The purpose of suffering in the body of Christ

[Study Aired January 25, 2024]

The purpose of suffering in the body of Christ is so that we may be nourished by our heavenly Father through a communion that has been purposed “before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4) for those who are being purified today and learning how we are to conduct ourselves in the house of God, “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1Ti 3:15, 1Co 14:37). Through our many diverse trials and afflictions, the bride is being made ready to rule and reign under Christ today so that in the future the world will learn of His righteousness (1Co 10:16-18, Isa 26:9).

Eph 1:4  According as He has personally chosen us for Himself before the foundation of the world in order that we might be holy and blameless before Him in love;

1Ti 3:15  But if I should delay, you have these things in writing, so that you may know how one is obligated to conduct oneself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

This process of judgment upon the elect is hidden from those in the world who do suffer and bear a burden in this life as well as the sparks of life fly upward for all flesh (Job 5:7, Rom 9:22). However, in the body of Christ there is an intimate joining of our lives which God has predestined from the foundation of the world making us one in Christ through filling up what is behind of the afflictions of our Lord for His body’s sake, the church (Col 1:24). The church that suffers and rejoices together is kept together through a  process of cleansing that is sanctifying the body. It is the washing by the word that is accomplishing this sanctification, and that word is likened to fire (1Co 12:26, Eph 4:4, Col 1:27, Col 1:24, 1Co 10:17, Rev 19:7, Joh 17:17, Jer 23:29, Jer 5:14).

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and shout with joy; and let us give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.

The judgment we are under in this life (1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:12) is what makes the elect a peculiar people who are zealously being prepared as God’s workmanship (Eph 2:10) to become the prepared, gone-onto-perfection bridegroom’s wife in that blessed and holy first resurrection. We are called to move with fear to the preparing of the spiritual ark, that is the body of Christ, the church. It is through our suffering that we will cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1-2, Tit 2:11-12) and learn of the liberty that comes with having God’s spirit in our lives, the faith of Christ that makes it possible for us to overcome and not fail (2Co 3:17, Luk 22:32). It is God’s spirit that helps us mortify the deeds of our flesh so we can die daily and live our lives out in zealous service toward one another (1Pe 2:9-11, Tit 2:14-15, Rev 19:7-9, Rev 20:6).

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

How we can continue to be zealous of good works, and be careful to maintain those works.

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

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

The body of Christ must go through a lifetime of overcoming and our flesh must be witnessed against as we fall seven symbolic times in this life (complete) (Pro 24:16, Act 14:22, Psa 119:164) but rise up each time stronger through Christ becoming more mature in Him. That is why Paul said, “I now rejoice” having gone through so much tribulation and suffering for the gospel’s sake and coming to deeply believe in God’s faithfulness that would see him endure to the end. That should be a tremendous reason to say, “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (2Pe 3:18, Col 1:24).

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

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

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

The symbolism of being saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8) was given to us with the story of Peter’s denial of Christ where what Christ prophesied to Peter was for our sakes to remind us that boasting is excluded by the law of faith and that salvation is a gift of God given to those who come to see, by the grace of God, that their flesh has nothing to do with obtaining that salvation. It is solely by the witness of Christ’s life in us [cock crows twice] that we can endure through that process of putting off our flesh [Peter denies Christ thrice], as we learn through that gnashing-of-teeth experience of  having denied Christ that we are the chief of sinners, and that only by grace through faith, can any one of us be saved. The cock crowing twice and Peter denying Christ thrice adds up to five, which is the number for grace and reminds us of that free gift of God’s chastening in our lives that makes it possible for us to be received of Him in this age (Heb 12:6). That is the favour being shown to the body of Christ today that leads to our salvation in Him (Heb 12:6, Tit 2:11-12, Eph 2:8).

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

This study is meant to point us to the promises that explain how we will be more than conquerors through Christ who loved us, inseparable from the love of God, and promised that Christ won’t deny Himself this opportunity given Him by our Father to be the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:1-2). That faith must be tried through a life-long process to which we’ve been called (Act 14:22, 1Pe 1:7-9, 1Co 10:13), and it will be accomplished through our hope of glory within, Jesus Christ, who has apprehended those whom the Father has given him, and will lose none (Col 1:24, Col 1:27, Php 3:12, Joh 17:12). When we read that Christ won’t deny Himself, we are being told that He is faithful to finish what He has started as the author and finisher of our faith. This is He whom we desire to be found in when He returns (Php 1:6, Php 3:8-16).

Due to time constraints placed on me this week, I plan to read this FAQ of Mike and will start a new series after this, Lord willing.

The Purpose of Suffering

[Attached for convenience]

Hello Mike,

I hope this finds you well.

I am starting to understand the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Each day a tiny bit more of His truth seems to crystallise in me.

I hope you don’t mind me taking your time and emailing you directly. I don’t doubt it is something quite straight forward for you, but I am still grappling with it.

I understand and even see the beauty in what God does to His children through fiery trials and the chastening we receive. I don’t look back on what I’ve been through and grieve for a moment of it because I can see His purpose in it through the beautiful blessing of spiritual sight He, for whatever reason, has given me.

How do you make sense of or think about how such a great deal of people suffer extensively in often the most horrific ways since birth and them not given the privilege of understanding His greater purpose? I personally take great heart in knowing that they will all be saved, refined and transformed into His image, but that is of no comfort to them now as they cannot understand this.

I know we are all just vapor and dust, but I struggle to deal with helping these most tormented and afflicted people who don’t see any hope or point in their lives.

I am not at all questioning the potter, and I know it will just be a shortcoming in my understanding,​ but I guess I am curious as to what you think about all of this or, as would be better, what the Bible says about this.

Forgive me if it’s all quite straight forward, but alas it troubles me.

Many blessings to you and I am ever grateful for your fellowship and teachings,

M____

 

Hi M​____​,

Thank you for your question. It is one which I, too, have struggled to understand, but over the years I have come to see that it is my self-righteous carnal mind which simply cannot accept the fact that God’s love is superior to what my carnal mind calls love. My carnal mind tells me that suffering has nothing to do with ‘love’. However, as any parent knows, suffering has a lot to do both with being a good parent and with the true Biblical “love of God” as our own spiritual ‘parent’:

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

My carnal mind tells me there is a big difference between a parent lovingly chastening his son and all the seemingly needless suffering of so many innocent children, the elderly, and so many victims of what appears to us to be needless violence. The hardest thing for me to accept is the torture and abuse of innocent children. The long drawn out suffering of adults who are simply standing on their Babylonian faith, and the suffering of the elderly, as well as the life-long suffering of so many afflicted people, just all seems so unnecessary to me as a natural man.

My flesh tells me in no uncertain terms that if I were God I would have come up with a much more humane and merciful way of saving all men. As ‘God’ I would just make every man alive and full of love and humility, and respect for his fellow man, and I would simply have perfected everyone in a spirit body to begin with. I would have just left off this messy, bloody thing called “the cross” with all of its unnecessary suffering.

With all of those thoughts, and without the Lord’s mercy, I would have been overwhelmed with resentment toward the Lord for not doing His work my way and not being more loving and more merciful toward His creatures. However, through His mercy, I have been made to see and to accept the absolute Truth that I am not God, and therefore I do not know better than God what is the best way for Him to work with His own creation.

When I was thirteen years old I remember my Father telling all six of his children that the Bible was the Word of God, and that the answers to all of our questions were in the Bible. God gave me at that tender age to believe what my father was teaching me. His father, my grandfather had told him the very same thing, and while neither of them were given eyes to see nor ears to hear the things of the spirit (Mat 13:9-15), they both were given great faith in the letter of the Lord’s words.

So all I have to offer anyone is what I have been given faith in the Word of God to believe and to understand about any question I am asked. I cannot bequeath to you faith in the Word of God. Faith in God and in His Word is a gift from Him to those to whom He chooses to give it in this age:

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

Eph 1:4  According as He has personally chosen us for Himself before the foundation of the world in order that we might be holy and blameless before Him in love; (AFV)

Although I was given a deep regard for the Bible from my youth, like all of us, I “forsook [my] first love” (Rev 2:4) and had to be chastened and scourged and crushed to powder to be brought back to a much deeper respect for the Lord’s voice, and a much deeper understanding of who the Lord is, the necessity of all of my own suffering, and a much deeper understanding of what His love is. I am now very grateful for all the suffering I endured because it brought me to overcome ungodliness in my own life in this present age.

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

As an aside, the revelation that “the grace of God… chastens us” is just one more Biblical refutation of the two false doctrines of a ten-second sinner’s prayer and a substitutionary atonement in which Christ died for us so we don’t need to die. Both of those doctrines have robbed many people of the Truths of the Words of God which teach that “grace… chastens us” and that we must “die daily… be crucified with Christ… and suffer with Him” if we want to reign with Him:

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

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

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.

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

I was granted the faith to discover that knowing the Lord was the very definition of eternal life:

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

My father was a very strict religious Pentecostal who required the whole family to listen to Him read a chapter of scripture every morning and every night. As a child I cannot tell you how much I resented coming in late at night after putting up hay all day long, eating dinner and then having to listen to my father read a chapter of scripture. I always went to sleep, but at the same time the Lord permitted my father to instill a deep respect for God’s word. He told us over and over with his little Babylonian faith, “Whenever it seems that the Bible is contradicting itself, the problem is your lack of understanding. There are no contradictions in the word of God.”

