Created Soulish Adam, Sin and the Sovereign Design of God, Part 1

[Study Aired May 12, 2026]

Introduction

No one mistakes a seed for the harvest. The seed goes into the ground first — not because the harvest failed to arrive, but because the seed must precede what it produces. Christ named this principle in John 12:24: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” This is the architecture of God’s counsel for humanity. Adam was created as the seed — the earthy, soulish, the natural first. Christ as the Last Adam is the fruit — life-giving spirit, the spiritual afterward. The falling into the ground was not a tragedy interrupting the plan. It was the plan doing precisely what the Planner purposed.

At the center of this investigation stands a question that must be answered from Scripture alone: Was Adam created a sinner? Before that question can be answered, a prior question must be settled: What is a sinner? The answer to the second question determines the answer to the first. We begin there.

What Sin Is: The Biblical Definition

The biblical definition of sin is not primarily a legal category or a catalogue of moral infractions. It is an archery term. The Hebrew word chata (H2398) appears in a striking context in Judges 20:16, “Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.” Slingers are described as men who could hurl stones at a hair and not miss — chata (H2398). The same root rendered “sin” throughout the Old Testament is rendered “miss” in that marksmanship context. To sin is to miss the mark. The Greek word hamartano (G264) carries the same image — the arrow that fails to strike the target. This is not linguistic speculation; it is the plain semantic field of both words across both Testaments.

Paul captures the definition with precision in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Both verbs in the Greek deserve attention. Hamartano (G264) — they missed the mark, a completed historical act. And hustereo (G5302) — they fall short, they are deficient, a present ongoing condition. Paul is not describing a single moral act but a present state of being. Sin is falling short — missing the mark of God’s own glory.

What is that mark? Romans 8:29 identifies it: “whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” The mark is conformity to Christ. And what is Christ? First Corinthians 15:45 declares: “the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” — life-giving spirit. John 4:24 declares: “God is Spirit.” Not that God has spiritual qualities — God IS spirit. First John 3:2 names the destination plainly: “we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Like Him who is spirit.

The mark, therefore, is not improved moral behavior. The mark is being changed into spirit — conformed to Christ who is life-giving spirit, becoming like God who is spirit. Anything that falls short of that appointed end — by definition — misses it.

The Mark: Being Changed Into Spirit

The destination of God’s intent is transformation into spirit — not improved natural existence — Paul establishes beyond question in 1 Corinthians 15. He lays out the two-stage ordering with surgical precision:

“It is sown a natural body (soma psuchikos); it is raised a spiritual body (soma pneumatikos). There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44). Soma (G4983) — body. Psuchikos (G5591) — soulish, natural. Pneumatikos (G4152) — spiritual.

Sown soulish. Raised spirit. These are not two quality levels of the same thing. They are two different orders — and the second was never what the first was. Paul then makes the governing principle explicit:

“Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:46).

The natural must precede the spiritual. God did not make a mistake when He made Adam soulish. He made the first stage first.

Why the soulish cannot reach the destination on its own terms Paul states plainly: “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:50). The earthy, breath-animated nature cannot become the destination form simply by improving itself. It must be changed. The Greek allasso (G236) in verse 52 is decisive: “we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” Not incremental improvement — transformation. And 2 Corinthians 3:18 names the nature of that change: metamorphoo (G3339) — metamorphosis. Not enhancement. Fundamental transformation into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

Christ himself gave us the governing image of what this transformation requires: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). The seed does not become better seed. It dies, and what emerges is a plant, vine or tree that produces fruit — a fundamentally different form. Paul applies this directly in 1 Corinthians 15:36-38: what is sown is not the body that shall be. God gives the body that emerges. The earthy nature is the seed. The spirit form is the plant producing fruit. And the death of the seed is the condition the plant requires to produce fruit.

A question must be named before it is passed over: if the soulish nature is the first stage of God’s ordained purpose — the seed placed in the ground by the Maker’s own hand — in what sense does it constitute missing the mark rather than simply occupying its appointed place in the journey toward it? Adam was not to blame for being what the Potter formed him to be. Romans 8:20 is explicit — it was God who subjected the creation to vanity, and He did so in hope of what that subjection would produce. The falling short is real; the soulish nature genuinely fails to reach the glory of God. But the creature is no more blameworthy for that distance than the marred clay is blameworthy for the marring that happened in the Potter’s own hand (Jeremiah 18:4). When Paul himself is pressed on this tension — “why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?” — he does not resolve it philosophically. He redirects to the potter: “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:19-20). The clay does not interrogate the Maker. Blame enters by a different door entirely. Romans 4:15 states it plainly: “where no law is, there is no transgression” — the Greek parabasis (G3847), a knowing crossing of a known boundary. Three things had to be present for blame to attach: a commandment (Genesis 2:17 — “thou shalt not eat”), knowledge of that commandment (Adam received it directly from God), and the act of crossing it knowingly (1 Timothy 2:14 — “Adam was not deceived”). God formed Adam soulish. God is not blamed for that. Adam crossed the commandment knowingly. Adam is blamed for that.

Blame is not the end of the sequence — it is the beginning of the next stage. Blame is what makes judgment just. Judgment is what the blame occasions. And judgment serves restoration. Isaiah 26:9 establishes the corrective purpose of judgment plainly: “for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” The soulish nature is the root. The known commandment is the occasion. The knowing transgression is where blame enters. The judgment that follows is the Potter’s corrective forming. And the restoration of all things is where the forming was always headed — “in hope” (Romans 8:20), “that he might have mercy upon all” (Romans 11:32).

The Natural First: Adam’s Created Constitution

When God formed Adam from the dust and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, Scripture records precisely what Adam became: “man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). The Hebrew is nephesh chay (H5315, H2416) — a living soul, animated by nishamah chay (H5397, H2416), the breath of life. This is not incidental detail. The formed nature Adam receives from the Creator determines everything that follows. He did not receive the ruach Elohim (H7307, H430) — the Spirit of God — as the constituting reality of his being. He received the animating breath that makes a creature alive.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:45 deliberately quotes Genesis 2:7 with a purpose. He writes: “the first man Adam was made a living soul (psuche zoa); the last Adam was made a quickening spirit (pneuma zoopoioun).” Psuche (G5590) — soul. Zoa (G2198) — living. Pneuma (G4151) — spirit. Zoopoieo (G2227) — life-giving. He sets the rendering of Genesis directly against what Christ became — not to show a fall and recovery, but to show an ordained progression. The living soul is the first order. The life-giving spirit is the second. The second was never what the first was. Adam was made a living soul by divine intent.

The contrast with Christ illuminates the significance of what Adam did not have. John’s Gospel records of Christ that “God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him” (John 3:34). What the Father gave to the Son without measure was not given to Adam. Colossians 2:9 declares that in Christ dwells “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Christ possessed the complete spiritual reality that constitutes the mark. Adam possessed only the breath of life. This is not a commentary on Christ’s superiority in degree — it is a statement about two different orders operating within God’s working.

Adam was created without the knowledge of good and evil. Deuteronomy 1:39 uses the exact same Hebrew construction as Genesis 2-3 to describe young children: “Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.” Isaiah 7:15-16 establishes that knowing enough to refuse evil and choose good is a developmental capacity grown into. “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.” Adam was not created in moral maturity. He was created as a child — placed by God within conditions appointed for the developmental process to begin.

Genesis 2:25 confirms this: “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” This is innocence, not perfection. Ecclesiastes 7:29 adds the precise nuance: “God made man upright (yashar), but they have sought out many schemes.” Yashar (H3477) — morally oriented, aligned toward God’s will. Not metaphysically incapable of deviation, but genuinely aligned. Adam was good. The word towb (H2896) across Genesis 1 consistently means functional excellence for its appointed purpose — not metaphysical perfection incapable of sin. Adam was towb me’od (H2896, H3966): very good, excellently suited for his role in the totality of God’s counsel.

Sin Enters: Genesis 3 Examined

Genesis 3 is often read as the narrative of catastrophe — the moment God’s perfect plan shattered. Read carefully without that assumption, the text tells a different story.

God’s first response to Adam’s act is not judicial sentence. It is four questions: “Where are you?” (v.9). “Who told you that you were naked?” (vs 11). “Hast thou eaten of the tree?” (vs 11). “What is this that thou hast done?” (vs 13). A judge pronouncing sentence on an autonomous criminal does not ask questions. A Father drawing His child to give account does. Hebrews 12:7 establishes the pattern explicitly: “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Read through that lens, God’s response in Genesis 3 is the first instance of the paideia (G3809) — the whole training and education of children — that Hebrews 12 names and the entire developmental ordering requires. This is not the rupture of a broken plan. It is a Father beginning the forming process in earnest.

Before any consequence falls on Adam, redemption is already announced. Genesis 3:15 — the first promise of redemption, the first proclamation of the gospel — is embedded directly inside God’s response to the serpent, before Adam receives a single word of consequence: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Four elements carry the weight of the entire redemptive arc.

First: God Himself puts the enmity. Not the woman, not humanity — God initiates the opposition between the serpent’s domain and humanity. The conflict is His sovereign arrangement from the beginning.

Second: the seed is the woman’s — not the man’s. While zera [seed] (H2233) typically traces through the male line in the covenant genealogies, this promise is given to the woman — marking a deliberate exception that Paul identifies explicitly in Galatians 3:16 as pointing to Christ: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”

Third and Fourth: “it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” The Hebrew word rendered “bruise” in both clauses is shuph (H7779) — a rare word appearing only three times in the Old Testament: here in Genesis 3:15, in Job 9:17 where it describes an overwhelming tempest, and in Psalm 139:11 where it describes a covering, enveloping force. Examining all three contexts together, shuph carries the sense of overwhelming, overpowering force — not necessarily a single precise blow.

Significantly, when the Jewish scholars translated this passage into Greek in the Septuagint, they rendered shuph with the word tereo (G5083) — meaning to guard, to keep watch over. Rather than a single crushing blow, they read the posture of both parties as one of vigilant, sustained watchfulness — each keeping close watch on the other, each waiting for the decisive moment to act.

Read through that lens, Genesis 3:15 is not predicting two isolated events — a heel wound and a head wound at the cross. It is describing an entire arc of conflict: the serpent watching for every opportunity to strike the heel of the woman’s seed, and the seed keeping watch for the decisive moment to overwhelm the serpent’s head. Three witnesses confirm this ongoing-war reading. Revelation 12:17 — “the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed” — the conflict is generational. First Peter 5:8 — “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” — the watching is continuous. Romans 16:20 — “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” — the final overwhelming is still future according to Paul.

The cross is the decisive moment within this ongoing conflict — the moment both parties struck simultaneously and the resurrection proved whose watching prevailed. Genesis 3:15 encompasses the whole war, not just its climax. God announced the entire arc of conflict and its ultimate resolution before a single consequence fell on Adam.

This is not God improvising a remedy. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Genesis 3:15 is God unveiling before Adam what was ordained before the first breath of life entered the soulish seed.

God’s own statement in verse 22 is decisive: “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.” The Hebrew verb (has become) hayah (H1961) — qal perfect — describes a completed crossing of a threshold. The knowledge of good and evil has been entered into — but entering a process is not the same as completing it. Hebrews 5:14 establishes that full discernment of good and evil comes through gumnazo (G1128) — senses trained through repeated practice over a lifetime. “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Genesis 3:22 marks the beginning of that process, not its end. Two trees. Two aspects of becoming like God. Knowledge of good and evil — begun. Life itself — yet to come.

The tree of life corresponds to Christ as the Last Adam — pneuma zoopoieo (G4151, G2227), life-giving spirit. John 4:24 establishes God is spirit. 1 John 3:2 establishes the destination is becoming like Him. Access to the tree of life was not permanently denied — it was temporarily withheld until Christ, the New Covenant, and the outpouring of the Spirit could open the way. The blocking was deliberate, not punitive.

Consider what God says to Adam in verses 17-19: toil, thorns, sweat, and return to dust. The tradition reads these as punishments added. But Adam was formed from dust (Genesis 2:7). Return to dust — death itself — was always latent in what Adam was made of. God is not introducing something foreign to Adam’s nature. God is unveiling what was always true of the earthy, breath-animated nature.

John 12:24 names what the unveiling reveals: the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying. First Corinthians 15:36-44 applies this directly: what is sown is not the body that shall be. The soulish nature — earthy, dusty, breath-animated — was always the seed appointed to die so the spirit body could emerge. The conditions given to Adam in Genesis 3 are not the destruction of the plan. They are the continuation of the developmental process the plan requires. The Maker does not discard the marred clay. He clothes it (Genesis 3:21) and continues forming it.

Genesis 3, examined without the tradition of catastrophic rupture imposed upon it, reads as the first stage of God’s counsel unfolding exactly as ordained.

Genesis 3 is not the end of the story. It is where the story properly begins. In this first part we have established the foundation: sin is hamartano (G264) — the arrow that fails to reach the target — and hustereo (G5302) — the ongoing condition of falling short of the glory of God. Adam was not created at the destination. He was formed as the first stage of a two-stage ordering — earthy, breath-animated, soulish — placed by the Maker’s own hand into the ground as the seed that must die before the fruit can emerge. And when Genesis 3 arrived, what tradition reads as catastrophe the text reads as the first movement of the Potter’s forming: four paternal questions, redemption announced before a single consequence fell on Adam, the threshold of the knowledge of good and evil entered but not yet completed, and the conditions of toil and death simply unveiling what the soulish seed was always constituted to be. In Part 2 we turn to the Pauline framework that traces what this foundation means for all humanity — the universal scope of both the condemnation and the justification, the sovereignty that shut all up in disobedience in hope of mercy shown to all, and what it means for every vessel in the Potter’s hand to stand before the One whose forming never stopped.

Matthew 13:1–30 The Parable of the Sower and That of the Weeds

[Study Aired June 16, 2025]

The study today is about the parable of the Sower and of the weeds. In the study we shall come to understand why Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes. The study also highlights Jesus’ interpretation of the parable of the Sower to guide us, His elect, in understanding all His parables.  

Mar 4:13  And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? 

The study ends with the parable of the weeds and its interpretation. 

The Parable of the Sower

Mat 13:1  The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 
Mat 13:2  And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 
Mat 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 

The use of the phrase “the same day” is to let us know how our Lord Jesus worked hard like an ox during the three and half years of His ministry here on earth. The Greek word for ‘ox’ is ’shore’, and it is translated in English as bullock, bull, cow, ox and oxen. A key characteristic of an ox is its service or production and increase in wealth during the Biblical days.

Pro 14:4  Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. 

It is through the work of Christ, described as an ox during His time here on earth, that has made us spiritually rich.

As we have indicated in previous studies, the great multitude that followed Jesus represents those who are not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. They signify our brothers and sisters in the physical churches of this world who are not given to understand the spiritual reality of the word of the Lord. At a certain stage of our walk with Christ, we were part of the multitude when we were in the churches of this world. It is significant to note that the multitude stood on the shore while Jesus got up from the shore and went into a ship to speak to the multitude. 

In the Book of Revelation, it was while we were standing at the shore of the sea that we saw the beast coming out of the sea. Standing on the shore signifies our time in the churches of Babylon, since the shore represents the earth, but its closeness to the sea means that it is influenced by the sea of flesh as the raging waves of the sea foams out their own shame on the corridors of Babylon (shore). It is in Babylon that the Lord starts to show us what we really are – a beast! 

