Jer 1:1-10 To Build and to Plant- The Blessings of Obedience

[Study Aired November 29, 2020]

Because this prophecy of Jeremiah, taken as a whole, appears to our natural man to be so dire and so apocalyptic, our study today will be centered around the last part of the last verse of our last study. These words are designed to prepare our hearts to receive and even appreciate those parts of this prophecy which appear to our natural man to be so negative and seemingly lamentable. For the following couple of weeks, we will examine the curses which will come upon our old man for disobedience.

As we saw in our last study, Jeremiah is at this time a young man who is “set… over the nations”.  Notice what being placed in that position entails:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

As is typical of the Lord’s word, the number of verses concerning our judgment, both our judgment… “first upon the house of God” (1Pe 4:17) and the later the judgment of all mankind, are over twice as many as the words which concern our rewards for being judged in this present time or the consequences of being judged at a later time. In either case the number of verses concerning judgment for disobedience far outnumber the verses which concern rewards for obedience. Jeremiah, as a type of who we are as judges with Christ during the thousand year reign and also the judges of the great white throne judgment, is told that his calling is 1) to root out, 2) to pull down, 3) to destroy, and 4) to throw down. Those four things have a negative implication to our old man. As a type also of those who will become the conduits of the mercy we have been shown and will in return show to all the rest of mankind (Rom 11:31), Jeremiah is told in half as many words that it is also given to him 1) to build, and 2) to plant:

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.

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

This ratio of verses and pages which occupy curses for disobedience, compared to the number of verses and pages of scripture enumerating the blessings of obedience, is first made evident in Deuteronomy 28. The first 14 verses of this chapter enumerate all the blessings for obedience, and that is the subject of this study. We will appreciate these blessings and look forward to “the redemption of the purchased possession” today. Then we will take note of all the curses of disobedience in future studies. There is a particularly good reason why the scriptures which occupy themselves with the curses for disobedience far outnumber the verses and chapters of scripture which concern themselves with the blessings of obedience.

Our study today will center around the function of the blessings for obedience as they are promised in the first 14 verses of:

Deu 28:1  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

We will digress today from our direct study of this prophecy of Jeremiah, a prophecy which is filled with stories of the disobedience of the physical nation of Israel, to analyze why the curses of disobedience occupy far more of the pages of scriptures than do the blessings we are promised for obedience to the Lord’s words. We will also learn what the function is of the blessings we are promised for being obedient to the Lord’s commandments. There is a good reason for why the promises occupy comparatively little space in scripture, and we need to know and understand why it is so.

The short answer for why this is so, it that the scriptures are designed to deal with the lifelong process of bringing us out of death and darkness, and into life and the light. That is why the curses for disobedience occupy so much of the scriptures. However, there must be an incentive to help us see beyond the fact that we are dying creatures who are actually living in total spiritual darkness to begin with. To this end we are given “exceeding great and precious promises”:

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

The physical promises of blessings given to ancient Israel typify the spiritual blessings promised to “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16 – GWV). The promise to Jeremiah as a type of the Lord’s firstfruit saints, of being given to rule over all the nations of this earth, is exactly what we, too, are promised to incentivize us as it did Jeremiah:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

Both Jeremiah and Israel are merely types and shadows of the New Testament overcomers who keep the words and works of Christ to the end:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

The true “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16) is an inward spiritual kingdom which is promised rulership over the kingdoms “on the earth”. This promise does not say, “He that overcomes… to him will I give power over the nations within.” These “overcomers” are those who have already been given that inward blessing, and that is why they are now proclaiming, “We shall reign on the earth.”

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

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GWV)

The twentieth chapter of Revelation reveals more details about those who are destined to “reign on the earth”:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Only those who are blinded by the Lord Himself to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will fail to see that it is only those who keep the works of Christ to the end in this present time, who will be given a part in the first resurrection to rule with Christ for a thousand years, after which there is “the resurrection to judgment”.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [The Greek word translated ‘damnation’ is ‘krisis’, and it is much better translated as ‘judgment’].

“The resurrection of judgment” in this twentieth chapter of Revelation is called the “great white throne… judgment”. The fact that the second resurrection follows the first is as obvious as the fact that this is the second group who are only now dying to their old man for the first time, follows those who died to their old man first in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). Those in the first resurrection will rule with Christ for a thousand years:

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

This “thousand years” is without a doubt as much a spiritual signification of a time period as the ‘slain… Lamb’ is of a spiritual signification of death. However, a lamb is not used to signify a period of time and a thousand years is not used to signify a living creature. Both are signified by a counterpart of the same sort.