Those words stuck with me and were used by the Lord to get me past my struggles with all the suffering we see in the Lord’s creation.

The Lord has granted me to accept the fact that the suffering of this age, as painful as it is to experience and to contemplate all the pain felt by others of all ages and circumstances, is all a temporal experience which He has designed as an evil foil against which He is in the process of displaying His love for all men of all time.

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

This is a verse of scripture which tells us up front what the Lord is in the process of doing:

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

“To humble them by it” tells us that we have been given over to pride by the Lord’s design. One of the functions of the very evils you and I are discussing is the suffering which the Lord has placed upon “the whole creation”.

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

In the Lord’s own time, the Lord will drag all mankind to bow in desperation to the feet of His elect, who, typified by Joseph, will administer judgment upon all His brothers and will drag all men to Himself:

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw [G1670: helkuo, drag] all men unto me.

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.

The Greek word translated as “draw” in this verse in John 12 is helkuo, and here is how Strong’s correctly defines the meaning of this Greek word:

G1670
ἑλκύω, ἕλκω
helkuō helkō
hel-koo’-o, hel’-ko
Probably akin to G138; to drag (literally or figuratively): – draw. Compare G1667.

Going back to what the Lord tells us in Ecclesiastes 1:13, we must acknowledge that the way He is dragging us to Himself is through “an experience of evil to humble [us] by it”.

1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1Pe 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Returning to your question concerning how you are to deal with “the same affliction of your brothers [who] are in this world”, the Lord Himself has left us the perfect example “that [we] should follow His steps”:

1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.

After being beaten so severely that He died before the other two men who were being crucified with Him, Christ spoke these words of comfort to one of those men:

Luk 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
Luk 23:40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
Luk 23:41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
Luk 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

The fact is that both of the thieves with whom the Lord was crucified will be brought up in the great white throne judgment to be purified with the same fiery words which are purifying us in this age. However, these men were not being dragged to Christ even though one of them was granted to know who Christ was. He still had not been given the holy spirit because the spirit was not yet given.

Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

We are to count ourselves as being on the cross with Christ:

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.
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.

“Is crucified” is in the Greek aorist tense, which means that this is not just a past event, but our dying is a “daily dying [and] being crucified with Christ” ongoing experience. In us Christ continues to be crucified daily. Here is how Paul put it:

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

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

The Lord is our example. As we interact with the whole creation with whom we are suffering in this age, we must follow Christ’s example and speak words of comfort to them. Christ did not attempt to explain to the thief that the thief would die and sleep in the dust of the earth for the thousands of years between his death and the great white throne judgment which follows the thousand-year reign. He simply spoke very comforting words: “you will be with me in paradise”.

Crucifixion is an excruciating way to die, but our Lord endured His own crucifixion to bring life to all men:

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw [Greek: helkuō, drag] all men unto me.

Eternal torment in everlasting flames of literal fire has no basis in scripture. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” is the doctrine of Jesus Christ concerning His plan for all of suffering mankind.

There is no truth to the false doctrine of a ten-second sinner’s prayer or the substitutionary atonement through the death of Christ. Rather, this is the Truth of how we must enter into the kingdom of God:

Mat 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

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

Mark repeats this straight-forward refutation of the false doctrine of a ten-second sinner’s prayer:

Mar 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The preceding verses in both Matthew and Mark warn us against believing the words of “many… false prophets… coming in Christ’s name” (Mat 24:11 and Mar 13:6). Those false prophets invariably tell you that God does not make men wicked, does not create evil, and certainly does not make us “to err from [His] ways”, and does not intend for us to suffer. However, what does God Himself say?

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

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

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

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.

In that way they attempt to shift the responsibility for all the evil in this world from God’s very wise and sovereign will over onto the weak shoulders of His poor, marred, struggling creatures. If indeed Christ is beginning to grow within you, then you will know that is not the voice of the True Shepherd, and you will hear His voice in His own scriptures:

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.

“His voice” teaches us that all the suffering in the world is the fruit, not of our free will choices to do evil, but rather it is all the result of the “dying… experience of evil [which] the Lord has given mankind to humble him by it”:

Gen 2:17 and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it–dying thou dost die.’ (YLT)

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

God is in the process of creating mankind in His own image. We must “enter into His rest” (Heb 4:1-4) on the seventh day before that plan will be completed.

In the meantime, He has given mankind an experience of evil to humble us and to make us to appreciate the fact that, although He has given us an experience of evil, He has also devised means that His banished be not expelled from Him:

2Sa 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

If indeed all the suffering God has placed upon mankind did not eventuate in the salvation of all mankind, then the Lord would indeed be the evil monster which the eternal hell-fire ministers of “historical Christianity” proclaim Him to be. God really has “devised means that His banished be not expelled from Him and “all in Adam… shall be made alive”:

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

The wonderful news is that this will all be accomplished through you if you are given to believe on Him and suffer with Him:

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.

Paul summarized the purpose for all the suffering we see around us and all the suffering we endure in these words:

2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
2Co 4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
2Co 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
2Co 4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

I pray these verses help you to cope with all the suffering you see which the Lord is working within us and all around us as the foil against which He is wisely in the process of displaying His great mercy upon all men of all time.

Your brother in the Christ, Mike

[Study Aired February 7, 2021]

We ended our last study explaining how the Lord has devised means by which His banished adulterous wife will not be expelled from Him. No one here, nor in scriptures, is saying that His rebellious, adulterous wife will remain in that state, but what scripture is saying is that the Lord has arranged that “through death” we can and will all be brought back to Him. His “bride” will be first, then His wife’s children, who are all the rest of mankind.

We will begin today by repeating the last couple of paragraphs from our last study:

“While it defiles the land to return to an adulterous wife, the Lord has provided a means to put us to death and raise us up as a new man who can return to our husband and not defile the land, the place of His abode, the place of His dwelling:

Rom 7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5  For when we were in the flesh [alive “to the law”], the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in [the physically impossible] newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

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.

If we are “dead to the law through the body of Christ”, how then can we possibly fall away from such a wonderful and blessed position to become Aholibah, the younger sister whose whoredoms exceed that of her older sister, who is and was still under the law? We do so through that most insidious of sins, the sin of Job, which is the sin of self-righteous apostasy:” [End Quote]

Job 27:1  Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
Job 27:3  All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Job 27:4  My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

As chapter 40 shows us, as well as chapters one and two, it was Christ Himself who had risen against Job, and it was God Himself with whom Job was contending, reproving and disannulling His judgment so Job could condemn God and make himself righteous:

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

Job typifies each of us as first Ahola, and then as self-righteous, yet even more wicked, Aholibah, because, like Job, we turn the grace of God into lasciviousness:

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Ungodly  men, turning the grace of God  into lasciviousness” is typified in Ezekiel 23 as Aholibah within us, whose adulteries were worse than those committed by the New Testament church while it was yet under the law.

Eze 23:11  And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms

Not being under the law, we do not see ourselves as “lascivious”. We see ourselves as under God’s all-forgiving grace, and we have not yet been given eyes to see that grace does not nullify judgment, rather grace brings us into the Lord’s chastening and judgment:

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

True Godly righteousness is the fruit of the Lord’s judgments:

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

This is our spiritual attitude as Aholibah:

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:

As Aholibah we have not been given eyes that see the need for being judged according to our works:

Ecc 11:9  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
Ecc 11:10  Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

In other words, ‘Grow up and quit acting like an immature fool’. That is the admonition of scripture.

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day [of judgment] shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

These “ungodly men [within us who] turn the grace of God into lasciviousness”, don’t believe they are denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ”. This is what they believe:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

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:

By giving us over to such self-righteous and foolish thoughts, the Lord has given Himself the occasion He is seeking to judge a blessed few in this present time, and judgment in the scriptures always comes out of the north:

Jer 3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

The Lord tells us, “I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity.” It simply is not in our flesh to acknowledge our own self-righteousness which is the most insidious of sins. This is a humanly impossible requisite which requires a supernatural solution.

The Lord simply does not grant many of mankind in this present time to “acknowledge [their] iniquity” and admit that they “transgressed against the Lord”. What He has given the vast majority of mankind is to do a lot of very good works in His name. He Himself deceives the masses of mankind by answering their prayers for healing and for direction, “according to the idols of their hearts”:

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 enquired 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.
Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Eze 14:8  And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
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.

As we already demonstrated, “He has devised means whereby His banished will not be expelled from Him”, and that ‘means’ is “through death”.