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 

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

Psa 73:22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. 

The fact that Jesus was sitting on the shore before He went into a ship is to demonstrate to us that to know our Lord Jesus Christ, we must first be in Babylon before we are given to be in a ship of fellow elect, plowing through the sea of flesh. 

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her (Babylon), my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

As we are aware, the sea represents the flesh of man, and being in a ship on the sea signifies overcoming the pulls of the flesh. In other words, being in a ship on the sea means being delivered from the pulls of the flesh. It is when the Lord comes to us with His judgment that we are gradually delivered from the pulls of the flesh and are given to hear Him speak to us.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 
Heb 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 

In verse 3, the Lord spoke to the great multitude in a ship while they were standing on the shore of the sea, which represents the churches of this world or Babylon. In this age, the Lord speaks in parables to our brothers and sisters in Babylon so that they cannot understand. The reason they cannot understand is that they are of their father the devil. In times past, we were also of our father the devil, and therefore we could not understand what the Lord was saying to us. 

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

Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 
Mat 13:5  Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 
Mat 13:6  And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 
Mat 13:7  And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 
Mat 13:8  But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 
Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.  

Without Jesus explaining what the parable of the sower means, it would have been impossible for us to understand what He was saying to us who were part of the multitude at a certain stage of our walk with Christ. From verses 4 to 7, the parable shows us our responses when we heard the word of the Lord in our time in Babylon. We did not appreciate the truth of the word of the Lord because we were spiritually blind and deaf. In the fullness of time, when the Lord opened our hearts and minds to understand His words, we started to produce fruit. This is the Lord’s explanation of the parable of the Sower: 

Mat 13:18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 
Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 
Mat 13:23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 

The Lord’s explanation of the parable of the sower is to teach us, His elect, how to rightly divide the word of truth.

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

In Matthew 13:23, it is the good ground that received the seed or the word of the Lord sown, and as a result was able to bear fruits. The good ground refers to the heart and mind of an elect. As we are aware, it takes time for a farmer to prepare the soil for planting. In a similar way, it takes time for our hearts and minds to be prepared to be recipients of the word of the Lord. 

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

The preparation of our hearts and minds is the Lord’s judgment of our old man or flesh, which we are going through to prepare us to receive the word of the Lord and to bear fruits of the spirit. These are the fruits of the spirit which we are to bear:

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

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 

The Purpose of the Parables

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 

These verses show us that in this age, the Lord is saving a few people known as His elect. In verse 11, the elect who are privileged to be saved in this age are represented by the Lord’s disciples. What verse 11 also means is that it is a privilege in this age to be given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven and not a right. We are called and chosen before the foundation of the world by God to be saved in this age. 

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

Those who are not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven are the people of this world and our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world or Babylon. Their bondage to corruption is all part of the design by the Lord to prevent them from understanding the mysteries of the kingdom in this age. In Romans 8:20, we are told that it is not that people choose to sin willingly, but that their subjection to vanity is according to the counsel of God with the aim of liberating them at the right time to become the sons of God. That is why the whole of creation are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, His elect, who will be the agents of liberation of the people of the world including our brothers and sisters in Babylon.

Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of 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. 

We are therefore the source of salvation or saviors to the whole of humanity. 

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

The verses following show us how the Lord is making the people of this world, including our brothers and sisters in Babylon, blind, so that they do not know Him in this age.  

Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 

The Lord is taking away from our brothers and sisters in Babylon even the little knowledge they have of the Lord and giving it to us, His elect. In other words, the Lord is making blind our brothers and sisters in Babylon including the people of the world, so that they do not come to know the truth in this age. As a result, the word of the Lord has become a parable to them to keep them in blindness, as shown in verse 13.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees [our brothers and sisters in Babylon] which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 
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. 

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. 

The blindness of our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world is due to the smoke that comes out of the bottomless pit, which represents our hearts and minds. The smoke is the false doctrines in their hearts and minds that eclipse the truth of the word of the Lord such that hearing they will hear and not understand, and seeing they will see and not perceive. 

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 
Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 

The propagators of these false doctrines are the false prophets who are described as locusts in the verses above. They come as angels of light but inwardly, they are grievous wolves. 

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

The works of these false prophets show themselves by people’s hearts becoming gross as their ears become dull of hearing and their eyes are blinded to the truth of the word of the Lord, as shown in verse 15. We must remember that at a certain stage of our walk with Christ, we were also in such condition, as our eyes were blinded and our ears could not hear the truth.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins
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. 
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

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

It is indeed a privilege to be counted as children of the Lord in this age. Not that we deserved it, but in His mercy, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to become saviors with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 

The prophets and righteous men of old were not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. All the work they did was for our sake, as shown in the following verses:

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.

As verses 18 to 23 highlight the explanation of the parable of the Sower, which we have addressed, we shall proceed to the parable of the weeds as follows:

The Parable of the Weeds

Mat 13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 
Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 
Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 

The man who sowed good seed in his field represents Christ and His Christ. The good seed signifies the word of the Lord. The field represents our hearts and minds. Christ came to us when we were part of the people of the world to deliver us so that we shall no longer conform to the standards of this world, but live as children of Christ. In our zeal, we unsuspectingly entered the churches of this world thinking we shall grow in the knowledge of Christ and His grace. However, as the parable suggests, this is the period of our walk when we were spiritually sleeping, just like the ten virgins who fell asleep while waiting for the bridegroom.  In other words, it is while we were in the churches of this world that we fell asleep and the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat that is sown in our hearts and minds. The enemy here represents the devil who works through his false prophets to sow false doctrines of man’s wisdom and traditions in our hearts and minds while we were in the corridors of the churches of this world. These false doctrines are the tares.

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 
2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 
2Pe 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.  

It is the fruits which are born by the wheat and the tares that serves to distinguish between them. If false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition (tares) are sown in our hearts, we shall end up producing the fruits of the flesh. On the other hand, if the truth of the word of the Lord (wheat) is sown in our hearts, the result shall be the fruits of the spirit. 

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 
Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 
Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

As Jesus said, by our fruits, we shall know whether we are of Christ or the evil one. 

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

Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 
Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 
Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. 

In verse 28, the servants of the householder wanted to go and gather up the tares, but he stopped them by saying that they should let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest, since in gathering up the tares, the wheat may also be rooted up. The fact that it is until the harvest that the tares will be gathered together and burnt means that it takes time for us effectively distinguish between the truth of the word of the Lord and false doctrines. It is as we are maturing spiritually that we can discern clearly between the truth of the Lord’s words and the false doctrines of the devil. The time of the harvest is therefore the period in our lives when our senses are exercised to discern the truth from false doctrines which are destroyed in our lives by the hail of the truth of His words. In other words, it is the time of the harvest that we are able to test the spirit to see if it is of the Lord.     

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

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 

Eze 44:15  But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: 

Eze 44:23  And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 
Eze 44:24 And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths. 

We are grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ for favoring us to be called and chosen in this age, to the praise of His glory. Amen!!  

Ezekiel 17:1-24 The Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine

[Study Aired May 20, 2024]

Introduction

The word of the Lord has both a physical and  spiritual application. The spiritual application is the one which gives life as it is not time bound but applicable to our lives now. Understanding the physical realities of the word of the Lord on the other hand, is time bound but is equally important in understanding the spiritual realities of the word of the Lord. 

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

As we are aware, it is the things that the Lord has made which help us to understand the truth of the word of the Lord regarding God’s eternal power and Godhead.

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

In today’s study, the physical realities of the Lord are used to explain spiritual truth. The Lord used riddles or parables to show us His provision for the people of Judah and the treachery of the people of the Lord in breaking covenant with Him. Specifically, the Lord is reckoning with the king of Judah for his treachery in breaking the covenant with the king of Babylon. As a result, the Lord threatens the ruin of the king of Judah and his kingdom. In the closing stages of this chapter, the Lord promises to raise the royal family of Judah again, the house of David, after judging them.

The First Eagle and His Work

Eze 17:1  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 17:2  Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel; 

The Lord telling Ezekiel to speak in a riddle or parable to the house of Israel is to remind us that His message is only for the elect who are given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.  The house of Israel here is Babylon is not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. 

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 
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. 
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.

Eze 17:3  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar: 
Eze 17:4  He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants. 

The great eagle with great wings taking a highest branch of cedar to the city of merchants is explained in verse 12 as follows:

Eze 17:12  Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;

We can therefore say that the great eagle represents the king of Babylon who conquered Jerusalem and took the king, together with other royals and sent them to Babylon. In this case, Jerusalem is Lebanon, the royal family is the cedar, and the city of merchants is Babylon. King Jehoiachin was the top branch, the top of the young twigs which the king of Babylon cropped off. Cropping off the top of the young twigs means easily conquering the royal family.

2Ki 24:12  And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 
2Ki 24:13  And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. 
2Ki 24:14  And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
2Ki 24:15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

It is instructive to note that Babylon is referred to as the city of merchants. This is what the Lord says about Babylon where even the souls of men are traded. The physical churches of this world have become money ventures just like corporate organizations. I remember hearing from one prominent pastor that every activity the church undertakes must generate profit. All of this is to let us know how low Babylon has sunk.

Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 
Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 
Rev 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 
Rev 18:13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
Rev 18:14  And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 
Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 

As indicated, it is the spirit that gives life. Spiritually, this great eagle is the Lord who came to pick us up as His elect and sent us to Babylon. As the Lord’s elect, we are the royals that are sent to Babylon. The king of Babylon is therefore representing the Lord in bringing us to Babylon. Every called and chosen servant of the Lord must go into Babylonian captivity before we are given to serve the Lord appropriately.  

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7  And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. 
Jer 27:8  And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 
Jer 27:9  Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: 
Jer 27:10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.

The Second Eagle and the Vine

Eze 17:5  He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. 
Eze 17:6  And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. 
Eze 17:7  There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. 
Eze 17:8  It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.

When the Lord, through king Nebuchadnezzar, sent Jehoiachin and the princes to Babylon, he made his uncle Zedekiah king to rule in his stead. The original name of Zedekiah was Mattaniah which means the gift of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar changed into Zedekiah, meaning the justice of the Lord.  This was to remind Zedekiah to be afraid of the justice of the Lord. Zedekiah therefore represents the seed of the land which was planted in a fruitful field with all the requisite ingredients for its growth. As it became a vine and brought forth branches, it became obvious that this vine was gravitating towards another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. This is the interpretation given to Ezekiel:

Eze 17:13  And hath taken of the king’s seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land: 
Eze 17:14  That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand. 
Eze 17:15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered? 

These verses imply that the seed of the land which was planted was Zedekiah and the other great eagle in this case represents the king of Egypt to whom Zedekiah sent his ambassadors to solicit for resources (horses and people). The vine is the people of Judah who had forsaken their covenant with the king of Babylon and had aligned themselves with Egypt even though the first eagle (king of Babylon) has given them the resources they need to live peacefully by making a covenant with them.   

2Ch 36:10  And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. 
2Ch 36:11  Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:12  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.
2Ch 36:13  And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.
2Ch 36:14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

Spiritually speaking, the seed of the land which represents Zedekiah signifies our lives in the physical churches of this world or Babylon where we are given all the resources we need to become the desired branches of the vine who is Christ.

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. 
Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

In this situation we can liken our walk in Babylon (people of Israel) to a tree planted by the rivers of water that bears fruit in his season.  

Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Unfortunately, we used the resources that the Lord has given to us to become corrupted by chasing after the wisdom and traditions of this world, which is signified here by the vine tilting toward the other great eagle. This other great eagle is our father the devil, who is represented as the king of Egypt. As we are aware, Egypt is a symbol of worldliness, and therefore the prince of this world is the king of Egypt and therefore the devil.

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

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. 

Joh 14:30  Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and hath nothing in me. 

Eze 17:9  Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof. 
Eze 17:10  Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew. 

In these verses, the Lord is telling us that when we stray from the path of peace, we pierce ourselves with many sorrows. In other words, we end up becoming spiritually dead just like plants which utterly wither when there is no water. The path of peace is the narrow way which few find. However, broad is the way that leads to death.

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

The east wind in verse 10 refers to the tribulations and persecution which comes as a result of the word of the Lord. Just like the parable of the Sower, we receive the word of the Lord with joy but because our roots have not sunk deeper into the soil as a result of our tilting toward the other great eagle (the devil) during our time in Babylon, we become offended or wither when tribulations and persecutions come our way.  

Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 

The Word of the Lord Explains Itself

Eze 17:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 17:12  Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon; 
Eze 17:13  And hath taken of the king’s seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land: 
Eze 17:14  That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand. 
Eze 17:15  But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?

As we have shown earlier, these verses were used to explain to us the meaning of the parable or riddle that the Lord gave to Ezekiel. Without the explanation given to us by these verses, chapter 17 of Ezekiel would have been subject to many interpretations. Therefore, these verses establish the principle that we should not go beyond what is written if we are to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of the Lord. In simple terms, the Bible explains itself. 

1Co 4:6  I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. (ESV)

Within this principle of not going beyond what is written is also the principle that it is only when we compare scripture with scripture that we come to know the mind of Christ. Our preaching therefore must be based on the principle of comparing scripture with scripture. Many have pierced themselves with many sorrows in their bid to interpret the word of the Lord by going beyond what is written.

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

We Must Submit to Authority the Lord has Placed Over Us

Eze 17:16  As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. 
Eze 17:17  Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons: 
Eze 17:18  Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape. 
Eze 17:19  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.  

The Lord did not look kindly on King Zedekiah’s decision to ignore the covenant he made with the king of Egypt and sought the support of the king of Egypt (Pharaoh) for horses and people. The consequence for his action is that he shall surely die. We can see clearly that ignoring the king of Babylon’s covenant means breaking a covenant with the Lord. What this is telling us is that when we must submit to authority the Lord has placed over us, we are submitting to Christ. It is instructive to note that in verse 19, the Lord called the covenant the king of Babylon had with king Zedekiah as His oath that he has despised.

1Pe 2:13  Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 
1Pe 2:14  Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 
1Pe 2:15  For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 
1Pe 2:16  As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 
1Pe 2:17  Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. 
1Pe 2:18  Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 
1Pe 2:19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

If we refuse to submit to those the Lord has placed over us, whether in the body of Christ or at our workplace or our family, we run the risk of becoming spiritually dead. For example, we cannot despise our parents even though they may not know the Lord and then think it will go well with us.

Eze 17:20  And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me. 
Eze 17:21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it. 

These verses show us the consequences of the actions of king Zedekiah to seek support from the king of Egypt and therefore break his covenant with the king of Babylon. Seeking for support from the king of Egypt spiritually means relying on the arm of the flesh, which is empowered by the devil. In verse 20, the result of Zedekiah’s action is that he shall be brought to Babylon. 

Jer 52:8  But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
Jer 52:9  Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.
Jer 52:10  And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. 
Jer 52:11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. 

What these verses show us is that if we reneged on our Lord’s covenant with us to take care of us after we have been elected by the Lord to reign with Him, even though we did not deserve it just as Zedekiah did not deserve the kingship and relied on the arm of the flesh, we shall surely end up in Babylon. Babylon is not a location but whenever we refuse to submit to our husband Christ, then we are playing the harlot, and we know that the harlot is Babylon.

In verse 21 we are shown that all the princes around Zedekiah shall fall by the sword. As we can see in Jeremiah 52:10, all the princes and sons of Zedekiah were slaughtered. Falling by the sword in verse 21 refers to our state as being spiritually dead through false doctrines. Those we were scattered towards all winds in verse 21 signify those who are deceived by every wind of doctrine. 

