; as we move forward blessed to be “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience”:

Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Eph 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Eph 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. [Christ]

The next series of verses we will examine should reassure us that all the foundations which God has laid prior to Christ coming to earth [from the beginning] were type and shadow foundations of Christ the rock on which God’s love is founded:

1Jn 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

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

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery [1Ti 3:9], which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God [it’s not that it was not there, but it was hid], who created all things by Jesus Christ:

2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

1Jn 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

1Jn 2:7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
1Jn 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
1Jn 2:9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
1Jn 2:10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

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

1Jn 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you [Joh 8:31], which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father [3Jn 1:4].

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

1Jn 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

2Jn 1:5 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.

The last section we’ll look at of the list I mentioned at the start of the study is the expression “the beginning” which makes clear to us that the Lord is that foundation that God purposed for all of humanity, the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending”, who is building the church today, preparing the bride of Christ (Rev 19:7, Mat 16:18), so we can be that foundational government that will rule and reign under him during the millennium (Rev 7:4, Rev 20:6, 1Co 6:3). Let us be glad and rejoice!

Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

The decency and order spoken of in 1Co 14:40 cannot be overstated, and Psalm 99 helps us see what is at the heart and core of every healthy relationship in Christ, just as we also saw in Ephesians chapter five, which lays the foundation for us in the church.

The entire decent and orderly process of God’s counsel is leading to perfection on the third day, a process that starts with the elect (Luk 13:32). There has to be patience developed to possess our souls within that order (Luk 21:19) as we witness the increase that comes in His time and through the means which God has ordained it to happen (2Ki 19:29, Lev 19:23, Luk 13:6-9, Luk 13:32, 1Co 3:6).

This Psalm points to the humbled and contrite heart that God forms in those who are blessed to worship him in spirit and truth in this age as they learn of that order which is formed through an obedience that He teaches us through judgment and by the things we endure through this life (1Pe 4:17, Rom 2:4, Psa 95:8, Pro 3:11, Heb 5:8).

Worshipping God in spirit and truth is formed through judgment, and although there can be order and peace and harmony and reverence in any physical relationship, it will ultimately lead to death if that relationship is not founded on obedience to Christ. There must be a cleansing of the temple before we can properly worship God in spirit and in truth (Pro 14:12, Mat 7:27, Joh 2:15, Joh 4:23).

Through Christ, however, we can receive peace that passes all understanding through judgment upon our vine [our life] that will ultimately bear much fruit in this age (Joh 15:8) if we are blessed to receive His mercy which will enable us to abide in Christ (Rom 11:17-20, Joh 8:32). He works with his people and enables us to endure unto the end (Joh 15:5, Php 2:13) as we are grafted into Christ and His body through that judgment which is shadowed in the digging about and dunging of which is spoken in Luk 13:8 that sets the stage for works/growth that God has predestined from the foundation of the world that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10, Joh 10:7-10).

God’s judgment, which comes upon all men in time, is filled with mercy and produces His righteousness, or as stated in verse four “thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob”. The fruit that is born through his judgment and righteousness working in our heavens is a new creation (2Co 5:17) that wants to exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool (vs 5).

We cannot have spiritual order in our life until we are judged by the Lord and brought to see our need for it. God answers us from the cloudy pillar in verse seven because we are being reminded that we see through a glass darkly and not the other way around. God’s vision is not clouded in regard to who we are and where we are spiritually. He knows our hearts perfectly and takes vengeance on our sins, and once we are brought through the storms which He raises in our lives, we are blessed to find our safe haven in Him where we greatly desire to exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy hill. It is only after that judgment that we are brought to recognize the holiness of God, the order and the mercy and truth that are always bound about His neck for our sakes whom He loves.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Pro 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

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

Psa 99:1 The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
Psa 99:2 The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.
Psa 99:3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.
Psa 99:4 The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
Psa 99:5 Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.
Psa 99:6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
Psa 99:7 He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.
Psa 99:8 Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.
Psa 99:9 Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.

Psa 99:1 The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.

When we are blessed to see that “The LORD reigneth” and is completely sovereign (Eph 1:11), we will tremble at His word, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Lord (Isa 66:2, Heb 10:31, Jas 2:19).

The words “sitteth the cherubims” is a witness to us of His great power working in the church today as that Godly fear working within us works to move our heaven and earth (Php 2:13, Rom 8:14) that He is establishing or making new (Rev 21:1, Jer 22:29) as He “sitteth^H3427 the cherubims” (Heb 12:27-29).