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh [1Co 15:31, Eph 5:30] through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

When the Lord offers such a great honor, He gives that honor only to those whom He is preparing to be willing to die for Him and His doctrines. He does not give such honor to those whom He answers according to the idols of their hearts. He certainly does not  give it to those who do good works and think they do so of their own ‘free will’:

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have [we] cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

This is exactly what Job said to the Lord, and Job is a type of every man:

Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
Job 27:3  All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Job 27:4  My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Job 40 makes clear that it was not Job’s comforters with whom he was contending. Just as with Joseph’s brothers (Gen 45:4-8), which we quote so often, it was actually God with whom Job was “contending… reproving… disannulling His judgment and condemning God to make himself righteous”:

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

The honor of becoming “the bride, the Lamb’s wife… ruling with Him for a thousand years, and judging angels [in the] white throne judgment” is given to very few of the “many called”. They alone are given to acknowledge the vileness of their own self-righteousness and acknowledge they have actually condemned their own Creator to maintain their own righteousness. Lord willing, that is you and me. Only the Lord’s elect will remain faithful to the doctrines of Christ and be willing to withstand the pressures of this life, the “suffering of this present time… being hated of all men… and “endure… much tribulation… to the end”. This is how Christ explains His calling and His own sifting process:

Jdg 7:2  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
Jdg 7:3  Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
Jdg 7:4  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
Jdg 7:5  So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
Jdg 7:6  And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
Jdg 7:7  And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

Here is another of the Lord’s perspective of those who are ‘called but not chosen’ (Mat 22:14) to become saviors on Mount Zion (Oba 1:21):

Mat 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2  The kingdom of heaven [within you] is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them [‘hated them’ (1Jo 3:15)].
Mat 22:7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: [The humility of Job after he was judged]
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but  few are chosen.

What we fail to see is that the book of Job reveals the guests who finally came to the feast are typified by Job Himself. It was He who first refused his own judgment, and while he was being judged, he accused God of “taking away [his] judgment”:

Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

Job typifies each of us. We are all first Ahola, the elder sister harlot, then we are Aholibah, the even more wicked younger sister whose name means:

H172
אָהֳלִיבָהּ    אָהֳלִיבָה
‘ohŏlı̂ybâh    ‘ohŏlı̂ybâhh
o”-hol-ee-baw’, o”-hol-e-baw’
(As with H170 the first form is in form a feminine of H168, but is in fact for the second form); from H168; my tent (is) in her; Oholibah, a symbolic name for Judah: – Aholibah.

Here in the Old Testament are those “few [who] are chosen” (Mat 22:14) to endure tribulation (Mat 10:22) and suffer with Christ for His body’s sake and die daily (1Co 15:31) with our Lord:

Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, [Aholah and Aholibah] saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family [“few chosen”], and I will bring you to Zion:

This is an important spiritual message for us as we struggle to be found pleasing to our own ‘husband, our Lord. “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God”. Do not think you or I can cleanse ourselves, because we cannot. Neither should we think we can defile our Lord, our Husband to whom we are married, because we cannot, and that is why He tells us:

Eze 23:36  The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;

2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

As Jacob, who stole his brother’s blessing, as King David, who stole another man’s wife, and as the weak apostles of our Lord who “all forsook Him”, we do not appear to this world to be any different from any other ordinary sinner. The Lord Himself appeared very ordinary to the world of His time. The chief priests and the elders had to pay Judas to point Christ out to them because He looked so very ordinary:

Mat 26:14  Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
Mat 26:15  And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
Mat 26:16  And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Contrary to the doctrines of the great harlot, Christ or His elect did not have a visible halo over their heads. The Lord’s elect are always considered to be “ignorant and unlearned” by the leaders and peoples of this world:

Act 4:8  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
Act 4:9  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Act 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Act 4:13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

While the world cannot see or recognize the Lord’s elect or His doctrine, we certainly are aware that they hate His doctrine and anyone who lives by that doctrine. It is the Lord’s doctrines which are in the hearts and minds of His chosen few elect. It is by those doctrines we are “marked”. Israel of old was marked in their right hand and in their foreheads by the Lord’s doctrine in their minds and in their hearts.

Deu 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes [forehead].

We are unrecognized by this world, but we know each other as those who are spiritually ‘marked [in] our hands and in our foreheads’:

Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

Being given eyes that can see this “mark” is just another way of saying  we  have been given “eyes that see and ears that hear” the voice of our Shepherd, Christ. It takes ‘Christ’ to know Christ, and to recognize His “voice”:

Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

The Lord has done just that for each of us, and we all “feed [the Lord’s] sheep with knowledge and understanding” if we are given to know His voice.

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.

If we know His ‘voice’, we are given to “sup with [Him]” on the words of His doctrines:

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.

If we are given to know His “New Testament” doctrine, then we will never return to the old doctrine, because we will not be one of the many who say, “The old is better.” Instead, we will be one of the few who say ‘the new is better’:

Luk 5:36  And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.
Luk 5:37  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
Luk 5:38  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
Luk 5:39  No man also having drunk old wine [the Old Testament] straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

When we are given to see that the new is actually better than the old, then we will be given to understand how Aholah and Aholibah will now both be made “one new man, so making peace” and “the stick of Judah will be made one with the stick of Israel:

Eze 37:15  The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Eze 37:16  Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
Eze 37:17  And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
Eze 37:18  And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Eze 37:19  Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
Eze 37:20  And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
Eze 37:21  And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
Eze 37:22  And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
Eze 37:23  Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Eze 37:24  And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

Here is this exact same message in the New Testament:

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
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 the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

We are “builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit” was prophesied to come to pass here in Jeremiah 3:

Jer 3:16  And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.

The physical ‘ark of the covenant’ with the two tablets of the ten commandments for the lawless and disobedient (1Ti 1:12), the golden pot which had manna and Aaron’s rod within it, was prophesied to become obsolete way in the prophecy of Jeremiah. In Christ we will never again return to our self-righteousness which we had while we were under the law.

Deu 6:24  And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
Deu 6:25  And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

Luk 18:18  And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Luk 18:20  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Luk 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Luk 18:23  And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

This “ruler” was “rich” in two ways. He was both physically rich and rich in his own works. He was a type of Job, and Job typified this ruler and each of us.

In Christ we take credit for nothing and proclaim only that our righteousness is now of Christ and of Him alone:

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.

The reference to “those days” in Jeremiah 3:16 have arrived within us in ‘earnest’ and in down-payment form because we have been made to see and acknowledge that we have indeed been Aholibah, the “chief of sinners” whose whoredoms have exceeded the sins we committed while living under the “carnal commandments” of the law of Moses and the law of the Gentiles, which are one and the same:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Heb 7:16  Who [“Christ in us” (Col 1:27)] is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment [the law of Moses], but after the power of an endless life.

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law [of the spirit] might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

We have all to a greater or lesser degree committed spiritual adultery exceeding Aholah, our older sister, by turning the precious gift of grace which brought us out of Aholah into self-righteous lasciviousness, and we have thereby exceeded her in her adulteries:

Jud 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude would not need to mention this to us if we were not guilty of doing this. If we “only acknowledge [our] iniquity, that we have transgressed against the Lord” more treacherously than our elder sister Aholah, then in spite of our gross sins and self-righteous iniquities, we will be His tent where He will dwell:

H172
אָהֳלִיבָהּ    אָהֳלִיבָה
‘ohŏlı̂ybâh    ‘ohŏlı̂ybâhh
o”-hol-ee-baw’, o”-hol-e-baw’
(As with H170 the first form is in form a feminine of H168, but is in fact for the second form); from H168; my tent (is) in her; Oholibah, a symbolic name for Judah: – Aholibah.

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

This sounds like a request, but when we put the sum of the Lord’s words together, we realize that these verses are a prophecy that our sovereign Lord, who “works all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11) is working within us:

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.
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.

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:

“The pride of life” is self-righteousness. That is the most insidious of sins, and that is the sin with which the entire book of Job concerns itself. It is the final of the three all-encompassing sins that are within every man:

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

It is just naturally impossible for us to acknowledge our self-righteous iniquity. Only “Christ in us” can humble us and give us the grace and mercy needed to overcome that proud wild beast which we all are by nature, and which we all are “in the Potter’s hand” (Jer 18:4).

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

When we begin to overcome the pride of the great red dragon within us, then we will begin to be born into Jerusalem above, and we will begin to be  caught up to the throne of God to be seated with Him in the heavens:

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:

“Even when we were dead in sins” reminds us of what we are when the Lord calls us:

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.

God is demonstrating through us that He does not need us. He is demonstrating this by using the foolish, weak, base, and despised and people who are not capable of being kings and priests, and He is making us a nation of kings and priests to rule with Him over the nations of this world:

Jer 3:17  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

That is our “new name” which is known only to those that have it. That is where the Lord dwells, and ‘Jerusalem’ is where He sits upon His throne in His temple:

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 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.

Only Christ can be ‘Christ’. Only He knows His new name, and only He knows His ‘voice’, and only He knows to flee from the ‘voice’ of a stranger:

Joh 10:1  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
Joh 10:2  But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3  To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
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.

We are blessed to know Christ and to know others who “know His voice”. We are “one body” with “one mind”, and we speak with one voice, the voice of the True Shepherd, the Word of God:

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 is our study for today, and here are our verses for our next study. Our next study will confirm the doctrine of being “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” which will bring Israel and Judah to be one again in Christ. We will see what that entails in our next study.

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer 3:19  But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

[Study Aired January 30, 2020]

Psa 143:5  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 
Psa 143:6  I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. 
Psa 143:7  Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 
Psa 143:8  Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. 
Psa 143:9  Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.
Psa 143:10  Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 
Psa 143:11  Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. 
Psa 143:12  And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant. 

‘Hear me, cause me, deliver me, teach me, quicken me’ – these are the words that are threaded throughout this Psalm to remind us of our constant need to die daily and be delivered from the powers and principalities we wrestle against day in and day out (Eph 6:12).

