Rev 12:14-17 – Part 2 – The Earth Helped the Woman

[Study Aired Dec 29, 2024]

In this study we will seek to understand the spiritual significance of the statement… “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon cast out of its mouth…” in this verse:

Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Christ tells us that when His words spoken through us are rejected by this world it is the same as rejecting Him and His words. That is also the way it is with the adversary and those who speak for him. Therefore when we are told, “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon cast out of its mouth”, what we are being told is that the woman is accepting of the words coming out of the mouth of the dragon via all of His ministers.

The Pharaoh [of the book of Exodus] attempting to destroy all the male new born of Israel, typifies the dragon’s desire to devour the man child as soon as he is born. Pharaoh typifies the beast and his spiritual father within us all. The scriptures reveal that when we serve ourselves and do what we want to do without regard to the admonitions of scripture, we are treating ourselves as if we are god, but at the same time we are unwittingly “worshiping the dragon”. It matters not that we are “Abraham’s seed”. The only thing that matters is if we ‘do the things’ Christ and His Word tell us to do.

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

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

Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

Anger toward God’s messenger, Moses, is exactly what “the woman in the wilderness”, Israel, felt as she watched the armies of Egypt approaching, and that is exactly how we feel when we see that no one else in the world sees or agrees with the things which have led us to begin to come out of Babylon. We are God’s Israel, and like Jeremiah and Israel, we too, slowly come to see just how much we must sacrifice to remain faithful to the calling we have been given. This is Jeremiah, and this is each of us.

Jer 20:7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jer 20:8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jer 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jer 20:10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

We will never understand any of the symbols of scripture if we are not careful to retain their Biblical meaning instead of the meaning arbitrarily given them by the false prophets in the temples of Babylon. Pharaoh’s armies are a type and a shadow of the legions of evil spirits which darken the Sun and the air, which want to destroy God’s witnesses and which keep us from seeing the light of the Sun. A ‘woman’ in scripture is always the wife of God, either as a harlot or as a faithful wife. It is to preserve this ‘harlot woman who brought forth a man child’ that “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of His mouth”. This ‘woman’ is signified in scripture by the harlot Hosea was told to marry to typify how Israel has treated her own faithful husband, Christ:

Hos 1:2  The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
Hos 1:3  So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
Hos 1:4  And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Jezreel was born of a harlot and yet the Lord “avenge[d] the blood of Jezreel” just as He will avenge the blood of Christ upon the kingdom of our old man.

It is with good reason that we are told that this flood comes forth of the dragon’s mouth. It is given to us in these words based upon this principle:

Mat 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Mat 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

This “flood out of the dragon’s mouth” is also called “locusts upon the earth” in Rev 9.

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.

Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

200 million witnesses to the lies of Babylon stand in sharp contrast to God’s “two witnesses”. It is few who are willing to stand up to such odds. Here is another way of saying the same thing, but because we see the number three, we know that some form of progression is in view:

Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

These are not three separate sources. The dragon empowers both the beast and the false prophet, but He does so in a certain predestined order of progression.

We certainly are not able to withstand the odds of ‘200 million to two’ as we first begin our exodus from either Egypt or Babylon. The earth swallowing the flood that comes out of the mouth of the dragon will be lost on us if we fail to notice that this woman cannot yet be caught up to God and to His throne, and if we forget what we have learned is the symbolism of “the earth”.

Here is what “the earth” means in scripture:

Jer 22:2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

The earth was swallowing up the flood of lies which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

“Thy people that enter by these gates” is the symbol of God’s own rebellious and backslid people who were more than eager to believe the lies of the adversary. Now look at how the holy spirit addresses those who know God and then turn their back on Him and His doctrines, here in this same 22nd chapter of Jeremiah.

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

This explains why Israel wished they had never left Egypt when they saw the armies of Egypt, and this explains why they immediately blamed their own savior for their apparent dilemma.

Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

So “the woman” cannot be caught up to God and to His throne, because she is no better off spiritually than Pharaoh at this stage of her walk. This woman in Rev 12 is saved by the earth swallowing up what comes out of the Dragon’s mouth because this woman is the earth, and she is on the same page that dragon is on. Only her man child, who has been separated from her, is “caught up to God and to His throne”, while she flees into the wilderness where her rebellions continue unabated as typified by unfaithful Israel’s actions:

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

While we are told that Pharaoh’s armies were destroyed by the waters of the Red Sea, that is interpreted as “the earth swallowed them”.

Exo 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
Exo 15:5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
Exo 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Exo 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
Exo 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
Exo 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
Exo 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Exo 15:12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

But how do the armies of Egypt being destroyed in the sea apply to our lives? Here is one example of what a flood is in spiritual, scriptural terms:

Isa 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

The lies of the adversary are signified by “a flood” from his mouth. That is the negative application of the word ‘flood’. The positive application refers to the words of Truth from the Lord, from His mouth and from the mouths of His elect:

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

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

The Lord tells us that His Truthful words are spirit (Joh 6:63), and it is His words of Truth which are our refuge and our defence, which are “lifted up as a standard” against all the lies of “the enemy”. Every soldier of the armies of Egypt and Babylon are a symbol of the lies of the Adversary. Every ‘soldier of Christ’ speaks only His Truths:

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2Ti 2:5  And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

‘Striving lawfully’ for Christ requires that the soldier of Christ “endure hardness”. It requires that we “resist not evil: but… turn the other cheek also”:

Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Enduring that kind of ‘hardness’ infuriates the adversary:

Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Once we are made to see this woman is “in the wilderness” and we see her as being on the same page with the serpent in seeking to destroy God’s elect, then we will begin to understand why the dragon makes war, not with her, but “with the remnant of her seed…” Only then will we begin to understand why her seed is prophesied to always be at war with the seed of the serpent. Now we can understand why the seed of the serpent is prophesied, from the very beginning, to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, while her seed is prophesied to bruise the head of the serpent.

Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15 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.

Israel is both a type of God’s elect on the one hand, and she is also a type of God’s harlot wife who wants to kill the Christ and His Christ in another instance. Only when we see that the first Adam is a figure of the last Adam, and the first Pharaoh in the story of Joseph typifies the Father, while the Pharaoh of Moses’ day typifies the beast as the seed of the serpent, will we understand how the woman of Rev 12 can be described in such glowing terms and still be “in the wilderness” and completely unqualified to be with Christ on His throne. It is because the woman of Rev 12, who is not caught up to God and to His throne, is the same as the woman of Rev 17-18, with the same sins as the seven churches who have in them the Nicolaitans, and who also suffer “that woman Jezebel to teach”, and yet thinks she is “rich and increased with good and has need of nothing” in Revelation chapters 2-3.

Rev 2:15  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans [Greek ‘rule the  laity’], which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Rev 2:18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet [are] like fine brass;
Rev 2:19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last [to be] more than the first.
Rev 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
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:

Like the church in Thyatira, there are many good things to be said about the woman who brings forth the man child. She is “clothed with the sun and the moon is under her feet”. She is filled with “gold, silver, and precious stones”, the necessary materials for the true temple of God.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

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,

1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

But they are not yet “tried in fire”, which is essential to the gold, silver and precious stones that make up the true temple of God. The churches of Revelation 2-3 have the same self-satisfied spirit we find in the harlot of Revelation 17-18:

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
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.

That “trying fire” is the words concerning God’s wrath and his judgments upon our ungodliness that these chapters 12-15 are leading up to and are introducing. This is all “the days when the seventh angel begins to sound”. Chapters 12-15 are the ‘bitterness in the belly’ which these judgments produce in our lives when we eat the little book in the angel’s hand:

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Rev 10:8  And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

We have seen that the woman of Rev 12 is the same woman found in the seven churches of chapters 2-3, thinking so highly of herself, when she is nothing more than a “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked… whore”. She is the same “great harlot” found in chapters 17-18. What we have learned is that the man child who comes out of this woman is also the true bride of Christ, and that this woman in Rev 12, for all the glowing words used to describe her, is still the same harlot woman of chapters 17-18:

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

This woman of Revelation 12 is completely unqualified to ascend up to God and to His throne as the true bride of Christ, which is what the man child, who comes out of this woman, signifies and is found worthy to do.

I once had a prominent Concordant minister condescendingly tell me… “Mike you can’t be ‘wife’ and a ‘son’ at the same time”. I asked him… “Why then does Paul tell us that we “are the sons of God” in Romans, and “I have espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” in 2 Corinthians?

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of 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.

That minister had absolutely no response and yet his pride would not permit him acknowledge that Paul calls us both “sons of God” and “a chaste virgin presented to one husband… Christ”.

We have seen that God refers his work of bringing this woman into the wilderness as “bearing her on eagles’ wings”, the same words used to tell us how He had brought Israel to Himself in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. We have seen that “a time, and times and half a time” is the same as 1260 days or 42 months, and we saw once again that this is the symbol for the time we spend both receiving God’s witness while we are yet “under the law”, while we are “in our place prepared for us of God” to be nourished with bread which will “bring us to Christ”, but which is not itself the true bread of life.

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

We saw that this same period of time also symbolizes the time we spend witnessing for the Lord to those who are still under the schoolmaster and under the bondage of the law of Moses.

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

We have seen that the flood that comes out of the mouth of the dragon is the lies that always come from his mouth, and we saw that those lies were well received of the woman, serving to deflect the wrath of the dragon off of the woman and onto “the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. In other words, what we saw is that the woman who is being carried on eagles’ wings, is all the while on the same page with the great dragon who blames God and His messengers for bringing her into the wilderness to die. Both she and the dragon want to destroy her own seed, the “man child”, who also happens to be the symbol of the true bride of Christ, who is qualified and worthy to sit with Him on His throne in the heavens.

Finally we have seen the scriptures, which demonstrate that the earth and this harlot woman who is not qualified to sit with Christ on His throne, are spiritually and scripturally one and the same.

In our next study, if the Lord wills, we will begin to see how our worshiping of the beast is revealed to be “and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority”, us worshiping the great red dragon.

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

Rev 12:10-13 – Part 2 – Now Is Come The Kingdom

[Study Aired Dec 22, 2024]

Rev 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

True to its “is, was and will be” nature, in this verse we again see ourselves both as those who “dwell in the heavens” as well as those who were once “inhabiters of the earth and of the sea… unbelievers, abiding in God’s wrath”. Paul makes clear that both parts of this verse are ours in Eph 2.

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:

… the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

By whom does the Lord try and tempt mankind?

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him.
Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man:
Jas 1:14  but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. (ASV)

“Enticed” by whom? Who incites man to lust after the things which the Lord has forbidden? We need not guess.

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
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.

By whom did the Lord try Job?

Job 1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 1:8  And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Job 1:9  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10  Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

“Put forth Thine hand” shows us that Satan is nothing more or less than a tool of our Lord to “create evil”, and to “work all things after the counsel of His own will.” Satan could not touch Job without the Lord’s direction to do so. Do we think this is an exception to the rule? It is not. This is the rule of Him “of whom are all things”, all the good and all the evil.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and [there is] none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Who was “the Lord’s” instrument to tempt King David? It is in “the sum of God’s word [that we will find the] Truth”. When we add up “the sum of God’s word” in these two verses we find that the Lord used the same adversary to tempt King David that He used to tempt Adam and Eve and Job.

2Sa 24:1  And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

1Ch 21:1  And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

The result of this provocation was that 70,000 men died as “the anger of the Lord” was poured out on Israel through the agency of Satan, who, as “an evil angel, was sent among them” to tempt King David to number Israel.

Who was sent to tempt our Lord?

Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

If we are “as He is in this world” would not we also be tempted by “the tempter… the devil?

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.

How are the seven last plagues of God’s fierce wrath administered upon us all in our own time? Is it not the same for all? Here are the verses that answer both of those questions respectively:

Psa 78:49  He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

What does “All things come alike to all” mean? What that means is that “there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked”, that is what that means. That “one event” includes the seven last plagues of God’s wrath being pour out on the wicked and on the righteous alike, in the day when we are all “made wicked for the day of evil” which comes to us all alike, and in the day when mankind will live by those words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God.

Satan comes to us with great wrath, but as we have seen in Job, Satan is nothing more than “thy hand”, and like all of us, Satan has no wrath except as it is given Him from God:

Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Let’s summarize what we have seen here: “the Lord Himself tempts no man…” Satan is specifically called “the tempter”, is called “God’s hand”, and God ‘casts the fierceness of His anger, wrath and indignation and trouble, by sending evil angels among us’. What does it all mean? What it all means is “… the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time”. That is why this chapter is placed between the introduction of the seventh trumpet in Rev 11, and the revelation that the seven plagues of the seventh trumpet fill up the wrath of God against our ungodliness and unrighteousness in chapter 16.

… because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

The scriptures reveal that the time of our trials really is nothing more than “a small moment” and “a little wrath”. I know from experience that what God calls “a small moment” seems like an eternity when it is being endured, but as the example of our Lord demonstrates, it is only after God has forsaken us for that “small moment” that we will be raised up to sit with Him in the heavens as He has been raised to sit with His Father in His throne in the heavens.

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.

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

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

Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

Have you and I ever lived these “words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God [in this] revelation of Jesus Christ”?