So, it is with the subject of resurrection. Both are symbolized by a counterpart. As Christ tells us there are only two resurrections – One is to life and the other to judgment. The first resurrection is symbolized by life, while the second resurrection follows the judgment which is now on “the house of God” and is symbolized by judgment.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Peter knew very well where any who are not being judged in this age would appear. They will appear at the second resurrection, “the resurrection of judgment” (Joh 5:27-29), the “white throne judgment”, which we are told is the lake of fire, of which it is written:

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

This “lake of fire” symbolizes the judgment which must take place at this symbolic “great white throne”:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. [“The books” signifies the many who are not the “one seed” (Gal 3:16) while “the book” signifies those who are that “one seed” in the “one Christ” (1Co 12:12)]
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Yet another name for this second judgment is “the second death”:

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years “on the earth”] was cast into the lake of fire.

Getting back to demonstrating that both Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, and indeed the whole of the Lord’s Word, emphasize the process of judgment much more than the reward for being judged in this present time, here are the rest of the first 14 verses of the 68 verses of this 28^th chapter of Deuteronomy:

Deu 28:2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deu 28:3  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:4  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:5  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:6  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Deu 28:7  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deu 28:9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
Deu 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

All these blessings “in the land which the Lord gives [us]” are ours even now spiritually in down payment form.

Here are Christ’s words as they relate to all these promises of blessings:

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

Demonstrating the spiritual downpayment form of these blessings, Mark adds the words “now in this time” and “with persecutions” to those words of Christ:

Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

These spiritual realities here in Matthew and Mark are in complete accord with the shadow and type which are the promises of Deuteronomy 28:

Deu 28:13  And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deu 28:14  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Those 14 verses give us the types and shadows of all the “great and precious promises we are given in Christ:

2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We are given “all that pertains to life and godliness “through the knowledge of Him”, and it is only “by these… exceeding great and precious promises” that we are “partakers of the divine nature”. That makes our understanding of these promises the conduit for the “grace and peace [which comes to us only] through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Therefore it is expedient that we get to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, and familiarize ourselves with the promises we are given, through Christ, because that is the very definition of “life eternal”:

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

These “exceeding great and precious promises” being so very important, we will do well to take note of what they promise us. So, let’s look at what we are being promised in our knowledge of Christ and His Father:

Deu 28:2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deu 28:3  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

“The city” is contrasted with “the field”, but we are blessed in both because:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

“The city” signifies “the city of our God” whereas “the field” signifies all that which is outside the city… “the field is the world”:

Psa 48:1  A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

Psa 48:8  As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah [We are “Jerusalem above… the city of our God” (Gal 4:26-27)].

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

“The fruit of thy body” is the increase of the kingdom of God within us, the “few chosen” who appear to this world to be as barren as all the wives of the ancient patriarchs:

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Neither Paul nor Christ nor His Christ hold back from acknowledging who they are… “Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”

Joh 10:34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Joh 10:36  Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

Our next promise is:

Deu 28:4  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

The Lord’s blessing is upon us as it was upon Joseph as a slave in Egypt, both in the house of Potiphar and as the servant of the keeper of the prison:

Gen 39:2  And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
Gen 39:3  And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

Gen 39:21  But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Gen 39:22  And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
Gen 39:23  The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.

Joseph’s suffering in Egypt typifies all our suffering in these clay vessels. Both Joseph and Job were exceptionally good men. We are all first self-righteous Job before we are crushed and humbled to become repentant Job.

Solomon was given to tell us why we must be evil before we can become righteous:

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)

We all first contend with, reprove, disannul the Lord’s judgment and condemn His ways before we are dragged to repentance through fiery trials, as the book of Job and the book of Revelation demonstrate clearly (Rev 14: 6-12):

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 [self] righteous?

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

These “blessed” are only those “who died in the Lord” in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). They are the first, who “by these… great and precious promises, [will be made] partakers of the divine nature [and be given] part in the first resurrection:”

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

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

What exactly is “the first resurrection”? It is quite easy for the Lord to blind the eye of the multitudes from perceiving what we were just told. The first resurrection is for those who are being judged in this time, “who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12) and who are given a part in the first resurrection which Christ called “the resurrection of life” (Joh 5:27-29). The first resurrection are those who are the firstfruits of them who have died in Christ and are raised up from the dead at the beginning of the thousand years to “live… and reign with Christ a thousand years”.

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

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [The “blessed and holy first resurrection” at the beginning of the thousand year reign]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920: ‘krisis’… ‘judgment’… “When the thousand years are expired”].