H3427 yâshab yaw-shab’
A primitive root; properly to sit down (specifically as judge, in ambush, in quiet); by implication to dwell, to remain; causatively to settle, to marry: – (make to) abide (-ing), continue, (cause to, make to) dwell (-ing), ease self, endure, establish, X fail, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit (-ant), make to keep [house], lurking, X marry (-ing), (bring again to) place, remain, return, seat, set (-tle), (down-) sit (-down, still, -ting down, -ting [place] -uate), take, tarry.

Psa 99:2 The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.

This second verse saying “The LORD is great in Zion” witnesses to the first verse stating “he sitteth between the cherubims”, knowing that Zion represents the elect, just as the cherubims do (Oba 1:21, Eze 10:14, Rev 4:7-8).

Christ is above all the people or all the powers and principalities that work in people (Eph 6:12), and He has preeminence (Eph 1:21, Col 1:17-18). There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Act 4:12, Luk 10:20).

With Christ in us, we are high above all the Adamic world around us, raised in heavenly places; we, the least in the kingdom, are told we are greater than John (Mat 11:11).

Psa 99:3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.

We see the word “holy” being used to praise God in Isa 6:3 and Rev 4:8, as we praise Him for the wonderful works which He is doing within our heavens (Psa 107:31), that are being sanctified and made holy through the washing of the word (Joh 17:17, Eph 5:26).

The three words “holy, holy, holy” in Isa 6:3 and Rev 4:8 remind us that it is through the process of judgment that we can be made holy and accepted of our Father through Christ.

Isa 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Rev 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

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

Rom 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

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

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Next week, Lord willing, we’ll look at part two of our study entitled “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience” and the growing appreciation expressed in the scriptures of how God is preparing His kings and priests through judgment to not only have a conscience that is undefiled, but also a believing heart that believes all things and does the works that God has predestined for us. We exalt the Lord and worship Him with humility, acknowledging that He is the one who is taking away our stoney heart and giving us a fleshly one as he does those works within us.

1Ti 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Eze 36:28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

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

The following bible study was given at Marshall, MI on April 23, 2006 by Mike Vinson

Make no mistake about it, we are at war!

Pro 20:18 Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.

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

Luk 14:31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Luk 14:32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
Luk 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

All of these verses on how to “make war” are really just another way of saying this:

1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body [were] an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole [were] hearing, where [were] the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
1Co 12:19 And if they were all one member, where [were] the body?
1Co 12:20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

After we get good counsel, we still have to be equipped to face our enemies:

Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Prison In Egypt and Time In Tarsus

But what are those who have just come to see that everything they have ever been taught is wrong? Are these brothers in Christ ready to do battle with the serpent himself? No, they certainly are not. So what are they to do? They are to wait until the Lord puts them in a position to do battle. Until that time there are several scriptural guidelines for what we are to be expected to do:

1Ti 5:22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
1Ti 3:1 This [ is] a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
1Ti 3:2 (a) A bishop then must be blameless…
1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1Ti 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Paul, like Joseph, was given great promises at the very beginning of his walk with Christ:

Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

This sounds vaguely familiar to the promises of rulership Joseph received. But just notice how else these two men’s lives are used to typify our experience:

Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad [was] with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
Gen 37:3 Now Israel 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.

And how old was Joseph when he came out of prison?

Gen 41:46 (a) And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Seventeen from thirty leaves us with 13 years in slavery in Egypt for Joseph. How old then was Saul when he was “separated unto the work God had for him?” We are not told Saul’s age, but we are told this about how many years Paul waited to be placed into a position to do battle for Christ

Gal 2:1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

What is not told us in this verse is that Paul and Barnabas had spent the past year doing battle for Christ in traveling around the Mediterranean. So fourteen minus one is again 13 years in which Paul had done apparently little until He and Barnabas were “separated unto the work” the Lord had prepared for them. But even when we are prepared to do battle with “the whole armor of God”, we will still be faced with spiritual warfare when we least expect it:

2Pe 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

No Christian overtly denies Christ. What denying the Lord that bought them means is to deny any part of His doctrine:

2Pe 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3 And through covetousness shall t hey with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of [ spiritual] adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

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

Jdg 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
Jdg 1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Jdg 1:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Jdg 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Jdg 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Jdg 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Rev 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

1Co 5:1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1Co 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
1Co 5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
1Co 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1Co 5:13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

How does it work when you “put away from among yourselves that wicked person?” Here is how it worked in Corinth:

2Co 2:4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
2Co 2:5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
2Co 2:6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
2Co 2:7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
2Co 2:8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
2Co 2:9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
2Co 2:10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I [ forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
2Co 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

1Ti 5:20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
1Ti 5:21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.