Who among us has not felt defrauded, lied to, played for a fool and robbed of the fruit of our efforts by men who at best were deceived and in many cases were proven charlatans. And who among us has not to some degree been embittered when we discovered that all our lives have been wasted by a woman who is nothing more than a great harlot, who despises her true Husband and despises His words. Here is what Satan does in us to “the woman” at that moment, with the power he gives to the beast in the horns upon that beast:

Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

What we are being told here is that this woman who is bringing forth this manchild here in chapter 12, is the same harlot woman we discover here in chapter 17. Do you doubt that God’s “man child” comes out of “the woman which… is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth”? Here is the scripture which tells us from whence come the Lord’s people. Speaking of this same woman, we read this:

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.

As redundant as it is to do so, we must remind ourselves that the only way to avoid death is to first die, the only way to see is to first be blind, and the only way to be healed of our sickness is to first be sick.

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

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 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.

In like manner, if there is anything we should be learning about living by every word of God, all things being ours, and keeping the things written in this prophecy, is that the only way to come out of Babylon, is to be in Babylon. The only way to avoid partaking of her sins is to confess that we ourselves have been the chief of sinners, and the only way to avoid receiving of her plagues is to fulfill within ourselves the seven plagues of the seven angels.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

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

It is because the spirit of Babylon is still in us that we, as the ten horns on the beast, turn on the woman and “burn her with the fiery” words of God of which we, as carnal babes in Christ, have only recently become aware.

It is we who persecute the woman who brought forth the man child, and we do so as we are coming out of her, because the ten horns that burn her with fire are us as “carnal… babes in Christ” who, in our immaturity, are bitter toward a woman who has deceived us and has taken advantage of our ignorance.

Where do the beast and his ten horns get their power?

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

By giving the beast his power, it can rightly be said “when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child”.

Summary

We have seen that this twelfth chapter, as well as chapters 13, 14 and 15, are all introductory and preparatory chapters to the revelation of the seven plagues of the seventh trumpet, which was first mentioned in chapter 10.

Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

We have seen once again that when “the mystery of God is finished” we will finally realize that “all things come alike to all, that all things are ours, things present and things to come”, and that it is we who are instructed to “keep the things written in this book”. So we have seen that we are first the woman who brings forth this man child before we are made to become this man child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

We have seen that “all the nations” within us must be subdued to the mind and thoughts of our Lord, before we will be found worthy to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection. We must “bring every thought into subjection to God” before we will be entrusted to rule the nations of this outward world or judge angels in the lake of fire.

We saw that our “strength and salvation” comes through our recognition that Christ died for our own sins, and through our testimony to that effect, and our willingness to die to the things of this world to obtain life in the next age.

We have seen that the “war in heaven” of this chapter is the same “warfare” spoken of by the apostle Paul in 2Co 10:4-5, and the “casting down of the accuser of our brothers” is nothing more or less than “the casting down of imaginations and every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” spoken of by Paul in these same verses.

2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

That is the “casting down of the accuser of our brothers.”

We saw the three different verses in the New Testament which specifically speak of “our Lord and His Christ”, and we saw that we are our Lord’s Christ, and the salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ is NOW. It is in down payment form through “the spirit of promise”, but nevertheless the salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God is ours here and now.

We saw that the strength we are given gives us power and dominion over the power of the dragon who gives our beast his power over us with all his sinful desires within us. We have seen that sin no longer has dominion over us, because God, through Christ in us, no longer imputes sin to us because we have “suffered in the flesh” with Him.

We have seen that the short time given the dragon to persecute the woman is the time he spends trying us, because we saw where Job reveals that Satan is nothing more or less than God’s own hand, to create the wicked man for the day of evil.

Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now [Lord], and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

We also saw that the wrath given to Satan to persecute the woman is the same wrath God gives Satan to pour out “the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels” among us because “these things are all ours”.

Psa 78:49  He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

Finally we saw that the dragon’s persecution of the woman is accomplished through us, as the ten horns who agree to give their power to the beast we are at that time and upon which the ten horns are found. We do this at the time we, as carnal babes in Christ, are coming out of Babylon, because we are not yet mature enough to appreciate the fact that all the lies and all the hypocrites of Babylon are nothing less than an integral part of “His wonderful works to the children of men”.

Next week, Lord willing we will finish this twelfth chapter and we will see what it means for this woman to be in the wilderness, and we will learn how the dragon goes about “casting water as a flood out of His mouth, to cause the woman to be carried away of the waters.” We will also see how the earth can help the woman by swallowing up the flood, and we will see what happens when the dragon is “wroth with the woman”.

Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Exo 7:1-25 For the Magicians of Egypt Cast Down Their Every Man his Rod, and They Became Serpents

[Study Aired April 25, 2022]

Exo 7:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 
Exo 7:2  Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. 
Exo 7:3  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 
Exo 7:4  But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 
Exo 7:5  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. 
Exo 7:6  And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they. 
Exo 7:7  And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh. 
Exo 7:8  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Exo 7:9  When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. 
Exo 7:10  And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 
Exo 7:11  Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 
Exo 7:12  For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 
Exo 7:13  And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. 
Exo 7:14  And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. 
Exo 7:15  Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. 
Exo 7:16  And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. 
Exo 7:17  Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 
Exo 7:18  And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river. 
Exo 7:19  And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. 
Exo 7:20  And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 
Exo 7:21  And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 
Exo 7:22  And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said. 
Exo 7:23  And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. 
Exo 7:24  And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. 
Exo 7:25  And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

A key lesson that the Lord takes us through as we walk with Him is for us to learn to depend wholly on Him and not on ourselves. The Lord, therefore, brings us to this point of realizing that all our abilities count nothing in His presence and what counts is to have the faith of Jesus to depend on Him. When we come to this point, then we have found rest in Him.

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.

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

The Lord’s encounter with Moses in the preceding chapters is to make Moses realize that he can do nothing concerning the Lord’s plan of salvation. Moses learned through his failures that indeed he did not have what it takes to bring the Lord’s people out of bondage. It was all the work of the Lord. Once Moses had learned this lesson, he was ready to confront Pharaoh for the release of the people of God. That is when we see the strong or mighty hand of the Lord in dealing with the beast or the old man signified by Pharoah.

Exo 3:19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
Exo 3:20  And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

This chapter deals with the strong hand of the Lord in dealing with Pharaoh who signifies the old man or the beast within.

Exo 7:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 

We are told here that Moses shall be a God to Aaron. What this means is that through us (Moses), salvation shall come to all our brothers and sisters in Babylon and all of humanity, including the Old Testament prophets signified by Aaron.

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.

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

In another perspective, Moses represents our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God to us, and Aaron stands for the elect. We are the mouthpiece or prophet of our Lord.

2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Exo 7:2  Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
Exo 7:3  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

We are reminded here to observe all that the Lord is telling us through His words. We may not see any significant progress regarding the death of the beast within, but we are assured that the Lord’s strong hand, signifying his signs and wonders, is putting the beast within or the old man to death while we walk in this world (land of Egypt). We sometimes get discouraged or frustrated when the old man rears its head in our lives, but here the Lord is telling us that He is the author of all that happens to the beast and its ultimate demise. The Lord is also telling us that the reason the old man’s death is not a one-time event is that it affords the Lord the occasion to confirm to us this great salvation of the Lord through the multiplication of His signs and wonders in our situation. This has the effect of strengthening our faith in Him.

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Heb 2:4  God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

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

Exo 7:4  But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
Exo 7:5  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

In verse 4, the Lord was talking to Moses about His strong hand of great judgments to bring forth His armies. This is to let us know that enlisting in the great armies of the Lord entails going through His strong hand of great judgment.

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.

As we shall see later, Pharoah or the beast within could resist the Lord’s word, but he could not resist the Lord’s hand of judgment.

Exo 7:6  And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.
Exo 7:7  And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

Our call is a call of obedience. If we profess that we love the Lord, then, we must express this love through obedience of His word for our own benefit.

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

In verse 7, we are told that Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was three years older, when they spoke to Pharaoh. According to the scriptures, being eighty years and over is regarded as an old age where one’s natural strength had failed. So, the mention of Moses and Aaron’s age is to let us know that they had realized that they cannot execute the Lord’s agenda in their “failed natural strength” and cannot discern between what is good and evil or taste what we eat or drink. This means that Moses and Aaron were basically blind and needed help. That is when they found rest in depending on the Lord to do what He had purposed. We all need to be “eighty or over” spiritually to find rest in the Lord.

2Sa 19:32  Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old [eighty]: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.

2Sa 19:35  I am this day fourscore years old [eighty]: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?

Jdg 3:30  So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Exo 7:9  When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
Exo 7:10  And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

As we have indicated, Pharaoh represents the old man or the flesh. One key characteristic of the flesh is that it puts more premium on signs and wonders or miracles than spiritual reality. It is therefore no wonder that Pharaoh would require a miracle from Moses and Aaron. Jesus, knowing the flesh, made the following statement about how we cherish signs and wonders when we are dominated by the flesh:

Mat 16:4  A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

1Co 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

Knowing this, the evil one always comes to deceive us with signs and wonders.

2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

As we indicated in prior studies, the rod that Aaron held is Christ. To cast to the ground means to destroy as used in the following:

2Sa 8:2  And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts.

Thus, Aaron casting down the rod is the same as showing how the flesh of Christ was destroyed, resulting in a resurrected Christ who is able to save us. This is the fiery serpent who is able to save us.

Num 21:8  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Num 21:9  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

This means that the serpent resulting from the rod being cast by Aaron is the resurrected Christ who is able to save us as we look up to Him. However, to those who are not given to know Christ in this life, this serpent, who is the resurrected Christ, rather darkens their understanding. As we shall see in verse 13, Pharaoh, representing the flesh, became hardened by the rod of Moses turning into a serpent.

Exo 7:11  Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
Exo 7:12  For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
Exo 7:13  And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

The wise men and the sorcerers, collectively called the magicians of Egypt, represent the leaders in Babylon. They also represent what Paul calls the disputers of this world.

1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

The casting down of the rod of these magicians of Egypt and the turning of their rods into serpents before Moses and Aaron is to let us know that all that is in the world and in Babylon is under the spell of the devil who is represented here as a serpent.

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.

Just as Christ stands for the word of God or truth, the devil or Satan or the serpent is synonymous with deception or lies (man’s wisdom). The rods of the magicians therefore represent lies. As indicated, the serpent from the rod of Aaron stands for Christ who is the truth. Aaron’s rod swallowing up the rods of the magicians of the Egyptians means that where the truth of the word of the Lord is, lies are expelled. Another way of saying this is that where there is light, darkness is expelled.

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

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5 And the light [Truth] shineth in darkness [Lies]; and the darkness [Lies] comprehended it not.

The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in verse 13 is the same as saying that in the camp of the Egyptians or Babylon, the light of Christ is a cloud and darkness to them.

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Exo 7:14  And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

The Lord telling Moses that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, resulting in his refusal to let the people of Israel go, is to let us know that the old man or the beast within (Pharaoh) is a formidable opposition who would not die without a fight. This old man or the beast within is the great mountain spoken off by the Lord to Zerubbabel that its removal is not by might nor power but by the spirit of the Lord (the word of Christ).

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.
Zec 4:8  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Zec 4:9  The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you [The Lord who starts knows how to finish].

Zechariah chapter 4:7 shows us that it is through the chastening grace that this mountain (old man) becomes a plain (dies).

Exo 7:15  Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
Exo 7:16  And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.

Pharaoh going out to the water in the morning is to let us know the water with which our old man or the beast within is familiar. This water is the water of Egypt or Babylon which is the lies or the deception of the devil, which seems like the truth but does not satisfy. As Jesus said, when we are hooked to this water, we continually will go for more lies to cover up initial lies. This is the water that our old man is acquainted with. The old man cannot accept the truth which destroys it. This is the water that we have imbibed in our lives until Christ came to us with His word of Truth.

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.

In verse 15, the Lord commands us to stand at the brink of the river with the rod in hand. As indicated, this rod is Christ. To stand at the brink is to overcome this river of lies with the truth. Thus, it is when Christ comes to us (having the rod in hand) we can overcome this river of lies. That is the time that we are able to withstand the resistance of the beast or the old man within (verse 16).

Exo 7:17  Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 
Exo 7:18  And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river. 
Exo 7:19  And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

As indicated, this river of the world and Babylon represents the false doctrines in our heavens. The river turning into blood is to show us the true nature of the doctrines we receive in Babylon. It is when the rod is used to smite the waters that it turns into blood. This is another way of saying that it is when Christ comes to us with His words (brightness) that we see that we are all murderers of the Lord and His elect, thinking we are doing God a service.  This does not mean that we physically killed anybody. However, resisting the words of the Lord and that of His elect or hating the Lord and His elect all amount to killing them.

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Joh 16:2  They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
Joh 16:3  And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

We are first vessels of wood and hay before we become vessels of precious stones. This means that verse 19 saying that blood must be found in both vessels of wood and stone is to confirm the fact that we are guilty of the death of Christ and His elect.

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Exo 7:20  And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
Exo 7:21  And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

The effect of drinking from this water of blood is that we die, just like fish die in polluted water. Dying, spiritually, means that we are alienated from the life of Christ. Fish symbolize humanity.

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

Another way of saying that we die from this water of Egypt is that we become worse off than when we even started our walk with Christ.