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

This is not “the resurrection to life” to which Christ referred in John 5:29. This is the resurrection of “the rest of the dead” of Revelation 20:5. This is “the resurrection to judgment” before the great white throne of John 5:28. This the resurrection of all the rest of mankind who did not have part in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Let’s now go back to the promises by which those who obey the Lord are given to “partake of the divine nature [in] this present time”:

Deu 28:5  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:6  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

“[Our] basket” includes what we bring in sacrifice to the Lord in His service:

Deu 26:1  And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;
Deu 26:2  That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.
Deu 26:3  And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.
Deu 26:4  And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.
Deu 26:5  And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:
Deu 26:6  And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
Deu 26:7  And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
Deu 26:8  And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
Deu 26:9  And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deu 26:10  And now, behold, I have brought [“in a basket”] the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:

Our “going out and coming in” is also speaking of our service as the Lord’s soldiers in His army:

Jos 14:11  As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.

King Solomon acknowledged his inadequacy as a soldier because he was a “little child”:

1Ki 3:7  And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

Whatever the phrase “go out and come in” means, it certainly includes being a good soldier in the Lord’s service of which the apostle Paul instructs us:

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Our means of “partaking of the divine nature [and] escaping the corruption that is in the world” continues:

Deu 28:7  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

The flight of the enemies of the Lord “seven ways” signifies the complete and total defeat of all the false doctrines which are the “arrows” of our enemies.  The Lord’s arrows will nullify any and all of the ‘arrows’ of the lies of the adversary:

Psa 57:4  My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

“Their arrows” are helpless against the Truth, the Lord’s ‘arrows’:

Psa 21:12  Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

Psa 45:5  Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.

Psa 64:7  But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
Psa 64:8  So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.

Hab 3:11  The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

We are blessed with great spiritual reserves in the Lord’s service. We have so much in reserve that we can give freely to others:

Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

The Hebrew word for ‘storehouses’ is:

H618
אָסָם
‘âsâm
aw-sawm’
From an unused root meaning to heap together; a storehouse (only in the plural): – barn, storehouse.

This word appears only in one other place in the Old Testament, where it is translated as ‘barns’, demonstrating that the “blessing of [our] storehouses” speaks to our service to the Lord through our giving freely of our store to our brothers:

Pro 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Pro 3:10 So shall thy barns [H618: ‘asam’] be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

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 [from our “storehouses, our barns] to him that needeth.

The Lord Himself fights our battles for us, and as “partakers of [His] divine nature:

Deu 28:9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

That is how the Lord Himself provides for His elect, who are now partaking of His divine nature through these great and precious promises. God makes our enemies to both fear us and live in peace with us:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Yes, of course Revelation 11:11-12 has a ‘will be’ application. I am certainly not of that school which is telling you “the resurrection is past already”:

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

That is a lie of our enemies who have internalized and spiritualized away your crown of life, your rulership with Christ for a thousand years, and your hope of “the redemption of the purchased possession”. Our enemies want you and me to settle for what is nothing more than the downpayment of the “redemption of the purchased possession”.

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

This is not a new false doctrine. It is one of the earliest lies taught in the New Testament church, and Paul warned us against falling for this false doctrine:

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

I am well aware that Revelation 11:11-12 has a glorious “will be… redemption of the purchased possession” future application. However, there is also a present inward application which does not teach “that the resurrection is past already”:

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them [the Lord’s “two witnesses” in every generation], and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

“…And their enemies beheld them… and great fear fell upon them which saw them.” These two verses, Revelation 11:11-12, are the ultimate fulfillment of:

Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

Two verses earlier in Revelation 11 we read:

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

We are at this very moment ‘lying dead in the streets of the great city wherein our Lord was crucified’. Our death of 3½ days is being fulfilled at this very moment. “The spirit of life from God entered into them” and “great fear fell upon them which saw them” are both in the aorist tense, because this is all the process of the revelation of Jesus Christ within us as our old man dies daily and our new man is being raised up from the dead… [to] walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:1-4).

The phrases “they heard a great voice from heaven” and the phrase “come up here” and the phrase “they ascended up to heaven in a cloud” and “their enemies beheld them” are all in the aorist tense because all of this is the revelation of Jesus Christ taking place within us even as we “wait for… the redemption of the purchased possession”… that “blessed and holy first resurrection” where we will be made to rule and reign with Christ for a symbolic thousand years.