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

Psa 143:12  And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

Outwardly the world is waxing worse and worse as a stedfast reminder for God’s elect of how evil would get worse and worse within us except for the grace and faith of Christ (Eph 5:16). Inwardly we are blessed to continue to mortify the deeds of our flesh (Rom 8:13) and to accomplish what God has called us and ordained us to do as a kind of first fruits, who have been ordained from the foundation of the world to experience the power of God to help us overcome this wretched man we are (Rom 7:24-25, Zec 4:6), through His mercy which is leading us to repentance (Rom 11:20-23, Eph 2:8-9, Rom 2:4) “for thy righteousness’ sake” (Psa 143:12).

Eph 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil [1Jn 2:16, Pro 16:4].

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh [1Jn 2:16], ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness [Rom 2:4]: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God [Rom 2:4, Jas 1:17]:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

[Not the sorrow of the world, the works of the flesh, but Godly sorrow, God’s goodness from above working in our heavens (2Co 7:10, Jos 7:21-22, Pro 28:13, Num 16:2, Num 16:35). The silver and gold combined in Joshuah 7:21 add up to 250 {200 shekels of silver and 50 shekels of gold} and the men of renown who were swallowed up by the earth were 250 in Numbers 16:35). That sinful camp will be unearthed one day in the second resurrection and will be purified through the accounting they will give at that time in the lake of fire.]

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

[His goodness leads us to repentance from the yet carnal mind that can only be given increase and mature through a process that God has ordained for each of his children (1Co 3:3, Jas 4:5, 1Co 3:6). No naturally healthy person ever hated his own body, and a healthy body of Christ will have each joint supplying what is needed in love, covering the sins of Christ’s body in a Godly manner and forsaking sin (Eph 5:29, Eph 4:16, Pro 28:13, Mat 18:21-22)].

The verses of our study help detail for us what the “lovingkindness in the morning” (vs 8) means to us as His children, and how, without Christ, we would not be able to mature and endure until the end (Mat 24:13, Php 1:6). God has called us unto a blessing that promises we can overcome, and He knows how to deliver us from our enemies within [lust, envy, pride], and is going to show the world through the body of Christ that we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us and gave His life for us so that by his spirit within we can drink the cup we must drink throughout this life (Rom 5:10). We look to his “lovingkindness in the morning” through Christ “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” (Rom 8:37, Heb 12:2).

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

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

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

It is a cup of suffering and a cup of communion we share together as the body of Christ (1Pe 4:13, Col 1:24, 2Ti 2:12-13, 1Co 10:13), and with that cup we are strengthened and glorify our Father who tells us that it is His good pleasure to give us that deliverance day by day (Luk 12:32, Luk 17:21) and ultimately to give us the power to overcome and endure until the end through Jesus Christ (Mat 20:22-23, Php 4:13).

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

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

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

Php 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

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

This entire Psalm helps us see not only the absolute certainty of our deliverance from sin in this life as our Father works out all the details in each of our lives according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11-12), but also shines a bright light on the subject of mercy that is demonstrated through the grace and faith brought upon us so we can live out the rest of our lives fulfilling the will of God (1Pe 4:1-2).

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

The message never changes for God’s children: we understand first that we are the chief of sinners (1Ti 1:15), we are the man (2Sa 12:7), we are the ones who figuratively go “down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon [us]: and [we] perished from among the congregation” (Num 16:33) as the two hundred and fifty men of renown (Num 16:2) within us must be destroyed by “a fire from the LORD” (Num 16:35).

The grace that God affords is to a very few, typified by Joseph and David and Hezekiah and others who lived out these sacrificial lives for our sakes so we could learn of His faithfulness. He delivers those who are undeserving, as all flesh is, and it is He who brings glory to Himself, our Father of lights (Jas 1:17) who has determined from the foundation of the world whom it is that will make up His government and to bring forth the words of life and deliverance we were blessed to receive through Christ before the rest of the world (Eph 1:4, Isa 9:7, Joh 17:3).

The remainder of these verses in Psalm 143:5-12 show us a pattern of how we will be brought to our wits’ end and cry out to God for a deliverance that only He can bring about as He quickens us for His name’s sake of verse 11 and the title for our 2 part study with this Psalm: “Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble“.

We are tremendously blessed if we are called in this age to be washed by the word today, or quickened by his spirit (Joh 17:17, Joh 6:63), which convicts us, His children of transgression (Isa 57:4) as we wrestle through the night as Jacob did who typified our lifetime of wrestling against the powers and principalities that Christ is far above (Eph 1:21). We know that all of this judgment is for a profitable end, a merciful purpose, that will have us sharing salvation with the rest of creation in His perfect timing (Oba 1:21). We are His workmanship (Eph 2:10) predetermined to redound to the glory of God, for “his name’s sake” as expressed in this Psalm and these verses in 2 Corinthians 4:14-18.

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Psa 143:5  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 
Psa 143:6  I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. 

When we think on “the work of thy hands”, things that are lovely and just, we are especially thinking of the household of God (Php 4:8) which is blessed at this time and in this age to have the mind of Christ that expresses these pure and honest and lovely and just thoughts, these perfect gifts that come down from our Father of lights of whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning (Jas 1:17).

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

In other words, God determined that our hearts and minds would be blessed to dwell on the things of the temple (Eze 43:10), and that we would have that honor and privilege as his children to partake of the true bread of life at a table that is not at this time available to the rest of the world (Heb 13:10, Isa 3:1, Gal 6:10).

Eze 43:10  Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

Together we remember what we have all come through: the crushing, the suffering, the trials and tribulations that overwhelmed us (verse 4), measuring the pattern and showing the house to the house with praise and gratitude for all these wonderful works to the children of God (Psa 107:19-21).

Psa 107:19  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Verse 6 of this Psalm is saying essentially the same thing we studied in Psalm 142:5. We are reminded that it is God who brings us to cry out to him and declare “Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living”.

Psa 142:5  I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
Psa 143:6  I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.

It is through meditating on His workmanship which we are (Eph 2:10), as we “remember the days of old” and “meditate on all thy works” and “muse on the work of thy hands”, that we then “stretch forth my hands unto thee” because of the hunger and thirst our Father puts within us as we are dragged to Christ (Mat 5:6, Joh 6:44).

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

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

Psa 143:7  Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 
Psa 143:8  Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. 

There is not a speck of free moral agency being discussed in these two verses or in any part of God’s creation that exists by His power (Col 1:17).

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

To be heard “speedily” is type and shadow language that reminds us that the Lord is doing a quick work in very few at first, as these verses show us: (Rom 9:28, Rev 22:7, Mat 22:14, Zec 4:10).

Rom 9:28  For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

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

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

When our spirits fail us, it will be because the Lord has brought us to that point of despair so we do cry out “Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble” (Psa 107:6). There is nothing more troublesome for our spirit than that moment when we experience our sins separating us from his face (Isa 59:2). If God does not choose to restore us, then we go down “into the pit” that, in the negative view, represents our being separated from God by not being buried in Christ’s baptism (Rom 6:3-11). Our carnal old man must be “consumed by a fire” in order to become a new creation in him, raised up to new life in Christ (Num 16:35). This is what “caus[es] me to hear thy longingkindness in the morning” when my soul is lifted up (Col 2:12).

Psa 107:6  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

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.
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.
Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Psa 143:9  Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.
Psa 143:10  Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 

God has, and continues, to deliver us from our enemies from within as we “flee unto thee to hide me“. The message for God’s elect in this Psalm and throughout His word is the spiritual deliverance that God will provide for his little flock through Christ as we draw near to Him (Jas 4:8).

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

With this thought in mind, James describes what will happen if we are given to “draw nigh to God” or “flee unto thee to hide me“, and what we see are those who are dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44), those who are given to not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21), who are the ones that acknowledge that this was solely possible by the hand of God and boasting is therefore completely excluded by the law of faith as we forget what is behind us and press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ (Rom 3:27, Php 3:13-14). It is through this dragging process that God will “lead me into the land of uprightness” with his good spirit “thy spirit is good” as the comforter leads us into all truth for His name sake and our Lord sets us free from sin (Joh 16:13-14, Joh 8:36).

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

Rom 12:21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Rom 3:27  Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

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.

Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

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

It is with God’s spirit within us that we won’t neglect so great a salvation as we are dragged to Christ to stir up His spirit within us so we can enter into the new city, Jerusalem above, the mother of us all (Gal 4:26, Jas 4:13-14) where we can learn of His strength and power that causes us to overcome and “to do thy will” as He gives us spiritual increase or gain (Heb 2:3).

The verses in the book of James that follow the admonition to “draw nigh unto God” of James 4:8 explain what we can expect to see as we go through this cleansing process, that in time makes us comfortable in the fire of God’s truth. If we are blessed to continue in the truth, it will set us free as Christ told us it would (Joh 8:32). These verses (Jas 4:9-16) explain how we can overcome the evil boasting within us that can so easily make declarations with our mouth without acknowledging His sovereignty over all the affairs of our heaven (Jer 9:24).

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Jas 4:11  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: (Gal 4:26, Eph 2:6)
Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

Psa 143:11  Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. 
Psa 143:12  And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant. 

These last two verses of our study tell the whole story of how the elect are going to be saved first in this age having our souls brought “out of trouble” into which we are all born (Job 5:7, Rom 8:22-24), with all the sin of the world within us that can only be overcome through Christ our hope of glory within (1Jn 2:16, Col 1:27).