2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it; to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Exo 7:22  And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.
Exo 7:23  And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.

The magicians of Egypt turning their water into blood by their own enchantment is what hardened Pharaoh’s heart such that he refused to let the people of Israel go. Another way of saying that the magicians of Egypt did the same thing is by saying that the beast does great wonders and deceives them that dwell on the earth by means of miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Exo 7:24  And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
Exo 7:25  And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

The digging around for water is what has created several religious bodies with each digging their own water.

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

The fact that it took seven days after the Lord had smitten the river is to let us know that it takes a complete period of time in our walk with Christ to realize our guilt for the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and His prophets.

Exo 4:1–17 Put Forth Thine Hand, and Take it by the Tail

Exo 4:1  And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 
Exo 4:2  And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 
Exo 4:3  And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 
Exo 4:4  And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 
Exo 4:5  That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 
Exo 4:6  And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 
Exo 4:7  And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 
Exo 4:8  And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 
Exo 4:9  And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. 
Exo 4:10  And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 
Exo 4:11  And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 
Exo 4:12  Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 
Exo 4:13  And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 
Exo 4:14  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 
Exo 4:15  And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 
Exo 4:16  And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 
Exo 4:17  And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. 

This chapter continues the discourse between the Lord and Moses when the Lord came to Moses. It focuses also on Moses’ return to Egypt to start the process of delivering the Israelites from bondage. Regarding today’s session, we will continue reviewing the dialogue between Moses and our Lord Jesus Christ. As this chapter is the continuation of Moses’ encounter with Christ, we will recount the key highlights of the last session to set the tone for today’s study.

As we know, the land of Midian where Moses fled after leaving Egypt, was part of the desert. A key characteristic of a desert is the scarcity of water which makes it impossible for plants to grow. The fact that Moses was keeping the flock in the desert, therefore, suggests that Moses, together with the flock, symbolizes Babylon where there is lack of the word of the Lord. So, after leaving Egypt, we automatically end up in Babylon.

1Sa 3:1  And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.

Moses being a symbol of the elect had been called and chosen before the foundations of the world. Being called and chosen, it is a matter of time before the Lord comes with His brightness, which is His words to destroy that which holds us from offering our lives as living sacrifice to the Lord. In the fullness of time, Moses led the flock to the backside (H310) of the desert. The word “backside” has frequently been used in King James to mean “after” or “behind”. However, it is also used in other ways such as “to turn away from” in Numbers 14:43.

Num 14:43  For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from (H310) the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.

Thus, Moses leading the flock to the backside of the desert can mean Moses turning away from the desert. It is when Moses turned away from the desert situation of lack of the word of Christ that he came to the mountain of God or had an encounter with the Lord who comes with His words to brighten our path. In other words, it is when we begin to turn away from Babylon and his doctrines representing the desert that Christ comes to us!! This mountain of God which is called Horeb is the same as the New Jerusalem or the church of the first born. So, we turn away from the desert (Babylon) to enter Jerusalem which is above. This mountain of God is also spiritually the same as Mount Zion.

Isa 10:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

It is interesting that Horeb, the mountain of God, means “desolate”. The word of the Lord describes the elect as desolate. This is all to confirm that the mountain of God here represents the assembly of the Lord’s elect.

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.

The statement that the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush is to let us know that this coming of Christ to the elect is all within us (in the midst of the bush). In the fullness of time, the Lord will appear for the whole world to see. However, in this dispensation, the Lord’s coming is within us, just as the kingdom of the Lord is within us.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

What Moses saw, caught his attention. Indeed, the Lord knows what will catch our attention. He saw the bush burning with fire but the bush was not consumed. The question is “what does this mean”? As indicated, the bush represents the elect and the bush burning is to let us know of the judgment of the elect. In spite of what the elect go through by way of judgment, we rather become stronger and are not consumed by our fiery trials. This is exemplified by what happened to the Israelites while in Egypt. Even as their burden became heavier, they became stronger and more fruitful.

Exo 1:12  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

Now the question is, “What did Jesus, together with the people of God, see that kept them going in spite of the trouble they went through?” This is the very question on the mind of Moses that caused him to turn aside to see this great sight – why the bush is burning and yet not being consumed. The answer is very simple. It is because they have all seen the reward!! This is what Paul had to say about our High Priest Jesus:

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.

Jesus saw the reward, and it served as a driving force to go against all the odds in this life to please God!! The reward is what is motivating all of us and preparing us to go through the fire knowing that we shall not be consumed!! Moses, like us, also wanted to know why the bush burns and yet was not consumed. However, many have seen the bush burning and not been consumed but were/are not enthused about it and therefore do not turn aside to see this great sight!!

It is when we turn aside to understand the word of the Lord regarding how all the elect before us went through all kinds of tribulations, but they were not consumed, that Christ comes to us with His brightness. That is when we hear a voice within us calling us by our name. Let’s now pay attention to the name Moses. It means to draw out. As we are aware, Moses also represents the law. It is when the law has run its full course that it draws out of us what we really are in the flesh.

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

Let’s now continue with the conversation between the Lord and Moses in Chapter 4 as follows:

Exo 4:1  And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.

This verse is to let us know that Babylon, or the physical churches of this world represented here as Israelites in Egypt, will naturally not believe in the elect just as the church system in Jesus’ time did not believe in Him. To the churches of this world, we are dead spiritually and our dead bodies are lying in the street of Jerusalem (in their churches), which is in bondage with her children.

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.

As He is, so are we. If the Lord was considered spiritually dead by the leaders of the church during Jesus’ time, then we, His servants will suffer the same fate.

Mar 3:10  For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.
Mar 3:11  And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

Mar 3:22  And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

Exo 4:2  And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

The rod here is the same as the staff. What is in our hands is what we cling to. In other words, what the Lord was asking Moses pertains to what Moses was depending on. We are either depending on our strength or flesh, which is powered by the devil, or we are depending on the Lord alone. In the Bible, a rod is a symbol of discipline. However, the following verses show that a rod can represent Christ and His words or the devil and his lies, represented as a serpent:

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse (christ), and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

Mar 6:8  And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only (Christ); no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:

Isa 14:29  Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken (the devil): for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. 

Eze 7:11  Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness (the devil). None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.

Exo 4:3  And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

It is when we have an encounter with Christ that is, when He comes to us and causes us to understand His words that we are shown what we are depending on. To cast to the ground means to destroy as used in the following:

2Sa 8:2  And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts.

It is when the Lord comes to us with His brightness and starts His work of destroying the beast within that we see who we have been dealing with all our lives – our father the devil, who is represented here as a serpent. Christ coming to us with His brightness is when our heavens are opened to begin to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

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

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.

Just as Christ stands for the word of Christ or truth, the devil or Satan or the serpent is synonymous with deception or lies. So, it is when the Lord opens our hearts and minds to understand His words that we begin to see how all our lives we have been deceived by the lies of the serpent. Nobody wants to entertain deception. One of the key factors that destroys marriages is when one partner sees that he/she had been deceived all along. Immediately we recognize deception, and we run away from it. This was what happened to Moses. Immediately he saw that the rod had become a serpent, he realized that he had been deceived all along. That is when he started to flee from deception. That was exactly what happened to us!!  Until Christ came to us with His brightness, we thought we were serving the Lord. Immediately, we come to see that what we have been holding on to or depending on is indeed deception by our father the devil, we flee!!

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

Exo 4:4  And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 

Whenever we come across the phrase, “And the Lord said to Moses”, we are being told what the word of the Lord says. Our encounter with the Lord through His words is a much richer experience than the physical encounter of Moses with the Lord. This is what the Lord has to say about this:

Joh 20:27  Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 
Joh 20:28  And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 
Joh 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Through the scriptures, we are able to know how to deal with the lies of the devil and his messengers. That is, we must put forth our hands and take the serpent by the tail. In the scriptures, the tail negatively symbolizes the false doctrines of false messengers of Satan.

Isa 9:15  The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

The statement “And he put forth his hands, and caught it” means that Moses was able to seize, bind or restrain (Meaning of ‘caught’ H2388) the lies of the enemy, the devil. It is when we have dominion over the false doctrines in our heavens that we are able to hold onto Christ and His words, represented here by the serpent turning back to a rod. The rod is also a symbol of rulership. Thus, having this rod (Christ and His words) now in our hands is to assure us of our future inheritance as rulers, just as Moses ruled over the Lord’s people after this encounter with Christ with the rod in his hands.

Eze 19:14  And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

Exo 4:5  That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 

As we have indicated in the previous session, the Lord introducing Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is to let Moses know that he is dealing with a God who is able to raise him up from his spiritually dead state. This is to assure us that we, his elect, represented here by Moses, will be raised up to become spiritually alive by the Lord and to become rulers in the life to come.

Luk 20:37  Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Luk 20:38  For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. 

Exo 4:6  And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
Exo 4:7  And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 

The Hebrew word “chôq (H2436)” is often translated as bosom, but it can also mean “within” as used in the following:

Job 19:27  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within (H2436) me.

So, we can say that putting forth your hand “into thy bosom” can mean looking within. As we are aware, within us is a repository of evil signified by Moses’ hands turning leprous as snow. This is what Jesus had to say about what is within us:

Mar 7:21  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 
Mar 7:22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 
Mar 7:23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. 

Verses 6 and 7 present another way of saying that the vessel our Lord made of clay was marred in His hands, and so He made it again into another vessel as it seemed good to Him.

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.

Exo 4:8  And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 

As indicated, the first sign relates to us being able to recognize that what we have depended on is in reality a deception. It is then we learn how to deal with these false doctrines – by holding them by the tail. This first sign is basically inward, and it is not easily seen by others. However, the second sign relates to how we come to see ourselves as sinful, and through the grace of God, we come to shine forth His righteousness. It is this righteousness which is like a lamp that cannot be hidden, making others believe our voice.

1Pe 3:1  Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,
1Pe 3:2  when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 

Mat 5:14  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 
Mat 5:15  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 
Mat 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Exo 4:9  And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

The third sign to convince the people of Israel is to turn their water into blood. This is to let us know that during our lives in Babylon, or the physical churches of this world, our water of the word of Christ was turned into blood. In other words, we all became murderers of the Lord’s elect, thinking we are doing God a service.  It also implies that we were guilty before God for the killing of our savior Jesus Christ and all the elect who had been murdered for Christ’s sake.

Joh 16:2  They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 
Joh 16:3  And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 

Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: 
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. 

Exo 4:10  And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 

It is when we have an encounter with the Lord that we come to see our inadequacies in carrying out the Lord’s work. Before Moses met the Lord, he was full of confidence that he was capable of leading the people of Israel out of Egypt and thought that the Israelites would understand. This is what the word of God says:

Act 7:22  And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. 
Act 7:23  And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 
Act 7:24  And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: 
Act 7:25  For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

Having encountered Christ, Moses came to realize he was sinful and incapable of doing the Lord’s work as he complained to the Lord of his lack of eloquence. All those whom the Lord had used significantly realized their incompetence and therefore depended on the Lord. Christ brings us to this point of realization so we depend on Him to do His work of salvation through us, and in so doing, no flesh can boast in His presence. Let’s look at the Lord’s encounter with Isaiah and Jeremiah to serve as witness to this fact:

Isa 6:1  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Isa 6:5  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 
Isa 6:6  Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 
Isa 6:7  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

The seraphim here in Isaiah 6:6 represents the elect and through what every joint supplies, which is the live coal or the fire of the word of Christ, our iniquity is taken away.

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. 
Jer 1:6  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 
Jer 1:7  But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

This is what Paul, who was used mightily by the Lord, had to say:

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 
2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 

The Lord brings us to this point so we will come to know that it is the Lord who does the work. All we have to do is to believe in Him to accomplish that which He has started in us!!

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Exo 4:11  And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 

This verse is to confirm to us that everything is of the Lord. It is another way of saying that everything is going according to the counsel of His 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: 

Exo 4:12  Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 

This is another way of saying that the Lord will do His work through us. We do not contribute anything to our salvation. This is what the Lord had to say to us so that we understand right from the onset that we do not contribute anything to our salvation.

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

In 1 John 4:17, we are told that as He is, so are we. When the Lord was here on earth, it was the Father who did everything through Him. In the same manner, our walk here on earth is all the work of Christ in us.

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

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. 

Exo 4:13  And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 

When we focus so much on our inadequacies and our circumstances, we will never be able to do the work of God. Moses was engrossed with his inadequacies instead of understanding that it is the Lord who does the work. This is demonstrated clearly by the story of Jesus walking on the sea. As we are aware, the sea represents the flesh, and so Jesus walking on the sea shows us that He had victory over the flesh when He was walking here on earth. Peter tried to imitate Christ, and initially, he was successful in walking on the sea. However, when he focused on the boisterous wind, he became afraid and started sinking. This is to let us know that it is only in focusing on Jesus that we can have victory over the flesh. If we look at ourselves or our circumstance as Peter did, sin will rear its head in our lives again.