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

What the Lord has Started, He Shall Surely Complete It

Eze 17:22  Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: 
Eze 17:23  In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
Eze 17:24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

The highest branch of the high cedar in verse 22 represents the Lord’s elect who shall be planted upon a high mountain. Planting us upon an high mountain means that we are given access to rivers and streams as shown in the following verses:

Isa 30:25  And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 

Isa 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

Rivers and streams in the verses above refer to the truth of the word of the Lord. This implies that the Lord planting us on a high mountain means we are being given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Being planted on high mountains with access to rivers and streams also implies that we shall bear forth fruit in our due season and that whatsoever we do shall prosper!!

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

Verse 23 says that we shall bear fruit and be like the goodly cedar, and under us shall the fowls of every wing dwell. The fowls of every wing being under us implies that we shall be given dominion over the devil and his cohorts.

Luk 8:5  A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

Luk 8:12  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

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

The trees of the field in verse 24 refer to the people of the world. Verse 24 means that the people of the world shall know how the Lord has exalted us from among men. The people of the world shall see this when the kingdoms of this world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

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.

From verse 22 to 24, we are being given assurances by the Lord that what He starts, He is able to bring to completion. We may look at ourselves and not be impressed by our spiritual status. However, the key is to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. It is not about looking at ourselves. He who has started a good work in us shall see to its completion! Like Zerubbabel, the Lord is telling us that it is His work of grace that shall accomplish it!!

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

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: 

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. 

May His name be praised for His wonderful plan of salvation for us!! Amen!!

Ruth 2:1 –23: Go Not to Glean in Another Field

[Study Aired October 11, 2021]

Rth 2:1  And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 
Rth 2:2  And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 
Rth 2:3  And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. 
Rth 2:4  And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. 
Rth 2:5  Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 
Rth 2:6  And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 
Rth 2:7  And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. 
Rth 2:8  Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: 
Rth 2:9  Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. 
Rth 2:10  Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? 
Rth 2:11  And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. 
Rth 2:12  The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 
Rth 2:13  Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. 
Rth 2:14  And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. 
Rth 2:15  And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: 
Rth 2:16  And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. 
Rth 2:17  So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley. 
Rth 2:18  And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. 
Rth 2:19  And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz. 
Rth 2:20  And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. 
Rth 2:21  And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. 
Rth 2:22  And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. 
Rth 2:23  So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law. 

The first chapter of Ruth deals with how our Lord uses His four sore judgments, specifically, famine, to bring us from Babylon to the Heavenly Jerusalem or the body of Christ. Both Naomi and Ruth, representing the elect, came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

It is during our time in Bethlehem, or the church of the first born which is represented by the period of the harvest, that we come to clearly see the tares (false doctrines and our iniquities) and the wheat (the truth) through the angels sent by our Lord. That is when all the tares in us are destroyed by our fiery trials, and we are ready to be harvested as mature sons of God.

Mat 13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Chapter 2 of Ruth deals with the process we go through to mature in Christ after entering the house of God or the Heavenly Jerusalem as indicated by the entry of Naomi and Ruth to Bethlehem, the house of bread.

Rth 1:22  So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Rth 2:1  And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

At the beginning of this Chapter, we are introduced to the One who makes all things possible, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ. Elimelech means ‘my God is king’ and Boaz means ‘in Him is strength’. From the meaning of the names here, we can see that Boaz here represents the Lord Jesus Christ. A mighty man of wealth suggests that all the resources of both heaven and earth are at His disposal. He is indeed a great God!!

Psa 95:1  O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Psa 95:2  Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
Psa 95:3  For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
Psa 95:4  In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
Psa 95:5  The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
Psa 95:6  O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

Rth 2:2  And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.
Rth 2:3  And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

The field, as explained by our Lord Jesus in the parable of the tares and wheat, is the world. So, what verse 2 is saying is that it is in this life, or world, that the elect gets to know the word of God, represented here by gleaning of ears of corn. If we are blessed for our eyes to see and ears to hear, then it means that we have found grace in our Lord’s sight just as Ruth was looking to find favor to glean ears of corn. The rest of humanity will get to know Christ through the word during the lake of fire age.

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

As we are aware, our steps are ordered by the Lord as we see Ruth end up in the field of Boaz. This field of Boaz also stands for the church of the first born or heavenly Jerusalem. What this means is that in whatever situation we find ourselves, we must rejoice knowing that our Lord is working things out for our good and that what He starts, He is able to finish because He has all the resources to do so!!

Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

The reapers here are the angels or messengers of God who speak the fiery words of the Lord. Gleaning in the field after the reapers means we follow the messengers as they follow Christ.

1Co 11:1  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Rth 2:4  And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.

It is in the church that we get to know who our Lord Jesus is. Our coming to know Christ is the same as the revelation of Christ to Apostle John on the island of Patmos. As we have learned, the whole of our walk with Christ is to know Him, and that is the essence of eternal life.

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Rev 1:18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

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

Rth 2:5  Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 
Rth 2:6  And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:
Rth 2:7  And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.

The servant that was set over the reapers also represents our Lord Jesus, and therefore what we are being told here is that our Lord knew us even before we came to know Him, and He is concerned about us.

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

Psa 139:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Psa 139:2  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Psa 139:3  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Psa 139:4  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Psa 139:5  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Psa 139:6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Such knowledge about the fact that all my actions including my thought formation and what comes out of my mouth are all ordered by the Lord is impossible to attain while we walk in the flesh as revealed in Psalm 139:6 above.

The statement in verse 7 that “she had continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house” is to let us know that our Lord is aware of our labor and all that we are doing in the kingdom, and He has assured us that our labor just like that of Ruth, who stands for the elect, will never be in vain in the Lord.

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.

Rth 2:8  Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens:

Here our Lord, represented here by Boaz, is admonishing us not to go glean in another field. That means we must focus on the word of God and not be distracted by our works or anything else. Paying attention to anything but the word of God amounts to gleaning in another field. Another field also represents Babylon which represents the religions of this world including Christianity. It is the word of God which is able to build us up and to give us an inheritance.

Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Boaz also admonished Ruth to abide by the maidens. That means we should not stay away from the church of the first born.

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.

We must continually be in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ as this fellowship invariably involves our Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

1Jn 1:3  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Rth 2:9  Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.

Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap and go thou after them is another way of saying that we must pay attention to what we hear from the messengers or angels of the Lord. In other words, we must hold on fast to what we hear. If we do not do that, it will cost us our crown.

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

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Boaz charging the young men not to harm Ruth is another way of saying that no weapon formed or fashioned against us shall prosper as the Lord (Boaz) is in full control of both good and evil. In this case, the young men are used in a negative sense.

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.

Ruth was also instructed by Boaz to go to the vessel and drink of that which the young men have drawn. The young men in this context represents the messengers of the Lord who are providing us with the word of God. So, what we are being told here is that the way to grow or mature as sons of God is to put into practice (drink) what we hear from our brothers and sisters who are laboring for the gospel.

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Rth 2:10  Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?

We all have found grace in the sight of the Lord by being allowed to see and to hear His words of life even though we were strangers just like Ruth. We were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, but in the fullness of time, our Lord has brought us who were far off to become part of His elect.

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:
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Finding grace is another way of saying that our Lord is leading us in the way to know Him as we saw Moses making a request for the Lord to show him the way if he has found grace in the Lord’s sight.

Exo 33:13  Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
Exo 33:14  And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
Exo 33:15  And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

As we can see in verse 14 and 15 of Exodus Chapter 33, as we find grace in the sight of our Lord, we are assured of His presence to go with us to give us rest in Him. This rest is coming to know that we, of ourselves, cannot do anything and that everything is of the Lord including our salvation. That is when we cease from our own works and depend on God alone for everything.

Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Rth 2:11  And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. 
Rth 2:12  The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 

These verses are another way of expressing the fact that anyone who has left all to follow our Lord will surely be rewarded.

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
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.
Mat 19:30  But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

Rth 2:13  Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. 
Rth 2:14  And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.

Boaz inviting Ruth to come and eat is to let us know that finding favor in the sight of our Lord is being given eyes to see and ears to hear what the spirit of the Lord is saying to us through His words.

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

In verse 14, Ruth did eat and became satisfied. As our understanding deepens concerning the word of God, we become satisfied by being content with whatever situation we find ourselves in knowing that our Lord is with us and is working out our salvation.

Psa 36:8  They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
Psa 36:9  For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Psa 36:10  O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

Rth 2:15  And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: 
Rth 2:16  And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. 

Reproach her not in verse 15 and rebuke her not in verse 16 means we must not put impediments in the way of new believers as they seek to know the truth.

Rom 14:13  Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
Rom 14:14  I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.
Rom 14:15  For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. (ESV)

1Co 8:9  But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
1Co 8:10  For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?
1Co 8:11  And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.
1Co 8:12  Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
1Co 8:13  Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. (ESV)

Rth 2:17  So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.

Gleaning in the field until evening implies that for the rest of our lives until the sun goes down on us, or our body is destroyed through death, we must focus on hearing what our Lord is saying through the word. Beating what she gleaned signifies acting or obeying what we have heard.

Jas 1:19  Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
Jas 1:20  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Jas 1:21  Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
Jas 1:22  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Jas 1:23  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
Jas 1:24  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
Jas 1:25  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (ESV)

The statement “And it was about an ephah of barley” is to show us that as we hear and act on the word of God, we are being measured by the Lord. An ephah is a biblical measure of volume. It is about 9 gallons or 40 liters. We are being measured to see whether we are attaining the standard of Christ. Those who are not part of the new Jerusalem are not being measured in this life.

Rev 11:1  Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,
Rev 11:2  but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

Rth 2:18  And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.
Rth 2:19  And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz.

As we hear and act on the word of God, we must share what we are receiving from the Lord with the body of Christ or the New Jerusalem, signified here by the mother-in-law, Naomi. We must feel free to share or discuss with our brothers and sisters in the body what we have gleaned from the word of God. This sharing or discussion of the word of God is what every joint supplies.

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.

To the Babylonians and the people of the world, we must be ready to answer them when they come to us enquiring about our faith.

1Pe 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Rth 2:20  And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

In the CEV version of the Bible, this is how verse 20 is rendered:

Rth 2:20  “The LORD bless Boaz!” Naomi replied. “He has shown that he is still loyal to the living and to the dead. Boaz is a close relative, one of those who is supposed to look after us.” (CEV)

Boaz, who represents our Lord Jesus, is our close relative in the sense we all share the same body while He walked on earth. In addition to being a close relative, He is supposed to look after us. The scripture says that He is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters.

Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren [brothers and sisters],
Heb 2:12  Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Heb 2:13  And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Heb 2:16  For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

So, how is our brother Christ looking after us? The verses we just looked at give details regarding how He is looking after us. As we are aware, all humanity are our Lord’s children, and He is caring for all of us in terms of providing us what we need – food, clothing and a place to sleep. But in the case of the elect, this is what He is doing in addition:

He is making His Father known to us by declaring His name unto us, His brethren. (Heb 2:12)

He is delivering us who through fear of death were held in bondage in our lifetime. (Heb 2:15)

Because He was made like us, He is serving as a merciful and faithful high priest and is reconciling us to God. (Heb 2:17)

Because He is our brother, who grew up in the same environment of suffering just like us, He is able to help us when we go through all kinds of trials or suffering. (Heb 2:18)

Oh, may we praise our Lord for the wonderful work He is doing on our behalf!!

Rth 2:21  And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.

The young men here are the reapers who, according to our Lord Jesus’ parable of the tares and the wheat, are His angels or messengers of the gospel. The harvest is the end of the world.

Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

Thou shall keep fast by my young men means keeping in step with our brothers and sisters who are laboring for the gospel. This is telling us that we should not refuse our Lord who is speaking through our brethren. Doing so will disqualify us of the reward.

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

Rth 2:22  And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field.
Rth 2:23  So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.

Naomi’s suggestion to Ruth that it is good going out with the maidens means we should not neglect fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters of the same mind.

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

Belonging to a physical church of this world is meeting in a field that does not belong to Boaz or our Lord. That is what we call Babylon, of which we are admonished by the Lord to leave.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Ruth, who represents the elect, kept pace with the reapers and was also in the company of the maidens in Boaz’s field until the end of the harvest. Dwelling with the mother-in-law is the same as keeping the company of the maidens in Boaz’s field. This is to tell us that we must keep feeding on the word of God until the end of the harvest, which by that time, everything belonging to the world within us has been destroyed. That is the time of our departure from this present world!! May the Lord grant us the grace to endure to the end of the world as we focus on His words which is able to give us an inheritance. Amen!!

Jer 18:13-23 Let Us Not Give Heed to Any of His Words

[Study Aired September 26, 2021]

Jer 18:13  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
Jer 18:14  Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
Jer 18:15  Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
Jer 18:16  To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
Jer 18:17  I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
Jer 18:18  Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
Jer 18:19  Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
Jer 18:20  Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
Jer 18:21  Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
Jer 18:22  Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
Jer 18:23  Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

Whenever our study begins with the word ‘therefore’ we must review the last verses of our last study:

Jer 18:11  Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
Jer 18:12  And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

That is the ‘therefore’ that provokes the Lord to ask:

Jer 18:13  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.

The Lord catches us in our open adultery and tells us of our adulterous ways. Then He admonishes us with great patience to “return” to Him, but we refuse to do so. “Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things” is the same message the holy spirit is dealing with in the church at Corinth, when the apostle Paul admonishes us:

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.

Leaving the Lord, our spiritually legal husband, to worship our flesh and the great red dragon, is the equivalent of leaving pure life-giving waters to drink from a sewer. The fact that we do this provokes the Lord to ask:

Jer 18:14  Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

These words are addressed to each of us because we just naturally take our spiritual husband’s love for granted, and we just naturally use the knowledge of His sovereignty to turn His grace into lasciviousness so we can continue to please our flesh and continue in our sins and our false doctrines. These actions place us in the spiritual position of ‘worshiping the dragon who empowers the beast’ which we all are by nature (Ecc 3:18, Rev 13:4).

The waters from the melting snow in Lebanon flow down and refresh the Lord’s people. Just as the Lord’s wife “spoils the Egyptians” (Exo 3:22), and inherits ‘cities they did not build, and vineyards they did not plant’ (Jos 24:13). Lebanon is not Israel, but Lebanon also belongs to the Lord, and He uses the snow of the mountains of Lebanon as He sees fit, to refresh His people, and yet they turn from Him to other gods.

The message here is the same as in the previous chapters:

Jer 2:7  And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
Jer 2:8  The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
Jer 2:9  Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.
Jer 2:10  For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.
Jer 2:11  Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
Jer 2:12  Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
Jer 2:13  For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Jer 2:14  Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?

The question the Lord is asking us is why are we forsaking pure, clean, cool, refreshing waters to drink from the muddy waters of “Sihor”, the Nile, in Egypt or the Euphrates in Babylon? Why do we change the Truth in His Word, for the lies of Egypt and Babylon?

Psa 137:1  By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Psa 137:2  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
Psa 137:3  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria [Babylon], to drink the waters of the river?

Jer 17:13  O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth [as opposed to “in heaven” (Luk 10:20)], because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

Christ tells us that “fountains of living waters” is speaking of Him, and He tells us just how precious His ‘waters’ are:

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her,  Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Like Esau we place no value on things that are in the distant future. Rather we live for the moment to please our flesh, and we forget the promise of “water springing up into everlasting life”.