All of chapter 11 of the book of Romans explains that process of mercy very brightly for our sakes so that we understand the tremendous free gift of grace and faith that our calling requires as others are held back for our sakes with a spirit of unbelief that God allows to keep the masses blinded to his overall purpose that will in time save all of mankind (Rom 11:1-36, 1Co 15:22).

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 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

We are commanded to “cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul” within first (Psa 51:2-4), and as we continue to do that throughout this whole life as God shows us mercy by leading us unto repentance through this longsuffering process of dealing with our own enemies within (Rom 2:4-5, Pro 3:11), then we will see clearly how to apply Matthew 18:15-17 as the Lord makes known to us who is approved through the heresies that must be manifest in our midst for that purpose (1Co 11:19). God is faithful. It is His righteousness that will make all of this evident and possible as He shows His mercy first to His people by judging them in this age so that we can learn through that humbling experience what will be required of us to one day be able to rule the outward nations under Christ (1Pe 4:17, Oba 1:21).

Psa 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psa 51:4  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest (Jer 9:24).

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

It is those who are afflicted through God’s chastening and scourging who will repent with Godly sorrow and be received of God in this age (Heb 12:6) and it is through that experience of suffering that we will cease from sinning and be made ready to rule in the next age (Act 14:22-23, 2Ti 2:12). God has made the way for all of this to be accomplished through Christ and His body (2Sa 14:14) as He “quicken [us], O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring [our] soul out of trouble”, and “cause[s us] to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning”.

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.
Act 14:23  And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

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

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him [Rom 6:3-4].

The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven – Part 9

The Positive and The Negative Application of Every Word

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.

Introduction

Not understanding that all scripture has both a positive and a negative application has served to keep the keys to the kingdom of heaven hidden from those to whom those keys have not been given (Mat 13:9-15). Exodus 14:20 is speaking of Christ, who we are told was the “cloud [that] went before them.”

Exo 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
Exo 13:22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

The same cloud was to one people bright light as in the middle of the day, while on the other side of the very same cloud, there was such thick darkness that those in that darkness could not see their own hands in front of their faces.

Peter tells us that God has made Jesus “both Lord and Christ”. Here we are told, “The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud.”

Act 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

The word ‘Lord’ in Exodus 13:21 is translated from what the Jews call ‘the tetragrammaton’, meaning ‘the four letters’, and those four letters are YHWH. Those who have added the vowels have generally agreed to ‘Yahweh’. Some scholars add an ‘o’ between the ‘h’ and the ‘w’, translating the tetragrammaton as ‘Yehowah’, which is then Anglicized into ‘Jehovah’. We have several FAQs which give the scriptures proving that Christ, “the Word” is the ‘Yahweh’ or ‘Jehovah’ who did much of the speaking of the Word in the Old Testament. ‘Yahweh’ appears more than any other name in the Old Testament with 6528 entries. In the King James Version it is almost always translated in all caps as the LORD. The only exceptions are that it is translated as ‘God’ four times and as ‘Jehovah’ four times.

It was Yahweh who talked with Moses out of the burning bush:

Exo 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Exo 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Exo 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
Exo 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

Yahweh, the LORD, spoke with Moses, and it was Yahweh who had spoken with and had eaten a meal with Abraham about 500 years earlier when He came to tell Abraham that Sarah would have a child:

Gen 18:13 And the LORD [Hebrew: Yahweh] said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?

It is Christ Himself who reveals to us that it was He who spoke to Abraham, and it was He who was the cloud that led them through the wilderness when He tells us this:

Joh 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

So it is Christ Himself who was as dark as the darkest night to the Egyptians, and it was Christ who was at the same time light to Israel, His elect in type. Christ is not just a pillar of cloud. He is also the Word. Here is the New Testament revelation of what the pillar of cloud which was darkness to the Egyptians while at the same time being light to the Israelites means:

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

If it is true that Christ is the Word, and if it is true “Ye have neither heard his voice at any time“, then it in no way contradicts those two truths to replace the word ‘made’ with the word ‘said’ in verse 3, and it would still agree with the sum of the Word of God.

Here is how it would then read:

Joh 1:3  All things were [said] by him; and without him was not any thing [said] that was [said].

One of the clearest applications of this key to the kingdom of God, this principle of being light to those who are given eyes that see while at the same time being total darkness to those who are not given eyes to see, is explained for us all in Matthew 13 where Christ explains to His disciples why He always spoke to the multitudes in parables:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

It was given to Israel to see what God was doing, but to the Egyptians it was not given. Everything that happened there at the Red Sea was just a type and shadow of what Christ came to reveal to those to whom He gives eyes that see and ears that hear.

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

It seems impossible that the very words that reveal the mind of God and His Son to His elect, the very words that nourish and feed and give light and life to God’s elect, are the very same words that poison, weaken, blind and give darkness and bring death to our “old man… the first man Adam”.

Is this true of every word of God?

So, how far do we go in applying this dark to one and light to the other, this positive to one and negative to the other, key to the kingdom of heaven? If indeed Christ is the Word, and if the scriptures are in fact His written Word, then the principle revealed to us in this particular key to the kingdom of heaven must surely apply to “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” What is it we are told of “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God?”

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

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other. (ACV)

If it is true that the Word of God is darkness to those who do not know God and it is light to those to whom He is revealing Himself, and if it is true that “man shall… live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, then it follows that we must all live first in that spoken and written darkness before we are given eyes that see and ears that hear the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Is that a true statement? Do the scriptures confirm that we are all first the Egyptians who could not see their hands in front of their own faces because of the extent of the darkness in which they were living?

Here is the scriptural answer to that question via the pen of the apostle Paul:

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

There is our answer. “We all had our [way of life] 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.” What this key to the kingdom reveals in practice is that every man lives out both the positive and the negative words, the blessing and the curses, that have proceeded out of the mouth of God, including these very dark, negative words:

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

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.

No man is able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels… [who were given] the seven vials full of the wrath of God are fulfilled in that person’s life, which life is the temple of God, as the apostle Paul told all those who were in His charge:

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.

If indeed Christ is the Word, and if we are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, does that not mean that we must confess to all the sins of all men and bear all the curses as well as all the blessings of scripture? Is that not exactly what Christ, our Savior, did?

Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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

1Co 15:3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

Gal 1:4  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Are these words which have no personal application to you and me? The keys to the kingdom of heaven, which kingdom is within us, reveal that both the bright side and the dark side of Christ are ours. It is not just the bright, good, lighted side which is ours. The keys to the kingdom of heaven reveal that we, too, must fill up in our own bodies that which is behind of the afflictions of “He [who] is despised and rejected of men.” We, too, must have no beauty that we should be desired. We also must be despised and rejected of all men. It is given to us to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It is given to us on His behalf to bear the griefs and sorrows of our fellows. It is given to us to be wounded for the transgression and bruised for the iniquities of our fellow man; to be “crucified with Christ” for the very same reason, goal and purpose for which Christ was crucified.

It is also given to us to be required to bear all the sins of all men from Adam on, just as did Christ Himself:

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 16:21  And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

[Read this link for more on who this ‘scapegoat’ symbolizes: The Spiritual Significance of the Scapegoat and the Nazarite Vow]

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.

Let’s examine the depth of the application of this particular key to the kingdom of heaven which teaches us that there is both a bright, positive side to our Lord as that pillar of cloud, which was at the very same time dark and negative, as He stood between and delivered His people from their enemies, all of which we now know was a type and shadow of the kingdom of God which is within us.

Here is what is involved in being saved from sin and death for those who are given to receive it. This is what is given to the “scapegoat”, the Lord’s “living sacrifice…” to bear the sins of the people (Rom 12:1, Lev 16:10-21):

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

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

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 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

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

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

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

Heb 13:3  Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

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.

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.

Does this all sound negative and dark? The fact is that this is the best thing to which any of us could possibly be called. If it is not given us to bear these words, then the proverb is true:

Pro 24:10  If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy [spiritual] strength is small.

The godly, the unjust and the day of judgment

Who are the unjust whom the apostle Peter tells us are “reserve[d]… unto the day of judgment?

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
2Pe 2:10  But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
2Pe 2:11  Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
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;

Whoever verse 10 is speaking of must surely be some especially reprobate person:

2Pe 2:10  But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

Do we think of ourselves only as ‘the godly’ whom the Lord knows how to deliver out of temptation? The keys to the kingdom of heaven within us, and this key concerning the light and dark side of the same cloud, the negative and the positive application of every word of God, will open our eyes to see that we ourselves are that man of verse 10. It is we ourselves who are “chief… of… sinners”. It is we who have taken Uriah’s wife and murdered Uriah to cover up our sin.

Only when we see ourselves as being that dark side first will we understand what the spirit is telling us when Christ said:

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

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.

That “kingdom of heaven” is not just “likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.” It is also likened unto “his enemy [our “old man” who] came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” The keys to the kingdom of heaven reveal that the kingdom of heaven is also likened to the householder, Christ, who tells his servants to “let both [the wheat and the tares] grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest… gather ye first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

When is “the harvest”? The harvest is the judgment. Whether it is now or at the great white throne judgment, that is when the tares are gathered first in bundles and are burned up.

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.
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.