Mat 14:25  And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 
Mat 14:26  And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 
Mat 14:27  But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 
Mat 14:28  And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 
Mat 14:29  And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 
Mat 14:30  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 
Mat 14:31  And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Exo 4:14  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 
Exo 4:15  And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 
Exo 4:16  And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 

This is where we are introduced to Aaron, the brother of Moses. On a positive note, Aaron represents the elect. On a negative note, Aaron is a symbol of our brothers and sisters in Babylon who are joined to us. In this context, Aaron’s role can be looked at from a negative perspective. Here we see that Aaron was to attend or minister to Moses in bringing salvation to the people of Israel. Throughout the years, our brothers and sisters in Babylon’s work only pertain to the keeping of instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, but it is only Moses, Aaron and his sons (representing us) who are to minister before the Lord.

Num 3:5  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 3:6  Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. 
Num 3:7  And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. 
Num 3:8  And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. 
Num 3:9  And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. 
Num 3:10  And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

Num 3:38  But those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, even before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

We should also note that Aaron’s role is the same as all the prophets of the Old Testament who ministered to us but did not receive the promise.

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.

Here in verse 16 of Exodus chapter 4, we are told that Moses shall be a God to Aaron. What this means is that through us (Moses), salvation shall come to all our brothers and sisters in Babylon and the prophets of the Old Testaments (Aaron).

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. 

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

Exo 4:17  And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. 

As we have indicated earlier, the rod here, on a positive note, represents Christ, and when we are in Him, nothing is impossible.

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 
Isa 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 

It is through Him that we can do signs and wonders in this life. The signs that we are being empowered to do pertains to the raising of the spiritually dead to life in Christ Jesus!!

Joh 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 
Joh 14:13  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 
Joh 14:14  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

May the Lord help us to possess Christ (the rod) as our priceless possession in this life!! Amen!!

Isa 65:21-25 The Wolf and the Lamb Shall Feed Together…and Dust Shall be the Serpent’s Meat

[Study Aired October 11, 2020]

Isa 65:21  And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Isa 65:22  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Isa 65:23  They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
Isa 65:24  And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Isa 65:25  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

Which stage of ‘the kingdom of God’ are these words describing? When will the wolf and the lamb eat together? When will the lion eat straw like the bullock? When is dust the serpent’s meat?

When we finish this study, I hope we will have answered all of those questions.

There are three stages of the “kingdom of God” which are all expedient to accomplish the Lord’s goal of bringing all things together in Christ so the Father will be “all in all”.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: [Stage one: the Passover season, in the spring of the year] Christ the firstfruits; afterward [Stage two: Pentecost, the summer wheat harvest, also called “the feast of firstfruits”] they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then [Stage three: the Feast of Tabernacles “in the end of the year” when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ”] cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

Before we proceed to the goal and purpose of God’s will, which He is working through His Son and His Son’s children, let’s look at how the Lord’s plan for mankind is typified for us in the Old Testament:

Exo 23:14  Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Exo 23:15  [1] Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exo 23:16  [2] And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and [3] the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Here is scripture’s second witness to this Truth:

Deu 16:16  Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; [1] in the feast of unleavened bread, and [2] in the feast of weeks, and [3] in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

Just as the Passover is the integral prelude to the days of unleavened bread, so the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day of the Feast are the essential and integral prelude to the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death which is the destruction of death. Death is distinguished in scripture as “the last enemy to be destroyed”.

Now let’s continue with this revelation which Paul was blessed to give to us:

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

If we simply consider that these verses here in Isaiah 65 conclude with “dust shall be the serpents meat”, then we will know that these verses are not speaking of the thousand-year reign, because “that old serpent” the devil [is] bound for a thousand years:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

If we consider that we are being told, “They [the wolf, the lion, and the serpent] shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” then we will know what stage of the building of the New Jerusalem is being spoken of here in Isaiah 65.

The wolf, lion and serpent will be permitted for “a little season… after [the] thousand years [to] hurt and destroy” again. It is very significant to know that the wolf and the Lion will be attempting to ‘hurt and destroy’ the camp of the saints at that time:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Nothing is more hurtful and destructive to any man than to ‘come up against the camp of the saints and to withstand the Lord’s beloved city’.

So it is in the first two stages of the Lord’s kingdom in which all these words can and must be applied, and those stages are: 1) “Christ the firstfruits; 2) afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” During these two stages “the Lord and His Christ” have the kingdom of God within them and have all the beasts of the earth within them, but those beasts are all subdued like all the beasts within the ark of Noah. In Noah’s ark the wolf and the lion ate grass with the  lamb, and the serpent ate dust, and there was no hurt in all of Noah’s ark. There was the promise of a typical new world, but it was not yet realized. Life in the ark of Noah typified our lives in Christ. We have the promise of the kingdom, but the fullness of the purchased possession is not yet realized:

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 [the] 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.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Christ and His kingdom are within us, and the serpent and all other beasts of the field are subdued and have no dominion over us. Christ is supreme, the beasts within us come willingly to Him. However, that is not all there is to it, and the best is yet to come.

Gen 6:20  Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

Here are just a few of the promises given to incentivize those to whom it is given to endure to the end:

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

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
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.
Rev 2:28  And I will give him the morning star.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

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.
Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
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 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

If we are given and are predestined to be overcomers, we will be “granted to sit with [Christ] in His Throne with His Father” in His kingdom.

The certainty of all these promises is the theme of this prophecy of Isaiah:

Isa 49:15  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

This prophecy is built upon all previous scripture. Isaiah echoes and repeats all the promises Christ made to His kingdom of Israel. Here is this same promise in:

Deu 4:31  (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

King David gives us the same assurance.

Psa 27:10  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

The beginning of the Lord’s “beloved city” is long before the first resurrection, and that city and that kingdom do not come to an end or stop being His kingdom and His “beloved city” after the thousand-year reign. We were His “beloved city… before the world began”, and we will continue to be “the beloved city” even after the “short season” of rebellion which follows the thousand-year reign of “the camp of the saints.”

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;

Only after that universal rebellion which follows the thousand-year reign does our work of becoming “saviours upon Mount Zion” begin. This work culminates in the destruction of death, “the last enemy to be destroyed.”

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The destruction of “the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth” immediately ushers in the judgment of all the rest of mankind before the Great White Throne.

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

‘Mount Zion’ is just another name for “Jerusalem above… the New Jerusalem… the beloved city” of which ‘Mount Zion’ we are told:

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.

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.

“Through Him” means ‘through us’ because Christ said:

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

The Truth is that “we are the temple of God… the household of God… the beloved city… the New Jerusalem… a bride adorned for her Husband”, and we are espoused to Christ with all those titles right here and now. As such, Christ is sending us to accomplish what His Father sent Him to accomplish, which is:

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.

Christ’s doctrine is that “the kingdom of God is within you”, and as such we are all children of Jerusalem above and saviors who have “come up on Mount Zion”. Obadiah reveals to us that the judgment of the world is done by “the kingdom [which] is the Lord’s”. Therefore, it is made very clear that it is “the kingdom of the Lord”, His elect saints, who will be the judges of all the rest of mankind:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luk 17:22  And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
Luk 17:23  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
Luk 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Luk 17:25  But first must he [and His Christ] suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luk 17:29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

That stage of building of the new heavens and a new earth is the stage we are in at this very moment… at “this present time”. It is our time of dying daily to our old man as our new man increases daily. That daily dying is very painful, but we are incentivized to endure to the end with these words:

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.

This stage of the construction of the new heavens and new earth is this down-payment “earnest of the spirit” stage (Eph 1:14) where the Lord is allowing the tares to grow with the wheat in the kingdom of God. This is not the post-first resurrection New Jerusalem, nor is it the post-great white throne judgment New Jerusalem. “Dust shall be the serpent’s meat” is “the kingdom of God is within you” stage of the New Jerusalem. In other words, these verses of Isaiah 65 are primarily speaking to us of our own time in these fleshly vessels of clay. The serpent is given no dust to eat in the great white throne judgment. He himself is being devoured by the flames of the words of truth.

For the sake of context here are the last three verses of our last study:

Isa 65:18  But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
Isa 65:19  And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
Isa 65:20  There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.

Both “I will rejoice in Jerusalem” and “joy in my people” are in the Qal stem. “The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying” is in the ‘Niphal’ tense, or ‘stem’, and this is how that part of Hebrew grammar is defined:

H8833
Niphal
a) Niphal is the “passive” of Qal-See [H8851]

The point is that this construction of Jerusalem is a process, and therefore this is who “Jerusalem” here in verse 19 symbolizes:

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

God’s elect are His “bride adorned for her husband” who have “the name of the city of [their] God written upon [them]”, and they are the subject of the verses we will be studying today. These verses are certainly not primarily addressed to those who do not overcome in this present time, and who in this age are not the Lord’s “elect” (vs 22). These verses of our study today are for us in “this present time”.

Before we continue, I want to finish making the point concerning the word ‘judgment’ with which we concluded our last study:

Here is how Christ describes this particular ‘sinner’ who is feasting with His people in ‘Jerusalem’:

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests [at the marriage of the king’s Son (vs 2)] he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

This man was taking part in the wedding of the King’s Son, and yet he was discovered to not have a wedding garment! This is how those who are given a proper wedding garment are to avoid the fate of that man:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge [G1252: diakrino, verb, separate, make a distinction, to prefer] ourselves, we should not be judged [G2919: krino, verb].
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged [G2919: krino, verb, judged in this present time] we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned [G2632: katakrino, down judged, judged against] with the world.

Being “condemned with the world” refers to the judgment against “the ungodly and sinners” (1Pe 4:18) of this age who will “appear” at the “white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death” because they are not being judged as “the house of God… in this present time”, and are not given a wedding garment in this age. Christ distinguished those being judged in “this present time” from the judgment of all others:

Mat 23:33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation [G2920: Greek, krisi, judgment] of hell? [G1067, Greek: ghenna, the great white throne judgment, krisis, the  lake of fire/second death].

This message of the order of being judged is reaffirmed in:

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment [Greek: krisis, G2920] also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [at the beginning of the thousand year reign]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Exact same Greek word translated ‘judgment’ in verse 27, krisis, G2920… the “white throne… judgment” (Rev 20:11-15)].

This order of judgment is again reaffirmed in:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment [G2917: ‘krima’, noun, neuter, same root as the Greek noun: ‘krisis’ G2920: feminine, noun], 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? [The answer to Peter’s rhetorical question is that they will be “condemned with the world to the “resurrection of damnation, Greek krisis, (Joh 5:27-29) over a thousand years after the first resurrection]
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.

All “[the Lord’s] elect” who are in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” are even now in down-payment form given to build and plant the things of the spiritual ‘kingdom within’ themselves, and to even now eat the fruits of the spirit, and to have dominion over every beast in their lives, even in “this present time” as the elect of the Lord:

Isa 65:21  And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

Christ gives us the best example of the houses being built by the Lord’s elect, and He gives us the contrast between the houses of His people and the houses which are built by anyone else:

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.

When we “do the things which [our Lord] says” only then are we living in the house we built upon a Rock because that ‘Rock’ is Christ Himself and “the things [He tells us to do]”.

When we accept completely that the Lord Himself is “working all things after the counsel of His own will, and that He is working all things together for good to them who love Him and are the called according to His purpose, then we will be doing the things our Lord tells us to do. If we are given to be obedient, then we will reap and eat the good fruit of our own vineyard, and no one will be able to take it from us:

Isa 65:22  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

There is that phrase “mine elect” again. We, the Lord’s elect, are the subject of this entire 65^th chapter as we read in:

Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

Christ Himself is the seed brought forth out of Jacob, and according to Christ Himself, we are Him:

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

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

If we are granted as His elect to endure to the end in this present time, then we will indeed ”Long enjoy the work of our hands” ruling with a crown of life with Christ for a thousand years, after which we will also become “saviors… on Mount Zion [and] judge[s of] angels” in the great white throne judgment:

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.

We are not saved in this present time simply for our own benefit. Rather we are being saved in this present time for the purpose of showing all others the same mercy of which we, in this present time, are the first recipients.

“We [are]… the first to trust in Christ” (Eph 1:12). That is predestined and certain:

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.

“The Father” (vs 2) is working all things after the counsel of His own will that we… who first trusted in Christ… should be to the praise of his glory”. However, we will not know beyond any question that we are those “who first trusted in Christ… faithful… to the end” until we are raised up in “the resurrection of life” (Joh 5:27-29). That is why we’re told:

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.

Paul reaffirms the efficacy of this mindset in the very next chapter of this same epistle to the Philippians:

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.

Paul now goes on to make clear the resurrection for which he is striving:

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 [are being perfected], be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

If it is proven that we are in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” then:

Isa 65:23  They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

Christ never physically married, yet what we are told of His spiritual offspring is that they are far more in number than His first physical wife who is always the first to be very fertile in the things of the flesh.

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.

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.

It is to us, if we are “His generation”, that these words are addressed:

Isa 65:24  And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

These words are true, but they are not telling us that we don’t need to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling”. We are commanded to ‘call out’ to our Savior, and we are that ‘importunate widow’ of the Lord’s parable because that is what He tells us to be:

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Luk 18:2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
Luk 18:3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Luk 18:4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Luk 18:5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
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?

The greatest adversary any of us face in this life is that beast we face in the mirror every morning. The worst feature of every beast of the field is to be found in that one beast which comes up out of the vast sea of all flesh with “seven heads and ten horns” being empowered and enthroned by the “great red dragon” (Rev 12:3).

Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

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

That is the enemy of the importunate widow, and by giving us dominion over that enemy within us, Christ is avenging us of our enemy, and the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns is now under our dominion, and we are no longer under his dominion.

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

”For he that is dead…” is in the aorist tense, but “…is freed from sin” is in the perfect tense, which means that we are “dying daily” to that inward, multi-headed beast (1Co 15:31), and that is the meaning of:

Isa 65:25  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

“They [these beasts] shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain” is just another way of saying ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy the kingdom of God within us’ here and now in this present time.

It accords with the witness of John the Baptist when he was inspired to say this about Christ:

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

All of our trials in this present time are working together for our good, and if we are the Christ of Christ, then those trials will all serve only to transform our old man’s death into the strength and the birth of our new man, Christ within us. Our trials are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is yet to be revealed in us at “the resurrection of life”:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

That is our study for today. Next week we will begin the last chapter of Isaiah, chapter 66, and these are the verses we will be studying. It is all the same message. The Lord is taking vengeance upon the heavens and the kingdom of our rebellious old man and is in the process of blessing the heavens and the kingdom of God within our new man:

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Isa 66:6  A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 44:9-20 – Part 2, He [That Builds an Idol] Warms Himself, and Says, Aha, I am Warm, I Have Seen the Fire - Discussion

1 file(s) 19.78 MB

Download

Isa 44:9-20 – Part 2- He [That Builds an Idol] Warms Himself, and Says, Aha, I Am Warm, I Have Seen The Fire

This is the second part of our study on how the Lord makes us plant, nourish and work so very hard at twisting the Lord’s words and constructing the idols of our hearts that we actually think we have endured the fire that is His Words. We work so hard we actually tell ourselves “Aha, I Am Warm, I Have Seen The Fire” of the Lord’s Word (Jer 5:14), all the while being in “strong delusion” and “feeding on ashes”, totally unaware that “a lie is in [our] right hand”.

Here are the last verses we covered in last week’s study:

Isa 44:14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
Isa 44:15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
Isa 44:16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:

Notice that the emphasis is upon all the effort we put into building this idol. Look at the personal pronouns in these verses… “the strength of his arms… his rule… he marks it… he hews him down cedars… which he strengthens for himself… he plants an ash…”, etc. Not one mention of God and what He does in any of these verses.

What is an ‘idol’ in spiritual terms? It is always good to be reminded of the meaning of the words we are studying in light of the scriptures themselves. Here is the spiritual meaning of and ‘idol… an image or a molten image’:

Eze 14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD ; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

It is because of what is in our hearts that we are said to be worshipping an ‘idol’ or an ‘image’ or a ‘molten image’. A molten image cannot of ourselves be moved and therefore it is “fastened with nails that it should not be moved… that it might remain in the house”.

Isa 41:7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

Going back to verse 13:

Isa 44:13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

“He fastens it with nails that it should not be moved… that it may remain in the house” tells us just how attached we all are to our false doctrines, and to the idols of our hearts. When the Lord Himself deceives us then there is nothing which we of ourselves can do to deliver ourselves out of our own deception:

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

So much for that “idol of [our] heart” which teaches us that God would never have punished Adam and Eve for doing what He made them to do. These verses tell us that when Adam and Eve were deceived it was the Lord Himself who deceived them and then He punished them by casting them out of the garden of Eden, and cursing the ground and making it bring forth “thorns and thistles”, typifying the fruit, of the lies and deceits of our cursed composition.

The Hebrew word for ‘figure’ in verse 13 is:

H8403
תַּבְנִית
tabnı̂yth
tab-neeth'
From H1129; structure; by implication a model, resemblance: - figure, form, likeness, pattern, similitude.

We just naturally make our heart’s idols after “the figure of a man” (Isa 44:13). Our heart’s idols are thought and doctrines which fit the patterns of our own thinking and our own minds and our own understanding. That is the meaning of “after the figure [pattern] of a man”.

The most common translation for this Hebrew word, ‘tabnyith’, is the English word ‘pattern’.

H8403
תּבנית
tabnı̂yth
Total KJV Occurrences: 20
pattern, 9
Exo_25:9 (2), Exo_25:40, Jos_22:28, 2Ki_16:10, 1Ch_28:11-12 (2), 1Ch_28:18-19 (2)
likeness, 5
Deu_4:16-18 (5)
form, 3
Eze_8:3, Eze_8:10, Eze_10:8
similitude, 2
Psa_106:20, Psa_144:12
figure, 1
Isa_44:12-13 (2)

Here is a very good example of how the holy spirit has used this Hebrew word, ‘tabniyth’:

Exo 25:9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern [H8403: tabniyth] of the tabernacle, and the pattern [H8403: tabniyth] of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

The point the spirit is making is that “the figure of a man” is “enmity against” (Rom 8:7), [and] contrary to God and “to the image of His Son”.

We are specifically told:

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

We are even plainly told:

Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Only if we are given to realize that our ways are not His ways, that our thoughts are not His thoughts and only if we are given to lean not to our own understanding, only then will He begin to conform us to the pattern, the ‘tabnyith’, and the “image of His Son”. It is all His work:

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

We must be made aware that the scriptures do not teach what the King James English teaches:

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

This is a grievous mistranslation based upon the idol of our hearts which teaches that we are “free moral agents”, with flesh and blood, which can and will inherit the kingdom of God in complete and total contradiction to what the scriptures actually teach from Genesis to Revelation, which is:

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The scriptures teach that our days are written for each of us in advance, “before the world began”, and that flesh and blood was never intended to inherit the kingdom of God:

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

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

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;

We are the Lord’s ‘tabernacle’, and when our hearts, minds and doctrines are “conformed to” the mind and doctrines of Christ, that is when we will begin the process of having no “idols of [our] hearts”, and we will then begin to be “conformed to the image of His Son”. Then His ‘tabernacle’ will be being built “according to all [He has shown us”, and He will begin to be pleased to dwell within us. Our old man will begin to decrease and the mind of Christ increases in us day by day:

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

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 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

The Hebrew from which the word ‘created’ is translated in Genesis 1:27 is in the Qal stem and is the equivalent of the Greek aorist tense. It denotes a simple statement of fact without any regard to tense.

The Concordant Version captures the proper translation of:

Gen 1:27 And creating is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them.

God is in the process of creating man in His image, and that process will not be completed until we “cease from our own works as God did from His [and we] enter into His rest” from our sins. There remains yet another step before we are completed and we are truly “created in His image [and] conformed to the image of His Son”:

Heb 4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own work, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

With this understanding, let’s return to the idols of our hearts which we are ‘creating’ in “the figure of a man”, according to the thoughts of a man and not according to the mind of God:

Isa 44:13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure [Hebrew: ‘tabnyith’] of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

This word, ‘tabniyth’ also appears in:

Exo 25:40 And look that thou make them after their pattern [‘tabnyith’], which was shewed thee in the mount.

“The pattern shown you in the mount” is the house plans for the Lord’s house. Moses was commanded to build the tabernacle according to the exact pattern, the exact ‘tabniyth’, which was shown to him by Christ Himself.

As a contractor I have built many homes from the ground up, and I had to sit down with the people who were paying me to build their home and sign a contract, a “covenant”, agreeing to build their house according to their plans. No contractor worth a dime would dare to vary from the plans he is given. To do such a thing is a legal breach of contract, and that contractor will not be paid for refusing to follow the plans he was given and which he signed a contract to follow.

Yet that is exactly what we have all done with the Lord’s house plans, which are His Word. We are not at liberty to add to or to take away rooms and doors and windows and the quality of the materials with which we are building His house. All of that is meticulously specified in our contract with the Builder with whom we have contracted to build Him a house.

1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Our “spiritual sacrifices” are our attentiveness to our Lord’s words and the zeal we have in being faithful to His doctrines and His Words. Those are the quality materials He has ordered for the construction of His temple.

He has ordered “stones” for His walls, and we have taken it upon ourselves to build His house with “bricks for stone”. He has ordered the highest quality mortar, and we have substituted “slime… for morter”:

Gen 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

Those are the materials with which we have built our own ‘tower of Babel’, and they are fitting types of all the false doctrines with which we first attempt to build a house for our God.

The New Testament consistently reveals that we are that ‘house’, and that the Lord dwells in us as His temple:

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

The only temple in which Christ dwells is one in which His mind and His thoughts and His doctrines dwell. If we believe false, lying doctrines then He is not going to live within us. Being purged of false doctrines is a process that takes time, and Christ will “bear with the weak” babes who are simply not yet able to consume the strong meat of His doctrines, but He will not ‘bear with’ a mind that is ‘enmity against God’ and is rebelling against His Words, nor will He bear with a mind which cannot be entreated. When Christ is truly dealing with us and dragging us to Himself, He makes us “easy to be intreated” by His Words:

Jas 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

On the other hand, if we are “filled with bitter envying and strife” then we certainly cannot claim to be “endued with [Godly] knowledge:

Jas 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
Jas 3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

When such non-entreatable men tell us: “You must believe what we are saying”, while ignoring all the scriptures which command us to seek “a multitude of counselors” (Pro 11:14; 15:22; and 24:6) and “be persuaded of your leaders and be deferring to them” (Heb 13:17 CLV), those who know the True Shepherd’s voice will very soon discern that spirit and “will not follow… a stranger”:

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

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

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

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

Joh 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

"A graven image" is a false God. A false God is false because everything he stands for and teaches is a lie or has been tainted by lies.

Satan was made to be a very accomplished deceiver and to lie to all men. Neither Adam nor Satan experienced a ‘fall’ to become what they are. Rather, by the mouth of our Lord Himself, Adam was flesh and blood, which was never meant to inherit the kingdom of God and Satan is what He was “from the beginning”. Satan did not ‘fall from heaven’ to become Satan. Satan was and is in our heavens from birth just as “that old serpent the devil” was in the garden of Eden “from the beginning”.

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.

It was the Lord Himself who created him as such simply because His plan called for an adversary, so He made Himself an adversary.

Job 26:13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

Lest we miss the point that the Lord’s “hand has formed the crooked serpent”, the Lord also poses this question:

Ecc 7:13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?

The first and and most enduring lie of the “crooked serpent” was and is "You shall not surely die". As with many lies, this lie is mixed in with the Truth "You will become as Gods, knowing good and evil".

Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: [The most enduring lie of all time]
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. [True! Verse 22: "The man is become as one of us, to know good and evil..." ]
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.
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Truth mixed with a lie makes the entire conversation a lie, and "the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water [is] taken away” and replaced with idols of our hearts.

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

According to the holy spirit, that first sin embodied all the sin that is in the world:

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh [the tree was “good for food”], and the lust of the eyes [it was “pleasant to the eyes”], and the pride of life [“a tree to be desired to make one wise], is not of the Father, but is of the world.

When Adam and Eve first disobeyed their Lord, they committed the first act of idolatry by placing the words of the serpent above the words of the Lord.

Now let’s continue to see how the idols of our hearts subject us to the same act of idolatry and the same fruit of that sin:

Isa 44:15  Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
Isa 44:16  He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
Isa 44:17  And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

These words are a perfect description of how we plant, nourish, and manufacture our own doctrines with no fear of adding to or taking away from the truths of the Word of God:

Deu 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

At first we have no fear in either adding to or taking away from the Lord’s Words. We have all believed many lies such as, “You shall not surely die…”, "Why, you are made in God’s image, and you are already endued with an immortal soul which cannot die’." It is a lie, but we are given over to believing a lie, and in so doing, we are both adding to and taking away from the words of our Lord.

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.

As we all know, the “He” here is not referring to the Devil who is Satan. It is referring to God Himself, whose plan and design, from the beginning, requires that we are first “marred in the Potter’s hands” (Jer 18:4). The scriptures consistently teach:

Job 26:13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

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

When we are given by God “eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, then this is how we react to the Lord’s counselors and His teachers and the leaders He gives us:

Isa 44:19  And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

Earlier we were told that this is all speaking of the work of our own hands, meaning our own minds and hearts. This entire chapter is all about how we construct our own idols of our own hearts. We plant these lies and false doctrines. Then we nourish and refine them and then we harvest them and manufacture our hearts idols. In this deceived state everything that happens confirms to us that our heart’s idols are truly our God, because we are told that God will ‘answer him that comes to the prophet with his idols of his heart’ “according to the multitude of those idols”. They are multitudinous and so are the Lord’s answers to such men.

Just look at these words:

Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, [Isa 44:16]
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Let’s take the time to look at what we were told earlier in this same study:

Isa 44:14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
Isa 44:15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
Isa 44:16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: [Rev 13:13]
Isa 44:17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
Isa 44:18 They have not known nor understood: for he [the Lord Himself] hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

We have all lived out every one of these words. We have all been full of our own “idols of the heart”, and we have truly seen and are experiencing, “the fire” which is the word of God (Jer 5:14). These words apply to “every man [and they apply to] every man’s works”:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

This truth concerning this certain fire, which is the word of God, is repeated in the book of Revelation:

Rev 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
Rev 15:6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

These seven last plagues “fill up the wrath of God… against all… unrighteousness of men” including, and especially all the “idols of [our] hearts”.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

I say ‘especially the idols of our hearts’ because it is evident that while the Lord disapproved of the adultery of the woman brought to Him, and He even told her “Go and sin no more”, His real ire was reserved for the self-righteous religious old man within us who dragged that poor blatant sinner before Him to be stoned, while being completely unaware of our own far more insidious spiritual adultery and hypocrisy and spiritual nakedness and idols of our hearts, which have us looking down on those who our flesh deems as spiritually worse sinners than ourselves. These words are addressed to “He that has and ear let Him hear…”

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.