It is much easier to do all the things that cause us to be accepted by family, friends, and the society we live in, than it is to be faithful to the Lord and be divided from that comfortable position in this world. We find it easy to forget what our calling entails:

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 10:23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his  master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his 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.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 10:40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Notice just how redundant the holy spirit is in repeating over and over again how we, the Lord’s own people, have turned away from Him in our desire to do what we want to do. Our flesh just naturally hates being told what to do. That is especially true because those commandments are contrary to our natural mind and our natural inclinations:

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.

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.

If you think that because you have been aware of the Truth for some time that your flesh is now subject to the law of God, then you are in for a rude awakening. It is true that if we “walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh”:

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

It is also true that “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” is in the King James Version of the scriptures:

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

What tense do you suppose that statement is? Yes, of course, it just happens to be in the aorist tense and should read “the law of the spirit frees me from the law of sin and death”. Both the John Mitchell Version and the CLV correctly put this statement in the continuing aorist tense:

Rom 8:2   For the law of the spirit of The Life within Christ Jesus [or: For the Law of Life’s spirit, within Christ Jesus; or: For the Spirit’s law of life within Christ Jesus] frees you [sets you free] away from the Law of the Sin [the Failure; the Miss] and of the Death. (JMV)

Rom 8:2 for the spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus frees you from the law of sin and death. (CLV)

We are being supported by the spirit to overcome our flesh, but we must never ever think that we need not be diligent, vigilant, sober, and alert to the pulls of our flesh, and the power the Lord has given the adversary to try our faith, and make us forget who we are in Christ:

Jer 18:15  Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;

After listing all His accomplishments and all of his degrees bestowed upon him by men, Paul counts it all “loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ”:

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
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,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Then He gives us the mindset which will never forget the Lord and who we are in the Lord. Here is the mind of Christ concerning how we are to think in order to “endure to the end”:

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

‘Attained… apprehend and apprehended’ are all in the aorist tense and ‘being perfect [and] thus minded’ are in the present tense within the understanding that ‘perfection’ is a process that is taking place within the aorist tense. Perfection in the flesh was beyond even Christ’s abilities:

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

When we “stumble in [our] ways” we are being disobedient to His established Truth. To “cast up” a ‘way’ and a ‘path’ is to properly prepare that ‘path’ and that ‘way’ by building up what is right and proper and by removing every rebellious stumbling block which is not right or proper:

Isa 57:13  When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;
Isa 57:14  And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.
Isa 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity [‘inhabits the future’ (CLV)], whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

‘Putting our trust in the Lord’ means that we love Him, and we fear to disobey or disappoint Him. Love is obedience:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

“Know[ing] that we love the children of God” comes only through being obedient to Him and His doctrines. We should not claim we know Christ if we will not be obedient to His commandments.

This is how Christ wants us to show that we love Him:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

“The high and holy place where the Lord dwells” (Isa 57:15) is in the heavens of our minds, which are at this very moment being purified and prepared for His habitation:

Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
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:

The “purify[ing] of [our] heavens” is the “daily… dying” (1Co 15:31) of our old man who is the subject of our next verses in the form of plural pronouns:

Jer 18:16  To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
Jer 18:17  I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

‘Their’ and ‘them’ is the rebellious, ignorant, carnal mind we are all born with, and which must be made “desolate… in the day of [our] calamity”, which is really the best day of our  lives.

Until that day arrives we are all just unrepentant, self-righteous, Job (Job 26:5-7 and the entire 29^th chapter), and this is what we do to those who attempt to expose our self-righteousness:

Jer 18:18  Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

Once again, the plural ‘they’ is hiding from the world the fact that this verse is addressed individually to every person who reads it. This is what we all say of those who bring Him and His Truth to us. Those who bring The Truth to us are simply those who came before us and who, like Job, came to realize just how “vile” they are:

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

The answer to the Lord’s rhetorical question… “Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” is, “Yes, that is exactly what we all do” before we come to see just how ‘vile’ we really are as verse 18 reveals when we maintain: “for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite [Jeremiah, as a type of “the Lord and His Christ”] with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”

We are “the souls under the altar” of the fifth seal:

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they  held:

“The altar” signifies the cross upon which we all present our bodies as a “daily dying… living sacrifice” (1Co 15:31 and Rom 12:1).

As verse 18 demonstrates, it was Jeremiah’s ‘words’ “…the words of God and…  the testimony [he] held” which ‘they’ (you and I… our old man] hated so much.

Rev 6:10  And they [our new man] cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Let’s look at verse 18 once more:

Jer 18:18  Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

These words reflect the self-righteous spirit of Job before the Lord Himself came and confronted this most heinous self-righteous spirit, which is manifested in these words of Job:

Job 27:1  Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
Job 27:3  All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Job 27:4  My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
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 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Job had not yet learned the wisdom of these inspired words:

Pro 27:2  Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

As we saw earlier in Job 40, Job was granted to see that his “enemy” was the Lord Himself, as the Lord ‘judged him out of his own mouth’ (Luk 19:22) for referring the Lord, who had “risen up against” Job “as the wicked… as the unrighteous”. That is no way to speak of the Lord, not even in ignorance.

We all at first think just that way of the Lord and His Christ, and the whole world agrees with us at that time, which causes our new man to cry out to the Lord:

Jer 18:19  Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
Jer 18:20  Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.

We all long for the day when we are given revenge over our old man and his vengeful ways. Again, it is always my own old man who is referred to with a plural pronoun:

Jer 18:21  Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
Jer 18:22  Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
Jer 18:23  Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

“The force of the sword” is the power of the Word of God:

Heb 4:12  For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of both soul and spirit, and of both the joints and the marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.

It is the Lord Himself who referred to “their men” as evil, lying ‘men’ when He said:

Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

The apostle Paul admonishes us:

Rom 3:4  God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Unless the name ‘Adam’ is qualified by the words “second man Adam” or “the last Adam”, Adam is always to be understood as “the natural man… the first man Adam… the man of sin” in all of us. So it is with the word ‘man’ or ‘men’. Unless otherwise qualified by phrases like “good man… (Mat 12:35) wise man… (Mat 7:24) new man… (Eph 2:15 and 4:24) or last man… (1Co 15:45)”, the word ‘man’ is always to be understood as “the first man, Adam… the man of sin… the beast… made to be taken and destroyed.”

It was the Lord Himself who told us that ‘men’ and ‘children’ both signify false doctrines:

Mat 13:18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

“Receiving seed” is “hearing the Word”. However, ‘the Word’ is also called “the children of the kingdom”:

Mat 13:36  Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
Mat 13:37  He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

The ‘good seed’ are the children of the kingdom and the ‘tares’ are the children of the wicked one. When we read in Jeremiah:

Jer 18:21  Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

That is the desire of “the souls under the altar”. Those ‘souls’ are not intent upon seeing their physical enemies suffer excruciating revenge. Such a spirit will not be given to rule over others. What ‘the souls under the altar’ want to see is the death and destruction of the kingdom of their own old man as well as that same destruction of the “old man” in all men. “Their young men… their children… their wives (false churches), and their blood” are one and all the lies of the adversary within all men. I want my own “old man” to suffer the vengeance of God upon him and his kingdom. I want him and anything about him… everything that breaths (Deu 20:16)… to be completely destroyed “by the sword… of the Word… in battle”.

Jer 18:22  Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
Jer 18:23  Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

‘The troop which comes suddenly upon them’ signifies all the truths which expose the lies by which we have been snared and which we have been living under for so long. These two verses are the fulfilment of what the Lord said He would do in the first part of this same chapter. He does all this because of our stubbornness and our rebellion against Him:

Jer 18:11  Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
Jer 18:12  And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

‘Their… them… and they’ are plural pronouns which are designed to hide from the eyes of those who are not being judged at this time, the fact that all those pronouns refer to the kingdom and the economy of our old man who is the first to be judged in “this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God [“this present time” (Rom 8:18)]: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

We are “the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” who have insisted on ‘walking after our own devices and doing the imagination of our own evil heart’. The Lord is mercifully judging us in “this present time” however.

We have nothing to fear because nothing depends upon us. Everything depends only upon Him who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

And “all things [are being] worked together for good to them that love God and who are the called according to His purpose”:

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

So, we need not worry about the ship going down. If Christ is in the ship, it will not go down.

Here is that story. It is a story about each of us and the trying of our faith:

Mar 4:35  And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
Mar 4:36  And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
Mar 4:37  And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
Mar 4:38  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
Mar 4:39  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mar 4:40  And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
Mar 4:41  And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Both “the wind and the sea”, the spirit and the flesh “obey Him”, so we need not fear. It is He who is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure:

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

Which “good pleasure” is:

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

That is our study for today and these are the verses for our next study:

Jer 19:1  Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
Jer 19:2  And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
Jer 19:3  And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
Jer 19:4  Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
Jer 19:5  They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
Jer 19:6  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
Jer 19:7  And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
Jer 19:8  And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
Jer 19:9  And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
Jer 19:10  Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
Jer 19:11  And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Jer 19:12  Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
Jer 19:13  And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
Jer 19:14  Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’S house; and said to all the people,
Jer 19:15  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

[Study Aired September 2, 2021]

1Ki 4:1  So king Solomon was king over all Israel.
1Ki 4:2  And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest,
1Ki 4:3  Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder.
1Ki 4:4  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests: 
1Ki 4:5  And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the king’s friend:
1Ki 4:6  And Ahishar was> over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute.
1Ki 4:7  And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision.
1Ki 4:8  And these are their names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim:
1Ki 4:9  The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan:
1Ki 4:10  The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher:
1Ki 4:11  The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife:
1Ki 4:12  Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokneam:
1Ki 4:13  The son of Geber, in Ramothgilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars:
1Ki 4:14  Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim:
1Ki 4:15  Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife:
1Ki 4:16  Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth:
1Ki 4:17  Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar:
1Ki 4:18  Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin:
1Ki 4:19  Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer which was in the land.
1Ki 4:20  Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.
1Ki 4:21  And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.
1Ki 4:22  And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal,
1Ki 4:23  Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.
1Ki 4:24  For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him.
1Ki 4:25  And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
1Ki 4:26  And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
1Ki 4:27  And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. 
1Ki 4:28  Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.
1Ki 4:29  And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
1Ki 4:30  And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
1Ki 4:31  For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.
1Ki 4:32  And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
1Ki 4:33  And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
1Ki 4:34  And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.

The title of our study comes from the book of James and notice the surrounding admonition, “Do not err, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

We err knowingly or unknowingly when we don’t acknowledge God’s sovereignty and the order of the gift of salvation that will be given to all men, each man in his own order (Eph 2:8). With God there is no “variableness, neither shadow of turning” meaning there are no ‘do overs’ in God’s plan. The books have been written and are unfolding as they were predestined to unfold (Psa 139:16 [ASV], Rev 20:4, Rev 20:12).

God’s elect will drive the beasts out of the temple of mankind (Joh 2:15) during this ‘thousand year’ period (Rev 20:6), and that temple represents where we worship our idols or God (Rev 20:6, 1Co 3:16). The true worshippers know that driving beasts out of a temple and overturning tables does not fill the house with true worship but actually only sets the stage for seven spirits worse to enter in once Satan is loosed for a season (Mat 12:29, Mat 12:43-45, Rev 20:8). So, the ruling and reigning under Christ is what typifies the part of that process which tells us all of humanity must have their false doctrines spoiled, represented by the unclean spirit that is driven out in Matthew 12:43-45. However, it is only in the lake of fire that Satan’s influence upon humanity, along with all false worship, will finally come to an end because of the new creation formed through those fiery judgments that will justify people in the name of the Lord and by the Spirit of God (Joh 4:23, 1Co 6:11, Mat 23:39).

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

Mat 23:39  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

This section of Kings is all about how the fatness of the land will increase during the period of time when God’s elect will rule for a symbolic thousand years. The number 1000 in the one thousand-year reign is significant in that it points to the flesh and the initial process of judging the world with a water baptism that will be followed by fiery a baptism which will occur in the lake of fire or great white throne judgment (10x10x10=1000).

The seed that is planted during the thousand-year period will bring about many wonderful works in the flesh, but the true spiritual fruit of those seeds will come to maturation in the great white throne judgment when true Godly repentance will be granted when all yet carnal-thinking beings will come to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and how without God’s spirit within us we naturally take credit for the works that God accomplishes through us, both good and evil. Prior to that repentance, “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?” This moment is typified in scripture at that point when Joseph’s brothers said we would never do this evil. “And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing: Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord’s house silver or gold? (Jer 25:28) With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen. And he said, Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blameless.” (Mat 7:22, Isa 45:7, Pro 16:1, Isa 63:17, Gen 44:7-10, Joh 12:48).

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?

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

All flesh, all carnality must be judged, the self righteousness of mankind, the iniquity that will abound at the end of our age, as it will at the end of mankind’s age during that symbolic period of a thousand years. This is how mankind learns of God’s righteousness, by contrasting it with our own self-righteousness (Mat 24:12, Rev 20:9). That fullness of iniquity, also called the sins of the Amorites (Gen 15:16), must manifest creating the contrast that God uses to show mankind that no matter how well-intentioned we are in our flesh, we just naturally lose our desire to serve God and to be obedient unless the Lord is truly building the house giving us the power through Christ to endure unto the end overcoming self righteousness that will cause the love of many to wax cold (Mat 26:34-35, Mat 26:56, Psa 127:1).

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

Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Mat 26:56  But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

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

Learning of God’s righteousness happens through the contrast that God creates on the earth. There will be well-intentioned believers when God’s government is established on this earth, as we will see being typified during Solomon’s reign, but even the best of intentions are not the righteousness of God, that good and perfect gift which comes from above, but rather is the good that we think that God accepts when in fact it is those very acts that will witness against us and will be our own words which judge us if we are not judged in this life now. This experience of evil shows us that no one can continue in the truth, or abide in the truth, unless they are dragged to Christ (Mat 7:22, Joh 12:48, 1Co 11:31-32, Joh 8:31-32, Joh 6:44).

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

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

1Ki 4:1  So king Solomon was king over all Israel.

The corresponding verses in the new covenant are found in Revelation 5:10, 11:15 and 19:16. Solomon will learn one day that Christ is his head, and we have the privilege and honour to know that right now in this earnest relationship (Eph 1:14) which is preparing us to be kings and priests who will rule “over all Israel“, which in this instance in 1 Kings 4:1 represents all the world.

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

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

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

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

1Ki 4:2-19 And these were the princes which he had [‘which Solomon had’]… 

Keep in mind as we read through the names of these princes^H8269 which Solomon had [1Ki 4:2 princes^H8269: “prince, ruler, leader, chief, chieftain, official, captain”] in verses 1 Kings 4:2-19 show the principle and first name that is named is “Solomon” whose name means ‘peace’, and for the most part during the time the saints reign on earth there will be peace, but it will be revealed to be the same peace spoken of in Jeremiah 6:14 which is not a lasting peace because it is not founded upon true conversion, which is founded upon Christ (Mat 16:18).

What we’re being shown with this example of Solomon’s reign is that during the reign of God’s saints, the “prince, ruler, leader, chief, chieftain, official, captain” of the earth will be under us as these princes were under Solomon, who typifies the elect (Rev 11:15, 1Co 6:3).

