Pro 16:11-20 “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ”

(Aired on July 24, 2025)

Pro 16:11  A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work.
Pro 16:12  It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness.
Pro 16:13  Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right.
Pro 16:14  The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.
Pro 16:15  In the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.
>Pro 16:16  How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!
Pro 16:17  The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.
Pro 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Pro 16:19  Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Pro 16:20  He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.

“All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits” (Pro 16:2). It is the ways that are clean in our own eyes that will naturally lead to spiritual death unless the Lord judges us in this age (1Pe 4:17, Isa 26:9).

It is His judgments in our lives that will redirect our steps and our thinking processes with the mind of Christ (1Co 2:16) so that by the grace of God and faith of Christ (Eph 2:8) we can now understand that Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life: [and that] no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”, even though we are in bodies of death, with the faith of Christ we will not see death, and be able to go unto the Father through Christ “wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Pro 14:12, Joh 14:6, Rom 8:14-16, Joh 11:25-26, Eph 1:6).

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.

Joh 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

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

It takes the “just weight and balance” of the LORD in our lives to create this spiritual understanding that eludes the first man Adam in us until His judgements are in our marred earth that must be made anew, becoming a new creation that can now see and hear spiritually (2Co 5:17-18).

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18  And all things are of God (Eph 2:10), who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

God’s elect clearly see the kingdom of God being within us now, and the parables that Christ spoke that reveal the hope of glory within and blind the truth from the masses who are not at this time given to see and hear these mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Rom 8:9, Col 1:27, Mat 13:11)

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,(Rom 2:28-29) if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:29  Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

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.

In these next series of proverbs we will look at how the Lord is working within the body of Christ to prepare the bride for that glorious day when “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever”. This will only happen after the seventh angel has sounded which is when the entire body of Christ will have experienced the complete [7] process of judgement we have to go through, being made ready or prepared to hear “great voices in heaven” telling them that now it is time to rule the kingdoms of this world (Rev 11:15).

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

Pro 16:11  A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work.

This verse explains why we can’t take any credit for anything that we accomplish in our life, good or evil (Isa 45:7), seeing it is the Lord who has worked it, both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Php 2:12-13, Isa 63:13), which produces “A just weight and balance [which] are the LORD’S”. We have “obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh “all the weights of the bag are his work”, all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph 1:11, Isa 63:17). We have obtained an inheritance, now in earnest, although God declares this finished work from the beginning (Mal 3:17).

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:

Pro 16:33  The lot is cast into the lap; [“all the weights of the bag”] but the whole disposing thereof  is of the LORD [“A just weight and balance are the LORD’S”].

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

Pro 16:12  It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness.
Pro 16:13  Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right.

What tears down a right relationship with Christ, who is our King, is committing wickedness, the iniquity that separates us from God and Christ (Isa 59:2). When we do sin and fall and come to our senses it is an abomination unto the one who God is working this in, and that is the whole point that God works with the contrast of light and dark to bring us to our wits’ end, where we are given to contrast our former conversation (Rom 6:21, Eph 2:3) with that of the righteous lips that have been purged with fire (Isa 6:7) and are now a delight unto Jesus our King. He loves to hear right things being spoken from those lips, things that come from the abundance of our heart where Christ is residing, in those who He dwells (Luk 6:45, Joh 7:38). Speaking of Christ’s voice through the body of Christ, his Kings, “They love him that speaketh right things”, and those right words are born out of being received by our loving Father via His chastening grace (Heb 12:6).

Luk 6:45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Pro 16:14  The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.

God’s wrath against our first man Adam is “as messengers of death”, because they are coming to destroy that part of us that defiles the temple of God (1Co 3:17). If we would judge ourselves now we can pacify that messenger of death by being given to yield to God’s goodness that is leading us unto repentance, confessing our faults (Rom 2:4-5).

1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1Co 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. [see yourself as the chief of sinners]

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

In repenting, being blessed to heed God’s admonition in our lives, we can “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him”(Psa 2:12). Trusting is how “a wise man will pacify it”, and it is the Father who drags us to Christ for that express purpose (Heb 12:6), and then it is through the beloved that we are accepted, by our advocate, “a wise man will pacify it”.

Pro 16:15  In the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.

God’s favour upon the body of Christ is very much like the mercy that He will show to the rest of the world in the lake of fire. It is the same fire, “the light of the king’s countenance” [the sun of righteousness Mal 4:2], the consuming fire that God is (Heb 12:29), the favour or grace which is expressed through His judgments, that bring life (Isa 26:9).

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.

“his favour is as a cloud (Heb 12:1) of the latter rain”, is speaking of the one event that is common to all men, and that is His judgment upon us, each man in his own order. Inwardly there is an early and latter rain in the lives of God’s elect that reminds us that by God’s grace we will continue to grow and mature all our lives, if God permits (Mat 4:4, 1Co 3:6). The growth that the elect are blessed with from an early and a latter rain culminates in the first resurrection revealing Christ’s bride who will have been made ready to administer the words of life that have matured within them (Jas 5:7-8, Joe 2:23, how the fruit is brought about today in the lives of God’s elect Jas 5:16-20).

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.(1Jn 4:17)

Joe 2:23  Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Jas 5:17  Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
Jas 5:18  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

[Elias who is a type of the elect typifies how God will use his children as His threshing tool to put an end to the man of perdition who sits on the heart of every man’s soul. What the elect demonstrate is the severity and goodness of God by withholding and not withholding the rain (1Jn 4:17). The judgements of God will be in the earth during the thousand year reign but there will be no conversion, and so in that sense the rain is withheld for three and a half years, even though the word will go forth (Isa 55:11). The earth will only bring forth her fruit when God permits it, and Elias represents the elect who, at the appointed time, will ask God to bring his rain, his judgement upon the world in the lake of fire [preceded by Gog and Magog]. It is that “latter rain” typified by Elias praying to God for rain that will result in spiritual fruit “And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” (Jas 5:18)]

Jas 5:19  Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
Jas 5:20  Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

[the multitude of sins within us first, but also as a result of our being judged first, we will be used to cover the sins of the innumerable multitude in the great white throne judgement (2Sa 14:14)]

Pro 16:16  How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

To get wisdom is to have Christ abiding within us who is our wisdom (1Co 1:30-31), the pearl of great price, more precious than anything (Pro 16:16). In this proverb, gold represents the wisdom of this world that is being contrasted with Christ who is our wisdom, and we know what the holy spirit inspired as a comparative to the passing and fleeting wisdom of this world (Php 3:8).

1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Pro 16:16  How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Pro 16:17  The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.

We keep our way, through Christ who is our example and “The highway of the upright” who enables us to depart from evil (Joh 8:36), and in doing so the life of Christ is preserved within us (Pro 3:7-14).

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

Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes:(1Co 3:18) fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Pro 3:9  Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Pro 3:10  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
Pro 3:11  My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

(It takes God’s chastening grace to bring us to stop trusting in the wisdom of men, and become wise by trusting in the power of God, His ways which are higher, his thoughts that are higher, (Isa 55:8-9) and make up “the highway of the upright”  (1Co 2:5))

Pro 3:12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Pro 3:13  Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
Pro 3:14  For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.

Pro 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, (1Jn 2:16) lay a ground work within our hearts for pride. Not being content with what God has given us produces a proud spirit, “pride” that “goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall”(Jas 1:13-15).

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed [the ground work].
Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin (Rom 6:23), when it is finished, bringeth forth death (“Pride goeth before destruction”).

Pro 16:19  Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

We pray that God will give us this humble and contrite spirit where the lowly abide (Isa 66:1-2, Psa 51:17) and where there is peace that passes all understanding, and reason to rejoice always in the Lord and again I say rejoice as opposed to not being content in this life and wanting more and more and striving with the proud of this world who are like a hungry pride of lions dividing the spoil.

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

[everything belongs to God and yet we live in a world that Satan is the god of and his subjects are full of pride thinking they have something of value to add to God, like a house, or a place of rest, when in reality we bring nothing to the table]

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word [“Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly”].

Pro 16:20  He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.

Handling a spiritual matter wisely is possible with the wisdom that comes from the power of God (1Co 2:5-7) and we know if any man lacks wisdom He can ask God who will give us that wisdom abundantly (Jas 1:5-18).

1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

The end result of receiving that wisdom is that we will find good (Jer 29:11), being blessed to be the first to trust God, in this age (Eph 1:12), so we can experience the joy of His salvation, which will happen if we are blessed to endure to the end after the seventh angel has sounded, hearing the great voices in heaven (Rev 1:3) saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever”.

Jer 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.

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

Conscience – An Evil Conscience, Part 4 – Good and evil are the only two forms of conscience.

[Study Aired November 4, 2023]

Our inherent nature of an evil conscience knows to do good and doesn’t. Such a one rightly divides the truth from error and is bewitched to disobediently choose error.

1Pe 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts [where conscience resides]: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear [prompted by a good conscience. How?]:
1Pe 3:16  Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:22 is the only verse in the Bible that directly refers to an “evil conscience.” However, as previously pointed out, the Bible abounds with stark nuances of both forms of a good or evil conscience. It is impossible to speak about specific evil consciences without juxtaposing them with their corresponding good conscience.

As we have seen in the preceding studies, a ‘good conscience’ is dramatically differentiated by Adam and Eve partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Subsequently, a pandora’s box of evil conscience blooms like leavening in bread dough.

As such, Mr Barid’s order of sixteen headings for his conscience study does not descend in order of authority, but rather it is in order of scriptural reference.

1. 1. 1. The Natural Conscience
      2. A defiled Conscience
      3. An Evil Conscience
      4. A Convicting Conscience
      5. A Purged Conscience
      6. A Pacified Conscience
      7. A Good Conscience
      8. An Answering Conscience
      9. A Pure Conscience
      10. A Witnessing Conscience
      11. A Conscience Void of Offence
      12. An Emboldened Conscience
      13. A Wounded Conscience
      14. A Weak Conscience
      15. A Seared Conscience
      16. An Abandoned Conscience

Our study today is on an “Evil Conscience”, yet when we review the above headings, the vast majority of them are all aspects of an evil conscience. Nonetheless, it is the Saint’s God-given passion to study every detail of His word, leaving nothing alive that breathes of misunderstanding and thus our continuation of the sixteen mostly evil versions of our conscience.

Clearly, Adam and Cain within us initiated the many forms of evil consciences, yet the first time the term is directly used is in Hebrews 10:22, the entire Bible bleeding defiled evil consciences from the beginning to near the end.

Hebrews 10 admonishes us to remain faithful to the New Covenant in Christ and not regress to the Laws of Moses so etched in our hearts that we temporarily battle a dual of tortured consciences as Paul did regarding circumcision.

Heb 10:19  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20  By a new and living way [one that literally leads to life eternal], which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh [revealing the path to a more excellent conscience];
Heb 10:21  And having an high priest over the house of God;
Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled [a sprinkle (little by little) is the beginning of a storm, a flood of truth] from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the [new] profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 

Christ’s mission was to declare the Father and our worship of Him in spirit and in truth. Formally, Israel worshiped God by attempting to keep His laws through physical washings and sacrifices that most certainly caused His people a good conscience via those laws. Yet, as depicted by Saul, who became Paul, his pricked conscience while under the slavery of the Old Covenant was subliminally aware of a strange new conscience opposing most turbulently his established beliefs. Paul’s boldness became dramatically evident through his earthquake of miraculous blindness as he whimpered, ‘”Who art thou, Lord?” And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.’ (Acts 9)

Paul’s conscience was kicking against the pricks of his murderous ways and imploring eyes staring back at him upon his many stonings as he demanded the church of the day adhere to Moses’s laws; subliminally, he couldn’t identify why these people over whom he lorded authority couldn’t and wouldn’t remain as faithful as he. A new disconcerting spirit of change was blowing upon his mind.

By the one who had the power to change the way mankind worshiped God, Christ cast aside the physicality of the Old Covenant to create in man a worship of God by the same laws, only by spirit and not by sweat. It was a shift in how each of us now perceived what constituted an ‘evil conscience’ and was earth-shattering. That seismic shift in how to live by the Law was quickly realized to be immensely liberating. Its overpowering joy eclipsed martyrdom, as Steven exemplified in Acts 7.

Heb 7:11  If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? 
Heb 7:12  For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. 
Heb 7:13  For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. 
Heb 7:14  For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

Unlike Paul, Moses wasn’t given or ready to have his conscience pricked by a better conscience by the holy spirit…

Heb 7:15  And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, 
Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. 
Heb 7:17  For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 
Heb 7:18  For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
Heb 7:19  For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. 
Heb 7:20  And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
Heb 7:21  (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) 
Heb 7:22  By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
Heb 7:23  And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: 
Heb 7:24  But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

… governed by a pure conscience. 

Heb 7:25  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Heb 7:26  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless [a pure conscience casts out all fear], undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 
Heb 7:27  Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. 
Heb 7:28  For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. 

Hebrews 7 highlights the most profound shift of a good conscience to a means to attain a pure conscience through Christ, our High Priest. Stephen was so committed to the spirit of a ‘good conscience’ of greater purity that he was willing to be martyred. Stephen, Christ and all the martyrs of old, all died having acted in good faith in accordance with their consciences defying an ‘evil conscience’, and so, too, does the Bride of Christ. From that foundation arises the focus of this study and our immovable confidence…

Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

For those given understanding, what a glorious and most joyful release it is to be under Christ’s light yoke, where he is the author of the Temple he is constructing.