Deu 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

The ‘rain’ is the Lord’s “words [which] are spirit” (Joh 6:63). This blessing with rain in our land in due season, signifies an abundance of growth in understanding the things of the spirit. “You shall lend unto many, and you shall not borrow” signifies the fact that Babylon has nothing to offer you, but you have an over-abundance of good sound doctrine to offer them, as our next verses demonstrate:

Deu 28:13  And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deu 28:14  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Being “the head and not the tail” are words selected by the holy spirit to signify that the blessings of obedience and strict adherence to and trembling at the words of our Lord, makes us the possessors of “The Truth”. Being the head means we possess the Truth, and being the tail signifies that we have been deluded by “the refuge of [the] lies [of the false] prophets” of this age. Isaiah gives us this key to the kingdom of heaven:

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

The apostle Paul took close and careful notice of the three ‘ifs’ in this section of scripture, in verses 1, 9 and 13… “if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God”…”If you listen unto the commandments of the Lord…” and… “if you go not aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right hand or to the left…” neither adding to nor taking away from His words:

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

“The Lord shall make you the head and not the tail” tells us that if we are granted to be obedient to the words of our Lord we will be Him, in the sense that we agree completely with Him.

These are His words concerning what He means by “You shall be the head…”:

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

Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

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

That, too, is just another “great and precious promise” which is beyond the ability of the natural man to appreciate the depth of its significance. The holy spirit helps us to take hold of this truth with these, our closing words for today:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment [‘Now on the house of God’ (1Pe 4:17)]: because as he is, so are we in this world.

In our next study we will examine and analyze why the curses of Deuteronomy 28 occupy 54 verses, exactly 4 times the number of verses which these 14 verses of “great and precious promises” occupy.

Here are the verses we will begin with which concern the curses the Lord will bring upon us to humble us:

Deu 28:15  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deu 28:16  Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:17  Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:18  Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:19  Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Deu 28:20  The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
Deu 28:21  The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 28:22  The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
Deu 28:23  And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
Deu 28:24  The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Deu 28:25  The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Deu 28:26  And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
Deu 28:27  The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
Deu 28:28  The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
Deu 28:29  And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
Deu 28:30  Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
Deu 28:31  Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
Deu 28:32  Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
Deu 28:33  The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:
Deu 28:34  So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
Deu 28:35  The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
Deu 28:36  The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Deu 28:37  And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
Deu 28:38  Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Deu 28:39  Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
Deu 28:40  Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
Deu 28:41  Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

Isa 19: 11-15 The Lord Has Mingled A Perverse Spirit In… Egypt

Isa 19:11  Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
Isa 19:12  Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
Isa 19:13  The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
Isa 19:14  The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

Isa 19:15  Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

In our last two studies we saw how the Lord is in the process of drying up the waters of Egypt.  The “rivers of living waters” of the Truth of God’s Words have long ago been dried up and replaced by the deadly “waters of Egypt [and] the rivers of Babylon”. We have demonstrated that the holy spirit uses those two phrases interchangeably to speak of what are both the same spiritual condition within our hearts and minds:

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

Spiritually speaking we are here told that the city in which our Lord was crucified is nothing other than Sodom and Egypt. Where does such an idea originate? It originates from the same spirit which inspired this prophecy of Isaiah:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

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

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

“The great city wherein our Lord was crucified” is called “Sodom and Egypt”, and it is also first called a harlot right here is Isaiah.

Now let’s go back and look very carefully at that Revelation 11:8.

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

Jerusalem, the symbol of the Lord’s own people, is called Sodom, and it is called a harlot. It is the use of the word ‘harlot’ or ‘whore’, which gives us to know that  “the mother of harlots” is the same apostate people of God, apostate Israel:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Clearly these words are being directed to those who have been “nourished and brought up [as the Lord’s own] children”, who have now “rebelled against [Him]”, and are now “drunken with the blood of the saints… from Abel to Zacharias”:

Luk 11:47  Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
Luk 11:48  Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

While the churches of this world point their fingers at anyone but themselves, you and I are blessed to know that “this generation” means this generation reading these words from the time of Christ until today.

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

When the Lord’s rebellious people, in time, become aware that they have been carried away as captives to Babylon, this is their lament:

Psa 137:1  By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Psa 137:2  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
Psa 137:3  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
Psa 137:4  How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?

This is the point at which we are brought to see that the Truth of God, through the judgment of God, is being cut off from Egypt. Suffering with Christ has been replaced with substitutionary atonement, a ten-​second sinner’​s prayer and the prosperity gospel. When we come to see all of that, then Egypt’s destruction within us is well underway. The lack of those waters of Egypt causes, and brings about, the drying up of everything which is supported by that water. Those who work with flax are not in the waters, but they are nourished by those waters, and without those waters “they that weave networks” will cease to exist.

As we have already shown by the scriptures, ‘waters’ typify both people and the doctrines believed by those people and how those words and doctrines support their lives. If and when we come to see that everything upon which our own lives have depended for support is no longer able to support us, then it begins to dry up and cease to exist.