The end result though, is always the same regardless of how many miracles people see, how many loaves and fishes are distributed. None of this will bring about the conversion that will only occur at the great white throne judgment. For those of this age, and every other age except for that blessed generation who are judged today, there will be no conversion on the earth (Rev 20:11-15, Mat 23:35-36).

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.

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

Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

There are many positive names in the earth in the empire of Solomon as we can see via this large list who are “the princes which he had” (1Ki 4:2-19), and of all these names of which Solomon’s empire consisted, the least in the kingdom of God is greater than those particular names including Solomon and John the baptist themselves (Mat 11:11).

The lesson being shown is that when we are blessed to know God and Jesus Christ, this is eternal life (Joh 17:3) and the only way we can have a peace [Solomon] that passes all understanding is to have Christ rule and reign in our heavens, typified by Solomon who was king over all these princes of men. We are admonished by Christ to know this (Mat 11:11) and at the same time admonished to know that we are unprofitable servants who have only done that which was expected of us through Christ, and that it is the weak of the world that God uses to make His strength perfect through “both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Luk 17:10, 1Co 1:26, Php 2:12-13).

Mat 11:11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

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

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

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: [not the list we see here in other words which is comprised of many names that are positive and point to that nobility being spoken of in 1 Corinthians 1:26 (1Ki 4:2-19).]

[definitions are from BDB/Strong’s]

1Ki 4:2
Solomon^H8010 = “peace”
Azariah^H5838 = “Jehovah has helped”
Zadok^H6659 = “righteous” From  H6663; just;

1Ki 4:3
Elihoreph^H456 = “God of winter (harvest-time)” – From H410 and H2779;  God of autumn;
Ahiah^H281 = “brother of Jehovah (Yahu)”
Shisha^H7894 = “Jehovah contends” – From the same as H7893; whiteness
Jehoshaphat^H3092 = “Jehovah has judged”
Ahilud^H286 = “child’s brother” – From H251  and H3205;  brother of one born;

1Ki 4:4
Benaiah^H1141 = “Jehovah has built” or “Yahweh has built up”
Jehoiada^H3077 = “Jehovah knows”
Abiathar^H54 = “my father is great” – Contracted from H1  and H3498; father of abundance (that is, liberal)

1Ki 4:5
Azariah^H5838 = “Jehovah has helped”
Nathan^H5416 = “giver”
Zabud^H2071 = “given”

1Ki 4:6
Ahishar^H301 = “my brother sang” – From H251  and H7891; brother of (the) singer;
Adoniram^H141 = “my lord is exalted” – From H113 and H7311; lord of height;
Abda^H5653 = “servant of Jehovah” –
From H5647; work;

1Ki 4:7-8  And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision. And these are their names:

1Ki 4:8
The son of Hur^H1133 (“son of whiteness”) in mount Ephraim: H669 (“double ash-heap: I shall be doubly fruitful”)

1Ki 4:9
The son of Dekar^H1128 (“son of stabbing”) in Makaz, H4739 (“end”) and in Shaalbim^H8169 (“place of foxes” – Plural from H7776;  fox holes) and Bethshemesh^H1053 (“house of the sun” or “sun-temple”) and Elonbethhanan^H358 (“oak of the house of grace” – From H356, H1004, and H2603; oakgrove of (the) house of favor)

1Ki 4:10
The son of Hesed^H1136 (“son of mercy” – From H1121  and H2617;  son of kindness in Aruboth^H700 (“windows”) to him pertained  Sochoh^H7755 (“bushy” – From H7753 to entwine, that is, shut in (for formation, protection or restraint): – fence. ([make an] hedge [up].) and all the land of Hepher^H2660 (“a well” – From H2658 or H2659; a pit  or shame)

1Ki 4:11
The son of Abinadab^H1125 (“son of mercy”) in all the region of Dor^H1756 (“generation” – From H1755; dwelling which had Taphath^H2955 (“ornament” – Probably from H5197; a dropping (of ointment) the daughter of Solomon^H8010 (“peace”) to wife.

1Ki 4:12
Baana^H1195 (“in the affliction”) the son of Ahilud^H286 (“child’s brother” – From H251  and H3205; brother of one born) to him pertained
Taanach^H8590 (“sandy”) and Megiddo^H4023 (“place of crowds” – From H1413; rendezvous) and all Bethshean^H1052 (“house of ease”) which is by Zartanah^H6891 (“their distress” – Perhaps for H6868 –  Apparently from an unused root meaning to pierce; puncture) beneath
Jezreel^H315 (“God sows”) from Bethshean^H1052 (“house of ease”) to Abelmeholah^H65 (“meadow of dancing”) even  unto the place that is beyond
Jokneam^H3361 (“gathered by the people” – From H6965  and H5971; (the) people will be raised)

1Ki 4:13
The son of Geber^H1127 (“the son of a man” – From H1121  and H1397; son of (the) hero) in Ramothgilead^H7433 (“heights” – from the plural of H7413  and H1568; heights (as a seat of idolatry) of “rocky region”) to him pertained the towns of Jair^H2971 (“he enlightens”) the son of Manasseh^H4519 (“causing to forget”) which are in Gilead^H1568 (“rocky region”) to him also pertained  the region of
Argob^H709 (“heap of clods” – From the same as H7263; stony which is in Bashan^H1316 (“fruitful”) threescore (60) great cities with walls and brasen bars

1Ki 4:14
Ahinadab^H292 (“my brother is liberal or noble” – From H251 (brother in the widest sense/kin) and H5068 (A primitive root; to impel; hence to volunteer (as a soldier), to present  spontaneously: – offer freely, be (give, make, offer self) willing (-ly)) the son of
Iddo^H5714 (“His witness” – From H5710; timely had
Mahanaim^H4266 (“two camps”, a place east of the Jordan, named from Jacob’s encounter with angels)

1Ki 4:15
Ahimaaz^H290 (“my brother is anger [wrath]”) was in Naphtali^H5321 (“wrestling”) he also took Basmath^H1315 (“spice” – Feminine of the second form of H1314; fragrance) the daughter of Solomon to wife

1Ki 4:16
Baanah^H1195 (“in the affliction”) the son of Hushai^H2365 (“hasting” – From  -H2363; hasty) was in
Asher^H836 (“happy”) and in Aloth^H1175 (“mistresses”)

1Ki 4:17
Jehoshaphat^H3092 (“Jehovah has judged”) the son of Paruah^H6515 (“sprout” – Passive participle of H6524; blossomed in
Issachar^H3485 (“there is recompense” – From H5375  and H7939; he will bring a reward)

1Ki 4:18
Shimei^H8096 (“renowned” – From H8088;  famous) the son of
Elah^H414 (“oak” – A variation of H424: Feminine of H352; an oak or other strong tree and the valley where David killed Goliath) in
Benjamin^H1144 (“son of the right hand”)

1Ki 4:19
Geber^H1398 (“warrior”) the son of Uri^H221 (“fiery”) was in the country of Gilead^H1568 (“rocky region”) in the country of Sihon^H5511 (“warrior” – From the same as H5477; tempestuous) king of the
Amorites^H567 (“a sayer” – Probably a patronymic from an unused name derived from H559 [A primitive root; to say (used with great latitude)] in the sense of publicity, that is, prominence; thus a mountaineer) and of Og^H5747 (“long-necked” – Probably from H5746 [A primitive root; properly to gyrate; but used only as denominative from H5692, to bake (round cakes on the hearth): – bake] round) king of
Bashan^H1316 (“fruitful”) and he was the only officer which was in the land.

1Ki 4:20  Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.

“Judah and Israel were many” is the symbolic language that reminds us that many are called and few are chosen (Mat 22:14), and it is those who are “as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry” who represent the unconverted masses who are not converted during this age and are the elect’s inheritance through Christ “as the sand which is by the sea in multitude“, also reminding us of Abraham who typifies Christ who is the head of God’s elect who find their inheritance in him: “his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (Eph 1:9-12, Gen 22:17). God alone can grant us the repentance that leads us to see that we are “Judah and Israel were many“, and in so doing repent of these two lands that symbolize the ‘sick head’ (“Judah” Oholabah) and ‘body’ (“Israel” Oholah) which we all have initially been until we were granted to repent of those harlotries.

1Ki 4:21  And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

Solomon represents Christ’s elect who rule over a yet carnal world during the thousan- year reign (Rev-20:6) which we know is a symbolic number connected to flesh, and therefore Solomon “reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt“. It will always seem incredulous and impossible to the natural man to believe that God is the one who is ruling “over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt“. Proverbs 21:1 reminds us that this is exactly the point being made; that God is sovereign over all flesh whether that person is in an obedient or disobedient state. He sets “the border of Egypt” and works all things according to the counsel of His own will, and in this instance through king Solomon, to accomplish His purpose for all those nations just as He will through the elect who will be prepared as the bride of Christ to accomplish this feat of being the first who trusted in Christ, doing so to the praise of his glory, ruling and reigning over the kingdoms of this world (Eph 1:11-12, Luk 18:28-30, Mat 19:28).

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

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

1Ki 4:22-23  And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.

Like God’s elect during their reign under Christ (Rev 20:6), the world of Solomon’s time went through a process of being symbolically fattened up with the word of God: “thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl“. This “provision for one day” reminds us that it is not just any day that is going to bring about a changed and converted heart, but rather the day of the Lord which is when all mankind will be judged in the great white throne judgment. God has been laying up in store in the heavens of His elect so that one day we will be able to provide the spiritual provision that the world will need in the lake of fire, symbolized by these numbers and various food that also have spiritual significance for us: “thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore  measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl“.

1Ki 4:24 For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah^H8607 even to Azzah^H5804, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him.

Solomon having “had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah^H8607 even to Azzah^H5804, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him” is a shadow of the truth that under Christ we will rule with a rod of iron for a season and “on this side the river” because there is a lot more judging yet to unfold on the other side of the river (1Co 6:3). Rivers are connected to life and death in scripture, and as we mentioned, it is the Lord Who is sovereign over the flow and direction of the river of man’s heart (Pro 21:1). So it is with those who are raised in the second resurrection who will be judged with a natural judgment that will precede the spiritual judgment, just as Christ told us all humanity must be baptized with water (natural) and then with the spirit (fire Joh 3:5).

King Solomon’s reign was accompanied with peace, representing a time of natural water baptism (1Ch 22:9) which always precedes the spiritual baptism of fire that must occur to all men who are not in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Rev 2:27, Rev 12:5, Rev 20:6). God’s elect will expose and destroy the false doctrines of this world during that time of rulership. However, anyone convinced of their own carnal will, ‘will be of the same opinion still’ (Jer 13:23, Eze 14:9). To bring about that truth, Satan will be released for a season to move mankind in the direction of that caused rebellion just like Judas who was an early type of that rebellion and betrayal of Christ (Rev 20:7-9, Joh 13:27).

1Ch 22:9  Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days:

These activities were happening in Solomon’s empire, and the word “Tiphsah^H8607” graphically explains to us what God’s elect will be doing with the false doctrines of this world during that time, knowing that doctrines are represented by children.

Original: u1468  u1505  par – Transliteration: Tiphcach
Phonetic: tif-sakh’
Definition: Tiphsah = cross over

1. a place at the northeast limit of Solomon’s empire; located on the Euphrates river
2. a place in the northern kingdom of Israel which king menahem attacked and where he ripped open all the pregnant women
a. might be the same as 1

Origin: from H6452
TWOT entry: None
Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Location

Strong’s: From H6452; ford;Tiphsach a place in mesopotamia: – Tipsah.

Total KJV Occurrences: 2
•Tiphsah, 2
1Ki_4:24; 2Ki_15:16

The word “Azzah^H5804” reminds us that we will rule with a strong rod of iron that will break to pieces the vessels that represent mankind who need to be broken so that they can be made anew in the lake of fire (Rev 2:27, Jer 18:4)

Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

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.

Definition: Azzah = the strong
1. another name for ‘Gaza’, a city of the Philistines located in the extreme southwest of Palestine close to the mediterranean

1Ki 4:25-26  And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

Judah and Israel were dwelling safely because of the provision of the king and the safety this empire of Solomon was providing. However having “every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon” creates the perfect breeding ground for self-righteousness without Christ truly ruling and reigning in our hearts. Therefore “every man” was  “under his vine and under his fig tree” symbolizes our own righteousness that manifests greatly when the hedge is not taken down, which is what is meant by “Judah and Israel dwelt safely“. The verses in Micah 4:2-5 allude to this time of judgment as well that was never meant to bring about conversion, all symbolically showing us the spiritual conditions that will be on the earth during that reign (Rev 20:6).

Mic 4:2  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Mic 4:3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Mic 4:4  But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
Mic 4:5  For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever [speaking of God’s elect walking in the name of the LORD our God from olam to olam].

Solomon’s empire represents a time of judgment as the name “Dan^H1835” [“judge“] tells us, but it is a type of water baptism and not the real salvation that is being waited upon which happens in the second resurrection in the lake of fire. “From “DanH1835” even to “Beersheba^H884” [“well of an oath“]”, reminds us of the extent of the peace that Solomon’s empire had; a peace which typifies the thousand-year reign where there will be great peace (Isa 54:13) during the rule and reign of the saints, until sudden destruction occurs (1Th 5:3). This is all being accomplished to teach humanity that the only true peace which will ever be found is in the great white throne judgment where true conversion will occur. The expression “Dan even to Beersheba” is a time of judgment that does not have the world seeing they are guilty as God’s elect see themselves guilty of the blood of all the prophets “from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias” (Mat 23:35).

H1835 dân dawn
From H1777; judge; Dan, one of the sons of Jacob; also the tribe descended from him, and its territory; likewise a place in Palestine colonized by them: – Dan.

H884 be’êr sheba be-ayr’ sheh’-bah
From H875 and H7651 (in the sense of H7650); well of an oath; Beer Sheba, a place in Palestine: – Beer-shebah.

We are reminded that the rulership of Solomon, which was a type of the elect’s reign under Christ (Rev 20:6), was accompanied with “forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen“. It’s true Solomon should not have had those 40,000 stalls of horses, or the 12,000 horsemen as written in Deuteronomy 17:16, but we must remember that God’s elect, which are being typified at this juncture in Solomon’s life, has these horses for our sakes as God seeks an occasion against the flesh of all those who are trusting in the strength of Solomon, knowing him only after his flesh (2Co 5:16) which is all we can do until the holy spirit is given. So even though, Lord willing, we are going to rule one day as spirit beings, the world’s perception of us will be yet carnal, knowing Christ after the flesh symbolized by “forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen“.  This is also akin to Samson taking a wife of the Philistines but his parents did not know that God was seeking an occasion against them through these events, just as God’s elect will be used by God to seek an occasion against the flesh of all mankind (Jdg 14:4).

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.

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

1Ki 4:27  And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing.

People will be coming down to make sacrifices and offering in Jerusalem to God and Christ and to His elect (Rev 3:9), giving back that which was given to them (1Ch 29:14) at “king Solomon’s table” which represents the table we have, and they have no right to eat at which serve the tabernacle (Heb 13:10). The reason being is that the altar or table that we’ve served is the cross, and the world cannot, as we could not without God’s holy spirit within (Rom 8:9), mortify the deeds of our flesh which is what must occur in order to eat at that table worthily (1Co 11:29).