The following scriptures annul an evil conscience.

1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 
1Jn 3:19  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.

There in the above scripture lies a conscience that is a foundation to rightly discern the truth, and in the below scripture, the bisection of choosing by His will a good or evil conscience.

1Jn 3:20  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

If we are an Elect of God, He assures us that our heart, that is, our mind, will know the difference between a good and evil conscience, and our Lord will provide the power for us to ultimately learn to choose righteously.

1Jn 3:21  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
1Jn 3:22  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

How easy is it to simply ask our Lord to give us a pure conscience in all that we think. If we thus have that pure conscience, we are keeping all the commandments of Christ, and our hope in the First Resurrection, Lord willing, will be assured.

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the spirit which he hath given us [in practising a good conscience].

We have seen that we can’t have light without knowing darkness, and comparably, a good conscience without knowing an evil conscience. Let’s review some everyday examples of us being assailed by an evil conscience, namely the seemingly imperishable lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

In the Old Covenant, an evil conscience was somewhat foreign to lust yet still pricked their consciences.

Mat 19:8  He [Christ] saith unto them [the Apostles], Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Mat 19:9  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 

Wow! What an indictment of a good conscience that mankind, subliminally from the beginning, as did Adam, Eve and Cain at heart, knew by their subsequent actions of hiding, revealed an evil heart against what constituted a good conscience.

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.

In Matthew 5, Christ is instituting the spirit of keeping all His commandments, resulting in growing a perfect conscience as He and the Father perpetually exist without contrast.

Yet, like Cain and Paul, their consciences beheld a shadowy dichotomy of a pricked conscience suggesting something (spiritually) awry. With that same conscience, Solomon, who is who we are before knowing Christ, withheld from himself no lust, as seen in Ecclesiastes 2:10. Solomon and everyone under the Old Covenant were blessed materially for their lawful dedication to loving God. Their physical wealth denoted their love for God in a shadowy good conscience and was evidence of their righteous living.

Deu 11:26  Behold, I [The Lord before Israel] set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
Deu 11:27  A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day [and resulting good conscience]:
Deu 11:28  And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God [and resulting evil conscience], but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known [and assuredly a resulting evil conscience].

As earlier expressed, much later Achan, under those commandments,  knew by his evil conscience that he had done wrong since he hid his treasure in the ground beneath his tent. The spirit of keeping the Lord’s commands was already evident by the conviction of their Old Covenant hearts.

Jesus, being flesh, lived in perfectly good conscience, yet He knew that He was subject to an evil conscience by virtue of being tempted to acquiesce with an evil conscience in submitting to the Devil’s wiles ~ evil was present within His flesh as it is in us, yet he didn’t sin, but we do.

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

We all, as Solomon, if given to honestly study our consciences, would conclude that our lusts are vanity, a vapour of joy unable to be retained. Solomon came close to understanding the misty conclusion of his polarised conscience, confusing him while he did his best to live by the Laws of Moses, and yet knew some unidentifiable spirit couldn’t be grasped. That missing something was the unheard-of holy spirit that urges a pure conscience that later, in his experiences with the Shulamite he frustratingly continued to see blackness. Christ’s love isn’t awakened in Solomon and the world until He pleases in the Resurrection to Judgment (Son 8:4). The Lord’s double portion of love in the brilliant light of His word is only awakened in His Bride since Christ.

Ecc 1:12  I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Ecc 1:13  And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

Life’s experiences only produced struggles against sin to be always faced with the junction of choosing, by our Lord’s hand, a pathway of either a good or evil conscience.

Ecc 1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Our works always cause us to constantly be vexed by having to choose the route of a good or evil conscience. 

Ecc 1:15  That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

We are constantly besieged by the choice of a good or evil pathway of conscience. 

Pro 21:8  The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked; But as for the pure [conscience], his work is right.

Ecc 1:16  I communed with mine own heart [my conscience!], saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
Ecc 1:17  And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

There in that preceding verse is Solomon’s Shulamite-like vexation of knowing that unidentifiable something we know as the holy spirit was missing from his vast wisdom.

Ecc 1:18  For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. 

Without the holy spirit to prick our consciences, when in Babylon, we as did Solomon, experienced an indefinable sorrow where immense physical prosperity and wives (churches) eluded our quest for peace and perfect joy, always searching but never coming to the truth. Our dichotic consciences increased sorrow.

Ecc 2:9  So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
Ecc 2:10  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

There is some truth that, in good conscience, particularly Solomon in his time, and remnants of us in Babylon believe that it is our right to pursue any joy of the flesh as long as we use our “wisdom” to not directly contravene Christ’s laws. The major snag is that riches afford unrestrained pursuit of pleasure, so the more powerful bias is to love them more than our Lord’s greater riches of His commandments.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 
Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

With an elusive Shulamite-like epiphany, Solomon was further vexed by his conscience. With classic introspection, he says, 

Ecc 2:11  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

How utterly frustrating it is in Babylon when a mist of Christ’s spirit, for the most part, veils our conscience. When given a Stephen-like revelation upon keeping all the commandments of God, a good conscience hailstones our understanding, washing away the multitude of lies and outshining all vexations of darkness.

Probably the most exceptional lust for a male is what is highlighted in being taken out of him in the form of a woman. If the majority of his femininity wasn’t placed in front of him in the form of Eve to see himself, he would have had only a vague Solomon-like understanding of his evil nature. Being face-to-face with his own flesh is highly arousing to lust for all kinds of spiritual ethnicities (as did Solomon ~ and us ~ with captivating doctrines) while not understanding that they all represent the same ruling deception. A man’s wife mirrors himself as having a heart that ensnares his conscience with evil and fetters his hands to ‘excuse’ himself and hide from sin (Ecc 7:25-29). She is the reflection of his narcissism, and he is unwittingly taken by his own beauty, having ascended to heaven unconsciously to presume a dethroning of God. While pricked by a good conscience, he is so easily led away by his lust and conceit to be god; flattering himself seems the more, at least, temporal joy. Like Esau’s fleeting passion to satiate his famished state, we always have time to reflect upon our choice of conscience. If a semblance of righteousness resides, we should be stabbed through our liver with an evil conscience for not fully considering the Lord’s commandments.

Pro 6:23  For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: [and peace through a good conscience]
Pro 6:24  To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman [the strange woman within ruling our conscience].
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 [we buy our own lies by indulging the whore within].
Pro 6:27  Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 
Pro 6:28  Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
Pro 6:29  So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. 

Satan went into Eve, Adam’s wife, tempted her and spiritually impregnated her mind with his lying spirit of another Jesus ~ insidiously, himself.

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation [In this case choosing a good or evil conscience]: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 
Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: [God doesn’t have an evil conscience to tempt anybody] 
Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. [… with his bias towards an evil conscience]
Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin [and the knowledge of an evil conscience that is amplified to hide the sin]: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

The famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “A bad conscience is easier to cope with than a bad reputation.” Why? Because a bad conscience is mostly contrived in secret, whereas a bad reputation is humiliating and mostly for everyone to see. We are more likely to fear another’s condemnation rather than God’s since God seems far off and not in our faces. It is easier in the short term to hide a bad reputation, even with having to live with the amplification of an evil conscience forever.

Pro 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Luk 2:35  (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

We can accuse, excuse and run and hide all we like from an evil conscience but are guaranteed to face the music of the last Trump heralding our judgment, either in this age or the next.

As stated in the previous studies in this series, by being made from the outset in Adam having a trace of our Lord’s spirit, we know, as Adam proved, a conscience when we are disobedient to God’s laws. If we weren’t by default disobedient, we wouldn’t have known a good conscience.

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

God gave us His power to have dominion over what we take into our minds as spiritual food and to learn not to believe in the power of the beast within to pursue every ‘foul’ spirit of doctrine. He says,

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

In Gen 1:26, our Lord says parabolically that he will give us first physical power and later his power, his spirit, prior to being faced with a fork in the road of knowledge and thoughts to choose good or evil and a resulting conscience.

Conclusion

It is impossible to escape the God-given choice of good and evil and the corresponding consciences.

The Bride of Christ is most grateful for her Lord making “all things” hers to experience (1Co 3:22), the good equally with the day of evil, to cause both a good and evil conscience to be astronomically impactful. There is no escaping hiding among the trees and passing the buck when discovered, only to vainly excuse ourselves from the evil that we are since our thoughts already condemn us before displaying a pair of bare butts bobbing at speed through the brush.

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Such a person rightly divides the truth from error. His foundation of judgment is guided by the holy spirit of truth and, with a good conscience, condemns his warring evil conscience.l

If we love lying, we love our bias for an evil conscience, one that, in a soon-coming study, runs the grave risk of a “seared conscience” that is impervious to a good conscience.

Rev 22:15  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. 

1Ki 20:1-21  “Whose fan is in his hand…”

[Study Aired June 2, 2022]

The title of this study is taken from Matthew 3:12 where we learn with this statement of John the Baptist what God will do through Christ via the unquenchable fire which represents God’s word that will actively and completely judge God’s people (Rev 15:8). The two things that will happen for those who are being judged in this age  (1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:12, 1Jn 4:17) are described in these terms; wheat will be gathered into the garner and the chaff will be burnt up with unquenchable fire.

Mat 3:12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. 

It is “his floor“, our heavenly Father’s and Christ’s floor (Joh 16:14-15), where all this activity is taking place; where Christ and His body will stand upon it, and where Peter, who represents the church, will be built upon the cornerstone Jesus Christ (Mat 16:18). Christ is set upon that floor by God (1Co 12:18, 1Pe 2:5-6) as the first of the kind of first fruits and sure foundation (1Co 3:11) who endured great suffering (Isa 53:4, Isa 53:10) so that He, as our forerunner, could help His body endure the winnowing process we must all endure to be fitly framed into the temple of God (Heb 4:15, Eph 2:21-22).

Joh 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 
Joh 16:15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 

Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. 

1Co 12:18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 

1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 
1Pe 2:6  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion [1Co 12:18] a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 

The scriptures we will look at in 1 Kings 20:1-43 were written for our admonition “upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1Co 10:11). The battles of which we will read between Syria and Israel, between Benhadad and Ahab, are very instructive in showing us how we will overcome our principle enemy within through Christ who is working in us both to will and to do God’s good pleasure (Php 2:12-13). His pleasure is to give us the kingdom of God in earnest within us today (Luk 12:32, Luk 17:21, Eph 1:14) as He thoroughly purges us day by day as we die daily (1Co 15:31).  He is giving us what is needed to patiently possess our souls as doers of the word until the glorious day when we will inherit the kingdom in its fullness in the first resurrection, if we are granted to endure until the end through this process of judgment (Eph 6:12, Mat 6:34, Luk 21:19, Rev 11:15, Mat 24:13).

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

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

This battle between Syria and Israel, and all the lessons that Ahab the king of Israel had to learn, are all type and shadow events written for the elect’s sake (2Co 4:15) to teach us how to deal with sin in our members (Rom 7:23) as we learn to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts (Tit 2:12).  As a result of the destruction of our man of sin, typified by Benhadad along with a long list of other evil kings who also attacked Israel at their appointed time (Amo 3:6), Israel, being a type of the Israel of God, is the apple of God’s eye even as we are Satan’s primary target whom he wants to kill and destroy spiritually (Zec 2:8, Psa 17:8,Joh 10:10).

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

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 of his eye. 

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

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly [“under the shadow of thy wings“].

1Ki 20:1   And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. 
1Ki 20:2  And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad, 
1Ki 20:3  Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. 
1Ki 20:4  And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.

Benhadad and all his host that have been gathered to battle against Israel represent the powers and principalities God’s people wrestle against all the time (Eph 6:12). Benhadad is God’s sword in His hand (Psa 17:13-14) who has “thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.” The 32 kings have all the right combination of numbers to witness [2] to us this process of judgment [3] upon Ahab who is learning for the elect’s sake one of many ways God’s grace is administered to us in this life – “by thy sword” [3+2=5].

Psa 17:13  Arise, O Jehovah, Confront him, cast him down: Deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword;

None of “thy silver and thy gold”, “thy wives also and thy children, the goodliest”, were Benhadad’s, and yet by merely sending a seducing spirit via the messengers that Benhadad sent, Ahab very nearly gave up so much wealth to this evil king’s desire (Mat 4:9) saying, “My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.” The spiritual lesson for God’s elect is to know what is yours and to hold fast to it, as you cleave to God and resist the devil (2Pe 1:4, Rev 3:11, Jas 4:7).

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: [represented by “Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest“] that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

1Ki 20:5  And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; 
1Ki 20:6  Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away. 

It took this second coming of the messengers sent from Benhadad to finally start to wake Ahab up to the treacherous and selfish spirit he was dealing with. It wasn’t good enough for Benhadad to know that Ahab was willing to give him all the things that he was asking of him, Benhadad needed to also send servants to investigate the merchandise of Ahab and take the best of the best, and take even “whatsoever is pleasant in thine [Ahab’s] eyes… and take it away”. This behavior of Ahab is one step worse than king Hezekiah who also had no comprehension of the proper decorum for a king of Israel, which is to not show all the treasures of the temple that represent God’s truth, the altar where we eat at which they are not worthy to eat [in this case king Benhadad and his entourage] (Heb 13:10, 1Jn 4:6). On the other hand, Ahab is even worse than Hezekiah willing to give away his typical birthright [“Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest“] in regard to this gentile king (Jud 1:11-12, Isa 39:2, 2Ki 20:13). Alas, God showed mercy to Ahab and made him reconsider enough that he would seek out safety that would soon be found in the multitude of counselors that were available to him (Pro 11:14, Pro 24:6).