The waters of Babylon feed and support Babylon and all the activities and commerce of Babylon in the same way the waters of Egypt feed and support all the people and activities and all the businesses that are part of Egypt. When the waters of Babylon are dried up, Babylon will fall and be no more:

Rev 16:12  And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

Both Egypt and Babylon are but types and shadows of who we are at different stages of the Lord’s work within our lives.

Egypt and its waters typify our first contact with our Creator. It is while we are living by the waters of Egypt that we begin to see that we are enslaved to our flesh. We begin to see that we are enslaved to Egypt.  We realize that what saved us from starvation and brought us to Christ has now become a slave master:

Exo 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
Exo 1:9  And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
Exo 1:10  Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Exo 1:11  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
Exo 1:12  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
Exo 1:13  And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:
Exo 1:14  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

Christ put all of this in these words:

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Physical Israel symbolizes our knowledge of Christ in the flesh only, as we all first come to know Him. At first we see Christ as a babe in His crib, then as a 12 year-​old boy questioning the teachers in the temple. Then we see Him as a teacher, working miracles, feeding thousands and healing their sick. Then we see Christ as a dying man on the cross, and our final knowledge of Christ is as a resurrected body which we can touch and with whom we can eat. We simply cannot yet know Him in the spirit. That carnal knowledge of Christ, with all the “carnal command[ments]” (Heb 7:12) that come with it, is the bondage that becomes our slave master, “the law… for the lawless”:

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

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

Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

At first Egypt appeared to be our savior, and indeed it gave us the land of Goshen, and for a time the Lord Himself caused us to prosper in Egypt. It was the Lord who first showed Himself to us, typified as Joseph in Egypt. But something happened and that which “[brought] us to Christ” somehow became a “schoolmaster” and a slave master to us:

Exo 2:23  And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
Exo 2:24  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Exo 2:25  And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin [under the law for the lawless], that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23  But before faith [Christ] came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law [“for the  lawless”] was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child [under the schoolmaster, the law], differeth nothing from a servant [Greek:  doulas (G1210) – slave, bondservant], though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant [a slave “under the law”], but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

The very meaning of the name Moses means ‘drawn from the waters’.

We must understand that the waters from which we are first drawn at this stage, are the waters of Egypt which empty into the “sea” out of which all flesh comes. We do not come willingly:

Isa 19:4  And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
Isa 19:5  And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
Isa 19:6  And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
Isa 19:7  The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

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

Soon enough we will come out of Egypt through the gut-wrenching experience of the Red Sea. And yet this coming out of Egypt is but a precursor to later coming out of Babylon. However, before we can even go into Babylon, we must first enter into another even greater very trying time of dwelling in the wilderness, between Egypt and the land of promise. This experience lasts forty years, symbolizing a time of great trial which seems at the time to be an eternity, and it begins the process of the dying of our old man and the destruction of his kingdom within us:

Num 14:33  And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
Num 14:34  After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

Our old man only begins to die there in the wilderness. It is while we are there in the wilderness that we begin to be brought to our wits’ end, and we will even wish we could return to the slavery of Egypt. The pains and trials of life are just more than we can bear, and it appears to us that the Lord has brought us out here just to destroy us. Indeed our old man is in the process of being destroyed there in the wilderness, but the fruit of that experience is a new generation which will enter into the land of promise as type and a shadow of our new man.

Heb 3:14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Heb 3:15  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Heb 3:16  For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
Heb 3:17  But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18  And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Heb 3:19  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

In the promised land we are given the work of waging war against the giants whom God has placed there to try us while we are in our promised land. We are even given to build big outwardly very beautiful houses for God, and we experience what seems to be a time of permanent peace.

But even after we have experienced the typical death of our old man in the wilderness and we are granted to enter into the promised land typifying “heaven itself”,​ and after we have subdued many of the giants who have ruled over those nations within us, we are predestined to “lose [our] first love” (Rev 2:4) and become so corrupted that the Lord must send us off into a second time of slavery. In this state of slavery we are again seduced into feeling very comfortable in our bondage.

This is all of us each in our own time:

Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Think about this. When we are taken away captives to Babylon, we are Israel, we are in the promised land, and we have turned our backs on God while at the same time self-righteously proclaiming that we are God’s Israel, His special people. At that point we have become so self-righteous that we have already spiritually been carried away into the  bondage of Babylon, and we aren’t even aware of our sad spiritual condition.

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

We become so comfortable in Babylon that we don’t even realize that we are in bondage. The multitudes in Babylon never realize where they are spiritually, but it is there “by the waters of Babylon” that a chosen few are granted to be shown that they are a wild beast, a man of sin who is usurping and is sitting upon the very throne of God within their own hearts. Along with this knowledge, we are granted to overcome that wild beast who is always there, and to come out of Babylon and return to the Lord, and we are commissioned to begin to rebuild His temple. However, this second temple, typifying the Lord’s elect, is nowhere near as outwardly beautiful as the first temple we were given to build.