What we do in our own efforts to please God, he has no pleasure in (Heb 10:6) even though we are outwardly going through the motions. God loves us while we are yet sinners and the provision that he makes for us through this life is shadowed in this statement: “every man in his month: they lacked nothing”. We are reminded through these exercises of sacrifice that God loves us and is already setting the stage in our lives through these physical events that will one day yield great spiritual lessons that will last for all eternity (Mat 5:45).

1Ki 4:28-30 Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

These verses point again to the nourishing of mankind’s beastly nature that brings “Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries”, both unclean animals, being sustained during this time of king Solomon’s reign just as the yet carnal world will be sustained under God’s elect who will create order in the earth, which is what we are being shown when it says people “brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge”.

It will take the mind of Christ within each of us and the direction of our head, Jesus Christ, to accomplish this order throughout the earth which is what these two verses are a shadow of: “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.”

In order to rule all nations under Christ (Rev 11:15) as many “as the sand that is on the sea shore” we will need “understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart” which God has promised to supply for us through Christ (Php 4:19). All of this wisdom won’t puff us up as spirit beings, and we must not let it do that today, remembering that all of these good and perfect gifts given from above are to witness to the nations around us that we are Jesus Christ’s body, and the mind of Christ is only being typified by this statement: “And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.” The “east country” is just the beginning of wisdom, the sun of righteousness (Mal 4:2) that has to rise and course through our heavens and bring us to see that God’s word which is spirit and truth, is the excellency of the knowledge of Christ which is greater than “all the wisdom of Egypt” (1Jn 2:16) dwelling within us as our hope of glory within (Php 3:8, Col 1:27).

Php 4:19 And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

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,

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

1Ki 4:31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.

A comparison is now made between Solomon’s wisdom and how “his fame was in all nations round about” versus the wisdom of these people whose names tell us something about all fleshly wisdom (1Jn 2:16) and how it stacks up against the mind of Christ: “Ethan^H387 the Ezrahite^H250, and Heman^H1968, and Chalcol^H3633, and Darda^H1862, the sons of Mahol^H4235: and his fame was in all nations round about”. Solomon’s wisdom supercedes the knowledge of all these wise people as it typifies the mind of Christ which is far above all powers and principalities (Eph 1:21).

Ethan^H387 = the “enduring” spirit of mankind that cannot endure until the end without Christ.

Ethan’s enduring spirit was born out of Ezrhite^H250 = a native (as rising out of the soil) meaning worldly knowledge. This is the negative example of ‘O earth, earth, earth hear the word of the Lord’ that rises out of the vanity of man’s flesh as opposed to being that one seed that is formed through Christ (Jer 22:29, Gal 3:16).

Heman^H1968 – again a shadow of the wisdom of man and not the wisdom of Solomon that typifies the wisdom of Christ which excels human thinking which is “faithful” in what it pursues but comparatively the wisest things of man are foolishness unto God (1Co 3:19).

Chalcol^H3633 – the name reminds us how we try to save or sustain “sustaining” our flesh that is appointed to die.

Darda^H1862 – a negative version of the pearl of great price. Valuable but in the earth none the less and surpassed by Solomon.

Chalcol and Darda are the sons of Mahol^H4235 whose name means “dancing” which is a symbol of the movement of knowledge, that we can be ever searching in pleasurable pursuit (Gen 3:6, 2Ti 3:7) but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth if the Lord does not permit (Heb 6:3).

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

2Ti 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Heb 6:3 And this will we do, if God permit.

This list reminds us that “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1Co 3:19-23). When we know this (1Co 3:19-23) by knowing our Father and Christ (Joh 17:3) it is because we have been given this gift, and again not so that we could be “wiser than all men” and get all puffed up but rather to show us, and eventually all the world, the great contrast between the loving sacrificial mind of Christ versus the mind of the first man Adam (Isa 55:8, 1Jn 4:8, Joh 3:16).

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah.

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

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

hese last three verses of our study speak about the fruit of Solomon’s life which is a type of the fruit of God’s mind of love, a love that is shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5). When our lives are tried in the fiery trials God has promised us as His elect, we gain something more valuable than all the knowledge of the world; and even just having knowledge of God’s word is not enough if we are not doers of the word who are being received of God through trials which chasten and scourge us (1Co 13:2, Heb 12:6).

It is a lifelong process to become stablished, settled and strengthened in the Lord so we can speak the truth in love (1Pe 5:10, 1Pe 1:7, Eph 4:15-16). God knows that the mind that has suffered for His name’s sake is the mind that can rule under Christ (2Ti 2:12) and that those who lose their life in this age and endure through that suffering will be blessed to save the rest of the world through the gospel of Christ, “for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom 1:16-17).

To do the work of God we must believe that we are those living sacrifices who now “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” as we look “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” and if God will grant us the faith by which we are saved then that is exactly what we are going to do (Act 20:35, Rom 12:1, Heb 12:1, 1Jn 5:4, Joh 18:9).

1Ki 4:32 And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.

Speaking “three thousand proverbs” is a parable that tells us that the salvational knowledge of Christ, typified by Solomon’s “three thousand proverbs”, requires that mankind goes through a process of spiritual completion which is what three signifies.

His songs were 1000 and 5, and this is a parable in itself telling us that “Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue” (1Co 14:19). The multiple of 10 that is in 1000 and 10,000 is the way God expresses the magnitude of the point being made as a number that has been multiplied. Five words represents the words of grace and faith that Paul wanted to speak knowing these were the words of eternal life that we need to hear in order to believe and be saved (Eph 2:8).

1Ki 4:33-34 And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.

Right after speaking about the knowledge God gave Solomon that typifies the manifold wisdom of God made known by the church (Eph 3:10), Solomon goes on to explain in type and shadow how that knowledge will be used to discern the heart of man which is likened unto trees, and beasts, fish, fowl, and creeping things like beasts of the forest: “And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes”. The “hyssop” reminds us that these words are being spoken through the church as a ministry of reconciliation (2Co 5:18) and healed by his stripes (Psa 51:7). God sends His word to heal us and then He sends us to heal the world with those words (Psa 107:20, Joh 20:21).

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Psa 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psa 107:20 He sendeth his word, and healeth them, And delivereth them from their destructions.

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

God is the one Who gives every good and perfect gift that comes from above and does so for His elect that we might become fishers of men with this “ministry of reconciliation” (Mat 4:19, Mar 1:17) who will have the world drawn to Christ in us, in time (Joh 6:44), typified by this last verse of our study: “And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom”.

Mat 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Mar 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

[Study Aired June 17, 2021]

1Ki 1:28  Then king David answered and said, Call me Bathsheba. And she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.
1Ki 1:29  And the king sware, and said, As the LORD liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress,
1Ki 1:30  Even as I sware unto thee by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.

The title of this study in Kings reminds us that Christ, who brings us to our wits’ end in order that we cry out to our Lord who is our safe haven, is our blessed assurance in this life, typified by these words announced by King David who represents Christ our hope of glory within: “Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me.”

These words were finally uttered after Nathan and Bathsheba were called by King David. It takes a sober heart and vigilance to overcome the adversary, and all these qualities were being symbolically demonstrated for us in this story via Nathan and Bathsheba who had recognized the enemy in their midst, our flesh, symbolized by Adonijah, and humbled themselves before the king who would then exalt them in due time (1Pe 5:6-9).

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

Waiting on the Lord is hard, but it is through that patient continuance in well doing as we possess our souls patiently and cry out to God that we will be heard and delivered if we fear Him and not men and the physical situations that He brings our way for our sakes (Psa 107:20-30, Psa 27:13-14, Rom 2:4-11, Luk 21:19-23, Heb 5:7, Luk 12:5, 2Co 4:15).

Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them [Joh 20:21], and delivered them from their destructions.
Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
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 [Job 5:7].
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then [not before] 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 [Christ and his Christ (Joh 20:21)].

Psa 27:13  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living [Christ and his Christ].
Psa 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; [Psa 107:20-30] 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; [righteous judgment (1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:12)]
Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing [“wait I say on the Lord“] seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; [the negative fleshly “in Judaea” Jew and the negative fleshly yet carnal Gentile (Joh 3:36, 1Co 3:17)]
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good [Php 2:12-13], to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile [the positive spiritual Jew and positive spiritual Gentile]:
Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God.

[there is no Jew nor Greek (Gal 3:28), but God sees all flesh as gentile and sees the new creation being formed within us, Christ, in whom we are accepted (Eph 1:6), as the spiritual inward Jew who is our hope of glory within (Rom 2:29, Col 1:27)].

Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.
Luk 21:20  And when ye shall see Jerusalem [Jerusalem above where we are raised (Gal 4:26, Eph 2:6)] compassed with armies [Psa 107:20-30], then know that the desolation thereof is nigh [Mat 24:15, 2Th 2:8-10].
Luk 21:21  Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains [Psa 121:1-2]; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. [God’s elect are being told come out of her my people (Jerusalem below) touch not the unclean thing and I will accept you (2Co 6:17)]
Luk 21:22  For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luk 21:23  But woe unto them that are with child  [the immature, the rejected anointed, unless God permits (Heb 6:1-3) us to go onto maturity], and to them that give suck [babes in Christ who are not getting off the milk (Rom 2:4, 1Co 3:2-5], in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. [How will we run with horses (Jer 12:5) represented by “great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people” if we are yet babes?]

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

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.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering [Psa 107:20-30]; not knowing [1Pe 4:12] that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. [Heb 6:1-3]
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
1Co 3:5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

[Running and being wearied with footmen is what happens when we “walk as men”. Running with horses, representing the greater fiery trials of life through which we endure, is the blessing God gives to those who are called to endure until the end of this life as we overcome by the patience and faith of the saints, which is a gift of God (Jer 12:5, Rev 14:12, 1Jn 5:4, Eph 2:8).]

Ultimately God’s word will be shown to be the sword which it is that divides (Luk 12:51), and if we are granted to be given the power to stand on that word (Mat 7:24, Psa 127:1) and do all things decently and in order (1Co 14:40), as Bathsheba and Nathan did, not shunning to declare the whole counsel of God (Act 20:27) by going to King David, who typifies Christ, then it will be certain in these perilous times of our lives that God will do the greatest work of molding and changing us into the image of His son, if only He would grant us the faith to help us in our unbelief (Mar 9:24, Luk 22:32, 1Jn 5:4) so that we can endure the temptations of this life and hold fast to our crown (Jas 1:12, Rev 3:11-13). Going to the king (Christ – Heb 4:16) is in fact how we don’t let any man take our crown, and that is the direct correlation being shown to us in this story where Nathan, a prophet of patience, and Bathsheba, a type of the church, both humbled themselves before the king in order to secure the lineage of King David, which event typifies for us how the gates of hell will not prevail against the church (Mat 16:17-19).

Luk 12:51  Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

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

Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.(Psa 46:1)

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him [1Co 10:13]

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[Psa 107:30].

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Rev 3:13  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. [“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev 1:3, Mat 13:16]
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.
Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Assuredly the Lord is going to give the increase for the bride of Christ who will be made ready (Rev 19:7) through the fiery trials (1Pe 4:12) we have been promised which will mature us and give spiritual increase as we’re nourished and strengthened through those trials that will “stablish, strengthen and settle” us (1Pe 5:10) so that we can endure unto the end and be saved (1Co 3:8, Mat 24:13).

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

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

1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

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

1Ki 1:28  Then king David answered and said, Call me Bathsheba. And she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.

This opening statement of King David (1Ki 1:28) tells the elect something about our standing in Christ. When “king David answered and said, Call me Bathsheba” (Rev 11:12) we are reminded that many are called, but few are chosen (Mat 22:14) in this life to stand “before the king” (Luk 18:8, Rev 6:17, Mat 24:37, Luk 17:28-29).

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

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

Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand [Eph 6:3]?

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.

Mat 24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

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 [2Co 6:17, Rev 18:4] it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

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,

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. [We come out from among them by going through the seven last plagues now (Rev 15:8)]

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind [2Pe 2:7, Jas 1:2-3], and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

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.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

[All the faith that will be needed to cast the pride-filled mountain of man’s heart into the sea to destroy it is that very small mustard seed to which Christ likened the kingdom of God which is within God’s little remnant today Mat 17:20, Mar 11:23, Mat 13:32]

Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Mar 11:23  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Mat 13:32  Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

God must bring us to acknowledge our sins by giving us an introspective heart that examines ourselves daily and sees the need to die daily (1Co 11:31, 1Co 15:31), which was all being typified for us by Nathan and Bathsheba. When God writes His law in our hearts (Eze 36:26) we will have a “contrite spirit” that “trembleth at my word”, again represented by Bathsheba and Nathan who “came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king” without glorying in their flesh (Isa 66:2, 1Co 1:28-29, Heb 4:16).

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.

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.

1Ki 1:29  And the king sware, and said, As the LORD liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress,
1Ki 1:30  Even as I sware unto thee by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.

David’s statement “And the king sware, and said, As the LORD liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress” is being said this way in the new covenant: “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation [“redeemed my soul out of all distress“], that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by^G1223 Christ.” (2Co 1:3-5).

G1223 dia
dee-ah’
A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through (in very wide applications, local, causal or occasional). In composition it retains the same general import: – after, always, among, at, to avoid, because of (that), briefly, by, for (cause) . . . fore, from, in, by occasion of, of, by reason of, for sake, that, thereby, therefore, X though, through (-out), to, wherefore, with (-in). In composition it retains the same general import.

“The king sware” to remind us that God’s elect would be comforted through our suffering and that He would never try us beyond what we can endure. That’s part of the exceedingly great and precious promises that have been given to us and were being typified by the old covenant vows that came forth from the mouth of the king (1Co 10:13, 2Pe 1:4).

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.

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

“Even as I sware” is another old covenant vow coming from king David that represents the new-covenant promise Christ uttered to our Father to give us hope and certainty in what God has promised will happen to God’s elect, typified by this moment in history: “unto thee by the LORD God of Israel, saying, assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day“. God’s elect will certainly reign on thrones with him, and even now, in earnest, we “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Mat 19:28, Eph 2:6, Rev 4:2, Rev 21:5).

Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
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.
Mat 19:30  But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

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

Rev 4:2  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

Rev 21:5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

“Even so will I certainly do this day” tells us that when the day of the Lord begins in the lives of those whom God has ordained from the foundation of the world to bring forth fruit begins (Joh 15:16), it begins with a declaration that comes from the mouth of Christ who tells us none that the Father has given me will be lost, and so David says “unto thee by the LORD God of Israel, saying…” giving all glory to God for the rulership that would be given to Solomon even as Christ gave all glory unto the Father for His workmanship that we are (Joh 6:39, 1Co 1:30-31, Joh 15:5, Joh 5:30).

Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Joh 6:39  And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

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.

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

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.

When Christ said “let there be light” (Gen 1:3), light came out of darkness, and when we read “even so will I certainly do this day“, we are being reminded that God’s determination to cause the elect to obtain “an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph 1:11) is as certain as the rising of the sun (Mal 4:2, Joh 8:36), and it is to the praise of His glory who has given us the power through Christ to be the first who “trusted in Christ” as we’re given power to mortify the deeds of the flesh (Eph 1:12).

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

We’ve only looked at three verses tonight, but they are critical to setting the stage for the rest of this chapter and beyond, as a declaration of overcoming being made with these words: “Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead“, which demonstrates for God’s elect that He is faithful and that we are more than conquerors through^G1223 him that loved us (Rom 8:37).