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

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. 

Jud 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. 
Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 

Isa 39:2  And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. 

1Ki 20:7  Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not. 
1Ki 20:8  And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.

Finally, Ahab starts to demonstrate some spiritual backbone in type and shadow by going to the elders to mark this proud man (2Th 3:14) who was simply on the take, wanting what was not his from an unsuspecting Ahab, who at this point was symbolically becoming friends with the world (1Jn 2:15-17). He reminds the elders all the things he was willing to give to Benhadad (perhaps to keep peace with Syria; we’re not told), but we are told what his elders thought of all such actions, “And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.”

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

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.

1Ki 20:9  Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. 
1Ki 20:10  And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. 
1Ki 20:11  And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

Now that Benhadad realizes he’s not going to get his way, seeing Ahab has had a spiritual wake-up call via the counsel of the elders, the real spirit of Benhadad starts to manifest with these murderous words that ironically sound a lot like the earlier words of Ahab’s wife Jezebel to Elijah “The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me“. Let’s compare those words to hers: “Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time” (1Ki 19:2). Ahab’s wicked and controlling wife represents Babylon that wants to call the shots and bring fear into our hearts through false accusations, threats and false doctrines (Rev 12:10, Rev 2:10, Luk 12:5). Benhadad represents Babylon who wants to rob us of all our spiritual riches, as stated earlier, to take our crown.

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 

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

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

Verse 11 confirms that Ahab has awakened to Benhadad’s evil intent by telling him in so many words that he is a lame duck who has no armor on, regardless of his proud words of defiance against the king and nation of Israel. Ahab is starting to sound more like King David in this instance and realizes that this defiant spirit of Benhadad must be challenged (1Sa 17:4-8, 1Sa 17:26). The lesson for God’s elect is that He will always wake us up and prepare us for battle at the appointed time despite ourselves, because the battle is the Lord’s, and the preparation and answer of our tongues are also from him (Mat 25:6-10, 2Ch 20:15, Pro 16:1).

1Sa 17:4  And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 
1Sa 17:5  And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
1Sa 17:6  And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders. 
1Sa 17:7  And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield-bearer went before him. 
1Sa 17:8  And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. 

1Sa 17:26  And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

1Ki 20:12  And it came to pass, when Benhadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.

Pride comes before a fall, and these are the words of the pride-filled and spiritually drunken voice of the king of Syria. He and the kings in the pavilions are about to bring a great slaughter on their own people as a result of their haughty spiritually drunken spirits (Pro 16:18, Pro 14:34-35).

Pro 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. 

Pro 14:34  Righteousness exalteth a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people. 

1Ki 20:13  And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 
1Ki 20:14  And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the province. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. 
1Ki 20:15  Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

This prophet was prophesying for Ahab, but in fact it was a prophecy written for our sakes (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11) to remind us of “this great multitude” of Revelation 7:9  and how Ahab, who represents the elect, will “by the young men of the princes of the province” order the battle (Rev 11:15). That order will be maintained by Ahab who shall order the battle, just as it will be ordered by God’s elect during the thousand-year reign under Christ’s direction. Likewise, there was order in the seven churches of Asia which all eventually forsook Paul (2Ti 1:15) as will all the world represented by Gog and Magog at the end of the thousand-year reign (Rev 20:8). The world needs to clearly see the order God has ordained in the church during the thousand-year reign, which is maintained by a rod of iron, and that in time will be rebelled against, as per the counsel of God’s will (Rev 20:6, Eph 1:11). Verse 15 confirms that these prophetic events of Ahab’s rulership point to a future event reminding us that all the leaders of this world and all their decrees and laws are to be superseded by the rulership of Christ and His bride. Because we have dominion over all the rulers who rule the kingdoms of this world, represented by the numbers 232 [2+3+2=7], by extension we also will have absolute authority over all people of the earth, represented by the statement, “all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.“

1Ki 20:16  And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

This above verse we’re reading describes the status of the world just before the return of Christ (Deu 28:29, Luk 17:26-29). They (the young men of the princes of the provinces) “went out at noon” sober and vigilant being about their Father’s business so to speak (Heb 11:7, Luk 2:49) as opposed to “he and the kings” who were not in a state of readiness but of drunkenness (Joh 6:44, Heb 11:7, 1Pe 4:7,  1Pe 5:8-9).

Deu 28:29  And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. 

Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 
Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 
Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 
Luk 17:29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 

Luk 2:49  And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? 

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

1Pe 4:7  But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 
1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren^G81 [Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated who were taken from the same womb (Rom 9:13)] that are in the world^G2889.

G81 adelphotēs ad-el-fot’- ce  From G80; brotherhood (properly the feeling of brotherliness), that is, (the (Christian) fraternity: – brethren, brotherhood.  Total KJV occurrences: 2

G80adelphosad-el-fos’  From G1 (as a connective particle) and δελφύς delphus (the womb); a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like [H1]): – brother. Total KJV occurrences: 346

1Ki 20:17  And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria. 
1Ki 20:18  And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive. 
1Ki 20:19  So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them. 
1Ki 20:20  And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen. 
1Ki 20:21  And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

The enemies of God always underestimate the power and resilience which is in the weak of the world, who are more than conquerors through Christ (1Co 1:26-29, Col 1:27, Eph 1:21, Eph 6:12, Rom 8:37) as confirmed with this ultra-confident statement of Benhadad in his flesh toward the young men of the princes of the provinces who went out first, “Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.“

This again was another example of a spirit of pride, high-mindedness and conceit (1Co 10:12, Rom 11:20-25) that God warns us about repeatedly in His word and that will always precede destruction, the end result being shown: “And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen. And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter” (1Ki 20:20-21).

During the thousand-year reign, the elect have no intention of being influenced by the perverted cultures of mankind who will still want to “take them alive” whether we come in peace or come to make war. In truth, we are coming in the name of the Lord to enforce peace for an appointed time and then to make war against the entirety of humanity by administering the judgments of God during the great white throne judgment that will destroy the last spiritual enemy, which the naturally rebellious carnal mind of man is (Rev 20:11, Luk 13:35, 1Co 15:26, Jer 17:9).

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence. 

1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 

Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 
Rom 11:21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 
Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 
Rom 11:23  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. 
Rom 11:24  For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? 
Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

This victory that was given to Ahab and the nation of Israel is a representation of the victory God can give His children over sin if the Son of man sets us free (Joh 8:36). It is a process, as we all know, and so, although Ahab has won this battle, he is already being warned to keep fighting a good fight of faith in type and shadow at the hand of the prophet sent to him by God: “And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.”

It takes a lifetime of overcoming, in other words, and much tribulation (Act 14:22, Mat 24:13, Rev 3:21), to receive the full benefit of this verse, “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Having done all through Christ, we will be able to “strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee” and you will by the grace of God be able to stand (Eph 6:11-18).

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

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

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

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. [God’s elect are being winnowed now so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil.]
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: 

This next series of verses we will see in Psalms 94 are more confirmation for the body of Christ that judgment is upon the house of God and that this judgment is going to produce a hunger and thirst to follow after His righteousness.

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?

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst [for this cup of judgement] after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

The hunger and thirst which God gives us is a blessed event because it signals the death of our old man and the birth of the new life in Christ as we partake of those fiery coals of His word which purify our heavens daily. As always it is the death and denying of self that nourishes the new creation in our Lord.

Rom 12:20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Rom 12:21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Isa 6:5  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Isa 6:6  Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

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

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

We discussed in the last study how if our enemy within hungers, we ought to feed him, and if he thirst, we ought to give him drink, and that the cup which we drink and the bread which we give our old man is a meal of which the world does not partake in this age. It is a meal that can only be ministered by Christ who prepares our hearts to receive His word and go from glory to glory through the trials which nourish us in this age.

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

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

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

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

When we eat or drink unworthily with an undiscerning heart, we are drinking damnation unto ourselves, because we are denying the need for judgment or despising His correction or the suffering that God brings to the body of Christ so that we can learn obedience. That disobedient spirit was manifest in the early church via a spirit of drunkenness and self-serving with no regard to the physical hunger, which typifies our inability to minister to one another by properly discerning that hunger which was there (1Co_11:20-22). It is important to note that such a selfish environment was the breeding ground for the heresies that God says must be among us and that is how He gets the body of Christ to refocus and work together to put that little leaven out which can effect the entire body of Christ.

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

1Co 11:20  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
1Co 11:21  For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
1Co 11:22  What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

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.

We have an altar that the world does not understand or partake and which must be kept undefiled by having a discerning heart for what the Lord’s body needs. God’s elect are being nourished and strengthened to endure unto the end, and that nourishment happens at this precious altar of the Lord (the altar is the cross) where the words of eternal life are and where God admonishes us to keep that table undefiled, not thinking above what is written and praying for a discerning spirit of how we ought to operate within Christ’s body with the measure of faith that has been granted to each of us.

1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Heb 13:11  For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

1Co 4:6  And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

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

We are blessed to have a hunger and thirst for this cup of judgment and to see our need to abide and continue in Christ so that He can fill us with His righteousness.

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

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

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

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

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

The following verses we will look at are not surprisingly about judgment, but are also filled with hope in regard to what that judgment will produce. God has determined from the foundation of the world that these works which He is accomplishing within the body of Christ today “shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it” as the last verse of this week’s study declares.

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Psa 94:5  They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage. 
Psa 94:6  They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. 
Psa 94:7  Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Psa 94:8  Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? 
Psa 94:9  He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
Psa 94:10  He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
Psa 94:11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. 
Psa 94:12  Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; 
Psa 94:13  That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. 
Psa 94:14  For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. 
Psa 94:15  But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. 

Psa 94:5  They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage. 
Psa 94:6  They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. 
Psa 94:7  Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

The flesh that thinks it sees is the brutish part of us that “afflict[s] thine heritage”, and because of a lack of a discerning spirit we end up “slay[ing] the widow and the stranger and murdering the fatherless” meaning we starve them by not properly discerning the needs of the body and taking the right steps to “Feed my sheep”.

Joh 21:17  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Joh 21:18  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
Joh 21:19  This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

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

A blind man will think in His heart that “The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it”, but we know that God does see, and everything that we do unto the Lord is important and needful and necessary.

Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

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

1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

When we neglect other’s needs in the body, God uses very strong language and likens it to spiritual murder; we slay the widow and murder the fatherless, representing those who God says are His heritage.

Psa 119:19  I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

Gen 23:4  I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

Jas 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The word ‘and‘ is not there in Jas 1:27, showing us that when we take care of each other, the “the fatherless and widows in their affliction [the day of the Lord]”, that is what keeps us “unspotted from the world”. We must separate ourselves from this world and see ourselves as one body, one bread that is being afflicted and rejoicing together.

Jas 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

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.
Heb 10:26  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 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.

2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18  While we 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.

Psa 94:8  Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? 
Psa 94:9  He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
Psa 94:10  He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?

Understand what? Understand that God does hear, and God does see and that we can’t hide from him and should never want to. Understand as well that it is the Lord who “chastiseth the heathen” within and that we ought not to despise that chastening which is making us more zealous and perfecting Christ’s bride. Understand that He shall correct and that this correction will come through the knowledge that He will manifest abundantly through the body of Christ at the altar which we are blessed to partake of in this age.

Isa 29:15  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Isa 29:16  Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Pro 3:11  My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
Pro 3:12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

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.

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.

These three verses we’ve looked at are a strong witness for us that God has made us a marred vessel in His hand that He will deliver us from, all our iniquities and diseases which is what comes upon us when we are spiritually brutish, or foolish, or deaf, or blind, or acting as a heathen. He loves us and will correct us!

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Psa 94:11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. 
Psa 94:12  Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; 
Psa 94:13  That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

The marred vessel which God created has a law in its members that keeps us subject to the vanity of our flesh, and except for the grace of God we could never see past that veil and understand the eternal hope that we have in Christ. Today we must battle daily, the spirit against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit, and know that God is destroying our vain flesh that will always try to prevail against us.

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.

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

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

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.

If we mortify the deeds of our flesh (Rom 8:13) and die daily, then it will become clearer and clearer as we look through this glass darkly (1Co 13:12) that God has always had our best interests at hand in regard to the spiritual creation that He is giving the increase. That increase is going in the direction of preparing and maturing the bride of Christ to be able to be subject unto our Lord in all things (1Co 3:6).

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.
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.

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 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

“Blessed is the man” therefore “whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law” so that we don’t spend the “rest of his [our] time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God”.

1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

1Jn 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
1Jn 2:11  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
1Jn 2:12  I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
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 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

God’s people are blessed to be chastened today, “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law” and are promised not to be tried beyond the measure that we can endure. We will come to see God’s rest upon us as we labour for the meat which does not perish and put to death the wickedness within us which must be baptized into the death of Christ if we are going to be raised as a new creation “give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.”

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

Joh 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Psa 94:14  For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. 
Psa 94:15  But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.