“The Lord dwells in the heavens” in which all of these things are taking place:

Psa 123:1 A Song of degrees. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

“The heavens themselves” are our hearts and our minds into which He has entered to cleanse and to purify for Himself a house fit for His dwelling:

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens [the physical temple in Jerusalem] should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [our hearts and minds] with better sacrifices than these. [Calves and goats - vs 19]
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands [the literal, physical], which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself [our defiled hearts and minds], now to appear in the presence of God for us:

The Lord’s plan requires that some of those who are chosen and who are anointed of God to be “enlightened… taste of the heavenly gift… be made partakers of the holy spirit… taste the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come” and the outward and inward nature of that age and that kingdom, will “return to [their] vomit and [their] wallow in the mire” from which they were delivered:

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

2Pe 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2Pe 2:18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

These words are the answer to the question Peter poses in his first epistle concerning those whose judgment is not completed “in this present time” (Rom 8:18).

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?

1Peter 2:21-22 is where they will appear. They will appear with those who return to their vomit and their wallow in the mire at the time of the great white throne judgment, the resurrection of judgment (Joh 5:28-29), the resurrection of the cursed (Mat 25: 41), the lake of fire, which is the second death (Rev 20:15), and indeed “it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness” and the way to avoid leaving the body of Christ, than to have known these truths and then rejected them for their own pride and the idols of their hearts.

We have all sinned willfully, and we have all returned to our vomit and to our wallow in the mire, and we have still been brought to repentance because:

Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Mat 19:25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
Mat 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

“The eye of a needle” is not a gate in Jerusalem which, if a camel gets on its knees it can go through that gate. If that were the case, then it would not be impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. However, it is indeed “impossible” for men to restore to repentance those whose hearts the Lord has hardened, and it is “impossible… to make straight that which the Lord has made crooked”:

The Lord has written into His book “before the world began” (2Ti 1:9 and Tit 1:2) that some will taste the heavenly gift, partake of the holy spirit, know the power of the age to come in this present time and still reject Him and His doctrine and be cast into the lake of fire. He has already made that decision as to whom will be those so cursed. We are all “marred [and] made crooked” in this present time, but some are given by the Lord’s hand and foreknowledge to do what is impossible for men and to repent in this present time. Our crooked ways are His work just as much as our repentance and obedience:

Lam 3:9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.

And when He makes our ways crooked, then it is true that we plant, nurture and work very hard at manufacturing our own doctrines in complete rebellion against the doctrines of our Lord:

Isa 44:20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

So it has all been predetermined, and the best thing we can do is to follow the Lord’s instructions which He gives us right after posing the question, “If the righteous scarcely be saved where then shall the ungodly and 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.

That is our study on how the Lord deals with the idols of our hearts. Here are our verses for our next study in which we are again encouraged to “commit the keeping of [our] souls to Him in well doing [because He is] a faithful Creator” who loves all of His creatures.

Isa 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
Isa 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Isa 44:23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
Isa 44:24 Thus saith the LORD , thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
Isa 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
Isa 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:
Isa 44:27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
Isa 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Psa_106:30-33 – “The idols of Canaan”, Part A

Part One – Psa_106:1-11 “Remember me, O LORD, with the favour thy people”
Part Two – Psa_106:12-20) “He gave them their request”, Part A
Part Two – Psa_106:21-29 “He gave them their request”, Part B

Part Three – Psa_106:30-33 “The idols of Canaan”, Part A
Part Four – Psa_106:34-39 “The idols of Canaan”, Part B
Part Five – Psa_106:40-48) “He regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry”

Psa 106:30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
Psa 106:31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.
Psa 106:32 They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:
Psa 106:33 Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

In last week’s study we read how Moses, who is a type of Christ,”stood before him in the breach” which is what Christ has done for us being the propitiation for our sins.

Psa 106:23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood [through God’s word – Joh 6:68, Joh 6:55, Joh 17:17], the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

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.
1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments [Eph 5:26, 1Jn 3:3, Joh 8:31-32]

Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood [in his word], to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Lev 16:30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD [our hope of glory within who is purifying us – Col 1:27, 1Jn 3:3].
Lev 16:31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.

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:

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

The emphasis on this week’s study will be on “The idols of Canaan” spoken of in Psalm 106:38 and how the elect are as Christ (1Jn 4:17) standing before Christ now as Christ does before our Father to stay the plague spoken of in Psalm 106:29-30, Mat 24:22, and 1Jn 2:1-3 through judgment.

Phinehas^H6372 (whose name is a variation of H5175; mouth of a serpent also Phinehas = mouth of brass ) represents the elect or the seraphim (the serpent made of copper) which was used to stay the plague of snake bites in the wilderness. That event typified sin which brings about spiritual death (Rom 6:22-23, 1Co 15:55-56, Num 21:9, Joh 3:14-15, Eph 2:6).

In these following verses we see the feet of Christ that have been tried in the fire, feet that are likened unto fine brass (copper) symbolizing the process of the fiery judgment that we must go through in order to seize from sinning as Christ’s heel is bruised within us by going through the crushing of the idolized serpent (Nehushtan) within us.

Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15 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.

2Ki 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
2Ki 18:5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
2Ki 18:6 For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.

Phinehas

– Definition: Phinehas = mouth of brass

1. son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron; his zealousness for the Lord averted a plague on Israel and gained him the promise of the Lord of an everlasting priesthood in his family
2. a priest and the son of the priest Eli
3. the father of a helper of Ezra

– Origin: apparently from H6310 and a variation of H5175
– TWOT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Masculine

– Strong’s: Apparently from H6310 and a variation of H5175; mouth of a serpent;
Pinechas the name of three Israelites: – Phinehas.

We are like Christ in that our flesh is being judged so that we can be made perfect through a lifetime of overcoming.

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.

Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
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.
1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

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.

1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Num 21:9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Joh 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life [Joh 6:29, Joh 6:68].

Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

The verses we just looked at remind us that we are to believe on Him, and look to Him, for the forgiveness of sins as we are cleansed by those words of eternal life which we are blessed to read, hear and keep in this age (Rev 1:3).

It is important to note that it is in the promised land of Canaan we are shown that Israel, who is a type of us, returns unto their idols (no longer the idols of Egypt but now the idols of Canaan) even after having been miraculously delivered from Egypt. It is there in the wilderness that we take that which was given to us and make an idol of our Lord (2Ki 18:4, Mar 7:7-8).

2Ki 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

Mar 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mar 7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men,

During the millennium, the copper snake that Moses made (Num 21:9) in the wilderness that took away the symbolic sting of death will be represented by the elect who will be used to heal the nations and bring about idyllic conditions on the earth, even as a spiritually unhealthy undercurrent grows throughout this period which will ultimately see the elect being fully rejected as Christ was (Mat 10:22, Isa 53:3). Satan is loosed for a season and moves the masses (Gog and Magog are symbolic of all the world from the four corners – Rev 20:8) to come up against the camp of the saints as this prophecy unfolds according to the counsel of God’s will (Joh 13:27, Rev 20:8-9, Eph 1:11).

All these events are purposed by God and accomplished for our sakes to show us, and all the world in time, that there is none good and that there is only One who has dominion over the light and the darkness of man’s heart (Isa 45:7). Just as the serpent in the wilderness which was raised, and Christ who was raised on a cross, and the elect who are raised during the millennium before men as leaders, all three are eventually rejected and taken for granted to show us that flesh and blood cannot neither inherit the kingdom of God nor receive Christ or His Christ (Nehushtan, 2Ki 18:4, Christ, Joh 3:14, The elect, Isa 6:2, Rev 4:8-11).

Joh 13:27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

This part of scripture which we are examining this evening (Psa 106:30-33) reveals how we want the name of Christ but hold fast to our own customs and traditions while in Babylon. We receive those traditions from the nations around us (Jer 10:2, Isa 1:3-4), and it is the religious beast, the one who has been healed from the consequence of sinful actions (in the land of Canaan), who comes back two-fold the child of hell to reveal the strong delusion of physical healing (wood, hay and stubble 1Co 3:12-13) that precedes the true spiritual healing or conversion that must occur in man’s heart if we are to be accepted before our Father (Mat 23:15, 1Co 15:46). Our Father speaks of things that are not as though they were (Rom 4:17) and so the order in 1Corinthians 3:12 is gold, silver, precious stones, THEN wood, hay, stubble

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

Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Rev 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world [Eph 2:10], when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Rev 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

Christ did not convert anyone during his ministry here on the earth, and very shortly after he had done “Many good works” the very people that he had been healing physically and feeding physically wanted to kill him (Joh 10:32). Christ’s experience typifies what the elect can expect to see happen to them in this physical life, as well as during the millennium (Mat 10:22).

Tonight’s study highlights our life in Christ which enables us to read, hear and keep the the words of the prophecy of this book so that we can remain free from “The idols of Canaan” (Rev 1:3, Rev 22:18).

Psa 106:30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.

Notice that it is after many of the sins of Israel are categorized in the earlier verses of this Psalm 106 that the burnt offering for sin – represented by Moses – is introduced in Psalm 106:23, then the trespass offering is introduced – and typified by Phinehas in this verse we’re looking at. What this reminds us is that in order to stay the plague of sin for all of the world, God requires both doves and goats; both the sin offering (fulfilled in Christ) and the trespass offering (fulfilled in the elect with Christ in them). As the scapegoat, we are “to make an atonement with him“.

Lev 14:4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
Lev 14:5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:
Lev 14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:
Lev 14:7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times [being completely washed by the word of these seven times Isa 4:1, Rev 17:7, Rev 17:9], and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

Lev 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Lev 16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Lev 16:11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:

Psa 106:31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

If God will grant us to endure until the end, then those things accomplished in us through Christ will be “counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore”.

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

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

Eze 18:24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. [This verse in Ezekiel is another admonition to us to behold the severity and goodness of God]

Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Rom 11:24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Here are some more admonitions that we pray the Lord will execute within our heavens so that the plague can be stayed and our actions counted “unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore“

1Th 5:20 Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good [Php 4:5].
1Th 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. [Be moderate and beseech God for this spirit so that our lives glorify God in the day of visitation for those who are yet to be dragged to Christ – 1Pe 2:12, Col 1:27, Pro 3:11]
1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

Psa 106:32 They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:
Psa 106:33 Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

This section of scripture reminds us again how “He gave them their request” found in Psalm 106:15 as God shows us through Israel what we naturally do against Christ, Who is typified by Moses. They/we “angered him also at the waters of strife“

“The waters of strife” represent our rebellious carnal spirit that does not want to change, and that has been caused to err (Isa 63:17). It “went ill with Moses for their sakes” as God’s sovereign hand caused the situation to unfold that would provoke his spirit “so that he [Moses] spake unadvisedly^H981 with his lips”.

The word “unadvisedly” is actually to vociferate [shout, complain, or argue loudly or vehemently], to speak rashly or angrily, and this reminds us that while we are to be angry at sin all day (revealed in Israel’s actions toward Moses), we are not to sin (Psa 7:11, Eph 4:26). God’s anger is not accompanied with unrighteousness (Psa 92:15), unlike Moses who was fulfilling prophesy by doing exactly what God had determined and written in his book to do (Psa 139:16). This kind of anger which Moses had toward the sins of those around him was akin to the love of God waxing cold because iniquity was abounding (Mat 24:12).

Unadvisedly^H981

rashly or angrily, speak thoughtlessly
a. (Qal) one that babbles, speaks rashly (part.)
b. (Piel) to speak rashly, unadvisedly

– Origin: a primitive root
– TWOT entry: 232
– Part(s) of speech: Verb

– Strong’s: A primitive root; to babble; hence to vociferate angrily: – pronounce speak (unadvisedly).

Total KJV Occurrences: 4

•pronounce, 1
Lev_5:4

•pronouncing, 1
Lev_5:4

•speaketh, 1
Pro_12:18

•unadvisedly, 1
Psa_106:33

Moses’ prophetic action of striking the rock rather that speaking to it as he was commanded would later prevent him from entering into the promised land (Num 20:7-8, Num 20:11-12). Those actions by Moses are witness to what God has caused us to do to Christ, bruising the rock, so that living waters can come forth. God uses the flesh and blood of mankind which will not inherit the kingdom (the promise land) to fulfill His purpose according to the counsel of His will, as the new man is formed through the many stripes and tribulations which we must endure through Him and receive at the hands of men without and via our own iniquities within that chasten us (Eph 1:11, Joh 12:24, Act 4:26-28, Zec 13:7, Psa 106:26-27, Jer 2:19).