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Isa 61:1-11 Double Shame, Double Possession

[Study Aired June 28, 2020]

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isa 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Isa 61:4  And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
Isa 61:5  And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
Isa 61:6  But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
Isa 61:7  For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
Isa 61:8  For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Isa 61:9  And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.
Isa 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isa 61:11  For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

This is the chapter from which Christ read in His first recorded sermon.

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Christ was rejected by His own people in His hometown of Nazareth because He told them in advance that they would reject Him and that He would take His gospel to the Gentiles:

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

It is instructive for us to notice where Christ stops reading here in Isaiah 61. He stops with the words, “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” in the middle of verse two. Stopping there emphasizes and makes it clear that He considers the words of scripture to have a ‘here and now’ application… “Today is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” That inward present understanding is the primary application of all scripture.

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

“The acceptable year of the Lord” is “the day of vengeance of our God”, and that day is also a “comfort to all that mourn” and who “sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of the” Lord’s people.

Ezekiel 9 gives us much insight into ”the acceptable year of the Lord… the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn”:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

That is what the holy spirit calls “good tidings unto the meek.” These words are addressed to every ‘joint’ of those who makes up the body of Christ and who “are the light of this world” (Mat 5:14-16, Eph 4:15-16, Col 1:24):

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

“Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women” is a command to totally destroy the kingdom of our old man. It is the same as saying:

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:

This is not just some far-off past or future event. “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” means ‘this very day’ if indeed we are given the faith to believe the Lord’s words.

Eph 2:8  For by [chastening]  grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our] 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.

“Grace… through faith” is a “strait and narrow” doctrine with no room for either of the two false doctrines of ‘salvation by our own good works’ or the false doctrine of ‘greasy grace’. This is the Truth of the Word of God concerning the narrow Biblical doctrine of ‘grace through faith’, and how we obtain our salvation. It is to be found in:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: paideuo, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Are good works required for salvation? Oh, yes, good works are indeed required! We simply cannot “continue in sin that grace may abound”:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Who is it that produces these ‘good works’? Let’s read it again very carefully:

Eph 2:8  For by [chastening]  grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our] 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.

Impossible as it seems to our natural mind, the truth is that every act of every day in the life of every man who has ever lived was written in God’s book of each of our lives “before there were any of [those days]”:

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.

Our days and our years are both written in the Lord’s ‘book’ before there were any of them:

Isa 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

It is only “them that mourn in Zion” in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), who are “appoint[ed]” to be “given beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, in this age:

As the Lord provides the faith to believe that He really is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are the called according to His purpose, we will not let outward circumstances keep us from knowing the truth of those words. Even as we watch this entire world fall apart around us, the Lord will give us His peace, and we will rejoice in the beauty of knowing where it is all headed and what it is all designed to accomplish.

Isa 61:4  And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

If we are granted such faith, the Lord Himself is at this moment building His church within us. Our old man will be dying daily, and our new man will be being ‘renewed in the spirit of [his] mind… day by day’. The kingdom of our old man who worshipped the great red dragon and who worshipped the beast, will be “the old wastes [and]… the former desolations” with Christ as the foundation of a new man with the name “New Jerusalem” for the capital of the kingdom of Christ within that new man:

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Isa 4:5  And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.

This “cloud and smoke by day” is Jesus Christ:

Rev 10:1  And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

“The shining of a flaming fire by night” is the very same “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). That is the “glory [for] a defence” which is “upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion” which is who we are in Christ.

It was “every dwelling place of Mount Zion” to which Christ referred when He made this statement:

Joh 14:2  In my Father’s house are many mansions [G3438: mone, abodes, ”dwelling places”]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Joh 14:4  And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

This Greek word ‘mone’ appears only one other time in the New Testament, and it is right here is this same 14^th chapter of the gospel of John where it is translated more properly as “abode”:

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [G3438: mone, dwelling place, residence] with him.

The root of this word is G3306, and it is similar to ‘meno’:

G3306
μένω
menō
men’-o

A primary verb; to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy): – abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry (for), X thine own.

This word appears 118 times and is always translated in some form of ‘abide’.  If Christ and His Father ‘abide within us’ then this is what will be given us, within and without:

Isa 61:5  And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

We are given the example of Saul of Tarsus to help us to internalize these words. Saul was exceedingly zealous to keep the traditions of His fathers:

Gal 1:13  For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
Gal 1:14  And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

When all that carnal zeal was redirected into the Lord’s service, it all became the strangers standing and feeding the Lord’s flocks and the sons of the alien serving within us as our plowmen and our vinedressers in the Lord’s vineyard.

Only those who are given to subdue and redirect the zeal of their own flesh will be given to take part in the outward fulfillment of these words during the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ, and then carry that service to the Lord over into the lake of fire where we will be granted to show to others the same mercy shown by Christ, which He is showing to us in this present time:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

It is to “the manifested sons of God” that these next words are first and primarily addressed:

Isa 61:6  But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

We are at this very moment in “the earnest of the spirit” “kings and priests” who are even now ministering to the Lord by filling up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh, for His body’s sake, which is the church:

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:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
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:

Exactly how do we “fill up in our flesh… that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ?” It is not a pleasant experience for our flesh. It is nothing short of death itself as we come to see that everything we ever believed was a lie. When the Lord gives us eyes that see and ears that hear, after a lifetime of thinking we were already seeing and hearing His Truth, we are forced to choose between believing Him or believing all the far more popular doctrines of the great whore and all of her harlot daughters. We must stand on His Word, and in so doing we will be “hated of all men” (Mat 10:22). We will be separated from all our old friends and even our own families. Our own families and friends will be ashamed of who we now are, and they will separate themselves from us lest they appear to be approving of our unacceptable and shameful ways.

The Lord prepares us for this shame filled dying experience in His own very clear words:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

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.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

It is few indeed who are not ashamed of Christ. The truth is that we all prefer acceptance by men, and we are all first ashamed of our Lord:

Psa 4:2  Sons of men! till when is my glory for shame? Ye love a vain thing, ye seek a lie. Selah. (YLT)

It is the Lord Himself who “makes us to err from His ways” and brings shame upon us:

Psa 44:9  But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
Psa 44:10  Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
Psa 44:11  Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
Psa 44:12  Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
Psa 44:13  Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
Psa 44:14  Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
Psa 44:15  My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

Psa 44:22  Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

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.

It is a simple biblical truth that all our weaknesses and all our sins are the work of the Lord’s hands to humble 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)

To be humbled is to be made ashamed of our own evil ways. The Lord wants us to know that it is the Lord Himself who has created all the darkness out of which He is calling His elect:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

The Lord wants us to know that our special calling has nothing to do with what we are of ourselves. He will make us to know that we are no better of ourselves than those who will be cast into the lake of fire. Our special calling is just one part of “all things” which He wants us to clearly understand are the work of His hand. All our good and our evil “works… are His workmanship”. Our sins and evil works are no more of ourselves than the act of selling Joseph into Egypt was the work of his brothers:

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.

Do we really believe these words apply only to this one event? No, not in the least is this the only time God worked evil deeds “after the counsel of His own will.” The fact is that even the most heinous crime ever committed was done by His will.

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.

Knowing the all-encompassing Truth of those verses should make it abundantly clear that we have nothing at all to do with being called to be the Lord’s elect in this age, if indeed that is what we are. If we are His elect, this is the only reason for our election:

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:

What the Lord is telling us is that He is the One who is giving us “double… shame… and… confusion [in] this present time” for this one reason:

Isa 61:7  For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

The physical law of a double portion to be given to the firstborn sons is merely a type and shadow of the spiritual inheritance of the Lord’s firstborn:

Deu 21:17  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

The Lord tells us that physical Israel, as a type of “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:15-16), was counted as His firstborn, in spite of the fact that Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, was born first:

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
Exo 4:22  And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

Just what did the Lord require for Israel, meaning you and me, to bring us to this double-portion status? Remember Israel was in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years before she heard the voice of the Lord:

Gen 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Then they heard the voice of their Lord:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

We must be in Egypt before we can “come out of her”, and we must be judged before we will learn righteousness:

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

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

It all happened to Israel “and it was written as a type of us”:

1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things, (CLV)

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. (CLV)

The Lord knew from “before the world began” (2Ti 1:9, Tit 1:2) that “Israel” was always intended to be the name given to His elect called out of every nation on earth:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Therefore we, and anything having to do with us of ourselves, have nothing at all to do with the Lord calling us to be His first born… His firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Rev 14:4). It is all a matter of the sovereign hand of our Lord working all things after the counsel of His own hands.

By that same sovereign will it has before been ordained that we must be the first to be judged “in this present time”, and for that reason alone we are called “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of 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 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.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

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

The judgment of our Lord is the greatest blessing He can place upon anyone for this reason:

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

The Lord came into this world for the purpose of judging it, but it is very few He is judging in “this present time”.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
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.

Instead, Christ is calling out a few elect and sending us to do exactly what His Father sent Him to accomplish – to die with Him for the sins of this world:

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

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

So Christ has also sent us… “for judgment… into the world”, and when our judgment is in the world, men will learn righteousness. We are the judges of Revelation 20:1-6.

Isa 61:8  For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Isa 61:9  And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

“I hate robbery for a burnt offering” means the Lord will not accept an idol of the heart for His Truth, nor will He accept our works as His works.

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.

The fact that things are getting “worse and worse” is a sign to the Lord’s elect that “our salvation is nearer than when we believed”:

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

These words are just a different way of saying what Peter said:

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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.

If this day has already come within us, then a day is coming without in which:

[Our] seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and [our] offspring among the people: all that see [us] shall acknowledge [us], that [we] are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

According to His promise, we look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness both within and without. “We are of God: he that knows God hears us…”

Isa 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isa 61:11  For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

It is we “who first trusted in Christ” who will be “to the praise of His glory… springing forth to all the nations.

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

That is our study for today. Lord willing, we will continue in chapter 62 next Sunday:

Isa 62:1  For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
Isa 62:2  And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.
Isa 62:3  Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
Isa 62:4  Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Isa 62:5  For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Isa 62:6  I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,

[Study Aired June 18, 2020]

Heb 2:16  For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 
Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 
Heb 2:18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. 

God’s elect will give the more earnest heed as the spiritual “seed of Abraham” to whom Christ and His body are likened  (Gal 3:16) being those who were first granted the grace and faith (1Jn 5:4) needed at this time in order to overcome and endure until the end.

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed [‘Christ and his spiritual seed’] were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many [Mat 22:14]; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith [‘It is the few who overcome the world within today by losing our life through Christ‘].

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.  [We ought to give the more earnest heed to this “earnest of our inheritance” relationship with our Father and Christ (Joh 17:3).]

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now [Abraham and all the prophets of old for example, groaned and suffered for our sakes (Jas 5:11, 2Co 4:15)].
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.

[Eph 1:14 God’s elect are learning to give “more earnest heed” to this process of patiently possessing our souls “until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Luk 21:19)]

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

The opening verse of this last section of chapter two explains how those who are that holy seed, who are of that kingship and priesthood through Christ, typified by Abraham, are able to endure the temptations of this life and are being comforted by Christ in each other through God’s spirit which is able to “succour [comfort] them that are tempted” knowing that this temptation is promised to never be beyond what we can endure.

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.

[He uses the body to accomplish this bearing through the law of Christ that is working in the members of those who are connected to the vine as a joint which supplies in love (Gal 6:2-3, Eph 4:16]

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

[A healthy body of Christ like a healthy tree supports the fruit at the various stages that it grows supporting it and contributing to that growth as a joint that supplies (Luk 6:43-45, Joh 15:5]

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.

Christ’s body (Col 1:24) is to “give the more earnest heed” in regard to knowing that we must be armed with the mind and suffering of Christ (1Pe 4:1) in order to become those kings and priests who bring forth much fruit together alongside Christ who will give us the ability to identify with this verse: “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour [comfort] them that are tempted” (2Co 1:4). Those fiery trials through which we support each other are essential for bringing fruit unto maturation, and the trial of our faith is precious to God for what it works in the entire body which is learning to support and endure these fiery trials together (1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 4:12).

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

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

2Co 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

In this study we will do a small overview of what we have talked about already in Hebrews chapter one and two and how those previous verses have brought us to these very succinct words in the last three verses of chapter two describing who Christ was in type and shadow as Abraham and who He is today as our high priest and who we will ultimately become (1Jn 3:2) because of what our Lord is accomplishing within our Father’s workmanship today (Eph 2:8-10, Tit 3:8).

We ought to give the more earnest heed to what it means to be called to become kings and priests, rejoicing, praising, and thanking God for the blessing to which we have been called. That blessing is to bring forth much fruit (Joh 15:8) through much tribulation in this life leading to eternal life (Psa 68:3-5, Rom 6:22-23, Act 14:22).

Psa 68:3  But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
Psa 68:4  Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.
Psa 68:5  A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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.

Heb 2:16  For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 

God moved the prophets of old for our sakes as He inspired them to point to the reality of the One who was going to be born the saviour of humanity (Isa 9:6). Christ would be used to speak to us as our high priest, being the one “whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Heb 1:1-2). Chapter one of Hebrews sets the stage for how God is going to redeem mankind through our Lord who knows our form, who “made the worlds”, the physical world that typifies the workmanship we are in his hands (Eph 2:10). The Master Potter is able to take us in our marred condition and make us anew to the glory of God (Jer 18:4, Joh 15:8).

Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days [‘the last days of our fleshly carnal minds that are being destroyed by the brightness of his coming‘] spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

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

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.

Christ did not come to earth so He could get comfortable with the idea of how it is to be a human for His own sake, “but he took on him the seed of Abraham” for our sake (2Co 4:15). We can so easily, in our fleshly thinking, separate ourselves from this momentous event in history when Christ was born of the virgin Mary, but that event was for our sakes and points to another momentous event. At the birth of the bride of Christ, typified by the birth of Jesus who is the head of the manchild [‘the bride’], who is later, on Pentecost, to be caught up into heaven (Isa 7:14, 2Co 11:2, Rev 14:4, Rev 12:5). The body of Christ is judged as those who go through this nine-month period of spiritual gestation in the church (1Pe 4:17), so we, like Christ, can be born again in an earnest relationship at first, becoming that seed of Christ, the children of God (1Jn 3:1) who are typified by the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16, Rom 9:6-8, Rom 8:9).

Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

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 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. [Rom 8:14-16] These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

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

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Rom 9:6  Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Rom 9:7  Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Rom 9:8  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

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

Chapter one of Hebrews boldly tells us it is not only Christ who is going to “Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Heb 1:3, 13, Eph 2:6, Rev 4:10-11, Rev 3:9). Those who are being ministered to as Christ was when He was in this marred vessel of clay, who had to die daily and carry His cross just as He commanded His disciples to do, will also be there (Mat 16:24-26, 1Jn 4:17, Gal 2:20).

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins [Joh 17:17], sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Heb 1:13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

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

Rev 4:10  The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Rev 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

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

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.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. [Eph 2:6]
Mat 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

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.

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.

Chapter one of Hebrews sets the stage to help us understand that we have an high priest who is identifying with us in our marred condition for a reason.  That reason is so that we can go through the suffering of this life, enduring all things through Christ who strengthens us (Php 4:13), as we experience this hope of glory within (Col 1:27) which gives us the power to faithfully witness and overcome in this life (Rev 11:3). The inward enemies of the cross are naturally within us as a root of bitterness that could manifest if we don’t continue to diligently examine ourselves (Heb 12:15), and they are only overcome through Christ who gives us the power to bring every thought into subjection to Him (2Co 10:5) as we learn to patiently possess our souls sitting at His right hand where there is power to overcome and drink the cup we are called unto: “A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (2Ti 2:12, Joh 8:36, Psa 110:1, Mat 20:23).