These last two verses we will look at tonight are most encouraging because they simply remind us that God is faithful to finish what He has started in His people “For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance” as these verses also testify.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

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

The judgment which we go through in this age “shall return unto righteousness” and as a result of that judgment the new heart and mind of Christ will be formed through it.

“The upright in heart shall follow it” is another way of saying that those whom God is working with in this age will be led by the spirit and able to acknowledge that all glory and honour are the Lord’s as he authors and finishes this great work in His people through Christ by way of the comforter.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Rev 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the last seven verses of Psalm 94 where we will see the promise of God’s defense and strength that will be given to His people to be able to endure through the fiery trials, and again see that it is through the destruction of the “evildoers” within us and the “workers of iniquity” within, who are destroyed through judgment, that we will be able to go on to perfection in Christ. God’s word is the drink and the food and the clothing that we need to continue to give one another as the title of our study reminds us “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink“.

Psa 94:16  Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
Psa 94:17  Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
Psa 94:18  When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
Psa 94:19  In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
Psa 94:20  Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
Psa 94:21  They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
Psa 94:22  But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
Psa 94:23  And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

Last week we looked at what it means to dwell “in the secret place of the most High” and were reminded how blessed God’s people are to be called to abide in a place that His word tells us to consider as our refuge and fortress. In order to abide with Christ in this secret place, we must be given the power to fulfill these verses:.

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

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
Isa 33:16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

Cursed is the man that does not read or hear the words of this prophecy, or who does not keep the things which are written therein, because the time is at hand. That time that is at hand is the judgment of God upon His people, and if you are not being judged, then the time is not at hand. If you are being judged however, then you will be overcoming “fearfulness” because you are dwelling comfortably “with everlasting burnings”. God’s people are blessed to have those “everlasting burnings” within them which are sanctifying us and purifying us in the fire.

Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

We are learning together as the body of Christ to acknowledge God’s might that gives us the victory over “the snare^H6341 of the fowler^H3353“. God is beating out of us, through much tribulation, everything that initially caused us to stumble at His word. He is purifying His words and working within His people as a witness of how greatly His hand can intervene to accomplish His workmanship in us through Christ within the temple of God which we are.

Isa 33:13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.

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

snare^H6341 of the fowler
H6341 פּח   pach   pakh

From H6351; a (metallic) sheet (as pounded thin); also a spring net (as spread out like a lamina): – gin, (thin) plate, snare.
Total KJV Occurrences: 27
snare, 17; snares, 6; gin, 2 [Job 18:9, Isa 8:14];  plates, 2 [Exo 39:3, Num 16:38]

Exo 39:3  And they did beat the gold into thin plates^H6341, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work.

Num 16:38  The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates^H6341 for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.

The snare is the beaten plates of gold cut into wires and worked into the blue, purple and scarlet and in the fine linen of the ephod made for Aaron as the LORD commanded Moses. The ephod that has two stones upon the shoulderpieces of it, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, that Aaron bear their names before the face of Jehovah on his two shoulders for a remembrance (Exo 28:12 LITV)

Our place of dwelling while in that fire is described in Isaiah 33:16 where God’s most detailed and profound work is being accomplished. We learn that we must be continually given a hunger and thirst for the bread and water that He supplies so that we can continue to abide in a place of security described as “of defence shall be the munitions of rocks” which place is with Christ and His Christ within the temple where we see the work of God in each other weaved together through the trials and temptations that we endure by His power working mightily in each of us.

Isa 33:16  He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

Col 1:29  Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

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

Isaiah goes on to describe in this 33rd chapter what the sufficiency of Christ brings to His people as we dwell under His cover.

Isa 33:17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
Isa 33:18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
Isa 33:19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
Isa 33:20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
Isa 33:21 But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
Isa 33:22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

We will look at the mercy and comfort expressed in the verses we will be studying tonight as we examine the all encompassing love God has toward His children who have made the LORD their “refuge” and “habitation” (of verse 9 of this Psalm).

We are sent into this world as Christ was, and we are being refined and tried and tested in the process and are blessed to have the mind of Christ and the strength and support to come in the name of the Lord to witness of His great love and declare the promise of deliverance that His word proclaims.

Psa 118:24  This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psa 118:25  Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.
Psa 118:26  Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
Psa 118:28  Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
Psa 118:29  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

The day which the Lord has made for His people is the “day of the Lord”, and we will rejoice and be glad in it knowing that His grace is sufficient and that we are under His wing, which we will look at more closely, to understand the great blessing that is ours today.

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.

Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Psa 91:4  He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Psa 91:5  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Psa 91:6  Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
Psa 91:7  A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Psa 91:8  Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Psa 91:4  He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

If we are under “his feathers” and under “his wings” we will be in a place where we can “trust” God. Those who see themselves as the temple of God being actively worked with as His workmanship acknowledge that we are a work in progress within the temple of God and not at the side of the temple where no judgment occurs. We are sent into the world with a confidence and trust in God that is learned through fiery trials. We can witness of His truth, as Christ did, no matter where we are sent, and know that Christ is our “shield and buckler” who enables us to learn righteousness in our earth, through judgment, which makes that witness true.

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

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

Exo 25:18  And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
Exo 25:19  And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
Exo 25:20  And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.

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?

Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sidesH3411 of the north:

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

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

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

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.

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

I want to draw our attention to Isa 14:13 to look at some of the entries for the word side (H3411) which is not where judgment takes place, but rather where we initially stand in judgment of the work of God with hearts that are pride-filled. This is the heart that needs to be destroyed within us if we are going to dwell in the fire with one another. God is in the process of doing this so that our words can become a fiery snare^H6341 of the fowler^H3353 that we talked about earlier (Jer 5:14).

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sidesH3411 of the north:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Judgment, which comes from the north, is what enables us to fulfill God’s will as we learn obedience through those things which we suffer. We look at some of these verses to make that point bright, that God works with us while we are yet sinners and not yet “Christ-centric” in our thinking:

H3411   yerêkâh    yer-ay-kaw’
Feminine of H3409; properly the flank; but used only figuratively, the rear or recess: – border, coast, part, quarter, side.

Total KJV Occurrences: 28
border, 1  Gen 49:13
coasts, 3 Jer 25:32; Jer 31:8; Jer 50:41
parts, 2 Eze 38:15; Eze 39:2
quarters, 1 Eze 38:6
side, 2 Jdg 19:1; Jdg 19:18
sides, 19  Exo_26:22-23; Exo_26:27; Exo_36:27; Exo_36:28; Exo_36:32; 1Sa_24:3; 1Ki_6:16; 2Ki_19:23; Psa_48:2; Psa_128:3; Isa_14:13; Isa_14:15; Isa_37:24; Jer_6:22; Eze_32:23; Eze_46:19; Amo_6:10; Jon_1:5

And now a look at the masculine of that strong’s number which is:

H3409  yârêk  yaw-rake’
From an unused root meaning to be soft; the thigh (from its fleshy softness; by euphemism the generative parts; figuratively a shank, flank, side: – X body, loins, shaft, side, thigh.

God’s elect are the eldest servant in God’s house, in the sense that we are the first who are resurrected, making us older or mature sons first, and this can only happen by being subject unto Christ power which is symbolically mentioned as Abraham’s thigh.

Gen 24:2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh^H3409:

Gen 24:9  And the servant put his hand under the thigh^H3409 of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

Gen 32:25  And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh^H3409; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh^H3409 was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

Gen 32:30  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Gen 32:31  And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted^H6760 upon his thigh^H3409.
Gen 32:32  Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh^H3409 in the sinew that shrank.

The children of Israel not eating of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, is another way of saying we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. Our Adamic thigh must be shrunk or decreased so that Christ can increase as He makes his strength perfect through our weakness.

Exo 25:31 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick (Rev 11:3) be made: his shaft^H3409, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.

Exo 37:17  And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft^H3409, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same:

We are a beaten work in God’s hands that is being fashioned so that we can be the light of the world. Without the tribulation and suffering the light of Christ would not break forth in our life.

Lev 1:11  And he shall kill it on the side^H3409 of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar.

Num 8:4  And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft^H3409 thereof, unto the flowers thereof, was beaten work: according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick.

Jer 31:19  Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh^H3409: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

Eze 24:4  Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh^H3409, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.

The words “Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh” remind us that we learn righteousness and the light of Christ breaks forth from His people when His judgments are in our earth (Isa 26:9, Rom 2:4).

Unless the Lord judges us “under his wing” where we “trust” and where his truth is our “shield and buckler” (the church), we remain at the side of the temple, and it is His judgment upon us that gets us closer and closer to going onto perfection, drawing us into the holy of holies where we look behind with John and see how the Lord has mercifully dealt with us while we were yet sinners (Rev 1:10-12).

Psa 91:5  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Psa 91:6  Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

By receiving the nourishment that we just saw described in Eze 24:4, we can be spiritually healthy and living sacrifices who understand that each joint supplies in this effectual work to which that God has called us.

Eze 24:4  Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh^H3409, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.

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.

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

The end result of those joints supplying through each of us within this fitly framed body is the miracle of “not be[ing] afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day”. The terror that the world experiences outwardly is what our old man must experience inwardly as the Lord destroys everything that breathes within that first marred vessel called Adam. Everything within our first man Adam must die in order for Christ to be formed within us.

Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
Deu 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

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

What we are wrestling against is “the terror by night” and “the arrow that flieth by day” which is another way of saying the powers and principalities that attack our heavens 24/7 like fiery darts that we know we can quench through the faith of Jesus Christ.

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

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Verse 6 in our study tonight is a witness of more of the same spiritual warfare taking place in our heavens, and the way that Satan has deceived the masses is described as “the pestilence that walketh in darkness” as well as “the destruction that wasteth at noonday”. His goal is to try to destroy the work of faith that is working in the church which is the body of Christ. God tells us this won’t happen, and the symbolism of Satan attacking us when Christ is brightest in our heavens at the noon day reminds us that if it were possible he would deceive the elect, but it is not possible because God will deliver us and grant His people to narrowly escape to His glory.

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

Psa 37:40  And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

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

1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

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.

Psa 91:7  A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Psa 91:8  Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

It is the most natural thing for our flesh to think that the problems in this world are exclusively outside of ourselves, but by God’s grace and faith, we have been blessed to be given a perspective that is unique and holy in the Lord. With God’s help, and through Christ and the body of Christ, we can fight a good fight of faith and keep ourselves from only looking at the outside of the cup of this world when we know that God requires us to judge ourselves today and all that is within us. We do come to see ourselves as the chief of sinners and guilty of the blood of all the prophets in advance of the whiten sepulchre mentality that reigns in the first man Adam naturally.

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

Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. >
Mat 23:29. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Luk 11:51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

With these thoughts in mind and with an understanding of what multiples of ten mean in the bible we can now examine ourselves and apply all these words to our own circumstances and lives that need to die daily. The “thousand shall fall at they side” takes us back to the side of the temple where only after the 10 X 10 x 10 process of judgments unfold and are acknowledged as being ‘is, was and will be’ in our heavens can we enter into the temple of God confidently, even boldly.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

We truly come to know that our dying flesh has nothing to offer God. The altar is the cross and is the ‘place’ where we can experience sin not overcoming us and “not come[ing] nigh thee”. The “ten thousand” is just another symbol to remind us that all of the world within us must be destroyed, and that would be four tens to equal ten thousand 10 X 10 x 10 x 10.

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

It is only with our spiritual eyes given by God that we will be able to see “the reward of the wicked” within us. It is the eyes that acknowledge that ‘we can’t see’ (Joh 9:41) that gains victory over the wicked that abides in the haughty spirit within us that says ‘I know’, ‘I see’ or ‘in your name [I’ve] done many wonderful works’ (Mat 7:22). With such a spirit and not that of a child, the kingdom of God cannot be seen within or understood in the lives of those who have been blessed to acknowledge that they can’t see unless Christ is their head (Mat 18:3-4).

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the conclusion of our three-part study entitled “Our sufficiency is of God” where we will look at some of the most encouraging promises given to those whom God will take through the fiery trials of this life as He fulfills the promise spoken of in Joh 18:9.