All of these “waters of strife” are all “Yea” (2Co 1:20), and demonstrate God’s power over the clay for us, to do what He pleases (Rom 9:21). That strife-filled situation was what God used to bring about the life-giving physical waters for Israel which represent God’s spirit that will eventually go out to heal all the world (Psa 107:20). Waters being stirred up by the angel in this new covenant story (Joh 5:1-9) reveal how God is sovereign over the process of leading us to repentance, and demonstrates His goodness toward us which leads us to the living waters that can only be found in Christ (Rom 2:4). What we are learning from all these stories with Moses’ rebellion as well as Israel’s natural rebellion unfolding time and time again is that we “have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool”, but that, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly and brings us to that symbolic pool to wash us and make us whole (Rom 5:6, 1Ti 2:5).

Joh 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Joh 5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda^G964, having five porches [Eph 2:8].

– Definition: Bethesda = house of mercy or flowing water
1. the name of a pool near the sheep-gate at Jerusalem, whose waters had curative powers

Joh 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
Joh 5:4 For an angel [symbol of God’s elect] went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water [Heb 2:3]: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
Joh 5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
Joh 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
Joh 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
Joh 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
Joh 5:9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. [Christ is our sabbath rest who enables us to carry our cross, our bed, and helping each other bear that cross and so fulfill the law of Christ]

Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Gal 6:4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Gal 6:5 For every man shall bear his own burden.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at part B of our sub-titled study called “The idols of Canaan” where will look at more examples of how God “gave Israel their request”, knowing that this was all going to eventually lead to them crying out for deliverance before God delivers them/us from their/our oppressors, or as it is stated in the last part of this study “He regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry”.

Psa 106:34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
Psa 106:35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
Psa 106:36 And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
Psa 106:37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
Psa 106:38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
Psa 106:39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 43 Discussion

1 file(s) 19.10 MB

Download

Isa 9:8-13 The Lord Sent A Word Into Jacob...[Yet] The People Turn Not Unto Him That Smites Them

Isa 9:8  The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
Isa 9:9  And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
Isa 9:10  The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
Isa 9:11  Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
Isa 9:12  The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 9:13  For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.

"Neither did they seek the Lord of hosts" was true because this is what they did throughout the history of ancient Israel:

1Ki 14:22  And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.
1Ki 14:23  For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
1Ki 14:24  And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

What those verses tells us is that Israel wanted to follow the customs, the celebrations of the nations which the Lord cast out before them, in direct opposition to this commandment:

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Following in the steps of Christ, I certainly do not observe days, months, times or years (Mat 12:1-8; Joh 5:17-18, Gal 4:9-10, Col 2:8). But it so happens that our study this week about 'the Lord sending a word unto Jacob' is being delivered to you on the day this world calls 'Easter Sunday'. Easter Sunday is preceded by a seven day period called 'holy week'. "Holy week" starts on what is called Palm Sunday.  This 'holy week' is part of a 44 day period of time which is called 'lent', and 'lent' begins on what is called "ash Wednesday".

I mention all of this because I was just recently asked about "the true meaning of Palm Sunday", as the question was phrased. Of course I was then compelled to point my questioner to all the verses we are all so familiar with which demonstrate that our Savior did not keep days, months, times or years of any kind. But in the process of answering that question, I also noticed that even the religious scholars acknowledge that no such observances were kept in the church of the first century.

Here are some excerpts from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week on this subject:

"Holy Week in the Christian year is the week immediately before Easter. The earliest allusion to the custom of marking this week as a whole with special observances is to be found in the Apostolical Constitutions (vs 18, 19), dating from the latter half of the 3rd century and 4th century. "

Obviously Christ, whose steps we are commanded to follow, had not kept this "tradition of men" (Col 2:8). I was quite surprised to read this in that same Wikipedia article:

In the Moravian Church, the Holy Week services (Passion Week) are extensive, as the Congregation follows the life of Christ through His final week in daily services dedicated to readings from a harmony of the Gospel stories, responding to the actions in hymns, prayers and litanies, beginning on the eve of Palm Sunday and culminating in the "Easter Morning" or Easter Sunrise service begun by the Moravians in 1732.

Contrast all of that to this story about our Lord and His apostles:

Mat 12:1  At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3  But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4  How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6  But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Christ appealed to David doing that which was not lawful and to the priest's profaning the Sabbath to justify His and His apostles actions, claiming that He is "greater than the temple, [and that] the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath day".

If there is still any doubt about how the holy spirit has demonstrated how Christ detests outward rituals which have no affect upon our hearts, we are clearly told:

Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Those are some of the rejected "words sent into Jacob [by] the Lord":

Isa 9:8  The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

This is not a positive application of the names 'Jacob and Israel'. These verses are being addressed to an unfaithful, murderous harlot, who is as shameless of her own Godless and sinful ways as were Sodom and Gomorrah:

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

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.

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

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

These words are not just being addressed to us as God's elect who are granted to come out of that harlot. Just as Christ Himself directly addressed the apostatized religious system of His day, that is what He did hundreds of years earlier, here in Isaiah, to His apostate wife, who He calls 'Jacob and Israel'. That is also what you and I will be made to do at the appointed time.

Yes, it is true that Christ spoke to the multitudes in parables for the express purpose of blinding them to the gospel He had brought to those who were to be His first faithful wife:

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.

But it is equally true that Christ spoke directly to His adversaries, and He warned them also of His impending judgment which was coming upon them for accusing Him of the very sins they themselves were practicing:

Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [spiritually, Babylon, Babylon, Rev 11:8] thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

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

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

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 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Joh 8:46  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
Joh 8:47  He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

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.

The opportunity to minister to you is such a wonderful blessing. Being united in the mind of Christ, is the "good and... pleasant" of which King David spoke:

Psa 133:1  A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

Just ask anyone who was at the Australian Conference last week, and just think of how blessed we are to be able to gather around our computers and share the very mind of Christ!

We are admonished to do this as often as we are given to do so:

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

While there are times when I am pressed for time to stay current on my e-mails and still prepare these studies, I must confess that I truly enjoy this ministry the Lord has given me, and it truly is "good and pleasant" to speak to those whom the Lord has given to understand and "receive the things of the spirit" (1Co 2:13-14). I know all of our teachers will say the same thing.

While it is right and proper for us to first apply these words inwardly, let us never be guilty of ignoring these words we have been given:

Mar 13:9  But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

Indeed we ought all to see ourselves as chief... of... sinners (1Ti 1:15). But we need to always be prepared to "speak to the world those things which [we] have heard of him".

Just as we all first ridiculed and rejected Christ and placed our words and works above the Word of God, so will this world react to our proclamation of His judgments in the kingdoms of men:

Isa 9:9  And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
Isa 9:10  The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.

That is just the old Israeli way of saying, 'We are going to make America great again'. Not one of us, when we first heard that we have no free will, just naturally rejoiced in that Truth.  Maybe we had not gotten exactly what we willed, but we would just try harder, and we were determined to do even better, all in our own strength. We all, at first, reject the Lord's rule in our lives. We are willing to let Christ be our co-pilot, but we are not willing to let Him plan and execute our entire trip and be the pilot of that trip. It is at that point our judgment begins, if it is so ordained, yet even then we are still stubborn and "stout of heart". When Assyria first invaded Israel they did not carry away the whole nation at one time. It happened in stages with the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali being the first. Remember what we just read in this same chapter:

Isa 9:1  Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

An even more graphic example and type of this "stoutness of heart" spirit within us and within the whole religious world is the story of Israel's reaction to Christ's judgment upon Korah and company. This is the history of God's own called-out people. This is how we, and this world, react when we are corrected by Christ for our sins:

Num 16:25  And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.
Num 16:26  And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
Num 16:27  So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.
Num 16:28  And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.
Num 16:29  If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.
Num 16:30  But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
Num 16:31  And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
Num 16:32  And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
Num 16:33  They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
Num 16:34  And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.
Num 16:35  And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
Num 16:36  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 16:37  Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed.
Num 16:38  The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.
Num 16:39  And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar:
Num 16:40  To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.

Even carnal logic dictates that any of us would now know what is the Lord's mind concerning those He has anointed to be our leaders and to set us an example of Godly living. The heresy of the heretic has been revealed for what it is, and this is that heresy which afflicts the entire religious world to this day:

Num 16:1  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
Num 16:2  And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3  And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

"All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them" is the exact same spirit which today tells us that we should expect to be 'united only in the essentials, be tolerant in the non-essentials, and show love in all things'.

This "earth" opened its mouth and swallowed up the heretics. The 'earth' is doing the same thing today to the Korahs among us. In the same miraculous way, those who despise the Lord's leadership are swallowed up by the most obvious false doctrines and descend down into the depth of the earth and its darkness and death. And what is the reaction to this miraculous event from the spirit of Korah within us:

Num 16:41  But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.
Num 16:42  And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.
Num 16:43  And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.
Num 16:44  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 16:45  Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.
Num 16:46  And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.
Num 16:47  And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.
Num 16:48  And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
Num 16:49  Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
Num 16:50  And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.

"The plague was stayed" until the next rebellion of the kingdom of our old man at the waters of Meribah:

Num 20:2  And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
Num 20:3  And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
Num 20:4  And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?
Num 20:5  And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.

This is us, and this is this world when the Lord's judgments come upon us. We actually have the nerve to refer back to the Lord's earlier correction as if we had not learned a thing. Again we must suffer and die, "by little and by little" (Exo 23:30; Deu 7;22). Even the very best of the kingdom of our old man must not be allowed into the kingdom of God (1Co 1:29, 1Co 15:50).

Num 20:6  And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.
Num 20:7  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 20:8  Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
Num 20:9  And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
Num 20:10  And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
Num 20:11  And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
Num 20:12  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
Num 20:13  This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

In other words:

1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 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.

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

Our own flesh, as well as the flesh of the princes of this world, is slow to learn that we must be very attentive to every word of our Lord. The New Testament tells us this Rock they drank of was a spiritual Rock which followed them throughout their journeys, and we are told "that Rock was Christ"! Asking the people, "Must we fetch you water out of this Rock" and then 'smiting the Rock twice', after being told to "speak to the Rock", is nothing short of rebellion and taking selfish credit for what the Lord was doing, and the Lord will have no part of any such a spirit.

1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

The next type of our rebellion and the rebellion against our Creator by the princes of this world is during the journey by way of the Red Sea, to avoid going through Edom.

Num 21:4  And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
Num 21:5  And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
Num 21:6  And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Num 21:7  Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
Num 21:8  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent [Hebrew: seraph], and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Num 21:9  And Moses made a serpent [Hebrew: nachash] of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

It is while we are "in the wilderness" that we receive the types and shadows of the promise of our salvation, regardless of the timing of the fulfilling of that promise.

There are more rebellions and more and more dying out of the kingdom of our old man. It continues until there is no one left to die:

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Num 14:23  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

Num 26:63  These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
Num 26:64  But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
Num 26:65  For the LORD had said of them, They shall surelydie in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Or, as Christ puts it:

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

Isaiah tells us this same spirit continues unabated in the flesh of all men, and the Lord's judgments are just as severe as ever.

Isa 6:9  And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Isa 6:10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Isa 6:11  Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
Isa 6:12  And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

Which brings us to our last two verses in our study today:

Isa 9:11  Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him [Ephraim - vs 9, or Israel - vs 12] and join his enemies together;
Isa 9:12  The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 9:13  For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.

Amos repeats this same message, telling us what is within our own flesh:

Amo 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amo 4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amo 4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand ...plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amo 4:12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Amo 4:13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

The Lord has sent a word into Jacob, informing us that He gives us our very thoughts (Pro 16:1).

We are devoured by our enemies because "the people turn not to Him that smites them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts". That is why we and the princes of this world are called:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Now let's go back to Isaiah 6, and notice who is sent to tell all of this to the Lord's harlot wife:

Isa 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

We need not wonder when we are to do this. Just as "the time is come that [we must be judged as] the house of God" (1Pe 4:17), in like manner as these days have come upon us, when the time comes for us to follow our Lord's steps and "speak to the world", as it was with Him, so shall it be with us. It will be unavoidable because:

Mar 13:9  But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

This entire prophecy is True within, and at the appointed time it will be true without as Habakkuk assures us:

Hab 2:2  And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
Hab 2:3  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Hab 2:4  Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Our faith in these words is a gift from God (Eph 2:8), and it is this gift which causes us to rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer with Christ, knowing that if we do suffer with Him we will also be glorified with Him:

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, 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.

Next week, Lord willing, we will discover the meaning of "the head and the tail" as those words appear throughout scripture.

Here are the verses we will study next week as the Lord provides:

Isa 9:14  Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
Isa 9:15  The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Isa 9:16  For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
Isa 9:17  Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

[Questions or comments can be directed to the author at vinsmike@gmail.com]

​Mike,

If the serpent in John 3:14 signifies the second Adam, does the serpent in the garden signify (the self nature) of the fir​st Adam?

Thank you for your reply,
S____

Hi, S​____,

Thank you for your question.

You asked:

If the serpent in John 3:14 signifies the second Adam, does the serpent in the garden signify (the self nature) of the fir​st Adam?

Here is John 3:14 so we can see what it is we are discussing:

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

This is what happened there when “Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness”:

Num 21:4  And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 
Num 21:5  And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 
Num 21:6  And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Num 21:7  Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
Num 21:8  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery [Hebrew:​ saraph] serpent; [Hebrew​ nachash], and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Num 21:9 And Moses made a serpent [Hebrew:​ nachash – serpent] of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

The Lord told Moses to make a ‘saraph nachash‘ and “Moses made a serpent (a nachash) of copper and put it on a pole so all could see it and live.