Zec 4:1  And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
Zec 4:2  And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
Zec 4:3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
Zec 4:4  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
Zec 4:5  Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Zec 4:7  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Zec 4:8  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Zec 4:9  The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
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.
Zec 4:11  Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
Zec 4:12  And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
Zec 4:13  And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:14  Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

This 4th chapter of Zechariah is explained in the 11th chapter of Revelation:

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Rev 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

It is “the temple of God in heaven”, which is typified by the second much smaller and much less outwardly glorious temple, which typifies the Lord’s elect in whom He dwells (1Co 3:16 and 2Co 6:16).

Hag 2:9  The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

This latter temple is so small and despised that it seems to have no glory at all when compared to the first temple we built. But it is this “time of small things” that the Lord will use to finish His work within us and make us far greater and far more glorious that the earthly glory of our first temple, where all we knew was “Christ after the flesh”. “Henceforth know we Him no more… after the flesh.”

Exo 2:10  And the child [Moses] grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

Hag 2:6  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
Hag 2:7  And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
Hag 2:8  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
Hag 2:9  The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

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.

It is those who make up this “latter temple” who know where the living waters of life are. They are the ones out of whose bellies will flow “rivers of living water”:

Here again are a few verses which show us the spiritual meaning of the word ‘waters’ in the scriptures:

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

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

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

So waters symbolize both the people and the words and doctrines of Christ as well as the people and the words and doctrines of Egypt and Babylon. When the Lord’s Truth, those ‘waters of life’, are taken away from us, this is what we experience:

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

The words of the Lord are what prevents famine in our land. We are told that we are cleansed by the washing of His Word, which again is called water:

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

With the spiritual meaning of ‘water’ in mind, we will continue our study here in Isaiah 19:

Isa 19:8  The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

Who is it who is able to understand what the holy spirit is saying here through the prophet Isaiah? This is the answer of scripture:

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

Concerning “They that go down to the sea in ships [and] that do business in great waters, what is it they see? What are “His wonders in the deep”?

The answer is given to us in the very next verse. This is “His wonders in the deep”:

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

Those who are given eyes that see know that “[God’s] wonders in the deep” consist of Him commanding and raising “the stormy wind which lifts up the waves” which melt our souls and bring us to our wits’ end. Only after that has been worked in our lives will He calm the wind and the waves which He has raised up. Only then will He bring us out of our distresses, make us glad and bring us to our desired place of rest, “[our] desired haven”.

That is a scriptural description of the Lord’s wonders in the great deep. “The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.” It sounds very much like, “He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They are at their wits’ end… their soul is melted because of trouble… they cry to the Lord in their trouble.”

“He” is of course the Lord Himself working His wonders in “the deep” where “they that go down to the sea in ships… spread their nets.” So what is the holy spirit speaking of in these verses about the need for water and the judgments of God which are symbolized by the drying up of the waters? This is all about the judgment which is now upon the house of God which we are (1Co 3:16 and 1Pe 4:17). Our Lord Himself tells us to what the scriptures are really referring when speaking of spreading nets in waters:

Mat 4:18  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Men are likened to fish in the Lord’s parables:

Mat 13:47  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
Mat 13:48  Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
Mat 13:49  So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

The great whore and all of her daughter harlots thrive on outward blessings which are called “the waters of Egypt”, and when those waters begin to dry up, this is what happens within us:

Isa 19:9  Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
Isa 19:10  And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
Isa 19:11  Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
Isa 19:12  Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
Isa 19:13  The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
Isa 19:14  The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
Isa 19:15  Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

This is the meaning of “the head and the tail”:

Isa 9:14  Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
Isa 9:15  The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Isa 9:16  For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

This prophecy is addressed to our heavens and to our earth, and it begins by informing us that our “head is sick”. The head of our heavens and the head of our earth is our rebellious old man who “cannot hear Christ’s words” for the simple reason that we have been given ears that hear but simply cannot understand what they are hearing:

Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Isa 1:5  Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

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 13:14  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 is God Himself who has made us to simply not see the mysteries of the kingdom of God working within us.