Joh 18:9  That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

Next week’s verses are:

Psa 91:9  Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
Psa 91:10  There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
Psa 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psa 91:13  Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Psa 91:14  Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
Psa 91:15  He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
Psa 91:16  With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

(Key verses: Gen 19:1-16)

In our discussion on the foundational theme of faith, we come to Chapter 19 of Genesis where the focus is placed on Lot, the nephew of Abraham, and the ultimate judgment of God on the city where he and his family live, namely Sodom. Lot moved with Abraham from Ur in the Chaldees to Canaan. In this whole process he also, like Abraham, became rich in goods, even after their stay in Egypt, which caused them to split because of the limited pasturage and water holes:

Gen 13:8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.
Gen 13:9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

God brings separation for various reasons to fulfill His purposes in our lives. This separation is also symbolized by a door in the scriptures – the door of faith through which He also cause spiritual blindness on some and enlightenment on others (Psa 24:7; Mat 6:6; Mat 25:9-13; Mat 28:2; Mar 1:32-33; Mar 2:1-4; Joh 10:1; 1Co 16:9; Col 4:3; Jas 5:9):

Act 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

Like the cloud that made a division between the Egyptians and the Israelites in the wilderness, in the same sense the faith of Christ is the door, or way, to God that brings the division through His righteous sword (Exo 14:20; Joh 14:6; Gal 2:16; Php 3:9; Eph 6:17; Rev 3:20-22):

Joh 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Through this door of faith a few are given to enter and find pasture and are enlightened by truth, while many are kept outside to be deceived by darkness and its fake light (Gen 4:7; Mat 6:23). Those in the darkness are deceived by their own “lesser light”, even as Satan and his messengers appear as light to those in the dark (Gen 1:14-19; 2Co 11:14-15). It is only the light of the truth of Christ that can set us free from our own deceptive carnal hearts when we are first given to apply the blood on our own doorposts which brings the initial separation with the world, which is spiritually called Egypt:

Exo 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Smiting and destroying the outside Egyptians is just the start of a process of separation which few will be able to complete in this life (Mat 22:14). Abraham gave Lot the option to choose where he wanted to live. Lot then “journeyed east” which is actually the wrong direction as it is the opposite direction in which God wants us to move if we obey Him. When we follow God’s way, we enter in at God’s “door” in the east, and then we move from east to west as the tabernacle and temples in the Old Testament also symbolized. Lot’s movement was very important for those who know these things were written for our learning (Rom 15:4):

Gen 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
Gen 13:11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
Gen 13:12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Lot and Abraham “separated themselves the one from the other” as Lot had to face his own trials at that point in time as every man will have to “prove his own work” for his own spiritual development and personal reward in Christ (Eze 18:20). It is not profitable to plough with another man’s heifer (Jdg 14:18):

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.

While Lot was under Abraham’s covering, he did not face the very important fiery trials of faith through which all must go to be spiritually matured:

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.

This choice of Lot opened the door to his trials and tribulations – the hedge which Abraham supplied around Lot was now removed. Although Lot initially pitched his tent towards Sodom, he and his family eventually lived in the city, and there his “righteous soul” was very unhappy with what he had to endure day in and day out:

2Pe 2:7 …just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
2Pe 2:8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

Lot is used in this passage as a type of the righteous elect who are “in the world” but are not “of the world” (Joh 1:10; Joh 9:5; Joh 15:19; Joh 16:33; Joh 17:14-16). It was in Sodom where Lot and his family came face to face with extreme wickedness and also the necessary temptations which are the very trials that reveal the natural heart’s desires and lusts (1Jn 2:16). More importantly these trials also supply the needed exercise to be become overcomers in this life to mature in faith (Jas 1:2: Jas 1:12-13; Rom 8:35-39; Heb 5:14):

Gen 13:13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

God kept Lot faithful while he lived righteously among all the evil and promiscuous seductions in Sodom. The two angels met Lot at the gate of Sodom, which confirms Lot’s relationship to that city:

Gen 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate [Hebrew: “sha‛ar” = gate/door] of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.

Sitting “in the gate” of the city in those days included positions of rulership and being a judge of that city (Gen 19:9; Deu 21:18-21; Rut 4:1-11; 1Sa 4:18; Pro 31:23). The gate of the city relates to the door of a house as things enter and exit at that point. This links spiritually to the heart in us through which all “issues of life” pass. The door to our heart, which is the spiritual word for our mind (which is also our heaven), is to be guarded by doing the commandments of the Lord with all diligence (Rom 12:2).

Pro 4:23 Keep [Hebrew: nâtsar = guard] thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

In the scriptures, a gate of a city or the door of a house is also associated with deliverance, but also linked with bondage or slavery (Gen 4:7; Exo 12:23; 2Ki 7:1; Job 38:17; Mat 12:35):

Psa 118:19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:
Psa 118:20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.

Deu 15:16 And if he [the slave] says to you, I will not go away from you, because he loves you and your house, because it has been good for him with you;
Deu 15:17 then you shall take an awl and put it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. And also to your slave-girl you shall do so.

Lot was diligent to keep the law of God as he understood it, and he was different in that sense from the inhabitants of Sodom, and it was obvious for all to see. He was a servant to others, hospitable and always looked at the needs of others, even strangers, more than himself. This is also demonstrated when he met these two visitors:

Gen 19:2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
Gen 19:3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

The Sodomites had other ideas which were contrary to Lot’s ideas, as the mind of the flesh is contrary to the mind of the spirit of God (Gal 5:17):

Gen 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
Gen 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

The sin of homosexuality is what Sodom became notorious for, but it encompasses a broader spectrum of sins in which all mankind in Adam is naturally involved. Every sin found on this earth is in all of us, as we are from Adam who was made marred and devoid of truth and spirit life from the hand of the Potter:

Jer 18:4a And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter:

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

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.

Those who can receive this will accept that we are guilty of all sin, as we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, even the very commandments that come from God’s mouth which we cannot obey naturally:

Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

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

Naturally homosexuality refers to man on man intimacy on a sexual level which spiritually points broadly to our own intimacy with mankind, even the man of sin in us (Ecc 3:18; 2Th 2:3-4). Sodom refers to our natural inclinations when we love ourselves and follow the ways of mankind in various ways (Rev 13:15-18). This is when we are impressed by natural beauty, wisdom and achievements of mankind in which God has ensnared all of us in our appointed time (Lev 18:22; Rom 1:27 1Co 1:19-29; 1Co 3:4; 1Co 3:19; Jas 3:15-16):

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.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 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.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 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.

The same spirit of homosexuality is seen in us when we want to rule and exercise authority over other fellowmen and sow our ideas and words (our evil spiritual seeds) in others to impress them or to show superiority over them:

Mar 10:42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.

This is the spirit of the world in us when we are controlled by pride and lusts, which is not after the spirit of our heavenly Father:

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

We are all naturally born in Sodom, and we live there until God drags us out of this wicked city of flesh (Joh 6:44). Adultery and lies are all linked to Sodom in us when we also associate with others in their wickedness and false doctrines under the guise of being prophets of the new Jerusalem:

Jer 23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

The young and old in Sodom surrounded the house of Lot to get to “know” the visitors on a sexually intimate level. We all meet the Sodomites in us from the first day we are born when we scream and shout for attention. In this immature spiritual state we want everyone to hear our problems and demand that our needs be met first:

Eze 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
Eze 16:50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

Pride, material gain, haughtiness and idleness are some of the sins in our sodomite hearts as we are greedy to get the most from others at the lowest price and with the least effort. These evil attitudes can be clearly seen and witnessed by others around us:

Isa 3:9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

Our own speech and daily living betray the sodomites within us as we also depend on our human abilities and fleshly alliances with others with the same mindset in our own valley of Siddim (“birds of a feather flock together”). However, this valley of Siddim is always full of slimepits which reveal the snares and trappings of our natural dependence on earthly strength and material gain (Gen 14:10; Jas 5:1-2):

Gen 14:8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim.

Lot’s solution to this evil request from the men of Sodom to “know” the visitors is for some very troublesome – he wanted to give his own virgin daughters to these men:

Gen 19:6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
Gen 19:7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
Gen 19:8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

This also indicates that Lot knew that these Sodomites will not be interested in his daughters. Sodom is not interested in purity and the narrow way of God. The twisted false doctrines and the broad way are more acceptable than the truth in natural minds who like to “make [them]selves of the number” (2Co 10:12). Lot “shut the door after him” is showing us how “the door of faith” makes a division between our natural relationships and our spiritual relationships. This division is also revealed by the enemies in our own household:

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Sodom in us is a very aggressive and competitive brute beast which is very impatient when things are not going according to its liking and understanding (Pro 10:9; Pro 19:3):

Gen 19:9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.

We fornicate spiritually when we aggressively pursue intimacy with false and twisted doctrines of the harlot Babylon (“spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt”), which is foreign or strange to the doctrine of Christ (Rev 11:8). These cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and all other fleshly cities in us will all be consumed by the fiery words of God’s truth (Jer 5:14; Jer 23:29; 1Co 3:13-15; Heb 12:29):

Jud 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange [Greek: heteros = altered or twisted desire/contrary to nature] flesh are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

God’s true messengers will bring us into the house of God and will show us not to have contact with those who have been blinded to the truth. We will progressively learn how God shuts the door of faith to those who will “wear[y] themselves to find the door…of faith” unsuccessfully in this life. The door of faith is shut to them who come with their stubborn idols in their hearts to God’s Word (Eze 14:1-9).

Gen 19:10 But the men [the two visitors] put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
Gen 19:11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

God gives spiritual blindness to all those who claim they can see long before they can even notice it, even as they are 100% convinced that know where the door is (Joh 9:39-41; 2Th 2:11). This judgment will be brought by God’s own messengers, even now through His very few elect who will also be the lake of fire bringing His justice and truth to all in the generation of the first Adam (Isa 33:5-24; Rev 20:4-6; Rev 20:14-15):

Gen 19:12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
Gen 19:13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

The ways of God are indeed foolishness to those who are easily influenced by deceitful Sodom as Lot’s own sons-in-law mocked him when he told them the truthful words of the messengers of God (1Co 2:14):

Gen 19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

God initiates salvation, and He also works it – from start to finish. Our flesh does not want to let go of the attachments of Sodom, but God is indeed a true Saviour who will bring us all out of this evil city of flesh (1Ti 2:4-6; 1Ti 4:9-11):

Gen 19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
Gen 19:16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

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Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Do The Scriptures Condone Homosexuality?
Are Homosexuals Born That Way?
The Fate of Sodom

Hi Mike,

I’m sure you are quite busy, but I just came across James 4:5, and when you have some time, it would be great to hear your thoughts.

I was amazed to see that James 4:5 had so many different translations.

New International Version:
“Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?”

New Living Translation:
“What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy?”

English Standard Version:
“Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?”

New American Standard Bible:
“Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?”

King James Bible:
“Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”

Which do you think is the most correct – THE ESV or the KJV?

He yearns for us jealously or the spirit in us lusteth to envy?

Your brother in Christ,

A____

Hi A____,

Thank you for your question. You ask:

“Which do you think is the most correct – THE ESV or the KJV?

“He yearns for us jealously” or “the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”

When you read the first four verses, it becomes clear that the KJV is the best translation because it refers to the spirit of man which God has placed within us all at birth.

Jas 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Jas 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Jas 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

Paul uses this same language concerning what is by nature within our members:

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

When we put these two sections of scripture together, we see that “the spirit that dwells in us” spoken of in James 4:5 is controlled by “the law of sin” which is, by nature, in our members, and the “war in your members” of James 4:1 is the same ‘warring” Paul describes with these words:

Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

“The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy”, and it does so because “another law in [our] members, warring against the law of [our] mind, and brings [us] into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

In other words, God makes every man to err from his way, turns us to destruction, and then He tells us to return to Him:

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Psa 90:3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

So in the final analysis, when Christ said “without me you can do nothing”, that includes our sins, hence this statement to the pagan Athenians:

Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

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

God has given us an evil experience for the express purpose of humbling us:

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it. (CLV)

He uses this evil experience to bring us to our “wits’ end”, and then He gives us the peace of mind we are all seeking, as He tells us in Psa 107:

Psa 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

I do not proclaim any one translation to be superior to all others. All translations have good points and bad points. In this case the King James Version got it right, and these are probably the verses being referred to when James tells us that the spirit in us lusts to envy:

Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Gen 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

I hope you find this to be of some help.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Video Links

Job 21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

Job 21:19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

Job 21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

Job 21:21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

Job 21:22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

Job 21:23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

Job 21:24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

Job 21:25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

Job 21:26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

Job 21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

Job 21:28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

Job 21:29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

Job 21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Job 21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

Job 21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

Job 21:33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

Job 21:34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

Introduction

In our study today we will learn, as our title verse tells us, that God’s wrath against our “old man” is “the day of [ his] destruction and is designed to destroy him.

Last week we saw that Job pointed out to his detractors that the Lord does not always exact justice upon and judge the wicked in this age. The fact is that the wicked are not being judged at all in this age. It is the apostle Peter who is given to inform us that the Old Testament prophets were not ministering to themselves at all but to us:

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

So even when our brothers in this world do “groan and travail” with us, they are still not being judged at this time. It actually appears that the wicked are delivered in this age, and the elect are cursed and hated by God.

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Rom 8:22 For we know t hat the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

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

1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Job’s experience is ‘not for himself, but it is to us that he is ministering’. Job, like Abraham, is given physical blessings, yet he is also given to understand that he is ‘looking for a city not made with hands’.

Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Heb 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Heb 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

Heb 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

Heb 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

“These all” means Abraham and all of the Old Testament prophets “died in faith, not having received the promises, not knowing where they were going, seeing the promises afar off, looking for a city not made with hands.

Contrast that shadow of the Old Testament prophets with the spiritual reality of the New Testament overcomers: We know where we are going, and we know the way to get there; we have this treasure in earthen vessels; the kingdom of God is near… within us, we are that city made without hands, the New Jerusalem, set on a hill”.

Joh 14:4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

Joh 14:5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

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.

Joh 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

In a previous chapter Peter has informed us of what Job did not yet see – that we are the first to be judged:

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

1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

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 time is come” that we understand all the things which were hidden from the eyes and ears of the Old Testament saints. The fact that Peter tells us that “judgment must begin at the house of God” reveals that like Job, he knows that the world will be judged at a later time. So Peter’s question in the next verse is a rhetorical question:

1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Peter has read the book of Job, and he already knows “That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath”.

In fact we will learn in this study that God says that He hates our “old, marred vessel man”, and that He raised him up for the specific purpose of destroying that “old… first man Adam”.