“Another gospel which is not another…?” Most Christians cannot cope with such apparently contradictory statements. Such statements as these are throughout the New Testament. “I know you are Abraham’s seed… If you were Abraham’s children… The beast which is, which was and which is not… seeing they see not… let the dead bury their dead… she is dead while she liveth, bread from heaven is not the bread from heaven, Light within you becomes darkness”etc. etc.

How Christ’s Doctrine Is Perverted

Are these statements true?

“Coming out of Babylon is coming out of the flesh and into the spirit.”

“Only through grace can we have our eyes opened to see the need to do battle with the beast.”

These statements never mention the source that empowers the flesh and the beast.

It is this part of our struggle which so few are willing to face. Facing the beast is elementary. Facing the force which empowers the beast is an entirely different matter which our fellow Christians will not tolerate. This force has sons and daughters, and no one to this very day is willing to admit to being the son or daughter of this powerful force.

The flesh and the beast are forces to be reckoned with to the extent that it will require a ‘rod of iron’ to keep the flesh in line without the benefit of God’s spirit in that flesh both now and during the millennium. But the scripture tells us plainly that this beast is not our worst enemy. The way it is worded would lead one to believe that “flesh and blood” are not really that hard to control as compared to our real enemy who strengthens and empowers the beast:

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

“The dragon gives the beast his power and seat and great authority.” So who, then, is our true enemy? Against whom are we truly wrestling?

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood [the beast within], but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

Is Paul telling us that the flesh is not our enemy? Of course not! What he is pointing out to us is that if we think that flesh is Babylon, then we do not know who our real enemy is. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood.” Coming out of the “world” is coming out of Babylon. And coming out of Babylon is not coming out of the flesh. If it were, then there would be no need to even mention a second beast with “two horns LIKE a lamb but speaking like a dragon.”

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

Our wrestling is “not against our flesh and blood beast. It is against another much more powerful creature. Our real struggle is on a spiritual level against a spirit world which gives our fleshly beast his power and his throne and great authority. Our real struggle is against the seed of the serpent. Our real struggle is against powers and principalities in the heavens. This is where the warfare is really being fought, and very few are even aware that the Adversary has always worked within God’s people to destroy God’s elect through the spirit world.

Cain was the son of Adam, who was the son of God:

Luk 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Cain killed his brother whom God had honored above Cain.

It was Joseph’s brothers who would have killed Joseph, whom God had also honored above his brothers. Esau would have killed Jacob whom God had chosen while he was in his mother’s womb.

And Christ was slain by “those Jews which believed on Him.” And it is here where we finally find out who is and where is “the seed of the serpent?” It is here that we finally come to see where these “powers and principalities” are which are our real enemy who actually give our beast within “his power and throne and great authority.”

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

The ‘earth’ is God’s own people, the church:

Jer 22:1 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
Jer 22:2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

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

But ‘the earth’ is God’s people who want to kill all the prophets and saints who are sent to the church. Here is what Christ told “those Jews which believed on Him” but had no room for His word:”

Joh 8:44 Ye are [the seed of the serpent] of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

“Fathers” have children. That is why they are ‘fathers.’ Children are “seed.” The “seed of the serpent” is always in God’s church. Christ was speaking to “those Jews [of the ‘church in the wilderness’] which believed on Him.”

Joh 8:31 a) Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him…

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed [Christians – Gal 3:29]; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

“When he speaks a lie, he speaketh of his own” just as “those Jews which believed on Christ” in His day were the church of His day, so those Christians who believe in Christ today “have no truth in them” when they teach contrary to His doctrine. Here is the scripture:

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

“The whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water” have been taken away from Babylon. Virtually every single doctrine they profess has been tainted with heresy. They don’t even really believe that Christ died for our sins. They believe that Christ or you or me are incapable of dying.

So what do those who are still in Babylon do to hide from themselves the fact that they are the rejected children of God? What they do is talk long and loud about ‘love’ and ‘Let’s just all love each other. Love is the great commandment. Why if we can’t all just love each other, then we don’t even know who Christ is.’ This is said most whenever someone notices that these ‘loving’ people have no use for the words of Christ.