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

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

When we are being judged there is no work or even a place in our lives for false doctrines. Those false doctrines used to be our leader, and they are now being destroyed, and they have no work to do within us:

Lam 5:15  The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
Lam 5:16  The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
Lam 5:17  For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

Those are the words of our rebellious, dying old man. Those dying words produce these words of life:

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.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will see how the Lord will begin to work with Egypt within us:

Isa 19:16  In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
Isa 19:17  And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
Isa 19:18  In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.
Isa 19:19  In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
Isa 19:20  And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 44 Discussion

1 file(s) 22.67 MB

Download

Isa 9:14-17 The Lord Will Cut Off From Israel The Head And Tail

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

We are continuing our study of God's judgments upon His people. In this study we will learn that God is intent upon the destruction of His first "marred... vessel of clay":

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

If we are aware of the sovereignty of God when reading all of His admonitions, then we will not continue to ask what Paul said we would ask:

Rom 9:19  But one of you will say to me, "If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?" (GNB)

This statement is based upon these words in 2Chronicles 20 where we read:

2Ch 20:5  And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
2Ch 20:6  And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

The Truth is that mankind cannot resist the will of God. It is for that very reason we all wonder why God did not just make us all perfected spirits and why He did not just skip all the sufferings this flesh just naturally produces. However, our flesh refuses to believe that God is that powerful and that we are that weak.

Which brings us to our first verse in today's study:

Isa 9:14  Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.

The word 'therefore' refers back to "the pride and stoutness of heart" of verse 9:

Isa 9:9  And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,

The ignorance of mankind concerning the total sovereignty of God doesn't make God any less sovereign, as the apostle Paul points out:

Rom 9:10  And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
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 [our] works, 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 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

It is given to our nature to rebel against the very idea of God hating any of us before we are even born and raising us up for the specific purpose of destroying us as He did Pharaoh. Paul knew how natural it was to resent such a powerful God whose plan is justified only by the loving outcome of His sovereign will, and he was given to anticipate the reaction of our own carnal minds to a statement which naturally seems completely unfair and unjust to the kingdom of our rebellious old man. So he poses the question he knows we will all ask:

Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? ...

Which is the same as asking:

Rom 9:19  But one of you will say to me, "If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will"? (GNB)

It has always struck me how blunt the holy spirit is in answering that question:

Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

The truth is that at everything happening at this very moment, the very little good as well as the much evil taking place in this world, is fulfilling and doing what He has preordained to be done. It is only by knowing that God Himself creates evil (Isa 45:7) and 'makes us to err from His ways' (Isa 63:17), makes 'wicked men for the day of evil' (Pro 16:4) and is 'working all things after the counsel of His own will' (Eph 1:11), that we can know and appreciate the Truth that even the first-man Adam typifies Christ (Rom 5:14), and that even today that rebellious first-man Adam is an integral part of bringing the kingdoms of this world under the sovereign rod of iron which He is about to give to His saints.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ begins with this promise of rulership for those in whom Christ dwells, and it ends with this promise being fulfilled:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The further we go in our studies of this prophecy of Isaiah, the more emphatic our Lord becomes in declaring that He, as our Creator, has every right to do with His creation as He sees fit and that we as His creatures have no right to even question Him. We are all very familiar with what He declares to us in:

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Then immediately He admonishes us:

Isa 45:9  Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
Isa 45:10  Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?

But the reason we are warned against striving with our Maker is that we were created to do so, and our Creator knew that was exactly what we would just naturally do. That is the very meaning of these words:

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.

We were made "marred in the hand of the Potter" for the very purpose of giving God "an occasion" (Jdg 14:4) to destroy our old man and all that pertains to him. Mankind is a beast:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

But Ecc 3:18 is not the sum of God's word on this subject of what is our "marred vessel of clay".

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;

Is there another verse of scripture which tells us God made our old man for the specific purpose of taking him and destroying him? Yes, there are many such verses for the man who has been given eyes to see and ears to hear that "mankind shall... live... by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4). I will just repeat the two we have already covered in this study:

Rom 9:10  And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
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 [our] works, 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 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

Esau and Pharaoh are both types of the flesh of all men and the old man within us all who "cannot inherit the kingdom of God":

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

However, our flesh does not want to hear that Truth. Our flesh recoils to hear that God made our bodies of flesh for the very purpose of destroying them, and to nullify the Truth of 1Corinthians 15:50, mankind has developed the false doctrine of a physical bodily resurrection.  Those who teach this false doctrine, when confronted with the plain language of 1Corinthians 15:50, resort to yet another false doctrine which they call 'spiritual flesh', apparently oblivious of the words of Christ Himself when explaining this subject to Nicodemus:

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Yes, it is true, Christ's physical body did not see corruption. However, it did not inherit the kingdom of God either. Rather it was "changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye [into] a spiritual body" (1Co 15:52). As such it was possible for Christ to appear to His disciples in a body of "flesh and bone" immediately following His resurrection, but that is because spirit can appear as flesh. The fact is that everything that is physically seen and can be physically touched is not "made of things which do appear":

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.