Psa 26:5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

When we are told that “all thing are yours… Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death”, we must accept that Pharaoh, and Esau are the world, and they and their death are also ours, just as much as Paul or Apollos or Cephas [ Peter].

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

When we come to know Christ and His Father we learn that His “marred… vessel… made of clay” was “made of clay” for the purpose of disposing of that old vessel, and that He had determined before He ever formed that “marred vessel” that he would destroy it and through the agency of that destruction, make a new vessel that really will be “conformed to the image of His Son”.

Job is one of the earliest revelations of this Truth. To Job it was obvious that the wicked are not being judged in this life. What he did not yet understand is that his experience would, as Peter tells us, “minister not unto [ him] self, but unto us”. Nevertheless Job was granted to understand “That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.”

Job 21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

Job 21:19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

Job 21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

“They are as stubble before the wind” is “that wicked” within all men of all time, including us and Job as a type of us.

Job 16:9 He [ God Himself] teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

Job 19:11 He [ God] hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies. <

Now if indeed Job is “not ministering to [ him] self but to us” (1Pe 1:9-12), how then can we deny that God pours out His wrath upon his elect first, as His Word judges us and ‘tears us and kindles His wrath against us’, Job as the type of God’s elect.

“His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty” is just an earlier version of these New Testament witnesses and confirmations to this statement made by Job:

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

Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him [ Christ] upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

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

Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

As our deceitful ‘old man’ is revealed to us, we witness his destruction. As he is destroyed, our “new man” grows within us, and as we see Him, we become Him “from glory to glory”.

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

Job within us does not yet see that transformation. All we first see is that our old man is being destroyed, and it is, at first, a great mystery to us that we must live out such a cursed existence.

Job 21:21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

Job 21:22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

This is an incredible testament of how we all see evil in our brothers long before we see it in ourselves. Job knows that no man can teach God anything. He knows that God judges even “those that are high”. But at the same time he maintains his own righteousness, contends with, reproves, and condemns God for the way He is working in his life. Job sees the blindness of his friends to the sovereign work of God with His creatures and His creation, but he cannot see the log that is in his own eye.

Job 21:23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

Job 21:24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

“There is a time to die”, and this is how we would all want to die, “wholly at ease and quiet” and in a very prosperous state.

Gen 25:8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Ecc 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Ecc 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; [ our old man]

But it is obvious to all that there are also many evil men in this world, who also die “in a good old age”, not having received the justice due them, while others, less deserving of it, live a long, drawn out, life of constant trials ending in a protracted, agonizing, and bitter death.

Job 21:25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

Job observes this entire event and acknowledges that it appears unfair on God’s part, but he doesn’t think his friends should dare to question or reprove God for His ways, even as he himself is doing just that.

Job 21:26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

This statement by Job brings to mind this statement by Christ:

Mar 9:44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

“The worms shall cover them… their worm dieth not” means that many die in this age while still in the darkness of the deception of the lies of the adversary, symbolized by worms which devour us all while we are in that spiritually dead state. The worms in scripture are our own false doctrines coming out of our own mouth, which will judge us.

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

“They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them”, refers to the egregiously wicked, as well as those who are not given to be nearly that wicked.

Job 21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

Job 21:28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, have made it clear that they suspect Job to be a “sinner above all men…” simply because of the evil that God has brought upon Job. While they should be weeping for themselves, they are wondering why God is judging His elect first. Of course they are not thinking in those terms, but they are wondering why God is doing this to Job, and the fact is that Job is a type of God’s elect who are being judged in this age “that we should not be condemned with the world”.

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

Luk 23:28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

Luk 23:29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

Luk 23:30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

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

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

“Where is the house of the prince… the dwelling places of the wicked?” refers to Job, and he is painfully aware of what his friends are thinking of him.

Here is Job’s response to these slanderous thoughts:

Job 21:29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

Why “have you not asked them that go by the way?” ‘Do you any idea what those who know me would say about me, “their tokens” of me?’ If you had, you would know that none of the things you suspect of me are true. Here is what you would discover”:

Job 31:32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

If a traveler and “them that go by the way” are understood as “strangers and pilgrims” on this earth.

Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

All true spiritual “strangers and pilgrims” would identify with Job’s struggles, and they would comfort him accordingly, knowing that the truth of these verses applies to themselves and to all men:

Job 21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Job 21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

God shows us our ‘old man’ and his pride, and he does so “to our faces”. Joseph is a type of Christ judging us, and he does so “to our face”.

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.

Deu 7:10 And repayeth them that hate him [ God] to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

Hos 5:5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

Hos 7:10 And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

Pride is the weakness with which Job and all of his friends suffer. Malachi also brings out the destructive power of pride and “the proud” within us and within our midst:

Mal 3:15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

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

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Job 21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

Job 21:33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

These are “the tokens” of those who know God and His Son whom He has sent to save this world. God’s true children know that even “the world… and death… all are ours”, and not just for some other person who we perceive to be “sinners above all men”.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

1Co 3:23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?

Luk 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Job may not have understood that “the day of the destruction of the wicked in the day of God’s wrath” is the birth and salvation of our new man, but he is still ministering this message to all who do ‘know God and His son.”

Job 21:34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

The one thing Job knew, and to which he was clinging, was the fact that “there remained falsehood ” in the accusations of his so- called friends.

Next week, Lord willing, we will hear Eliphaz as he accuses Job of being a ‘sinner above all men’:

Job 22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Job 22:2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

Job 22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?

Job 22:4 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?

Job 22:5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

Job 22:6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

Job 22:7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

Job 22:8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

Job 22:9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

Job 22:10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

Job 22:11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

Job 22:12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

Job 22:13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

Job 22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

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Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
Job 17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
Job 17:5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
Job 17:6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
Job 17:8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
Job 17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
Job 17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
Job 17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
Job 17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
Job 17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
Job 17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
Job 17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
Job 17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

Introduction

The book of Job is 42 chapters long. It is a record of the humiliation and judgment of Job, stemming from three separate sources: first, the loss of all of his possessions, including the loss of all of his ten children; secondly, his affliction with boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet; and his third means of judgment is the torment of the false accusations from his three “miserable comforters”, who before were some of his closest friends. Nothing hurts more than to discover that those whom you thought most loved and respected you now consider you to be the enemy of God and a secret sinner who is withstanding God.

This book also records Job’s three accusers, who he had before considered to be his close friends, each being given the opportunity to bring accusation against Job, which in reality applied equally to themselves and to all of mankind. Job of course is also given the opportunity of judging each of his three miserable comforters with the same self-righteous spirit with which they are judging him.

So this whole experience of Job, up until the arrival of Elihu who is sent to speak in behalf of God, is the Old Testament type and shadow of the struggles of our own self-righteous carnal mind to defend itself.

As we have demonstrated, the number three signifies the process of judgment, and that is exactly what is happening to Job as the type and shadow of the process of judgment which comes first upon the house of God:

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?

There are three separate rounds of these three men assaulting their friend Job, even though Zophar does not participate in the third round of accusations.

In this 17th chapter, Job is responding to Eliphaz’s second attack. Eliphaz, as a type of us, still sees Job’s great trials and tribulations as proof positive that he is a great sinner above all men. This is part of the mental torment Job is enduring, which has been added to the loss of all of Job’s possessions, including his seven sons and three daughters, and to the physical pain of being afflicted with boils from his head to his feet. Shortly after the loss of his entire family except for his wife, Job is then stricken with boils from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. So Job has long since despaired of life. He tells us that he has endure “months of vanity, and wearisome nights…”

Job 7:3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

This 17th chapter is the beginning of the second of three rounds of Job’s defense of himself against the unfounded accusations of his friends who consider Job’s self-righteousness and his pride (what is in all of us) as really the only things that are now keeping him going and enduring this trial.

It is most revealing to know that our pride is apparently strengthened in our rebellion against God’s ways by simply knowing that we are no more of a sinner than those who are looking down on us while we are suffering at the hands of our Creator.

Job cannot deny that God is destroying him, but neither can he understand why. He knows he had done nothing more than his friends have done to deserve the judgment which had come upon Him. He has no clue that he is being used as a type of those who are to be the first to be judged in “the time of reformation” in which we live.

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?

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

In His pride and self-righteousness Job is actually inspired to increase his own criticism of his detractors.

Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
Job 17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

The Hebrew for ‘breath’ in verse one is ‘ruach‘ which is most often translated with the English word ‘spirit’. It is the same word translated as ‘breath’ in this verse of Genesis 6:

Gen 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

Here is the most common way this Hebrew word is translated:

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit [Hebrew: ruach] of God moved upon the face of the waters.

It will help us to know just how few times this Hebrew word ‘ruach‘ is translated as ‘breath’ as compared to the more common translations of ‘spirit’ and the next most common translation as ‘wind’. Here is how e-sword breaks down the translation of this word in the King James Version:

H7307
ru ach
Total KJV Occurrences: 379
spirit, 227
Gen_6:2-3 (2), Gen_41:8, Gen_41:38, Gen_45:27, Exo_6:9, Exo_31:3 (2), Exo_35:21, Exo_35:31, Num_5:14 (2), Num_5:30, Num_11:17, Num_11:25-26 (3), Num_11:29, Num_14:24, Num_24:2, Num_27:18, Deu_2:30, Deu_34:9, Jos_5:1, Jdg_3:10, Jdg_6:34, Jdg_9:23, Jdg_11:29, Jdg_13:25, Jdg_14:6, Jdg_14:19, Jdg_15:14, Jdg_15:19, 1Sa_1:15, 1Sa_10:6, 1Sa_10:10, 1Sa_11:6, 1Sa_16:13-16 (5), 1Sa_16:23 (2), 1Sa_18:10, 1Sa_19:9, 1Sa_19:20, 1Sa_19:23, 1Sa_30:12, 2Sa_23:2, 1Ki_10:5, 1Ki_18:12, 1Ki_21:5, 1Ki_22:21-24 (4), 2Ki_2:9, 2Ki_2:15-16 (2), 1Ch_5:26 (2), 1Ch_12:18, 1Ch_28:12, 2Ch_9:4, 2Ch_15:1, 2Ch_18:20-23 (4), 2Ch_20:14, 2Ch_21:16, 2Ch_24:20, 2Ch_36:22, Ezr_1:1, Ezr_1:5, Neh_9:20, Neh_9:30, Job_4:15, Job_6:4, Job_15:11-13 (3), Job_21:3-4 (2), Job_26:13, Job_27:3, Job_32:8, Job_32:18, Job_33:4, Job_34:14, Psa_31:5, Psa_32:2, Psa_34:18, Psa_51:10-12 (3), Psa_51:17, Psa_76:12, Psa_77:3, Psa_77:6, Psa_78:8, Psa_104:30, Psa_106:33, Psa_139:7, Psa_143:3-4 (2), Psa_143:7, Psa_143:10, Pro_1:23, Pro_11:13, Pro_14:29, Pro_15:4, Pro_15:13, Pro_16:18-19 (2), Pro_16:32, Pro_17:22, Pro_17:27, Pro_18:14 (2), Pro_25:28, Pro_29:23, Ecc_1:14, Ecc_1:17, Ecc_2:11, Ecc_2:17, Ecc_2:26, Ecc_3:21 (2), Ecc_4:4, Ecc_4:6, Ecc_4:16, Ecc_6:9, Ecc_7:8-9 (3), Ecc_8:8 (2), Ecc_11:4-5 (2), Ecc_12:7, Isa_4:4 (2), Isa_19:2-3 (5), Isa_19:14, Isa_26:9, Isa_28:6, Isa_29:10, Isa_29:24, Isa_30:1, Isa_31:3, Isa_38:15-16 (3), Isa_40:7, Isa_40:13, Isa_42:1, Isa_42:5, Isa_44:3, Isa_48:16, Isa_54:6, Isa_57:15-16 (3), Isa_59:19, Isa_59:21, Isa_61:1, Isa_61:3, Isa_63:10-11 (2), Isa_65:14 (2), Isa_66:2, Eze_1:11-12 (2), Eze_1:20-21 (4), Eze_2:2, Eze_3:12, Eze_3:14 (2), Eze_3:24, Eze_8:3, Eze_10:17, Eze_11:1, Eze_11:5, Eze_11:19, Eze_11:24 (2), Eze_13:3, Eze_18:31, Eze_21:7, Eze_36:26-27 (2), Eze_37:1, Eze_37:14, Eze_39:29, Eze_43:5, Dan_2:1, Dan_2:3, Hos_4:12, Hos_5:4, Joe_2:28-29 (2), Mic_2:7, Mic_2:11, Mic_3:8, Hag_1:14 (3), Zec_4:5-6 (2),
Zec_6:8, Zec_7:12, Zec_12:1, Zec_12:10, Zec_13:2, Mal_2:16
wind, 82
Gen_8:1, Exo_10:13 (2), Exo_10:19, Exo_14:21, Exo_15:10, Num_11:31, 2Sa_22:11, 1Ki_18:45, 1Ki_19:11 (3), 2Ki_3:17, Job_1:19, Job_6:26, Job_7:7, Job_15:2 (2), Job_21:18, Job_30:15, Job_30:22, Job_37:21, Psa_1:4, Psa_18:10, Psa_18:42, Psa_35:5, Psa_48:7, Psa_78:39, Psa_83:13, Psa_103:16, Psa_104:3, Psa_107:25, Psa_135:7, Psa_147:18, Psa_148:8, Pro_11:29, Pro_25:14, Pro_25:23, Pro_27:16, Pro_30:4, Ecc_1:6 (2), Ecc_5:16, Ecc_11:4, Isa_7:2, Isa_11:15, Isa_17:13, Isa_26:18, Isa_27:8, Isa_32:2, Isa_41:16, Isa_41:29, Isa_57:13, Isa_64:6, Jer_2:24, Jer_10:11-13 (4), Jer_13:24, Jer_14:6, Jer_18:17, Jer_22:22, Jer_51:1, Jer_51:16, Eze_5:2, Eze_12:14, Eze_13:11, Eze_13:13, Eze_17:10, Eze_19:12, Eze_27:26, Eze_37:9 (2), Hos_4:19, Hos_8:7, Hos_12:1, Hos_13:15, Amo_4:13, Jon_1:4, Zec_5:8-9 (2)
breath, 27
Gen_6:17, Gen_7:15, 2Sa_22:16, Job_4:9, Job_9:18, Job_12:10, Job_15:30, Job_17:1, Job_19:17, Psa_18:15, Psa_33:6, Psa_104:29, Psa_135:17, Psa_146:4, Ecc_3:19, Isa_11:4, Isa_30:28, Isa_33:11, Jer_10:14, Jer_51:17, Lam_4:20, Eze_37:5-6 (2), Eze_37:8-10 (3), Hab_2:19
winds, 11
Job_28:25, Jer_49:32, Jer_49:36 (2), Eze_5:10, Eze_5:12, Eze_17:21, Eze_37:9, Dan_8:8, Dan_11:4, Zec_2:6
mind, 6
Gen_26:35, Pro_29:11, Eze_11:5, Eze_20:32, Dan_5:20, Hab_1:11
side, 5
Jer_52:23, Eze_42:16-19 (4)
spirits, 5
Num_16:22, Num_27:16, Psa_104:4, Pro_16:2, Zec_6:5
blast, 4
Exo_15:8, 2Ki_19:7, Isa_25:4, Isa_37:7
vain, 2
Job_16:2-3 (2)
air, 1
Job_41:16
anger, 1
Jdg_8:3
cool, 1
Gen_3:8
courage, 1
Jos_2:11
quarters, 1
1Ch_9:24
sides, 1
Eze_42:20
spiritual, 1
Hos_9:7
tempest, 1
Psa_11:6
whirlwind, 1
Eze_1:4
windy, 1
Psa_55:8