This is the language of Babylon. The emphasis is on love and faith at the exclusion of all of the hundreds of admonitions to the effect that God Himself “chastens and scourges every son He receives.” Those who are still in Babylon talk about love and faith as if any scripture which plainly commands God’s elect to “purge out the old leaven” is something less than ‘love.’ And if anyone is so foolish as to point to all of the scriptures which admonish and command God’s chosen sons to “reject and mark and have no company with others who are “called brothers” but show no regard for “the doctrine of Christ,” that person is immediately labeled as a self-righteous heretic hunter. The seed of the serpent despises the mention of doctrine. ‘Love’ is all that matters. This is not the voice of the true shepherd. These very people who are trumpeting the virtues of ‘love’ at the expense of “the sum of thy Word” are the very ones who will “kill you thinking that they do God a service.” These are the people who hate the very mention of doctrine. To these people doctrine is opposed to love. This is especially true of doctrines like these:

Joh 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or [whether] I speak of myself.

1Co 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

2Th 3:14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.

Tit 3:10 A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject;

“First and second admonition?” Shouldn’t that read “seventy times seven?” Wouldn’t that be more loving? No, putting the fornicator out of your midst is the most loving thing you can do for him. Yet simply ‘loving him and forgiving him seventy times seven is how many in Babylon think 1Co 5:11 should read. But a brother asking for forgiveness is not heresy, and heresy leavens the whole lump.

This constant banter about love without ever defining the word is the spirit of antichrist. This is the world of powers and principalities of which Christ and the apostle John and Paul and Peter and Jude all warn us:

1Jn 2:18 Little children, it is [2000 years ago] the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

“We know that it is the last time because there are many antichrists.” And what and where is this “power and principality” called Antichrist? According to Jesus Christ, the children of the serpent are those who believe on Him but in whom His words have no place. They are the children of their father, and when he speaks [through his children], there is no Truth in what he says. He speaks a lie even while he speaks of nothing but ‘love.’ Tax collectors and sinners loved Christ and could talk peaceably with Him. But there was one group with whom he was not welcome. Who was it that wanted to kill Christ? This is the real enemy we are up against today. This is the “powers and principalities” with whom we are really wrestling.” “We wrestle not with flesh and blood.” Those who wanted to kill Christ are the very same people who want to kill Christ today. Those who would kill Christ today are the “many antichrists” John spoke of which demonstrate that we are living in the last time. It is these “powers and principalities” we are most apt to be seduced by. They are a far greater threat to our salvation at this time than is our inward beast without their influence. Where are these powers and principalities” who want to kill Christ? Is it the “beast coming up out of the sea?” That is the beast which is our flesh. But no, it is not that first beast which wants to “devour the manchild who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron” dead. This is who wants to “devour the manchild as soon as it is born:”

Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4 (b) And the dragon [not the first beast] stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Paul speaks concerning having put the fornicator out of their midst:

2Co 2:10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive [the fornicator] also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave [it], for your sakes [forgave I it] in the person of Christ;
2Co 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

All of this unfounded talk about love without any regard for what love is, is one of his devices. But those who know the voice of the true shepherd will always remember these words straight from the mouth of the true shepherd:

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

And those who know the voice of the true shepherd will also remember this verse whenever they hear a lot of talk about ‘love:’

1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

His commandments are His doctrine. Those who know the voice of the true shepherd do not see any lack of love in Christ’s doctrine and ‘love.’ As a matter of fact, it is only through His doctrine that true chastening love can be shown. It is only by “trying the spirits that we are able to properly show the love of Christ and “do the things which He says.”

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
1Jn 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jn 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
1Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Despite the fact that few to none want to admit it, there is a ‘they’ and a ‘we’ in God’s church. ‘They’ talk ‘love’ and with the same mouth tell you to go kill your country’s enemies. ‘They’ talk ‘love’ and then as if Christ’s doctrine were unloving, they will tell you that to be loving, you do not judge the ‘tree’ by its fruit at all. They talk ‘love’, but they tell you that if you bother to “try the spirits” to see if it is “the doctrine of Christ,” then you are being judgmental and setting yourself up as a judge of others. They talk ‘love’ but cannot tell you how to discern the “spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

2Jn 1:9 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.
2Jn 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

All who want to ignore and play down these verses do so at their own risk. Christ does not take being ignored lightly:

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed [Christians – Gal 3:29]; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

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

Joh 8:26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.

[For more on this subject of waging spiritual warfare, you may like to read this article.]