All of this is "the pride and stoutness of heart" which is just naturally within God's own people. It is this pride-filled marred condition with which He is working, and which He is in the process of purging out of His people":

Eze 20:38  And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Isa 9:9  And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,

Because of this pride and stoutness of heart:

Isa 9:14  Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.

What are the "head and tail, branch and rush [which will be] cut off... in one day" as God judges His people and destroys the kingdom of our old man and the kingdoms of this world? We don't need to speculate who or what this "head and the tail" is. The very next verse tells us:

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

This verse gives us the interpretation of the symbolism of the tails of the locusts in these verses of Revelation 9.

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

Locust devour everything in their path. Christ indicts the shepherds of His flock for doing just that:

Eze 34:8  As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;

The "power of a scorpion" is in the tails of these locusts, and look at what the tails of these locusts are given to do with that power:

Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

These locusts are as powerful as a horse, they appear as royalty wearing crowns of gold, they have the faces of men, the hair of women and they have the teeth of lions. What do these stinging, powerful, lion-like locusts symbolize? The scriptures come right out and tell us what these locusts symbolize:

Zec 11:3  There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.
Zec 11:4  Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;
Zec 11:5  Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

The tails of these scorpions are defined right here in Isaiah as "the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail" of the stinging, scorpion, lion-like locusts.

The political head of a nation leads even the prophets. King David led all Israel. He worked with the Lord's prophets, and the later kings like Uzziah over Judah, and Ahab and his wife Jezebel were "the ancient and the honorable...heads" of God's people. Aha was the head over his own lying prophets.

Here is a very clear example of the fruits of listening to "the ancient and honorable 'head' and his "prophets that [taught] lies":

1Ki 22:5  And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.
1Ki 22:6  Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

As we are about to discover, God had already decided that all these prophets were "tails... prophets that teach lies". So let's continue on with our story:

1Ki 22:7  And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?
1Ki 22:8  And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
1Ki 22:9  Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.
1Ki 22:10  And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.
1Ki 22:11  And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.
1Ki 22:12  And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king's hand.

These are four hundred 'tails', four  hundred false prophets who are prophesying lies to "the head[s]... the ancient and the honorable" kings of Israel and Judah. Ahab is "the head" of Israel, so he says: "Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah". Even the Lord's true prophets are subject to the powers that be (Rom 13:1) as long as those powers are not demanding that God's true prophets disobey God (Act 5:29). So when summoned by the king, the Lord's prophet appeared before the king, "the ancient and honorable... head" of the nation of Israel.

Now let's pay close attention to the difference between "the prophet that teaches lies" and a true prophet of God:

1Ki 22:13  And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
1Ki 22:14  And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.
1Ki 22:15  So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
1Ki 22:16  And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?
1Ki 22:17  And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace. [Israel was about to lose its "head... the ancient and the honorable". Israel was about to lose its leader].
1Ki 22:18  And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?
1Ki 22:19  And he [Micaiah] said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.
1Ki 22:24  But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?
1Ki 22:25  And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.
1Ki 22:26  And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;
1Ki 22:27  And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
1Ki 22:28  And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.
1Ki 22:29  So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead.
1Ki 22:30  And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.
1Ki 22:31  But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.
1Ki 22:32  And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out.
1Ki 22:33  And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.
1Ki 22:34  And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.
1Ki 22:35  And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.
1Ki 22:36  And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country.
1Ki 22:37  So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.
1Ki 22:38  And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake.

Here is what Micaiah knew to be true, and for which he was willing to eat the bread of affliction and to drink the water of affliction. It is our next verse:

Isa 9:16  For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

The people of a nation are led both by their political leaders and by their religious leaders, and both lead those who follow them into destruction. This is what we are told about the prophets who teach lies:

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.
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
Eze 14:11  That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

Just as the Kings Jehoshaphat and Ahab called the prophets to inquire of the Lord, these "elders of Israel" had also come before the prophet Ezekiel to "inquire of the Lord". So "the leaders of this people [who] cause them to err" are both the political and religious leaders, and as demonstrated by the story of King Ahab's destruction for listening to his lying prophets, and by this prophecy of Ezekiel, "the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;". Which brings us to our last verse in today's study:

Isa 9:17  Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

While "His anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still", Christ has given Himself a reason for all this fiery purging judgment. In the words of Isaiah:

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.

Ezekiel confirms this fruit of the Lord's judgments when he concludes:

Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
Eze 14:11  That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

Lord willing, next week we will examine the admonition the Lord gives us concerning His judgments in these last verses of chapter nine.

Isa 9:18  For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
Isa 9:19  Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.
Isa 9:20  And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:
Isa 9:21  Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

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