So while Job considers himself to be above reproach, his own mouth is condemning him as being of a ‘corrupt breath’ or ‘corrupt spirit’, destined and more than ready, to join all those who are at rest in their graves. One of the main reasons he desires to die is: “Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?” As contradictory as it may seem, the self-righteous pride that causes Job to prefer death to life is the same element which drives him to defend himself against the accusations of his “miserable comforters”.

Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

Heb 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

Christ is surety for our salvation, but His sacrifice was the death of the flesh, not its continuation. Even our Lord Himself “was sown a natural body, [but it] was raised a spiritual body” (1Co 15:44-45).

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.

It was that “last Adam” for whom Christ “was…made a surety.” “The first man Adam” is nothing more than “a strange woman” to our Lord.

Pro 20:16 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

His closest “inward friends” have proven that they have no intention of being surety for Job. To the contrary, they think he is guilty of some great hidden sin for being dealt with by God in this manner, and Job feels the pain of being forsaken by his closest associates.

Job 19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

The one thing Job knows is that it is God who is working all these things – the destruction of all his possessions, his affliction with boils, as well as the torment of being accused of great sin by his closest friends. Nevertheless Job has no intention of justifying the false accusations of his “miserable comforters”. So he tells them:

Job 17:5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

If the father cannot see the corrupt fruit of flatteries, it is certain that his children will not have ‘eyes that see’ any better than their father.

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.

Job 17:6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

“He hath made me also a byword” is speaking of God. Job is acknowledging that all of this is of God. As the Old Testament type of Christ and His elect, Job is made a spectacle to the world and to angels:

1Co 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

“As He is so are we in this world”:

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

Job was one day “the toast of the town” and then, the very next day, he became “a byword of the people” just like our Lord, which is what Job is in type. Our Lord himself was brought into Jerusalem being proclaimed “the king of the Jews”, and almost the very next day the same people were crying out that He be crucified.

Luk 19:36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.
Luk 19:37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
Luk 19:38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
Luk 23:13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
Luk 23:14 Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:
Luk 23:15 No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.
Luk 23:16 I will therefore chastise him, and release him.
Luk 23:20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.
Luk 23:21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

Those are our own words when our old man learns that Christ’s ways involve our death to this world. Those are also the words of Job when he is faced with the loss of all that he holds dear in this life. He wants the judgment of the Christ to be over with and done. He does not like being “made a spectacle [and] a living sacrifice unto God”.

Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

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.

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

God beseeches us to present our physical bodies as a living sacrifice simply because He knows in advance that is not what our natural man wants to do. We all just naturally want to skip the judgment phase of our spiritual development. Our natural man cannot see this spiritual event taking place right before his eyes for the same reason Job cannot see what is taking place right before his eyes.

Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

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

Both Job, and each of us, are first just simply “the natural man”.

Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

The sorrow of our trials and the judgment of God upon our old man ‘dims our eyes’ so that we “cannot hear [His] word”.

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

Of course there was no spiritual discernment before the day of Pentecost. So Job as the type of all of us, openly declares his astonishment at what the Lord is doing to him. To this day our natural man cannot fathom how or why God judges us in the way He does.

Job 17:8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

Job knew that the things which had happened to him would be a mystery for many years to come for any natural-minded man. To this very day, mankind struggles to understand why good people seem to be required to suffer right along with the unrighteous. So the self-righteous spirit of Job is alive and well now, in our day of judgment, as well as it will be in the lake of fire, as these words of our Lord demonstrate:

Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

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

That is the same pride and self-righteousness of Job within us causing us to reprove, contend with and condemn our Lord all the while wondering why we are being judged so harshly.

Job 17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

Being extremely self-righteous, we, like Job, ascribe verse nine to ourselves, but verse ten is always applied to anyone who condemns our old self-righteous man within us.

Job 17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

Not knowing or understanding why, Job realizes he is being destroyed. That is the fate of our own carnal-minded old man. His days are numbered, his carnal purposes are being burned up, and his very thoughts are being dissolved and changed into the purposes and thoughts of our Lord and master who is working all these changes within us.

Job 17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

The holy spirit through Christ and through the apostle Peter warns us of this day of judgment which must begin at God’s own house:

Luk 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Luk 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Luk 19:43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

These are not words which apply only to those whose fate it is to be in the lake of fire. These words are especially for God’s elect to whom belong all things and who must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4 and 1Co 3:21-22).

Our carnal mind begins thinking it is young, wealthy and invincible. However, Job reveals to us what becomes of that young, successful and apparently invincible carnal-minded man within us, and Solomon bears witness to the same lesson we find in this book of Job.

Ecc 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Job 17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

“They change the light into day” refers to Job’s own thoughts, which he was speaking of in the previous verse:

Job 17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

Job has made those thoughts perfectly clear. He feels that “his days are past”, and he simply wants to die and rest in the dust.

Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

“The light is short because of darkness”, should be ‘the light is near because of the darkness of the grave’ which Job longs to know. Nevertheless the self-righteousness of both Job and his friends make this verse in Isaiah applicable to them all as types of us.

Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isa 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Job actually feels both wise and prudent to reprove his Creator for his harsh judgment. He feels completely justified in requesting to die, rather than enduring this judgment of his self-righteous, carnal mind. So he continues to complain to his Maker:

Job 17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
Job 17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
Job 17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
Job 17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

“Where now is my hope, who will see it?” Job’s entire complaint in these last four verses reflects the same hopelessness we all feel when we are forced to acknowledge that our own fabled ‘free will’ is of no value or help at all as the remedy for our hopeless and helpless situation, and so, with the apostle Paul, we cry out to our Lord:

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

“I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister” is the same as acknowledging these verses which immediately precede Rom 7:24:

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

“In me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” is a truth with which neither Job nor his friends are yet acquainted. They are the types of our own self-righteousness, and from the perspective of our own self-righteous, carnal minds we are above reproach, and as such we are justified in contending with and condemning our own Creator,

So what is the only solution to the fact that “in me, (that is, in my own flesh), dwelleth no good thing”? What hope have we against a law in our members which causes us to sin? Here is our only hope:

Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

“The mind” Paul refers to is “the mind of Christ” which dwells in all whom He is calling out of this world.

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

The world will condemn us if we claim and believe that “we have the mind of Christ [and we] know the truth”, but in doing so they are just admitting that they do not have the mind of Christ, and they cannot know the Truth which is Christ.

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.

If we do not “know the Truth”, then we, out of our own mouths, do not know God or His Son, and if that is the case, then we do not yet have life eternal:

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

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will hear Bildad’s second attempt to convince Job that his fate is in his own hands, that it is “his own counsel” which is casting him down, and that all he needs is the will to repent and make a change in his life.

Here are Bildad’s words to Job for our next study:

Job 18:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
Job 18:2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
Job 18:3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
Job 18:4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
Job 18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
Job 18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
Job 18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
Job 18:9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.
Job 18:10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

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Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Job 13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
Job 13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
Job 13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Job 13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
Job 13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
Job 13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Job 13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
Job 13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Job 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Job 13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
Job 13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
Job 13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as garment that is moth eaten.

Introduction

Most all of the commentaries, Jewish and Christian, affirm that the main theme and purpose of this book of Job is to explain why it is that the innocent must at times suffer. It is this book more than any other which explains why there are those who are good people, but who, because of God’s providence must suffer along with the wicked in order for the plan of divine providence to be carried out.

Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

It is because of His providence there is the need for Christ to suffer and to die for the benefit of all men. It was because of divine providence that a man had been born blind “that the works of God should be made manifest in him”.

Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
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.

Yes, it is undeniable that Christ’s death, as well as the affliction of the man who had been born blind, were both “that the works of God should be manifest”. It is undeniable that God is “working all things after the counsel of His own will… for our good… to do what [ His] hand and [ His] counsel determined before to be done”. (Eph 2:11; Rom 8:28; Act 4:28). But there is also another purpose for this book of Job besides just teaching us that our fiery trials, when they have run their course, are for our good and will purify us as gold is purified in fire.

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Another purpose of this book is to reveal to us “deep things out of darkness, and bring to light the shadow of death”.

Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

The one “deep thing” which comes “out of [ the] darkness” within Job, who typifies us and all of his “miserable comforters”, is the “deep” rooted “pride of life” which is to be found within us all, and which must be “brought out to light” and revealed for “the shadow of death” which is all “the pride of life” really is.

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

It is this “pride of life” and the tediousness with which God is destroying that pride that occupies this entire book of Job. It is the pride of life which has Job’s miserable comforters looking down their noses at Job in his afflictions, and it is the pride of life in Job which has Job maintaining his own ways, his own integrity and his own righteousness.
So once again he declares to us:

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

This is the theme and purpose of the twenty chapters of this book which are attributed to Job. It is “the pride of life” which is so deeply rooted within our flesh, that we of ourselves simply cannot and “will not let it go”.

Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

“So long as [ we] live… till [ we] die” we will hold fast our [ own] righteousness” and uphold our own “integrity” and “maintain our own ways” before God and man.
Here is how our Lord deals with us when we are of that state of mind:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

“Though He slay me… so long as I live…[ and] till I die” are all statements coming out of the mouth of the beast within us, demonstrating the inherent incredible hold which the beast within us, empowered by the great dragon, has upon us, by nature.

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

We aren’t even one third of the way through this book, and we are just getting started hearing Job’s pride- filled declarations of his own righteousness. Job is just getting started demonstrating for us the extent of the grip which this beast of self- righteous pride has upon Job, who is the Biblical type of each of us. We literally worship the beast of our pride and our own self- righteousness. One of the hardest things for any of us to ever do is to admit that we were just simply dead wrong. When we are not yet granted to overcome that beast, we are actually worshiping him and his father the devil, also known as “the dragon”.

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

At first our beast overcomes us all. There has never been an exception other than Christ. To apologize to those we have hurt or mislead is many times simply not possible for that beast within us.
Now let’s look again at what Job tells us concerning his trials:

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

When will take place? When will Job “come forth as gold”? Will this trial Job is enduring cause him to “come forth as gold” spiritually while he is living in this age? Asked in another way, did Job’s enduring of this trial prepare him to be able to enter into the temple of God in heaven where everything in sight is pure gold? Was Job in Christ? Did his trial minister to himself? Did the trials of any of the Old Testament great men of faith minister to themselves? Were any of the Old Testament saints ever out from under the law for the lawless? Were any of them living in the saving faith of Christ? Asked in still another way, will any of the great men of faith mentioned in Heb 11 receive the blessings of the kingdom of God along with or ahead of those who are in Christ?
Here are all the names mentioned and referred to in Heb 11, the so- called ‘faith chapter’: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jephthah, David, Samuel, “and the prophets”.
Did any of these great Old Testament men of faith receive the promise of the salvation that has come to you and to me? What do the scriptures say in answer to all of these questions concerning all these Old Testament men? Here in this same chapter is what we are told concerning all the great men of faith of the Old Testament:

Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

But doesn’t “some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” simply mean that they will just have to wait to be raised up in the first resurrection with us? Is that what is being said, or are we actually being told that they were not even ministering to themselves at all but unto us? Are we actually being told that their faith was not the saving faith of Christ, any more that the manna which Christ Himself referred to as “bread from heaven” was the true “bread of life”?
What is the scriptural answer to all of these questions? Here is the answer for all those who are given to believe that “He that is least in the kingdom of heaven in greater than John the baptist”, who is as great as any man born of woman.