So when are the tares gathered together in bundles and destroyed with the brightness of His coming? When are God’s elect judged and purged of all the tares in their lives? Here is when that day of judgment takes place in the kingdom of God within us:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

The tares are even now being gathered and bound up in bundles and being burned up by the brightness of the coming of Christ and the Truths of His doctrine in all those who now are the house of God. Here again is how they are being “burned”, and here is how the wheat is being gathered into Christ’s barns:

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

Using ‘the dream is one’ key (Gen 41:26), and being told by Christ that the kingdom of heaven is within His people and that the wheat symbolizes His own words, His doctrine, we must conclude that God’s barn and God’s temple are both the same. They both symbolize those He is gathering together, those in whom He dwells as His temple, those who have Him within them and live by His words and His doctrines.

Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

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

Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom [within us] all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

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.

Conclusion

“Them that do iniquity” of Matthew 13:41 is our own old man within all of us, who is even now being judged and is now being crucified with Christ and is even now dying daily. What a blessing it is to know the mind of Christ and to have all these keys to the kingdom of heaven, and to know that the dark side of that cloud that is Christ is simply the first Adam whose demise is the birth of the new man, the bright side of the same cloud, the last Adam; the birth of Christ Himself within each of us:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Rom 11:28  As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom 11:29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

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

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

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

[Part ten can be found here.]

Hi Mike,

I am currently reading your paper, “Strong Delusion”. Extremely enlightening!

I have a couple of questions.

What does the following mean:

“so be that we suffer with [ him]… we may be also glorified together”…

Does this mean we have to literally suffer PHYSICAL pain (like getting the snot kicked out of us) of certain degrees in order to be a “CHOSEN” son of God? Or does this specifically mean to suffer, as in, putting OFF the fleshly desires and accepting the fact that it HURTS to starve the flesh? I am sort of at a loss on this issue.

Also, with regards to Heb 6, you state, “The truth about the so- called ‘unpardonable sin’ is that “it is impossible for those who were once enlightened… if they should fall away… to renew them to repentance…” in this age.”

What is this “falling away” in this passage? Would this mean that they literally REFUSE to go on to maturity even after KNOWING that they must? Or is this saying that if we still have sin in our life after receiving the truth that we cannot repent, even if we want to? I am struggling with certain sins in my life and all I ever think about is HOW I can rid myself of it. Is the answer just to “bite the bullet” whenever I get tempted and to just “take the pain” no matter how much it burns?

I greatly desire to move on to maturity, but I need help understanding HOW I can win the war over my fleshly desires so I can truly be used by God.

I sincerely need help. I would greatly appreciate your sound advice.

God Bless,

J____

Hi J____,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, so I won’t  bear any bad news. The good news is that it means that we have been counted worthy of suffering both physically and mentally. When God sent Ananias to pray for Saul of Tarsus, look at what he told Ananias about what Paul had to look forward to:

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

To simply list all the physical calamities that befell Paul and to then tell anyone that this is what you have to look forward to as a true believer, would be enough to discourage anyone. But not everyone must be martyred to be in the first resurrection. According to all accounts, the apostle John died a natural death. Nevertheless, all one has to do to see the spirit in today’s church, and to also understand that John, too, ‘suffered for Christ’s name sake,’ is to read the epistles of John. John, too, was rejected by those who “loved to have the preeminence:”

3Jn 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

If you speak with your mouth the truths of God’s Word today, you too, will find that the the spirit of Diotrephes is alive and well in all the churches of orthodox Christianity. They “will not receive us” if we are faithful to God’s Word.

Paul was once stoned and left for dead. So you and I may or may not be asked of God to endure extreme physical suffering. We will definitely be asked to endure rejection from “those that love the preeminence in the church.“

The ‘falling away’ in Heb 6 has only to do with verses 4-6. Yes, yes, yes, ‘Falling away” has only to do with those who refuse to “go on to maturity.” According to 1Co 3:1-4, Gal 3:1- 4:1, Heb 5:12-Heb.6:6; and according to the first three chapters of Revelation, all Christians “are yet carnal” even after they “are sanctified in Christ Jesus [ and] called to be saints” (1Co 1:2). In other words, the ‘prodigal son IS THE ELECT, and the older son is the called. Don’t accuse me of encouraging Christians to sin. I did not give that parable of the prodigal son. It was Christ who gave that parable, and it was Christ who inspired 1 Corinthians, Galatians and Hebrews. All babes in Christ will struggle to stop filling their spiritual diaper and wetting their spiritual bed. It will take time. Most will never mature past their spiritual diapers. That is why all three of these books deal with “babes in Christ,” who “for the time [ considering all the time that you have known Christ] ye ought to be teachers, [ instead you] have need of milk and not of strong meat.”

Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The ‘older son’ has never “by reason of use, had his senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” All of God’s elect will either: “leave their first love; [ listen to the] Nicolaitans; [ allow] that woman Jezabel to seduce them; etc., but just as the prodigal son, they will”come to themselves,” and “repent [ before] their candle stick is removed.”

‘Babylon’ is the ‘slop trough’ in which the prodigal son finally sees his own reflection.” It is only then that we truly repent, are truly baptized in Christ and are truly circumcised. Not in the Red Sea, immediately after we initially leave Egypt, but after years of wandering around in a carnal, immature, rebellious, childish, Christian state; ” even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The struggle with the flesh to which you refer is never to be taken lightly, but it is a routine for all who would strive for “the mark of the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus.”

Phip 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind [ prodigal days in Babylon], 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.

The elect are called “overcomers.” If they had never known sin, then they are not “overcomers.”

Speaking to those who made up the ‘elder son,’ the called but not chosen, the church of His day, Christ gave us these words:

Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The ‘elder son” does not see how offensive his attitude toward his redeemed brother is in the eyes of his Father. He considers himself to be the righteous one of the two. He is jealous instead of grateful. He is exactly what we see in the orthodox Christian churches whenever we mention the scriptural fact that God does not intend to lose one single soul, but will seek and find and save “that which was lost.”

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.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

It is only those who finally come to see that they are hopelessly lost; that see that they cannot of themselves overcome the pulls of the flesh, that finally, after “falling seven times,” meaning complete failure, who will be brought to the faith of being able to say with Paul and all who have been there:

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

You say this:

I am struggling with certain sins in my life and all I ever think about is HOW I can rid myself of it. Is the answer just to “bite the bullet” whenever I get tempted and to just “take the pain” no matter how much it burns?

The answer to this question is that what is working in you is a work of God. Regardless of how hopelessly weak you may feel at this time, God will bring you to see clearly that YOU can do nothing of your self. You cannot “rid yourself” of these sins.” Once you come to recognize this down to the marrow of your bones, only then will Christ give you the strength to ‘overcome’ sin in your life.

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

You have a great attitude when you say:

I greatly desire to move on to maturity but I need help understanding HOW I can win the war over my fleshly desires so I can truly be used by God. – I sincerely need help. I would greatly appreciate your sound advice.

Salvation is a process that takes time and experience. It requires the experience of failure “seven times.” This means complete, total, undeniable, hopeless, crushed to powder failure. Maturity is a work of God. If you haven’t yet done so, be sure to read the letter entitled ‘The Seven Steps To Salvation.” It rehearses the example of Israel as a type of us.

1Co 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as [ were] some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
1Co 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
1Co 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The words ‘examples’ and ensamples’ are the same in the Greek. They are translated from the Greek word ‘tupos.’ Israel’s history and experiences are ‘types of us.’ Salvation is not something we received in the past because of something Christ did for us. This is the strong delusion for orthodoxy. While salvation certainly was secured for all men through the finished work of Christ while He was on the cross, what that ‘finished’ work accomplished is that now, in spirit, Christ can live His life in us. We can now “fill up in our flesh that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ.” It is Christ living His life of rejection and suffering in us that matures us. That was never possible before the work of Christ was “finished.”

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

This is the ‘finished’ work of Christ, to fill up in our flesh that which is behind of His sufferings, for His bodies sake, which is the church.” When Christ “ascended up into a cloud,” He didn’t go to some other geographical location. He is now “in” us. That is where Christ went. Have I sent you Where And What Is Heaven? Let me know.

I will close with some very encouraging words from Paul, that I have no doubt are as applicable to you and me as they were to the Phillipians

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Being vigilant has nothing in common with being fearful. A vigilant man is very confident that he can handle his enemy. Neither does vigilance conflict with the sovereignty of God, because we know that grace is a work of God, and “grace…chastens us to forsake ungodliness…” (Tit 2:10-12). That is why Paul was so confident that God would finish the work He had started. This is the very meaning of “where sin abounds [ chastening] grace doth much more abound.”

Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

I hope you find these words encouraging.

Mike

Hi Mike,
How’s things? Does 2Pe 2:20-22 indicate that a Christian can lose his Salvation?

Thanks,

D____

Hi D____,

You asked about 2Pe 2:20-22.

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 verses are not telling us that anyone can “lose his salvation.” What is being discussed here is the loss of “aionian life.” Christ Himself speaks of this same situation, when discussing those who “blaspheme the Holy Spirit.”

Notice how Christ words His warning against those who would blaspheme the Holy Spirit:

Mat 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
Mat 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

See that word ‘world’? That word is the Greek word ‘aion.’ What Christ is saying is that those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age [“This present evil age”] or in the age to come [ The age of Christ’s rule on this earth]. But after the ages are “consummated” all this blaspheming against the works of Christ will be burned out of any who still have such foolishness within them.

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 [ The ‘lake of fire’].