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:

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.

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

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

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.

Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 

It behooved Christ not just to be born into the flesh “to be made like unto his brethren” but to be connected to the physical seed of Abraham for those who would one day identify with what the spiritual significance of being “made like unto his brethren” means (1Co 10:11). It was critical that Christ have all the same pulls of the flesh, being tempted in all diverse manner yet without sin for our sakes, but also critical that He experience the power of God, the spirit without measure (Joh 3:34), giving Him the ability to overcome all those pulls of the flesh demonstrating that the head of this spiritual lineage typified by Abraham could overcome and remain as a pure and unspotted lamb without blemish (Heb 4:15, 1Pe 1:9).

The “reconciliation for the sins of the people” is a statement connected not just to Abraham, but to Abraham’s seed and the type and shadow events which brought about the miraculous birth of Abraham’s son, Isaac (Gen 17:17). Each patriarch has his counterpart in the flesh as well to remind us that we will have to struggle against the powers and principalities over which God will give us power to prevail and overcome through Christ. The reconciliation process takes time, and it is a matter of supernaturally overcoming what we could never overcome except for the grace and faith God gives us through Christ.

Starting with Abraham and Lot [Abraham was a type of Christ who listened to God (Gen 22:2) whereas Lot went where his passions drove him (Gen 13:8-10)].

Isaac was the son of promise (Gal 4:28) as opposed to Ishmael whom Abraham lamented for not being able to “live before thee” (Gen 17:18). Isaac was presented a living sacrifice by his father, typifying our being dragged to Christ by our Father (Joh 6:44) who has made provision for us through Christ as the goat who is killed for all the sins of the world (Joh 1:29) within and without (Lev 16:7-10, Gen 22:13).

Jacob represents the body of Christ that perseveres and overcomes the flesh represented by Esau. The daily reward for not following our fleshly passions as we daily mortify the deeds of our flesh (Rom 8:13) is what it means to strive for the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ (Php 3:14). If we are granted the power to continue to overcome and forget what is behind us (Php 3:13, Luk 17:32), we will be partakers of those promises as typified by Jacob’s life. His name means “to follow, to be behind, to supplant, circumvent, assail, overreach”. Jacob’s new name was Israel, as we are the Israel of God (Gal 6:16), and Israel means “God prevails”^H3478 (Gen 32:28).

Abraham and Lot, Isaac and Ishmael (Gal 4:28), and Jacob and Esau (Gen 32:22-31, Gen 28:13-14) all serve to remind the body of Christ there is a process of spiritual completion unfolding in the lives of God’s children who are joint-heirs with Christ. The inheritance in type which was promised unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is something that can only be inherited through a lifetime of overcoming and enduring until the end through Christ, the author and finisher of our faith (Rom 8:17-19, Act 14:22). To “make reconciliation for the sins of the people” will require a reconciliation process that will be administered by those who have first trusted God and suffered in this life (Eph 1:12) so we can rule in the next (2Ti 2:12).

Rom 8:17  And if children [spiritual children of Abraham typifying those who have God’s spirit within them (Rom 8:6-9)], then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Heb 2:18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. 

We need to ask ourselves again, “What good will any or all of this knowledge be to us if we don’t give the more earnest heed today?” Therefore “we ought to give the more earnest heed” means we ought to identify with Christ’s suffering, filling up what is behind of His afflictions for His body’s sake, the church, and not be surprised concerning the fiery trial which is to try us as though some strange thing happened to us (Col 1:24, 1Pe 4:12).

What a humbling and glorious thought all at the same time, to consider that God can and will strengthen, stablish and settle those He has called in this age to experience that humbling event under His mighty hand so that we can be exalted in due time! It is through the struggles, the process we have discussed, that we will be established in the Lord.

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

2Th 2:16  Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
2Th 2:17  Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

2Th 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

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

We are humbled to know that we are as He is in this world (1Jn 4:17), and as such, these words in the book of Hebrews should apply just as much to the body of Christ as it did to Christ when He was in the flesh: “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted“. God is the one who is directing all the growth in the body of Christ (1Co 3:6), like the young child of twelve years old (Luk 2:40-42) who walked into the temple and was being established of His Father. So the body of Christ is also being established in the temple, being strengthened and settled so we can be the foundational government God will build upon Christ (Mat 16:18), a government that will know no end to the peace and increase that has been promised (Isa 9:6).

Luk 2:40  And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. [2Pe 3:18]
Luk 2:41  Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
Luk 2:42  And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

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.

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

[Study Aired February 9, 2020]

Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Isaiah chapters 52-54 are the most quoted chapters of the Old Testament which concern the prophesied sufferings endured by our Lord to “bear the sins of many”. The scriptures of the prophets, who were of Abraham’s own physical seed, prophesied that just as they had hated and sought to kill Joseph, David and all the prophets, they would also hate and even kill their own messiah, the Christ.

Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Here are the last two verses from our last study in chapter 53:

Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

“He shall… bear their iniquities… and He shall bare the sin of many… because He has poured out His soul unto death”. This sacrifice which is the subject of these three chapters of Isaiah, is not being offered for the iniquities of the Gentile nations who are sinning against and persecuting the Lord’s people, as the Jewish scholars would have us to believe. These chapters are not speaking of the iniquities of the Gentiles committed against the Lord’s people. 

This is the specific iniquities  and transgressions for whom this sacrifice is being made:

Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

In the anti-type, Isaiah is telling us that it is those who have for so very long considered themselves to be the Lord’s spiritual bride who have “rebelled against [Him]” and have gone after other gods and have believed the doctrines of other gods. It is they for whom this sacrifice is primarily being made. 

The Lord is a jealous God and will not share His wife with another:

Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 

Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 

Deu 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

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.

We must therefore be made aware of what became of all the churches in Asia which Paul had been given to raise up. This is what happened to the apostle Paul and to the apostle John before they died:

2Ti1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

“All they which are in Asia” include “the seven churches of Asia” to whom the apostle John addresses the book of Revelation (Rev 2-3). ‘Seven’ is the number which signifies completion, which is why we are told “He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the [seven] churches”. A link to a study on the number 7 is here.

Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

The reason John addresses the book of Revelation to the seven churches is that they, too, had forsaken him. Notice what the Lord reveals to us:

3Jn 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 
3Jn 1:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

It is the Lord’s own people, it is you and I, those who have known Him and then have lost our first love, that have fallen prey to the doctrines of Balaam, the doctrines of those who Lord it over the Lord’s flock. We have all fallen for the false doctrine of the Nicolaitans, the doctrine of Jezebel, and those who have committed spiritual fornication, all the while telling ourselves that we are spiritually rich and in need of nothing. 

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

That is what “Judah and Jerusalem” typify at the very beginning this prophecy:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Israel, just like Christians, considered themselves to be the Lord’s wife. A rebellious wife has become a harlot and has come to be the very people whom the Lord has sent to carry them away from Him. His own people have become “Babylon the great”. His own people are a “great whore”, and in spiritual anti-type, in spiritual reality it is the Lord’s own people who kill His prophets and His witnesses.

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. 

The Lord’s faithful witnesses are at this very moment dead in the streets of Babylon the great:

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Who is “spiritual Sodom”? We need not guess:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Who is the great whore of Revelation 17 and 18, who kills the Lord’s prophets? Again, we need not guess:

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers

The Lord died “for the transgressions of His [own] people”, but as Isaiah reveals to us:

Isa 44:18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

It is the Lord’s own spiritually blinded people, those who want His spiritual name but do not at first want to eat His spiritual food or wear His spiritual apparel, you and I who are the very people who have killed and offered up our own sacrifice for our own sins:

Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women [The ‘seven churches’ of Rev 2-3] shall take hold of one man [Christ], saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel [our own doctrines and our own works]: only let us be called by thy name [‘Christians’], to take away our reproach.

These “seven women” typify the entire nation who, as the Lord’s wife, have turned on Him and have become a harlot (Isa 1:21). They are the unfaithful wife which persecutes the righteous men and the prophets who are sent to the Lord’s apostate people. The other side of the same coin is the few faithful righteous men and faithful prophets who typify ‘the barren wife’, which is typified by all the barren wives of scripture, by Abraham’s beloved wife, Sarah, Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, Samson’s mother, and Hannah the loved but barren wife of Elkanah, the father of Samuel (1Sa 1:5). All these women were beloved by their husbands but were at first barren and could not conceive children.

We have no record of Hannah conceiving again after the birth of Samuel. All we know for certain is that she had one child, and yet this is what she is inspired to say when she dedicates her only son to the service of the Lord:

1Sa 2:1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 
1Sa 2:2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 
1Sa 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 
1Sa 2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
1Sa 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

“The barren has born seven” is a spiritual statement because Samuel was just weaned when Hannah gave him to the service of the Lord’s tabernacle under Eli, the high priest. 

According to Matthew, Christ’s generation was the 42nd generation from Abraham. Christ was not physically married, and He was crucified having no physical offspring.  In the previous chapter Isaiah therefore poses this question concerning the Lord’s family:

Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isaiah 53 is the section of Isaiah the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when he was approached by Philip: 

Act 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
Act 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

Hannah’s words are the answer to the question, “Who shall declare His generation? for His life was taken from the earth.”

1Sa 2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
1Sa 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

“The barren… desolate” wife is the bride of Christ who is plainly stated to be the antitype of the barren wife of Abraham:

Gal 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 
Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 
Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 
Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 
Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

There it is again in verse 27-29:

Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 
Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

Those ‘Christians’ who demonstrate their love for their fellow man by being obedient to Christ’s commandments to ‘speak evil of no man” (Tit 3:2); love your enemies (Mat 5:44); resist not evil but turn the other cheek (Mat 5:39), will never be found speaking evil of, persecuting or killing or crucifying anyone but themselves, and that is being done daily in the spiritual manner we are commanded to consider ourselves (Rom 6:1-4; 1Co 15:31; Gal 2:20, Col 1;24, and Heb 12:1).

Galatians 4 tells us Christ has a wife whose son is bound by the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9-10), by the fear of what men might think of him, and by the flesh, and cannot be heir with the children of the wife whose children are of faith and of promise and are not children of the works of the law for the lawless:

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

A righteous man will never, under any circumstance ever hate, speak evil of, or murder his fellow man. Those who claim Christ but are willing to murder those they deem worthy of death are the children of the bondwoman. The righteous man, on the other hand is the son of the freewoman and is free of the fear of men. However, the son of the freewoman is comparatively barren in this age. Nevertheless, the son of the free woman, the righteous man, in the end, will have far more children than “she that has a husband” and bears many children in this age, because she is the bride of Christ “who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth” (1Ti 2:4), through the mercy which the children of the free woman, the righteous man, will be given to pour out on all men of all time:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

As the mother of the few in this age, we are encouraged:  

Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Judaism was the church of Christ’s day, and the church of Christ’s day typifies the church of today which would, and still does, spiritually crucify Him and His doctrines until this very day. 

When I say that ‘Christendom would and does crucify Christ today’, that is easily demonstrated by the fact that all the leading ministers of all the major churches, both Protestant and Catholic, encourage their members to get involved in the affairs of this age and join the militaries of their respective nations and be willing to die physically fighting to preserve the lives of their families and their countries, knowing that these words are the doctrine of our Lord:

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. 
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Those who are faithful to Christ are indeed truly few, fulfilling the Lord’s Words:

Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

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

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

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.

The Lord’s children are also called His wife. We are betrothed to “one husband”:

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 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

We are also called “the sons of God”:

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

“The world” which did not know Christ was the deceived religious world of His day, and things certainly have not gotten any better: 

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Christ and His followers were very few and greatly despised. The church of His day was in deep dark deception, and here He is telling us that the deception of that time would only get worse and worse. In spite of these very clear words of warning, our flesh tells us that all these very educated religious men leading the churches of our day cannot all be wrong. What we are taught is that instead of getting “worse and worse” the Christian world grew to dominate most of the world and is even today the largest religion on earth.

However, the Truth still remains:

Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

“He that was born after the flesh” is not speaking of the pagan world. It is referring to the rejected “seed of Abraham” who hates and mocks the Lord’s elect, and who say of His elect, “We will not have this man to rule over us.” (Luk 19:14) It is the Lord’s rejected elect anointed who hate those whom the Lord has sent to replace their old man and to be used as their saviors:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

It was all prophesied here in Isaiah:

Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 

The shame of our youth and the reproach of our widowhood are both from the perspective of the unbelieving, rejected seed of Abraham, “the son of the bondwoman”. We are “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”, and while the rejected seed of Abraham has physically killed our husband, death could not hold Him, and He rose on the third day to become the propitiation not just for our sins but for the sins of the whole world:

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

‘The son of the bondwoman’ is the rejected ‘seed of Abraham’. ‘The son of the bondwoman is also our rejected old man who simply is not given to know Christ and therefore cannot receive His doctrine:

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

How can we know we do hear His Word and that we are His children and not the children of the bondwoman?

1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 
1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Christ is both our Creator and our Husband:

Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 

These words detail the circumstances of our calling. If we are not forsaken, grieved in spirit, and if we have not been refused by the children of the bondwoman, “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, then we are not the freewoman bride of Christ.

If indeed we are that ‘forsaken, grieved in spirit’ son who is refused by the children  of the bondwoman, then we will be blessed to endure the excruciating loss of the dominion of our flesh and experience the same feeling of being forsaken even of our husband Himself just long enough to experience His wrath upon the kingdom of our old man and to experience the death of our old man to the fear of what men can do to us and to the fear of what others think of us:

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

This experience is what elicited these words from the mouth of our dying Lord as His corruptible flesh and blood were being offered up as the sin offering for the sins of all men of all time:

Mar 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

A very interesting thing about…

Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 

…Immediately followed by:

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

…Very clearly demonstrates that just as we have seen we are both “the sons of God” as well as “His bride” who comes out from Him, even so Christ who also “came out from the Father” and is both the Son of His Father, as well as a wife to the Father as His head…

Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

Joh 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Joh 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

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;

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Just as the first physical ‘wife’ is called ‘the mother of all living’, so we are told that the Father used Christ to be the womb by which He conceived and brought into being everything in heaven and in earth:

Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Christ is following the example of His Father who sent Him “that the world through Him might be saved.”

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Then, for those who are given to receive it, Christ tells us:

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

Contrary to all the smooth-talking prophets of Babylon (Isa 30:10), ours is not a calling to a life of ease and luxury, or as I quote one Babylonian minister, ours is not a calling to a life of “coffee and doughnuts”. We are called to “offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), die daily (1Co 15:31), and to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and “fill up in [our] bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24), but if we are given to endure to the end this is what we are told:

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Just as the whole creation has waited for the manifestation of Christ, it now waits for the manifestation of Him and His generation, His Christ:

1Jn 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

I pray we are all given to understand that “knowing Him that is true [includes] we in Him that is true” and that having been given that understanding “is the true God, and life eternal.

John makes this exact same revolutionary statement in:

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

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

Rev 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 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Finally, I also pray we are all granted to “have respect unto the recompense of [our] reward”, because very few indeed do.

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

That is our study for today, and here are our verses for next week’s study:

Isa 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 
Isa 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. 
Isa 54:11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 
Isa 54:12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. 
Isa 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 
Isa 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 
Isa 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 
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.