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

Was it the salvation of their own souls in this age of which the prophets had inquired? No, it was “the salvation of your souls, and the glory that should follow”. It was not ‘the glory that preceded you’. It was “the salvation that should come unto you… not unto themselves, but unto us”. The scriptures actually teach that the ministration under which all the Old Testament men of faith lived “had no glory” at all, when compared to the glory of the ministration of the New Testament.

2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

Was it revealed to the prophets that their faith and trials were ministering to themselves? Of course they will, ‘in their own order’, become the beneficiaries of every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, but will they be of those who “first trusted in Christ”?

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

Has the desired end product of the ages come upon anyone in the Old Testament? What is the answer? Here it is: ” Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister…”
Again, upon whom have the ends of this age come first?

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

“Not unto themselves did they minister, but unto us… upon whom the ends of the ages have come”.
So let’s ask the question, did the ends of the ages come upon any of the men of faith of the Old Testament? Did ‘these things happen to any of them for their own admonition’? No, “these things happened to them… and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world have come… not unto themselves but unto us they did minister… they received not the promises [ because] God has provided some better thing for us…”
So Job’s trials, and the blindness which he and his ‘miserable comforters’ as types of us, have at first been given, keeps them from seeing “the deep things out of darkness” which concern the self- righteous pride within themselves. This ‘all happened unto them as types’ of us, and they are written for our admonition, because the desired product of the ages is come upon those in whom Christ’s spirit can now dwell as the consequence of His death and resurrection. The death of Christ and the power of His resurrection was simply not available to any of the typical ‘men of faith’ of the Old Testament.
But was it not called faith? Yes, it was called faith, in the same sensethat manna was called “bread from heaven”.

Exo 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

Was that Old Testament manna the true “bread from heaven”? Was the faith of the ‘men of faith’ of the Old Testament the true faith of Christ? What do the scriptures teach us concerning both the true faith of Christ, and the true bread from heaven?

Joh 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Joh 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Joh 6:34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Joh 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Was the manna “bread from heaven”? Yes, as a type and a shadow of “the true bread from heaven”, it was. Nevertheless the spiritual Truth is that “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven… I am the bread of life“.
So it is also with the spirit of God in the men of the Old Testament, and so it is with the faith of all those men. They received ‘bread from heaven’ only in type and in shadow, and they received God’s spirit and the faith of Christ only in type and shadow.
So the New Testament teaching still remains that:

Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Who does “this people” whose eyes were blinded and whose ears could not hear, include?

Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel [“Many prophets and righteous men”] hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Heb 11:39 And these all [ Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David, are all mentioned], having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves [“Many prophets and righteous men”], but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Was it possible to receive the holy spirit before Christ came in any way other than in type and shadow? Here is what Christ tells us:

Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

If “the comforter which is the holy spirit” had already come into the hearts and lives of the Old Testament saints, then why would it be “expedient for you that I go away”? The answer is that “these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Job is not mentioned in Heb 11, but he is nevertheless included, along with all the prophets who are also not particularly mentioned. Job was physically blessed after being physically humbled and physically crushed. It all “happened to him and it is written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1Co 10:11).
If even one Old Testament saint will be in the first resurrection, then they were ministering to themselves as well as us. But that is not the case. The Truth is that John the baptist was as great as any man born of woman, and he that is least in the kingdom of heaven will be greater than John, or any Old Testament saint.
Job demonstrates for us why that is. Job is just getting started with explaining to God and man how righteous he is because we are being made to understand the depth of the pride of self- righteousness within us all. That is why Christ made this statement:

Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Here is a list by chapter of all the discourses between Job and his three “miserable comforters” which I have cut and pasted from Wikipedia, which outline the three cycles of all these discussions.

Speech cycles

The dialogues of chapters 3-31 are, in general, a cycle of speeches between Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar that are structured as follows:

Cycle 1
Job Chapter 3
Eliphaz 4-5
Job 6-7
Bildad 8
Job 9-10
Zophar 11

Cycle 2
Job Chapters 12-14
Eliphaz 15
Job 16-17
Bildad 18
Job 19
Zophar 20

Cycle 3
Job Chapters 21
Eliphaz 22
Job 23-24
Bildad 25:1-6
Job 26; 27-28; 29, 30, 31

The third cycle, it should be noted, does not follow the pattern of the first two cycles. Zophar does not give a speech and Bildad’s speech is significantly shorter than his previous speeches.

Notice that Job’s pride filled defense of his own righteousness occupies 20 long chapters. His miserable comforters accusations occupy only nine chapters. What does this tell us about ourselves? It reveals simply that no man is equipped to “make war with the beast” of our own self righteous pride of life.

Job 13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.

What this verse reveals is that it is much easier to detect hypocrisy in someone else than it is to detect the self- righteousness that is within ourselves. Job is self- righteous, but no one could say he is a hypocrite. It is Job who tells us:

Job 15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
Job 36:13 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.

As hypocrites we all heap up wrath by refusing to cry when Gods binds us in our own afflictions. Paul tells us the same thing.

Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man [ Greek – anthropos, mankind], that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

These words are addressed to “O man”. The Greek is ‘anthropos’. It is the same Greek word we find in this verse of God’s Word:

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

Where are all these hypocrites to be found? Are they in others or are they within us?

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

It is “in Zion [ that] fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites”, and it is the righteous who will dwell with the devouring fire [ and] with [ the] everlasting burnings” which are the fiery words of God through Christ within us, purifying our heavens.

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Eph 2:6 So that we came back from death with him, and are seated with him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus; (BBE)
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Christ is in “the heaven itself”, within the temple of our hearts and minds (1Co3:16), “appearing in the presence of God for us”, but this was not possible for any of the Old Testament men like Job, simply because He had not yet paid the price of His life so He could come into each of us via his Father’s spirit.
Job knows nothing of the saving faith and the grace of Christ. Just like each of us while we are in Babylon, we give great lip service to God and His sovereignty. Like us while we are in Babylon, Job still believes his salvation depends upon his own righteousness, and he is just getting started declaring his righteousness to God and to this world.

Job 13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
Job 13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Job 13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.

This is what God has done with all of us, as we see ourselves in Job. We actually believe we have “ordered [ our own] cause” with our fabled “free will”, and like Job we are confident in our own self- righteousness, and it will take the “giving up of the ghost” of our old man before we will ever be able to see otherwise.
“Who is he that will plead with me?” Job is asking, ‘Is there anyone on my side? Is there not anyone, Oh God, who will plead with and for me?’

Job 13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
Job 13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Job 13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.

Job wants to plead with God, just as we all want to do at this point in the destruction of our old man. We are so desperate that we simply want God to “withdraw [ His] hand” and speak with us in a way we can understand. The one thing we think we know for certain is that we are righteous enough that we do not deserve to be treated in this way, and with that attitude we are doing nothing short of condemning our own Creator:

Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

I used to think that “of the same lump” was referring to the earth out of which all men come. It certainly has that application, but that application misses the fact that God “endures with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath” which is our flesh and its desires. That application fails to acknowledge that all of us are “in [ our] own order… children of wrath, even as others”.

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

Who in the orthodox Christian world teaches that God’s elect were ever at any time “children of wrath, even as others”?
Thinking “of the same lump” refers to someone else who also came out of this earth overlooks the need for “living by every word” (Mat 4:4). It doesn’t emphasize the necessity for the destruction of the “man of sin” who is sitting on the throne of God within the temple of our bodies.

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

When Israel asked to die in the wilderness, that wish was granted. It was only the new generation that entered into the promised land.

Num 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
Num 14:28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
Num 14:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

But we live by every word, and since “all things are ours”, so “the same lump” is us as our old man whose carcase must die in the wilderness as the type of the death of our old man. But the new generation that entered into the promised land is also the type of our new man who is made “of the same lump” of clay, and we now have Christ “in earthen vessels”.

Jer 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jer 18:7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

God can and He will destroy the beast of our old man, yet in this same lump of clay we will be resurrected with Christ, and have this treasure in earthen vessels:

Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Our old man must die. He must “lose his life”, and in his death our new man will arise to know whence he came, and be thankful for the death of that old man, and be thankful to know that he has never been anything more than a self- righteous, pride filled, dying sinner.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Job continues questioning his Creator:

Job 13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?

God is bringing Job to His “wit’s end”. He is being made to ‘know his transgressions, his sins and the number of his iniquities’. But he is not there yet. God will answer all these questions Job puts to Him. You and I, as Job, will certainly come to know how many are our iniquities, and to know our transgressions and our sins. When this trial is completed, we will know why we cannot see God’s face while He counts us as His enemy. God does not commune with His enemies until He has determined to destroy them.

1Sa 28:16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou [ King Saul] ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?

King Saul is the type of our old man. Our old man is “enmity against God, for [ as such we] are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”.

Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Not realizing any of this Job continues questioning God.

Job 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Job 13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

The answer to Job’s question is, Yes, God will break and burn up our old man as “a leaf driven to and fro”, and he will, with His fiery Word, pursue and burn up all the wood, hay and stubble that can be burned up.

1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

We all first build with “wood, hay, [ and] stubble, before God burns those combustible things our of our lives. He has already written that bitter end against our old man, our “first man Adam… in His book”. When Job says ‘you write bitter things against me’, he agrees with King David in Psa 139.

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

Every day of Job’s trials were written in God’s book before there were any of those days, and every day of our trials is written in the book of each one of us before there were any of our days.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
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.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Both “the first man [ and] the last man” are within all of us. Notice the word ‘corruption’ in both verses 42 and verse 50. Flesh and blood are the corruption in which all mankind is sown. We are universally sown in dishonor and weakness, and we will also be universally raised in glory and power, after we have suffered for a little time.
That is why Christ’s own flesh and blood could not inherit the kingdom of God. That is why God gave Israel a sin offering as well as a trespass offering. The offering of our Lord’s flesh and blood body which “made Him to be sin who knew no sin”, still had to die, simply because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. It never saw corruption, and yet it had to “be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye”, in order to enter into the kingdom of God.

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Lev 4:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 4:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:
Lev 4:3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.

We have already covered this subject in our studies on The Law of The Offerings. The sin offering does not mention any particular sins, while the trespass offering mentions many sins in particular.

Lev 6:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 6:2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;
Lev 6:3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
Lev 6:4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,
Lev 6:5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.
Lev 6:6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest:
Lev 6:7 And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.

The word ‘or’ appears six times in these seven verses describing various sins which are but examples of “all that he hath done” in committing the many trespasses which mankind routinely commits. There are no such distinctions made in the sin offering. Why are no particular sins mentioned in the sin offering, but there are in the trespass offering? That is because the sin offering is offered for what we are, as sinful flesh and blood, and for the sin which is inherently “in [ our] members”. Many Christians believe that flesh of itself is not sin, but what do the scriptures teach? Here are the scriptures:

Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Twice here in Rom 7 we are told the very same thing Joseph told his brothers and what the scriptures declare from Genesis to Revelation: “It was not you that did it, [ the evil of selling Joseph into slavery in Egypt] but God…”

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.

“It is not I that do it, but sin that dwells in me… it was not you that sent me here, but God”. How does this work within us?

Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Both the sins and the trespasses we commit operate through “the law of sin [ which] is in [ our] members, and that “law of sin” is part of our “marred” condition at the hands of the Potter, who is also called the “one lawgiver”.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jas 4:12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

The trespass offering, on the other hand, is for what we do in these bodies of sinful flesh and blood. The trespass offering is not for what we are with the “sin that is in [ our] members”, rather the trespass offering deals with the particular sins we commit. The trespass offering is not for what we are, but for what we do with what we are as marred vessels.
How then can Jesus of Nazareth be a trespass offering? Here is how that is accomplished:

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

There is “Jesus of Nazareth” as our trespass offering. Christ was “made to be sin” by being “made of a woman, made under the law”, both of which are types of being made sin.

Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

But our head “knew no sin”. Therefore it was up to those who are “Jesus of Nazareth” who were being persecuted by the church who now must fill up in their bodies that which is behind of the sufferings of the Christ. So Christ and “the Christ” are needed to get the job done as God has ordained. So we are plainly told:

Col 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and do fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly,

But this all necessitates the death of our old man upon the cross of Christ, and that is exactly what this book of the patience of Job is all about:

Job 13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
Job 13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

It would seem that feet in stocks would not need a print on the heels. But the message is that God knows all about our every move before we move. The “my” of verse 27 is the “he” of verse 28. Both are Job as the type of our old man whose carnal mind is the target of God’s work of destroying the “man of sin”, who is first within us all.

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

“He as a rotten thing” is a means of identifying with mankind as a whole, which is what Job will be doing in next week’s study:

Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Job 14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Job 14:3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
Job 14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
Job 14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Job 14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
Job 14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
Job 14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
Job 14:9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
Job 14:10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?