Both Christ and Peter are discussing those who will “suffer loss.” What they will ‘lose’ is not their salvation. Salvation for “all in Adam,” has been secured for “all” who are “in Adam.”

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

This “loss” is the loss of rulership over this earth during the oncoming “thousand years” reign. Besides missing out on the opportunity to rule this earth, they must also be “cast into the lake of fire” where they will have all rebellion spiritually ‘burned’ out of them; ” but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire [ The ‘lake of fire’].

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

That ‘lake of fire’ is not what some have dubbed “a quick dip.” The ‘lake of fire’ is typified by the torment experienced by Joseph’s brothers when they realized that their treatment of Joseph had placed them in their position of torment. Little did they realize that their ‘torment’ was taking place “in the presence of the Lamb.”

Gen 42:21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Gen 42:22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
Gen 42:23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.

The sale of Joseph by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, typifies the sale of Jesus by Judas for thirty pieces of silver.

Yet Joseph forgave and saved his brothers, just as Christ will do for the worst man who has ever lived.

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.

In other words, Christ will not only save the first fruits, but He will also save the latter harvest.

I hope this is of some help to you as you seek to understand God’s word.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Today was one of the days that I woke up so sad. It’s like I was expecting something, and it did not happen. My question: will I be wrong to gamble and ask God to help me to win the bets? Sometimes I get anxious to find work because of the debts I have. You are in my prayers.

Your brother in Christ,
N____

Hi N____,

I am so sorry you woke up sad, but I have done the very same thing when it was my time to do so. But I can honestly say that it has been a long time since I have had that experience, simply because I truly believe that our Lord is in complete control of all things, and all things are going to work together to produce good for my sake.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
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:
2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Grace works “through thanksgiving.” So if we are sad, we are actually just frustrated with what God is doing. When we are frustrated with God’s methods, then we will not be coming to Him with “the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” As Christians who know that God is in charge, we are to “rejoice in our trials, and thank God that He has found us worthy to “suffer with Him,” and “learn from our suffering.”

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Wow! Did He say, “All things are for my sake.” Now that is love. That means that even my sins are for my sake, to teach me to “go and sin no more.”

Pro 5:22  His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
Eze 36:31  Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that [ were] not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
Joh 5:14  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

The fact that Christ died for our sins does not change this truth, if we continue in our sins:

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

So we need to do as the Lord instructs us, then we will be “sowing” obedience and we will reap joy and prosperity, “in the day of the Lord.”

You ask me about gambling on soccer games.

Paul says “all things are lawful, but all things are not expedient.” Look at these two verses, and allow the spirit of these verses to answer your question:

1Co 6:12  All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

1Co 10:23  All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

“I will not be brought under the power of any… all things edify not.” It is obvious that being addicted to gambling or anything else is not to be tolerated in the life of an overcomer. The overcomer becomes the ruler of that which once ruled him. It is no great sin to wager a nickel in a slot machine, or make a friendly wager against the opposing soccer team, but if you are talking about gambling large amounts of hard- earned money when the chances of winning are clearly stacked against you, you are doing nothing less than “tempting the Lord thy God… casting yourself off the pinnacle of the temple and expecting God to send angels to keep you from being dashed against the stony ground.” Rest assured, it is for your own good that you will hit the ground with a death dealing thud, and then eventually you will learn “not to tempt the Lord thy God.”

Mat 4:5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6  And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [ their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Mat 4:7  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

It is human to want to cut corners and make money without working for it, but that is not what God has ordained, and that will always lead to the financial crisis in which the whole world is suffering at this very time. You may gamble and slowly go down deeper and deeper in debt, but the time comes when you must either pay the debt or declare bankruptcy, and that day always arrives at its appointed time, spiritually within us and outward physically. That is, was and will always be true.
Here is God’s advice for us all, regardless of our age or the time and circumstance in which we find ourselves.

Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Eph 4:28  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Yes, these too, are spiritual words with spiritual application. But when being asked about gambling, we need to concentrate first on the outward application, and first learn that anyone who spends his entire weekly paycheck or his grocery money or rent or monthly mortgage payment on the lottery or on a sports game wager, is indeed in need of still learning what “thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” means. We all must “work with our hands” outwardly first, then we will learn that “the work of our hands” also applies spiritually to the doctrines we teach and by which we live. In both cases we are to work so that we can give to him that has need and not think only of ourselves.
God’s elect should always be aware that the whole world is looking for an opportunity to find fault with that godly way of life. Consequently we need to live lives that are becoming of the Lord’s children and are above reproach.

Eph 5:3  But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

God actually condemns the practice of counting on fortune or good luck, instead of gradually accumulating possessions:

Isa 65:11 What will I, the LORD, do if any of you reject me and my holy mountain? What will happen to you for offering food and wine to the gods you call “Good Luck” and “Fate”? (CEV)

I am not accusing you of doing any of these things, but I do hope this helps you to see that God wants us to be very prudent with the blessings we are given, and not be so cavalier as to place the monies of our hard labors into a position that put it at any risk of being completely lost. Here is some very good Biblical advice:

Pro 13:11 Wealth from get- rich- quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows. (NLT)

That is the Truth.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Good morning, Mike,

I’m not sure that this question bears any spiritual significance.  I don’t know.  I wanted to see what your thoughts were on “clinical” depression.  I did a search today and see that I have all the symptoms for it and have had them since I was about 16.  A doctor even remarked (I thought in jest) when I was nine that I was depressed, in his effort to explain that I was the opposite of having ADD.  I have always been the kind of person that didn’t believe things like that were curable by medicine…. sure we can do things in vain to curb feelings of pain…..  But to take it to the next level…… can “depression” simply be a by- product of our tribulation experience?  I guess I’m just wondering if depression is common among the called (though I know it wouldn’t have to be) and/or if it is a sin?  It’s one of those weird things I can’t get a handle on.  It’s something that must be conquered, right?  but at the same time it seems like it’s a by-product of the process in which we see our own nakedness.

Your brother in Christ,
X____

Hi X____,

Thank you for your question. You ask:

Can clinical depression simply be a by-product of our tribulation experience?  I guess I’m just wondering if depression is common among the called (though I know it wouldn’t have to be) and/or if it is a sin?”

I make no claims of being an expert in the field of psychiatry.  Just so I know we are on the same page, I looked up ‘clinical depression’ and found this.

Major depressive disorder (also known as clinical depression, , or unipolar disorder) is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. The term “major depressive disorder” was selected by the American Psychiatric Association to designate this symptom cluster as a mood disorder in the 1980 version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM- III) classification, and has become widely used since. The general term depression is often used to describe the disorder, but as it can also be used to describe other types of psychological depression, more precise terminology is preferred for the disorder in clinical and research use. Major depression is a disabling condition which adversely affects a person’s family, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health.

I was once depressed for months at a time before I was given dominion over sin in my life. Depression is common to all men, but just as diseases are common to all men, not every man is stricken with a major disease like multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease or cancer or clinical depression.

While science tries to understand the biological, psychological, chemical and electrical causes of all of the diseases, the scriptures makes it clear that just as surely as Ahab’s prophets were prophesying lies because a lying spirit had led them to do so, so too, are all of the diseases of mankind, in the final analysis, nothing more than evil spirits sent to afflict mankind.

First, let’s see how this is proven to be true for physical ailments, then we will see how it is also the cause of all mental ailments.

Here are a couple of examples of physical ailments which scripture attributes to evil spirits.

Luk 13:11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

Mar 9:25  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

A crippled lady and a man who could neither speak nor hear are both said to be afflicted by an evil spirit.

Here now are a couple of mental ailments which the scriptures also attributes to evil spirits.

Act 16:16  And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Neither soothsaying nor fear are physical ailments. Both take place in our minds, and yet the scriptures declare that both are actually spirits.

What does this all teach us? It tells us that God really is working all things after the counsel of His own will, and all we do and all that happens in our lives was indeed “predestinated” to occur.

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:

Mankind has learned that they can take a laser and burn out the part of the brain which is causing a seizure to occur. We have also learned that many mental ailments can be treated with certain drugs. Does this prove that God is not therefore sovereign? Of course not! It is God who has given us the ability to make these discoveries and to learn how to treat certain ailments. The God-given ability to learn how to treat diseases is as much a part of the sovereignty of God as the disease itself. It is God who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will,” and mankind’s vanity over his great mental achievements is no exception to that sovereignty.

What does all of this say in answer to your question?

Can clinical depression simply be a by-product of our tribulation experience? I guess I’m just wondering if depression is common among the called (though I know it wouldn’t have to be) and/or if it is a sin?

You answer your own question when you say, “I know it wouldn’t have to be.” Times of depression certainly are “a byproduct of our tribulation experience” and are common to all men, just as diseases are common to all men. However, not all men are afflicted with a crippling affliction in which they are “bowed together” to the extent that they can “in no wise lift up” themselves, and not all men are stricken with fear and “major depression… which adversely affects a person’s family, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health.” The extent of any physical or mental disease is, according to the scriptures, a sovereign work of a sovereign God, and according to the scriptures, that work is always accomplished by means of the realm of the spirit. Here is how the scriptures put this:

Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

“Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” is just another way of telling us that the visible world is controlled by the invisible world of the realm of the spirit. Here is what the scriptures teach us concerning all suffering that is endured by any of God’s children, regardless of the degree of that suffering:

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

The Greek word translated ‘temptation’ is ‘pierasmos‘ and is the same word translated ‘try’ in this verse of  Peter’s epistle.