Num 21:9  And Moses made a serpent [Hebrew:​ nachash -​ serpent] of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

That is what Christ spoke of when He said:

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

As we can now see in the light of Joh 3:15, the serpent in this verse gives life to those who look upon it. There is but one life giver and that is Christ Himself and those to whom He gives the power to give life to others through His life-giving spirit. Here is how life is given to us:

Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Now we need to ask, “What is this “spirit that gives life”?”

This is the answer to that question;​ this IS “the spirit [which] gives life”:

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. 

Christ’s words are life,​ and if we have those words,​ we have the words of life, and like that seraphim in Isaiah 6, we too, can given life to others:

In type and shadow that seraphim gave life to Isaiah when:

Isa 6:6  Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Isa 6:7  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Those who are given that gift are His elect who are symbolized as “seraphims”, the Hebrew word for serpents, as we see here in Isaiah 6:

Isa 6:1  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Isa 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims [Hebrew:​ śârâph – fiery serpents]: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Isa 6:3  And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isa 6:4  And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isa 6:5  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Isa 6:6  Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Isa 6:7  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Here is Strong’s definition of this Hebrew word ‘seraphims’:

H8314
שׂרף
śârâph
saw-rawf’
From H8313; burning, that is, (figuratively) poisonous (serpent); specifically a saraph or symbolical creature (from their copper color): – fiery (serpent), seraph.

You asked: “does the serpent in the garden signify (the self nature) of the fir​st Adam?” Here are the verses which answer that question directly:

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Eph 6:12  For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens. (BBE)

So there it is: “o​ur fight”, our war, is against evil spirits. It is far more than just “the self nature of the first Adam.” Anyone who fails to acknowledge that we are actually warring against “spiritual wickedness in the heavens” is totally unaware of the power of his enemy in the heavens of our hearts and minds. Satan has entered into our heavens,​ and he must be cast out because that is also where the kingdom of God is located.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

It was the heart and mind of Adam and Eve which Satan, signified by the serpent in the garden, wanted for his own. Satan was indeed given our flesh as his dusty diet, but i​t is not just our flesh he gets by eating dust;​ it is his spiritual wickedness in the heavens of our hearts and minds which comes with him devouring us. Those heavens should be the throne of Christ in these “earthen vessels”. By birth we are first the sons of our father the devil, who in time is “cast out of heaven” and replaced by Christ coming into our hearts and minds.

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

This is a very deep subject,​ and I encourage you to read this link to help you understand the spiritual Word of God. Rightly Dividing The Word

1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 27 Discussion

1 file(s) 15.09 MB

Download

Isa 6: What Is A Seraph?

Before we continue our studies here in Isaiah, we need to go back and define with the scriptures exactly what is a 'seraph'. So that is what we will do before we continue to discuss the function and work God has for the seraphims around His throne "in the holy place... [of] the heavens themselves" (Heb 9:23).

We have just learned that the seraphims, the four living creature, the four cherubims, the four beasts and four and twenty elders are one and all types of God's elect who were "redeemed... to God out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation":

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;

We have learned that the seraphims have a message to bring to those who make up the house of God, which message causes the posts of the door of the house of God to be moved and to fill His house with smoke:

Isa 6:3  And one [seraphims, vs 2] cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isa 6:4  And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

I have written on this subject earlier, but for this study I want to make clear here in this sixth chapter of Isaiah exactly what these seraphim are before we continue with what we are told their purpose and function is in the holy place of the temple of God in "the heavens themselves".

'Seraphim' is the Hebrew plural of the Hebrew word 'seraph', so:

What is a 'seraph'?

We have discussed the Biblical description of the four living creatures, the cherubims and the four beasts of Ezekiel 1 and 10 and Revelation 4 and 5. In all four of those chapters these four living creatures around the throne of God, in His temple in heaven, are described as 1) a man, 2) a lion, 3) an ox, and 4) an eagle.

Eze 1:10  As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

These are the exact same faces on the four creatures "in the midst of and round about the throne" of God in the holy place in His temple in the heavens, in the book of Revelation:

Rev 4:6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
Rev 4:7  And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

It is very interesting, when we take notice, that three of these four beasts are unclean wild beasts. The man, the lion, and the eagle are all unclean wild beasts. The only beast of the four which is not unclean, according to the requirements of Leviticus 11, is the ox.

Lev 11:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.
Lev 11:3  Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

Lev 11:13  And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

With that in mind, we will now examine what the scriptures reveal is a 'seraph', which we are told is also a winged beast right there with "the Lord sitting upon a throne".

Isa 6:1  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Isa 6:2  Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

Here is Strong's definition of this Hebrew word 'seraph' translated as 'seraphims' only here in Isaiah six.

H8314
שָׂרָף
śârâph
saw-rawf'
From H8313; burning, that is, (figuratively) poisonous (serpent); specifically a saraph or symbolical creature (from their copper color): - fiery (serpent), seraph.

And here are all the entries for this word in the Old Testament:

H8314
שׂרף
śârâph
Total KJV Occurrences: 7
fiery serpent, 5
Num_21:6 (2), Num_21:8, Deu_8:15, Isa_14:29, Isa_30:6
seraphims, 2
Isa_6:2, Isa_6:6

If this Hebrew word 'saraph' is five times translated as 'fiery serpent', then why is it translated as 'seraphims' here in Isaiah 6:2 and 6?

Let's look at the verses where this word 'saraf' first appears:

Num 21:4  And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
Num 21:5  And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
Num 21:6  And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

The word 'fiery' here in verse 6 is the word 'saraph'. It is the same word translated as 'seraphims' in Isa 6. Israel is once again complaining against God for bringing them out of Egypt, and consequently God sent fiery serpents to bite and devour rebellious Israel. Immediately after the Hebrew word 'seraph' is the Hebrew word 'nachash', which is consistently, without exception translated as 'serpent' or 'serpents', throughout the Old Testament.

Here is Strong's definition for the Hebrew word 'nachash'

H5175
נָחָשׁ
nâchâsh
naw-khawsh'
From H5172; a snake (from its hiss): - serpent.
Total KJV occurrences: 31

After the Lord sent the "fiery serpents [the 'seraph nachash'] among the people, and [after] they bit the people; and much people of Israel died":

Num 21:7  Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
Num 21:8  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 
Num 21:9  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

The words 'fiery serpent' in verse 8 have only the Hebrew word 'seraph' behind them, unlike the words 'fiery serpent' in verse 6, where they have both words 'seraph', and 'nachash' behind the phrase 'fiery serpent'. Nevertheless 'fiery serpent' is a good translation of the word 'seraph' because the very next verse tells us that in obedience to the Lord's commandment in verse 8 to "Make you a fiery serpent", "Moses made a serpent [a nachash] of brass, and put it upon a pole."

So the beasts biting Israel were serpents, but they were not just any serpent as they were poisonous, 'fiery' serpents, 'seraph nachash', because "they bit the people; and much people of Israel died."

A 'seraph' is clearly not just a serpent. A 'seraph' is a poisonous serpent whose bite kills us. We have always been conditioned to believe that dying is not good, and dying of a snake bite is certainly never considered to an experience anyone in his right mind would ever want to endure.

But what does Christ tell us we must endure before we can find our life?:

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.

The story of what happened to Israel proves the truth of this counterintuitive principle given to us by Christ:

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Num 14:23  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

"Those men... have not listened to my voice... shall not see the land..." But why did they "not hear [Christ's] voice"? Christ Himself answers that question:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [Greek: drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The death of the generation that saw all the miracles Christ performed in Egypt, who came up out of Egypt and still tempted God, had to die and could not enter into the land. That is still true, and the Lord sends serpents to destroy us because we, at that point in our spiritual journey, are "of our father the devil", and we must be destroyed at the hand of "that old serpent the devil":

Joh 8:44  Ye [who believe on Christ, verses 30-32, who witnessed Christ's miracles, who ate Christ's loaves and fishes, You] 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.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. [Here is another Biblical example of four differents symbols for the same one evil spirit "the Devil, and Satan"]

The serpent is not a free agent. He is nothing more than a very necessary tool in the Lord's hand. This is nowhere any more clearly demonstrated than in the events surrounding the death and crucifixion of our Lord Himself. Those who are given to see must acknowledge:

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. 

Christ Himself is prefigured by both a lamb and a lion, two very different beasts:

Joh 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God,which taketh away the sin of the world.

Joh 1:36  And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

Hos 11:10  They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

Rev 5:5  And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

In Numbers 21 the seraph, the poisonous serpent, was the instrument of Christ to kill rebellious Israel, and a likeness of the seraph was also the instrument of Christ to give life to those who had been bitten by the serpents when they looked upon the saraph, the brazen serpent. Christ knew what all of this meant when He made this statement concerning Himself:

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 
Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Those who looked on the serpent did not perish but lived, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

It is Christ who likens Himself, and the life He brings to us, to a serpent being lifted up in the wilderness to give life to those who had rebelled against Him. It should be coming clearer to us what Christ means when He tells us:

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

Christ wants us to know that He is the beginning and the end of all His works. But He also wants us to know that He starts out with marred vessels of corruptible clay:

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.

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

"The vessel that He made of clay was marred in the hand of The Potter", and the crooked serpent was also made as a crooked serpent in that same hand:

Job 26:13  By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. 
Job 26:14  Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

We 'hear such little portion of Him' that we wonder why He has four unclean beasts, including a seraph, a venomous serpent, around His throne, with only one clean beast there.

Yet both "the four beasts and the four and twenty elders" tell us that they are symbols of those who "Christ has redeemed... to God... out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation [to be] made... unto their God kings and priest [to] reign on the earth."

What a wonderful part of this "revelation of Jesus Christ" which is what the book of revelation is all about!

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

What this means is that these seraphims and the four beast of Revelation 4 and 5 are all a part of the revelation of Jesus Christ, whose revelation is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, including both of the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel.

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God ["in the heavens", Heb 9:23];
Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple ["in heaven", Rev 9:11] in the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

The single message of all these symbols

We are God's habitation "in heaven". In the book of Ezekiel the four faces of the cherubims are shared by each of the four cherubims. This demonstrates that when we see each creature as an individual creature in the revelation of Jesus Christ, we must remember the truth revealed here in Ezekiel, that we all share all the four faces, and that when we fly, we all fly together because:

1Ki 6:27  And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

Eze 1:9  Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
Eze 1:10  As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
Eze 1:11  Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
Eze 1:12  And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

Putting all that is revealed to us concerning these seraphims, cherubims, four beasts, and four and twenty elders together, we now know they are all the symbols of those who have been "redeemed... to God by [Christ's] blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; [and will be] made... unto [their] God kings and priests: and [will all] reign on the earth" (Rev 5:8-9).

The fact these creatures, in Ezekiel and in Revelation, are 'four' tells us they represent the whole body of Christ: The Number Four

Having wings which are joined together, tells us they represent the "one body [of Christ with] many members". For their wings to be touching each other as they fly tells us they must be of the same one mind, the mind of Christ.

1Co 12:12  For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. (ACV)

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.

That the four beasts are all of one mind is confirmed in Ezekiel one where we are told these "four living creatures" without hesitation all go "whither the spirit was to go". (Eze 1:12)

Summary and Conclusion

The seraphs, are venomous serpents. Only in Isaiah 6 is this Hebrew word translated as 'seraphims'. The fact these venomous seraphims are located at the throne of God, that they each have six wings, and that they cry 'Holy, holy, holy' one to another, demonstrates that these 'seraphims' are just different symbols of the same thing prefigured by the four living creatures, the four cherubims, of Ezekiel 1 and 10, and the four beasts and the four and twenty elders of Revelation 4 and 5.

Just as the cows and the ears of corn both symbolized the same thing in Pharaoh's dream, so also all these symbols are one and all figures of those who have been redeemed to God by Christ out of every nation of mankind:

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

Rev 5:9  And they [The four beast and the 24 elders, Rev 5:7-8] 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.

The only reason why these 'seraphs' are not translated as 'fiery serpents' in Isaiah six, while they are called "fiery serpents" everywhere else that Hebrew word 'seraph' appears, is apparently simply because the translators could not bring themselves to tell us that the scriptures teach that venomous serpents are symbols of those who surround the throne of God.

The use of the symbolism of three unclean wild beasts and venomous serpents with only one clean beast, around the throne of God, is given to make us mindful of what we are without the favor and the work of the grace of Christ within the lives of all who are the elect of God. God's elect are, in and of themselves, no better or any more worthy of the Lord's favor than Satan himself. All of God's creatures are just what He has made them to be, and this, in the final analysis, is the Truth of the Word of God:

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.

Even though we were first the offspring of venomous serpents and wild beasts, we are all of the same heavenly Father as Christ, and through Christ and His Christ, all men, "each in his own order", "all... in Adam" will be made alive in Christ, who "is not ashamed to call [all men] his brothers".

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

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.

If the Lord wills, we are "they that are Christ's [who are to be] made alive... at His coming". Being made to know this should make us proclaim with the apostle:

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.
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

It doesn't get any better than that!