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

The “way of escape” does not keep us from the trial. Noah escaped the flood by going through it. Israel escaped being pinned down at the Red Sea by going through the Red Sea. Daniel escaped the lion’s den by going into it, and the three Hebrew children escaped the fiery furnace by going into it. “The fiery trial… is to try you” and me, and we escape it only by enduring to the end of that fiery trial.

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

There are many ministers who want to separate the trials we supposedly bring upon ourselves from the trials which others inflict upon us. We certainly are admonished that we ought not to suffer as evildoers, but nowhere in scripture are we ever told that our apparently self-inflicted sufferings are not part of the fiery trials which are to try us. We are all first hardened by God’s spirit, and we “do that we would not.” That is only for the purpose of chastening and scourging us to bring us to see ourselves for what we are, by God’s design. Even our sins, according to scripture, are His work in our lives.

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it [the law of God, verse 22] is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Our sins are the result of “a law.” God is the great lawgiver who sustains both the “law of sin and death” and the “law of the spirit of life.” That is the very meaning of “the first and the last.”

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

The “second man” is also called “the last Adam” just two verses earlier:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Christ tells us that He is the first and the last:

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

While this is considered to be a blasphemous doctrine by those who feel the need to save God’s reputation, who do such people think created and sustains the law of sin and death? Who do they think creates evil? Who created the first man Adam as “corruptible flesh and blood?” Who created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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.

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

Christ tells us that it is He who makes us wicked, and He tells us that He is “the first and the last.” In telling us this, He is saying that this is all a vital part of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Your trials and my trials, as painful and as long as they seem to last, are all a vital and necessary part of that revelation.

I hope this gives you some hope as you struggle with your depression. God loves you and has already decided that you and I will, in His time, “bear the image of the heavenly” when His work in our lives is finished.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Dear Mike

I was reading (As He Is So Are We In This World) and you said this: “Well, what do you have in Christ? I’ve got nine things that I came up here with and if you come up with anything else, I wish you would let me know because I would like to add to this and get just as many things as we can find in the word of God, and I want to put this on the web page so that everyone can see what it is that we are and who we are in Christ.” About six months ago when I was reading scriptures, this from John stood out like never before another one of those “wow” how could I miss this all the these years studying scriptures. This one scripture from John I refer to quite a bit:

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is}.

This is one of the ‘will be’ part of ‘is, was and will be’. Now here is what stood out to me.

1Jn 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Joh 1:10  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
Joh 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
Joh 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
Joh 1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Mike, I know that you are my elder brother in Christ; our Father was dragging you through the wilderness before me.  We all have to go through the wilderness to get strengthened and weed out the chaff from the wheat.

Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Joh 17:20 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
Joh 17:21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Joh 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.

Peace in Christ
S____

Hi S____,

Thank you for your input and your enthusiasm for the things we have been given in Christ. God has revealed them to us by His spirit, which is His word:

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.

I gave a study on this subject in Dallas a couple of years ago, entitled “The Christ of Christ.”
There is much more given to us than many of us even want to acknowledge.
 
One of the reasons we don’t hear very much about all that is given us in Christ is the fact that it is given to us to be as He was in this world, and while few orthodox ministers will openly acknowledge it, the Truth is that we all have before, and many still do, despised the Christ of scripture, whose doctrine from the pen of the apostle Paul went was:

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

God’s elect always have and always will be despised and rejected by the masses of orthodox Christianity and the rest of the world.

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

While there are billions of  ‘Christians’ on this earth, there are very few who are living by, or who even believe, those words. Most Christians decry the doctrine of dying daily as a very discouraging and negative teaching, which needs to be seasoned with the fact that Christ promised to give us “whatsoever we ask of Him.” Of course they quote the Bible to prove themselves to be right:

Mar 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them

It is the enemy’s pattern to pit one verse of God’s Word against another verse of God’s word. Consequently they never point out that the very next two verses insist that we must forgive our brothers their sins against us or else our heavenly Father will not forgive us our sins.

Mar 11:25  And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

What do those verses tell us about the preceding promise to give us ‘what things soever we desire?’ They show us clearly that our faith must be reflected by our way of life, and if it is not, then we actually have no faith with which to receive the things “freely given to us 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.

And when we are given eyes to see those things which are freely given to us, we find that it includes dying daily and suffering daily for his sake.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

“Dying daily” entails daily pain and suffering, which accompanies the rejection of all men. It is what Psa 107 calls “His wonderful works to the children of men.”

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that [ men] would praise the LORD [ for] his goodness, and [ for] his wonderful works to the children of men!

“ Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.” Without the storm to be calmed, we cannot become the grateful children God is bringing us to be. So it all boils down to this truth of what we have been given:

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

It serves no purpose at all, but is rather counterproductive to point out all the positive promises of life and wealth and blessings in the Word of God and fail to point out that the word of God is a two- edged sword that separates the soul and the body and in the end destroys all flesh and all temporal things. So the very next verse make this clear:

1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ’s; and Christ [ is] God’s.

I hope you will take the time to read the study notes and listen to the talk in Dallas in 2007 entitled ‘The Christ of Christ.’ We are to Christ exactly what Christ is to His Father, and in Christ, we too, are in the Father.

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

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

So we are in very good hands indeed.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike

M____ wrote:
Mike Thanks for all the information and knowledge.  I do not hold to any religion except the bible.  I myself, before I came to your website, saw in God’s word how tithing was something that we don’t “have” to do among other things.  I myself am opposed to much of what I have learned in my seven short years in Christ in orthodox Christianity.  God through you has opened my eyes to much.  I can be in strong delusion about some of the info that you have sent me.  I just cannot wrap my head around God telling us not to sin and then He causes us to sin; then He holds us responsible, then He punishes us without us having any part in it (I have read your scriptures on that).  It just seems like He is working against Himself.  It seems like God does not know what He wants to do.  I am going to study more on “eternal hell”.  I think that your stance on it is truth, but need to study it more before I become dogmatic about it.  If you want Mike, I would like to get “just only the scriptures” that you use to disprove “eternal fire”; I would like to go through them (please take no offense) without any comments in between.  My mind just processes the Word better that way. Truly, thanks for everything, M____

Hi M____,
I can easily understand where you are coming from. I myself struggled for two whole years as I refused to see that God “creates evil” and that even my faith in His words is a gift from Him. It is completely natural to want to be in control of at least our own will. But we are not in control of anything.
And that brings me to the reason I am answering this e- mail. Since we are not in control of anything, we are not responsible for anything [ but don’t think that we are not accountable for our actions]. It is an incredible truth that the word ‘responsibility’ is not to be found in the entirety of God’s Word. God had decided that Christ would be crucified for Adam’s sins in Adam, himself for all the sins of all the rest of all of mankind. When was that decision made?

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Christ was “slain from the foundation of the world” because God knew in advance exactly what a “marred vessel of clay” would do.

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,

Adam and all who are in Him and that are all living are made in the hands of the almighty Potter “subject to vanity;” not even capable of controlling his desire to overdo playing video games. “Not willingly…” No, ‘Do you want to be created this way?’ involved. No “free- will” is involved.
I was watching Mother Angelica on the Catholic network. A man from New Jersey called in and told Mother Angelica that he had read that God knows us before we are born, while we are in our mother’s womb. His question was ‘If that is so, then why pray?’ Mother Angelica told the man from New Jersey that we had to pray because we have free- will. She never even considered the man’s point. The real answer to the man’s question is that God knows before we are ever born; that He has already determined that we will have to cry out to Him to deliver us from our sinful ways, just as He knew that Adam would need a savior before He ever created Adam in His marred and sinful flesh.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make [ it].
Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Where we read that “God made man”  the Hebrew is in the imperfect tense and should read ‘God is making man’. That is why we are told in the New Testament:

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.

God is not “a vessel of corruptible clay and dust… marred in the Potter’s hand… shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin,” as He formed Adam. Adam is being “conformed to the image of His Son… who was slain from the foundation of the world.”
This clay vessel we call flesh is but an ugly scaffolding, a necessary evil which will be taken down and done away with when the temple of God is finally finished and we are “conformed to the image of His Son.” It is all of God and man is merely being held accountable for what God causes him to do in this flesh. You and I think there is no difference between being ‘responsible’ for and being ‘accountable’ for the deeds done in our flesh, but to God it is the difference between life and death:

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin [ is] death; but the gift of God [ is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

If mankind really had free- will, it would seem that at least one man out of all the billions who have lived on this earth would simply choose not to sin. But we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. If we were ‘responsible’ for our sins, then we would all be dead. But God made the whole earth, and He alone is responsible for what He has created. What God created was a sinning machine of which He has every intention of keeping. He will “make it again another vessel, as seems good to the potter to make it.” Free will has nothing to do with our caused wills which God knows before we are even born:

Rom 9:11  (For [ the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works [ of free will], but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

“God’s mercy” means that we are “counted worthy to suffer for His name’s sake.” “If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him.”

Act 5:41  And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
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.
2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him : if we deny him, he also will deny us:

I hope I have said something that will help you to realize that we are not responsible for anything. It is God who is working all things after the counsel of His own will, and we are but accountable for what He knew we would do “while we were in our mother’s wombs having done neither good nor evil.”
Mike